THE OTHER day I received a message from radyoman Henry Lumawag, saying he had been reading my columns; and he could not forget the one that said, “The young look forward to the future while the old look back to the past.” Indeed, why not? The young have no past yet; the old have no…
I’d rather not write “future” to finish the previous sentence, lest I’d be passing judgment on myself having hit the wrinkling age of 68. I could still look forward to hitting 100 – ambisyoso! – and be rewarded with a hundred thousand pesos for either maintenance medicine or funeral services.
As far as Panay News is concerned, we look forward to another 37 years. Well, yes, two days from now (April 7, 2018), this paper will celebrate its 37th birthday. Though I am no longer an important character here, I am part of its history that will always be news to the young ones – unborn when we began in 1981 – who make up today’s staff.
In that year, I had already spent 11 years writing news, columns and features for Metro Manila newspapers and magazines. I had also written a book of anecdotes on singer/actress Nora Aunor, Getting to Know Nora.
On the darker side, probably due to pollution, vehicular traffic and human congestion, I had caught severe asthma.
I was struggling for breath in Paco, Manila due to asthma attack one day in April 1981 when I received a telegram from Maria Santillan-Fajardo – my classmate from grade five to college – asking me to come to Iloilo City. She and her husband Danny needed a new editor for their new weekly newspaper. I agreed, thinking that fresher air in Iloilo would blow my asthma away.
I knew it would be a gamble on my part. With a wife and a baby boy to support, how could I thrive while starting all over again?
On arriving at Panay News’ first office at Ong Bun Building in Iloilo City, I learned that the pioneer editor, Jerry Taclino, had quit after only two issues for whatever reason. It was Maria’s elder sister Vicky Santillan-Primero (deceased), a college instructor, who was temporarily editing the paper.
At that time, there were already three English weeklies surviving on paid legal notices from the local courts of law. Soliciting ads from business establishments was like finding a needle in a haystack. But why should they advertise when local readers would rather read Manila dailies than local tabloids.
Rather than be discouraged, publisher Danny Fajardo vowed to attract national advertisers with the opening of branch offices in each province of Western Visayas.
With no printing press of our own, we made the rounds of printing presses in Iloilo City, always badgering for the lowest printing cost and the longest payment term. Our contributing reporters were doing bayanihan writing for a pittance or nothing at all.
Faced with the challenge of turning adversity into prosperity, we inspired ourselves with the time-honored saying, “Rome was not built in a day.”
We noted that despite the lifting of martial law, most of the streamline media were still afraid to criticize President Ferdinand Marcos. However, we found a silver lining in the fact that critical newspapers – known as the “alternative press” – were selling like hotcakes. Therefore, we opted to go “alternative”. It paid off with the completion of branch offices in all five provinces of Western Visayas.
Fast forward to the present, our sacrifice has paid off. Now in the hands of the Fajardo children, Panay News has metamorphosed from a weekly to a daily, owning the most modern printing press in the region and catering to a worldwide audience through the magic of digital internet. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
