More power to The Freeman on its 95th year!

Greetings to the family of Sir Jose “Dodong” Gullas and the Philippine Star and the men and women of The Freeman on its 95th year of existence! Very few newspapers in this country and I guess much of the world can claim to have reached nearly a hundred years in existence. It is a great honor and a privilege to be one of the writers in this prestigious newspaper. Honestly, column writing was never in my radar screen when I was planning my life.

Although I joined the Philippine Star on August 1986 as its Cebu bureau chief as ordained by Star publisher, the late Max Soliven, I began my column writing in The Freeman when then Freeman editor Sir Nito Jabat asked me to do a weekly column. I was then the external vice-president of the Cebu Chamber of Commerce, Inc.  and two people who were noted as the top dogs of the media in Manila and Cebu had asked me to write a column. So I thought if Sir Max and Sir Nito valued my way of thinking enough to publish them in a column, I took it as a challenge.

So here I am today, writing six columns a week for The Freeman, (our Sunday article isn’t really a column, it is a homily by a Lay Catholic person) and three columns for The Philippine Star and we also have the longest running (14 years) TV talk show on SkyCable and a catechism show on MyTV. It was only very much later that I realized that for nearly three decades, that being in the media has become my way of life.

At least we can claim that for The Freeman’s 95 years in existence, I was present in its pages in the last 27 years and therefore whether we like it or not, we are also a part of the history of The Freeman. At this point, allow me to inform our faithful readers that never and I mean never did anyone censor any of my articles in this newspaper, which means, I had full editorial freedom in writing my columns. This is why The Freeman is considered fearless!

I salute the Gullas Family, Sir Miguel Belmonte and the men and women of The Freeman, now led by TF Editor Quennie Bronce for upholding what is written in stone in the Philippine Constitution, that guarantees the right to free expression. Kudos to The Freeman on its 95th anniversary and we look forward to the celebration of its 100 year five years from now.

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I’m sure inside his head, Pres. Benigno Aquino III must have thanked Typhoon “Glenda” for visiting Metro Manila and taking away all the bad news stories about him attacking the Supreme Court on the issue of the Disbursement Acceleration Program, which was declared unconstitutional. Get any national and local newspapers and its front cover only contains reports about the damage that Typhoon “Glenda” has done to Metro Manila where some 20 persons were believed to have died.

Call it bad timing, but last Monday on July 14th, just a few hours before that nationwide television speech of PNoy chastising the Supreme Court, there was a forum at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, which featured Zamboanga Archbishop Romulo de la Cruz, my good friend Archbishop of Lipa, Ramon Argüelles, Batanes Bishop Camilo Gregorio, Protestant Bishop Efraim Tendero, and Pastor Art Corpuz who revealed to the nation that they had a two and a half hour visit to pork scam celebrity Janet Lim Napoles.

What triggered that visit to Napoles? Apparently, on June 17th, Arch. de la Cruz received a letter from Napoles and I have a copy of this letter seeking the support of her friend the Archbishop who hails from that part of Mindanao. Her letter is quite long; so let me reprint its most important part.

“Your Excellency: With God’s strength, guidance and support, I HAVE DECIDED TO TELL THE TRUTH, THOUGH IT HURTS, regarding the present controversies on the alleged abuse and misuse of PDAF, Malampaya, DOTC, Funds and the likes.” This letter really sounds like she is really in dire straits…after all she accused the top ranking members of the ruling political elite that have been in power since the EDSA revolt and at least three of them, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, and Sen. Bong Revilla are now being detained.

Napoles continues, “It is for this reason, Your Excellency, I would like to seek for your prayers and support to help me in this endeavor. I am committed in the pursuit of revealing the truth and fight the evil that is corruption. The path bestowed upon me by our Creator is hard and treacherous, Your Excellency, thus I pray for your support and help as I travel this path. Please help me, Your Excellency, I won’t be able to do it without your support. Please help me, Your Excellency, to be able to tell the truth amidst the resistance.”

My only question to Napoles is, I saw a copy of her affidavit and I didn’t find the name of Pres. PNoy Aquino. Did she exclude his name when she surrendered to him in Malacañang? I would like to believe that she got some kind of deal in surrendering to the President last Aug.2013. [email protected]