The Club's reason for being

insidetheclub

The Club's reason for being
by Manuel Almario

On October 22, 2002, the National Press Club of the Philippine, Inc. (NPC) observed its 50th anniversary. As required by the corporation law, the NPC must renew its character to prolong its existence for another 50 years.

The observance of the 50th anniversary of the filing of the club’s Articles of Incorporation should provide us an occasion to review how the organization has discharged its mandate over the past 50 years. Have we been faithful to the objectives and purposes for which the organization has been formed?

We ask this question because many members tend to forget the professional objectives of the club, viewing it simply as a social organization.

Article 1 of the NPC charter sets forth “purposes” of the organization. The first paragraph states that “the purpose for which said corporation is formed is to promote cooperation and understanding among newspapermen and newspaperwomen and to draft a code of ethics for the advancement of the newspaper profession.”

The charter of the NPC thus provides that the organization is both a social club and a professional organization. While the first part of this paragraph states that the purpose of the corporation is “to promote cooperation an understanding” among its members, it also provides that it shall draft a “code of ethics.”

It was only in 1988 that the National Press Club in its annual convention formally approved a Code of Ethics. This established the NPC as a professional organization with a self-regulating mechanism that enforces lofty standards of journalism. Its by-laws mete out sanctions to NPC members who violate the organization’s Code of Ethics. The adoption of the Code of Ethics placed the NPC on the same level as the legal, medical and other traditional professions with their respective codes of ethics and high standards of practice.

The public purpose of NPC clearly stated in the second paragraph, namely, “to uphold the freedom of the press and the dignity of the newspapermen’s profession.”

(In 1952, when the Articles of Incorporation was drafted, broadcast journalism was still in infancy. Print media dominated the field. Radio, already well established, was still primarily a medium of entertainment and commentary. Television was just emerging, chiefly as entertainment medium. So the NPC membership at that time was composed mainly of “newspapermen” and “newspaperwomen.” Now that broadcast journalism is fully developed, the NPC has accepted broadcast journalist as members. NPC members are therefore referred to in our by-laws as journalists,” both broadcast and print. Pretty soon, internet journalists may be recognized as a part of the mainstream profession of journalism.

The defense of press freedom is therefore a main objective of the NPC. It is a public purpose because freedom of the press is not just a right of media practitioners, it is also a right of all people in a democratic society. It is an integral part of the freedom of expression guaranteed to the people by the Philippine Constitution. This is one reason why the NPC is more than just a social club, as some of our members tend to think, but a professional association as well.

Webster’s International Dictionary defines a profession as: “A calling requiring a specialized knowledge and often too long and intensive preparation including instructions in skills and methods… maintaining by force of organization or concerted opinion high standards of achievement and conduct, and committing its members to continued study and to a kind of work which has its prime purpose the rendering of a public service.”

The other part of paragraph 2 of article 1 declares that another purpose of NPC is to “uphold the dignity f the newspapermen’s profession.” This means that, aside from requiring its members to adhere to the Code of Ethics and to maintain respectable personal behavior, the NPC must also show concern for the working and living conditions of the journalists, consistent with their dignity as individuals and as leading members of the society. In short, the NPC cannot just close their eyes to the economic exploitation of journalists but must strive for better working conditions and acceptable standards of compensation for Filipino Journalists. Unless the working and living conditions of journalists ആരെ to a level commensurate with the dignity and intellectual requirements of their profession, their efforts to maintain high standards in the practice of their profession could suffer.

The public purpose of the National Press Club justified the congress of the Philippines in enacting Republic Act No. 905 in 1953, only a year after the formal organization of the NPC, donating to it a lot measuring 5,184.7 square meters, on which to construct its clubhouse. Under the Constitution of the Republic, the government cannot give donations to individuals or entities not imbued with a public purpose. But since the NPC is committed to defending the freedom of expression, a basic human right, and to upholding high standards in journalism, a profession imbued with public interest, then the Congress felt justified in providing a subsidy to the club in the form of a land donation. The donation, however, is not absolute because the land reverts to the ownership of the national government upon dissolution of the club.

The charter authorizes the NPC to “raise funds for the establishment of a non-profit facility for the recreation of the working newspapermen.” The founding fathers envisioned the club as providing services to its members, such as a library, recreational, social and professional facilities, and a restaurant that the journalists may patronize at relatively lower cost commensurate their incomes, considering that the club is non-profit and earns rentals from office space and income from fund-raising activities and other services to the public. In turn this would reinforce journalists against accepting favors from sources.

Unfortunately, journalists are notoriously incompetent business people. Thus the club is burdened with debts, to the extent that a government financial institution “title” over its properties (the NPC clubhouse proper and another building previously leased to the PLDT, as well as the land itself) after the NPC failed to pay its loans and real estate taxes. The club has also failed to keep up with the expectations of the membership they have provided with facilities for recreation and services that promote professional excellence. Many bona fide journalists have in fact distanced themselves from club affairs, promoting the club leadership to undertake campaigns to “bring back” members to the club.

The NPC, however, has been militant in defending the freedom of the press, except for occasional lapses. In cooperation with other media organizations, such as the Philippine Press Institute, Kapisnan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the NPC has been vigilant in denouncing threats to press freedom and in opposing any move from any quarter, including the government, to limit the freedom of speech and of the press.

In the 50’s, the NPC played a significant role in bolstering press freedom. This development occurred following the incarceration of five newspapermen for refusing to reveal the sources of their information in connection with the trial in Pasay City of the famous Monroy case involving the bribery of a murder witness in which a cabinet official was the principal accused. As a result, the NPC mounted a campaign that resulted in the amendment of Republic Act No. 63, which protected a journalist from revealing the source of his information unless required by the “interest of the state.” The amendment, under R.A. 1477, broadened the rights of journalists by changing the phrase “Interest of state” to “security of the state.” The “security” of the state is of narrower connotation than the “interest” of the state, so that a journalist cannot be forced to reveal the source unless it involves the national security.

Following the declaration of martial law in 1972, the National Press Club, under the presidency of Eddie Monteclaro of the Manila Times, fielded a petition for habeas corpus with the Supreme Court on behalf of the journalists arrested by the martial law government of President Marcos.

The petition challenges the constitutionality of martial law and questioned the act of the government in arresting and detaining journalists who merely exercised their right reporting on public events and in criticizing the acts of public officials. Joker arroyo, now a senator, as counsel for the NPC, together with then constitutional convention delegate Aquilino Pimintel jr., also now a senator, argued on behalf of the detained journalists.

In months of activism and protests against the Marcos government’s perceived efforts to curtail civil liberties and restrict press freedom, the NPC allowed its social hall, aptly named after the hero Marcelo H. Del Pilar, to be used by activists and the protestors for their meetings, and as a refuge from pursuing troopers and policemen. During martial law, protesters against the dictatorship were also allowed to make use of the facility to voice their protests. Conventions of the NPC were utilized to air demands for press freedom. The alternative press contributed to the fall of the Marcos dictatorship, and the NPC was not a mere bystander in the struggle for the return of civil liberties.


After the fall of the dictatorship, the NPC has continued to be vigilant in defending press freedom as mandated by its charter. It denounced threats to press freedom, including the murder of, physical assaults on and threats to individual journalists, as well as acts of harassments, legal or otherwise, of media institutions, like newspapers and broadcast stations.

The NPC sometimes had gone beyond mere defense of press freedom but had moved further to defend civil liberties, realizing that freedom of expression alone is futile unless civil liberties for the entire societies are likewise protected.

So the NPC, despite some inconsistency and some notable weaknesses and lapses, has striven to pursue its objectives and discharge its obligations to the Filipino public as stated in its character. Nevertheless, there is need to strengthen the professional character of the organization. The concentration of some NPC administrators on mere social and fund-raising activities might at times be beneficial and necessary, but these are merely supportive of our greater purpose that is public good, as spelled out in our character and purpose of the organization, the NPC will become irrelevant, especially since mismanagement of the club’s financial affairs and disregard of members’ welfare, is turning away working professional journalists from the club.

So let’s lay the foundation for a more professional, militant and purposeful NPC in the next fifty years as our legacy to future generations of Filipino journalists ant to our country as well. ###