By Mitos Garcia
When Marcelo H. del Pilar founded the Diayryong Tagalog in 1882, he never dreamed there would come a day that the Philippine press would become an organized force against any kind of repression.
Neither could he have imagined that, in a mere 70 years, the Philippine press would have evolved from the clandestine operations of a few stalwarts here and abroad, to a full-pledged, nationwide force with its own building beside Jones bridge, across the Plaza Cervantes – about two kilometers from the birthplace of del Pilar’s contemporary, revolutionary leader Andres C. Bonifacio in Binondo.
On October 29, 1952, the national Press Club came into being as a formal organization, duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, after two years of gestation. Former NPC president Olaf Giron wrote this book “Once Upon a Club”.
Giron’s book cites an “anonymous” newsman’s tale published by the NPC in 1962 to commemorate its first 10 years of existence edited by Amado Inciong.
Is says the idea of organizing “was born during a huddle of Manila City Hall and police reporters one timorous afternoon in 1950. Scene of the huddle was Aling Miling’s store, where the reporters used to park to sip cheap coffee or dine in those unaffluent days.”
The reporters had been alarmed by threats of reprisals from some “dreaded” City hall and police characters brought about by “unflattering reports” about them in the newspapers.
“Hence, instead of engaging in ‘smart’ conversations, as usual, the reporters talked grimly this time. Everybody was immediately concerned with his personal safety and the freedom of the press. Out of this huddle shaped up the need, painfully felt by all, for an ‘institutional shelter,’ for organizing the working press into a body which can exert restraining influence upon those who would want to suppress, infringe, limit or otherwise undermine press freedom. Thus was conceived the NPC idea.”
This was the post-war press, which found itself in physical danger due to its fearless reporting. But unlike in Del Pilar’s time, the threat did not come from a foreign conqueror but from fellow Filipinos gone wrong.
Hoever, like the Filipino newsmen of Del Pilar’s time, the post-war reporters refused to be cowed. Instead, they banded together to fight the evil that begun to make its iron hand felt.
But to quote Giron’s book: “The idea of uniting the working press on a nationwide scale was not new. Before the war there was the Manila Press Club, which sought to organize all metropolitan journalists along the pattern of trade unionism.
“Dismembered during the war years, this was revived immediately after the liberation in the form of the real trade union – the Philippine Newspaper Guild, which played a leading role in the formation and direction of the now defunct Congress of Labor Organizations.”
The Philippine Newspaper Guild was dissolved together with the militant Congress of Labor Organizations, which had been outlawed allegedly for “communist involvement.”
Having seen this happen, the newly-founded NPC’s leaders decided to limit the Club’s functions to providing entertainment and relaxation to its members, at the same time keeping it away from getting embroiled in controversial issues or advocacies.
Domingo C. Abadilla, NPC president 9in 1957-1958, wrote a glowing account about the Business Writers Association of the Philippines (BWAP) which sponsored the first two luncheon meetings which formulated plans to organize the Club.
The first was held at the Panciteria Nacional, where the group approved the idea of organizing a federation. During the second meeting, however, they created an 18-man “Executive committee for the Establishment of a Newspapermen’s Organization,” which decided to make the NPC a non-stock corporation. They discarded the federation idea, Membership was to be individual.
“Politicians, writes Giron, “immediately sensed the uses of the NPC in the politics of power … The meeting (and first elections) was held at Malacanang, nerve center of the national politics, with the late President (Elpidio) Quirino as host and, to the surprise of the President himself, also guest speaker.”
The first president elected in the Malacanang polls was Luciano Millan, who served for two consecutive terms from 1952 to 1954. (He later became a member of Congress).
Millan was followed in 1954 by Eugenio Santos, for a one-year term, after which Teodoro F. Valencia was elected. Valencia was the last NPC president, because it was in his term that the new NPC building was finished.
How the NPC obtained the land and got the building constructed ism, itself, an interesting and significant milestone in the annals of the Philippine press.
Antonio Alano of the Manila Bulletin, Jose Guevara of the Manila Times, and Jose Nable of the Manila Chronicle, Congress reporters of note, worked to get Congress to enact a law authorizing the President of the NPC a parcel of government land on Magallanes Drive, for a nominal price of one peso.
Congress passed R.A. 905 authorizing the sale of 5,184.7 square meters of land to the NPC, and President Quirino signed it into law on December 23, 1953. Millan paid the price and the deed was made over to the NPC.
Where the NPC building stands is actually a 4,288-squaremeter lot (under Transfer Certificate of Title no. 38690 entered at Manila on March 8, 1955, after Valencia became NPC president) of prime real estate in historic Intramuros. The PLDT now occupies about one-half of the land on a 50-year lease.
The building itself is a historic monument to the ideal of press freedom and unity among colleagues in the newspaper industry, designed by Architect Angel E. Nakpil, and constructed by Alberto T. Abaya.
In the 1953 national elections, President Quirino lost to Ramon Magsaysay who happened to be as generous to the NPC. He appointed NPC president Eugenio Santos as general manger of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, which enabled him to get the Rehabilitation Finance Corporation to approve a loan for the construction of the NPC building.
The loan, amounting to P354,600, was released in 1954 on representation made by Valencia, who had by then succeeded Santos as NPC president.
The NPC building was inaugurated amid much fanfare and anticipation on December 30, 1955. President Magsaysay was the sponsor, along with several cabinet members, other government officials and other donors.
Valencia’s heroic efforts to give the Philippine press a truly viable home-away-from-home must be emphasized here. He worked almost single-handedly to raise funds for the installation of an elevator and air conditioners.
His first contributor President Magsaysay, and this set the wheels in motion that got him P150,000. Businessmen and other individuals followed the President’s example. The bigges contributors, according to Giron, were The Manila Times and the Manila Chronicle, which gave P5,000 each.
However, some credit must also go to the burgeoning female population of the Club. According to Giron: “The women of the press were the first big contributors of the NPC building fund. They put up a benefit show at the Manila Hotel and turned over the collection to the NPC.”
“To this amount were added the proceeds from the first Gridiron dinner held at the University of the East auditorium by the entertainment committee headed by Joaquin P. Roces of the Manila Times.”
When the levators and air conditioners had been installed, what funds he still had left over Valencia used to furnish the NPC bar (the NPC’s main attraction donated by Stanvac), library (books donated by the Asia foundation) and the restaurant (with music system donated by Don Andres Soriano).
The origins of the famous mural painted on the south wall of the NPC restaurant by famous artist Vicente Manasala remain obscure, however.
Giron’s book mentions in passing that Valencia purchased the Manasala mural, without giving further details. But according to Neal Cruz (As I See It, NPC Digest, July 2001 issue), the mural is a “donation of the Lopez family ... A condition of the donation, as I heard it, is that the mural would be returned to the Lopez family once it is removed from the NPC premises.”
While the building was under construction, the plan included “a huge mural in the dining room and the planners solicited the financial help of the Lopez patriarch, Don Eugenio Lopez, Sr. , then owner of the Chronicle.”
With his own money, Valencia purchased a television set for the NPC and the records of the music system.
In its 50 years of existence, the NPC has gone through much trial and travail. Unlike other big organizations, it cannot charge high membership fees due to the pecuniary deficiency of most media members.
Underpaid, overworked, they all look forward to a couple of hours of socializing over a bottle or two of beer, meticulously priced at a minimum at the NPC bar. More affluent members take red or white wine and some “pulutan.”
The Club’s Board of directors decided to close down temporarily the bar and restaurant, due to a labor problem that literally brought in down to its knees. To compensate, a garden restaurant was opened on the front grounds of the Club so that members can still have their enjoyment.
In fairness to the present administration the Club’s financial woes are a problem that has festered for decades. As early as Mac Vicencio’s incumbency (1962-1963) the Club was found to be almost bankrupt. Somebody called Vicencio “the first NPC reform president.”
In 1976, the Joaquin Cuanan & Co. was authorized by Board Resolution 17-76 (9-8) to audit the NPC, due to certain defects noted by then NPC president Pat Gonzales in the accounting and financial aspects of Club operations. The auditing firm’s report revealed some shocking things, better not mentioned her.
Under the present circumstances, as the inheritor of the biggest set of problems the Club has ever faced – not just financial but also having to do with labor and other arenas – then perhaps Louie Lograta can aptly be called the second NPC reform president. -- lifted from: THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB OF THE PHILIPPINES 50 GOLDEN YEARS ###
What makes the NPC fail
insidetheclub
What makes the NPC fail
The tragedy is that every member of the Press Club is aware of his Rights. He complains loudly about bad meals, about prices and about the lack of facilities in his club. Yet, nobody has ever thought of the need for supporting the club adequately. The P1-a-month fee is entirely out of the line with present needs of the club and yet every attempt to raise funds was met with strong opposition. We want a first-class club on a tenth-rate fee. We want something for nothing. Nobody ever got that. We won’t either.
The result of these is that the administrations of the club have depended entirely on the personality of whoever was President of the club. IN other words, group action never ruled the Press Club. A careless President meant a careless carefree administration. A fighting President meant a good administration. The members could not care less. They left everything to the President and felt that their only duty was to gripe.
I have almost stopped going to the National Press Club. It saddens me to have to say this but it hurt me every time I witnessed members taking the club as if it were a business establishment that they patronize and from which they could expect the best for the least amount of money. The personal hygiene of the members left much to be desired and this was obvious from the cigarette butts all over the place, the filth that could only have come from the lack of cooperation from the general patronage.
It is strange that the library, for instance, is the very same library that it was when we put up for the first time. Many good books are no longer in the shelves because some members have taken them home for their personal libraries. On had a right to expect that the library would receive personal donations from the members instead of being pirated of valuable editions. We once tried the honor system in the library but it turned out that even with the usual library registry rules, we were to lose our books.
The National Press Club is saddled with debts incurred by members who signed chits without regard to their ability to pay. The SWA (Social Welfare Administration) had nothing on the NPC. For many, the Press Club was for exploitation. Their answer to requests for payment was to stop going to the Press Club and to denounce it for arrogance or for unreasonableness on members.
The quality of the membership deserves one paragraph. Every self-proclaimed newspaperman feels that he has a “right” to membership and the officers of the club felt that some persons “have to be” taken in. It has never occurred to anyone that bad eggs should be eliminated from the membership and barred from entering the club in order to make the club a pleasant place for the rest of the newspapermen. We have had so many sad experiences with drunks and deadbeats that one would think we have learned a lesson but the truth is that we have not.
It has come to a point where members of the club don’t dare take their friends to the club because of the possibility that they would be accosted for a “touch” or perhaps engaged in a debate on subjects that have little or no interest for the guest. There was a time when foreign correspondents felt it a “must” to visit the National Press Club. Now, it is safer to show them the building and then detour them to more pleasant places for taking meals or snacks.
The National press Club was never meant to be anything but a club. It is not, and should not be molded into a headquarters for labor activities or politics. People are supposed to go to the club for relaxation from their daily toils – to sit with friends and contemplate the passing events in comparative ease, devoid of the tensions of a newspaper assignment. We have never learned to relax in the club. We have always tried to make it a battleground for ideas instead of tired heads and aching muscles.
There are many good newspapermen with executive abilities who could make the club work but they shy away from the National Press Club because they know that they would have to work alone and against odds if they want anything done at all. Unless we remove the “gimme” attitude of the members of the club and inspired in them, instead, a desire to do their part, we shall always have the building but no National Press Club.
One of the best examples of how we have ruined our own club is the way we butt into other people’s business. Almost no one is safe in giving a party in the NPC without the danger of being invaded by uninvited gusts or “kibitzers”. We have been thrown the rule book in our insane belief that since the NPC is “ours”, we can do in it what we please. In the process, we have ruined it even for our purposes.
It is incredible that the only time we get the newspapermen to go to the NPC is during election day. And most of the members go only to vote. Throughout the year, we have a handful of people who park around the club because they’ve been used to the idea or they have nowhere else to go. During special occasions, such as Gridiron Night or some special press conference, many who attend don’t want to pay their share of the expenses because they feel they have “rights”.
Unless we learned that we can’t have a real club unless we pitched in and did our share of responsibility, we shall never have one that we can be proud of. It is pointless for anyone to devote his entire energies to making a good club if that someone finds himself alone and derided for the effort.
In retrospect, I think we made a mistake in putting up this edifice called the National Press Club. We should have put up a more modest one that we could have improved as the years went by. The brutal truth is that we made the mistake of putting up a National Press Club building before we had a National Press Club in fact. We tried to build a club around a building and failed in the process. We’re still trying but the building is the handicap. Most of us feel that we “own” a share in the glory and the advantages but not in the work necessary to keep the club going.
We might save the day for the Philippine press if we elect dedicated men who will run for office in the club for what they can do for it and not for the glory that they will heap upon themselves by winning an election. The trouble today is that so many become candidates in the hope that with victory they shall be an inch taller. We need tall men who shall guide the membership, work with vigor and selflessness, not ambitious men who will inflict themselves on the club and to hell with what happens to it.
Perhaps it is time to dissociate glory from club officership. We need a permanent board of management who shall be chosen on merit and not by popularity vote. This, we must divorce from the elective board of the club who shall decide policies of the press as a professional body and help managers of the club re-make the National Press Club into a real social residence of the members. This is how they do it in the National Press Club in
We don’t stand to move ahead with our present ways of doing things. A politics-ridden club can only head for the scrap heap, let us forget personal glory and ambition and get together in putting up a press club that we can be proud of. We have the building. We have the land. What we don’t have is the will to make the most of our gifts of the civic community and of the government. We were given a toy but we are not playing with it. We are tearing it apart, piece by piece. There is still time to save it. If we cast aside pride, we can do it. It is later than we think.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment