BC turns 53 years

The Bohol Chronicle, a local weekly newspaper and Bohol's enduring newspaper here, turns 53 today as it completes more than five decades of uninterrupted service to community journalism.

We who had once worked with this paper can write an account of its life in the fist person. Indeed, the Chronicle's record of existence is the longest in local journalism history.

On May 16, 1954, its maiden issue done in hand-set first appeared in this city. Tagbilaran, then was a fledging town. To think it could sustain a weekly was, to many, a fool-hardy attempt to defy a tradition of failure.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

It has survived on hard work and patient struggle to seek the truth and print it. In turn, this has nourished a strong faith in it from its thousands of readers.

This paper started with a one-man job. Now a full staff works for the paper with an AM and FM radio stations as part of this media outfit.

Where before the first issue of the Chronicle was hand-set and later produced with a modern linotype machine, it is now being printed in off-set process back up by a laser-desk-top computer and jet printer, the latest used in modern-day publishing.

Scanning the back issues of the Chronicle is just like taking a glimpse through the past 52 years of Bohol's history.

Dr. Crispin Maslog, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, who was formerly director of the Institute of Journalism of Silliman University, wrote a case study of the Bohol Chronicle as one of the most successful community newspapers in the Philippines.

With the Institute of Development Communication of the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, Dr. Maslog wrote a book under a Ford Foundation grant entitled "Dragon Slayers in the Countryside" with a Foreword by Joaquin "Chino" Roces which documented outstanding exposes of seven highly respected community newspapers in the country which left great impact in their respective communities.

This article was also reprinted in the book "The Rise and Fall of Philippine Community Newspapers" launched by the Philippine Press Institute and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

The Horatio Alger story of The Bohol Chronicle is an inspiration to the struggling community newspapermen in the Philippines. It shows how the dedication and talent of one man can overcome obstacles and make a success of a local paper that was predicted by a priest to die six months after birth.

THE PAPER'S HISTORY

When the first issue of The Bohol Chronicle came off its rickety printing press on May 16, 1954, an American priest working with the Divine Word College in Tagbilaran City predicted, half in jest and half in earnest that either the paper of its editor would die in six months. Other papers had come to Tagbilaran City before and they all eventually died.

As a matter of historical fact, the newspaper has never failed to come out with its weekly issue every Sunday during the past years. Neatly bound volumes of all its issues are displayed in the compact and near office of the paper and printing press on Mabini Street (now B. Inting Street) in Tagbilaran City showing how the paper has kept faith with its readers.

The Chronicle is now being printed in offset by its own printing press. This success did not come easily to the late publisher-editor Atty. Zoilo Dejaresco Jr., known to his friends as Jun. He had to work hard, day and night. He had to overcome public apathy to a local paper and lack of advertising support and other serious obstacles along the way in the past 40 years before he reached the prominent position where he is today.

The first issue was very timely from the newspaperman's point of view. A big typhoon smashed Bohol, killed several persons and rendered thousands homeless. This was a big story in that province where typhoons rarely visit, and the paper capitalized on it.

This was the first banner story of the paper, and the paper sold. It was one of the ironies of the journalistic profession - a misfortune for the province, but a fortune for the paper.

MANILA ROTARY CLUB AWARD

The Bohol Chronicle once carried a nine-week series of articles exposing the connivance between highway district engineers and anapog (limestone) suppliers. It earned the paper praise from its readers. The startling exposes earned for the Chronicle the "Community Newspapers of the Year 1970" the highest community journalism award from the Rotary Club of Manila at its Fourth Annual Journalism Awards.

The Manila Rotary Club awarded the Bohol Chronicle "for courageously but dispassionately and objectively publishing a series of exposes which effected solid constructive changes in the life of the community, and for demonstrating that a community newspaper, in spite of the economic odds against it, can effectively carry on its avowed mission with enthusiasm, dedication and fearless determination."

In 1991, the Chronicle again has its finest moment when it exposed the deficit incurred by the provincial government which fiscal officers tried to hide from public view.

While a deficit may not be as bad (as most governments do operate on a deficit), the virulent reaction of some onion-skinned government officials to keep the truth from their constituents proved to bigger undoing.

The COA under the provincial auditor was branded as "incompetent" and was blamed for allowing the leak of the closely guarded secret. The report became a hot potato.

Other highlights of the COA report which the provincial officials did not like was the "wasteful appointment of seven technical assistants" and the publication of some named officials who were given free quarters against existing rules and for giving allowance to some officials when government cars were already assigned to them.

At first the auditor tried to cover up by saying that no such report existed. But when the Chronicle dared publish the report in its entirety, including the auditor's signature many faces turned red. The auditor was later sacked.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan fought tooth and nail to quash the report. It went to the extent of adopting a resolution censuring the Chronicle, in utter betrayal of its lack of knowledge on laws governing press freedom by compelling the editor to reveal the source of his information.

Standing on its constitutional rights, The Bohol Chronicle ignored the investigation and instead lashed back ferociously to protect press freedom. It was media's finest moment as the Chronicle continued its crusade to expose official venalities.

One week after the end of the first expose, the Chronicle serialized in the filing of a complaint for anti-graft and corrupt practices with the Visayas Ombudsman against four top provincial officials of Bohol.

The Chronicle exposed the purchase of two Nissan vehicles bought by the provincial government under highly suspicious circumstances. The COA found that the vehicles cost P760,000 with an overprice of P85,576 each.

The Ombudsman is expected to decide on the case momentarily.

The latest of the Bohol Chronicle's laurels was the award of the City Government of Tagbilaran during its charter anniversary.

The Bohol Chronicle and Station DYRD were awarded as one of the ten outstanding community service awardees for broadcasting and newspapering. On the same occasion, its editor-publisher was chosen one of the six TOTs (The Outstanding Tagbilaranons) - Award for journalism by the Sandugo Jaycees.

BRANCHES TO AIRLANES

In 1956, the Chronicle pioneered the operation of the first wire broadcasting station here and in 1961, the printed pages of the Chronicle branched out into the airlane. In 1961, Station DYRD-AM was on the air and in 1980, the Bohol Chronicle Radio established Station DYRD-FM, the pioneer multiplex stereo station in Bohol.

In 1966, Congress passed Republic Act 4972 granting the Chronicle editor-publisher, lawyer Zoilo Dejaresco Jr., a franchise to construct, operate and maintain radio and television stations.

PHILIPPINE PRESS INSTITUTE

In 1965, the Philippine Press Institute chaired by UP President Carlos P. Romulo, elected Dejaresco, en absentia, as member of the PPI board of governors. He was the only provincial journalist in this body of publishers and managing editors of metropolitan papers.

PPI was moribund during the martial law regime.

After democratic processes were restored following the EDSA Revolution, the Philippine Press Institute was revived which was headed by Don Joaquin Chino Roces, publisher of the Manila Times. The Chronicle editor was elected PPI vice chairman.

After the death of Roces in 1988, the Chronicle editor assumed as acting president. He was later elected president when the vacancy was declared permanent. He was sworn to office by Supreme Court Chief Justice Marcelo Fernan. He was reelected president and chairman of the board for another term upon nomination by Manila publishers. He was unopposed. He served as PPI chairman - president until 1990. He was succeeded by Zacarias Nuguid of the People's Journal and Eugenio Lopez Jr. of the Manila Chronicle Leonilo Claudio of Davao's San Pedro Express is the incumbent PPI chairman - president.

In 1967, he was guest of the Nihon Shinbun Kyokai, the Japanese editors and publishers association, together with 11 Manila editors who were given a tour of Japan.

He delivered a paper on the characteristics of the Philippine community press. Later he was admitted member of the Press Foundation of Asia during its meeting in Singapore.

AWARDS

In 1972, he was awarded by the University of San Carlos as the USC Outstanding Alumnus in journalism.

In June 1972, he was guest of the Voice of America in Washington DC which featured him in its "Guest of Honor" program broadcast worldwide.

In 1976, he became a member of the national board of the Publishers Association of the Philippines for three terms and was a member of the three-man Philippine delegation to Jakarta during the ASEAN Publishers Confederation and visited of the department of public information.

The Chronicle was consistently picked as one of the ten outstanding community papers in the Philippines in a paper submitted by the Rural Press Development Seminar in Bangallore, India.

In 1985, the Chronicle was selected as one of the nine successful community newspapers in the Philippine by the Continuing Education Center of the University of the Philippines sponsored by the Department of Development Communications and the Asia Foundation.

In 1989, he was invited to the 2nd International Convention of the World Press Council in Kuala Lumpur, where he presided one of its plenary sessions.

In the civic world, the Chronicle publisher had occupied high positions in boy scouting, anti-tuberculosis, anti-drug addiction, coast guard auxiliary and Lionism among others.

He was the Lions district governor of District 301-B and was chairman of the Lions State Council of Governors of the Philippines.

He attended the nine Lions International Convention in Mexico, Atlanta, Dallas (where he was installed as Lions District Governor), New Orleans, Taipeh, Denver, Miami, Brisbane, Australia and Hongkong.

THREE GENERATIONS

With the untimely departure of Jun Dejaresco to the Great Beyond six years ago, the torch has been passed to the next generation.

At the helm now as Editor in Chief is Bingo P. Dejaresco III, currently a Manila Bulletin columnist and former editor in The Weekly Carolinian, official publication of the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City. Bingo, a former bank executive is an Economics graduate of USC and finished his MBA academic requirements at the Ateneo de Manila.

The Bohol Chronicle staff is being graced by Peter P. Dejaresco, the youngest son of the Dejarescos who finished communication arts from the University of Santo Tomas.

He is the associate editor of the paper and general manager of stations dyRD-AM, dyZD-AM, and KISS 102.3 FM.

The Chronicle has already produced three generations of working media men. The eldest son - Ely Dejaresco - also owns an FM broadcasting station in Dumaguete City and publishes a weekly, The Negros Chronicle. He obtained his journalism degree from Silliman University.

Ely's eldest son, Jay, lawyer who now belongs to the third generation is the paper's associate editor and columnist.

Perhaps we have yet to find today a family of actually working journalists of three generations in whose veins flow the printer's ink and where the microphone is their "inseparable companion."