WITH RESTRAINT PRIDE but with undisguised glee we would all have announced to our dearly beloved departed patriarch Jun Dejaresco, founder of this paper of 69 summers if he was around today.
And why not, he is not just the ‘soul” of the newspaper, but not a day passes that his shadow does not loom large over our activities and conscience in the press. He is the Alpha and the Omega of this paper- we are just stewards he left for us to finish the mission.
By next year, the Bohol Chronicle shall be 70 years, Ominously, he always said that in life (perhaps in other matters, too) reaching 70 is already a bonus. And so it will be by next year.
Touching 70 years is supposed to be called the Platinum Anniversary. And that precious metal is supposed to represent: “everlasting endurance of love”. Perhaps, this is what this newspaper is all about. Love.
It was undying love that brought our father – through peacetime and the war years, born in Negros, to pursue the love of his life, our Boholana mother, and kept him in Bohol forever. Otherwise, no Chronicle.
It was sheer love for the work of journalism and being a purveyor of truth that made him endure starting as a one-man enterprise and go through the brutal reality of sparse news and even sparser business in Bohol beginning in 1954.
It was love that made the paper survive -printing without missing an issue except for one, armed with that one loving commitment to stay around in the best and worst of weather.
It was true love for the honor of being a news chronicler and valued opinion maker- that made our father spend an enormous amount of telephone bills to dictate his editorial – word for word- from somewhere in Japan to Bohol through our dilapidated God-forsaken telephone system back then. Believe it or not.
It was love that he died with his boots on, so to speak, sick, yes, but still glancing in his pajamas over his room window on Sunday dawn to see if the paper mill was running its course and newsboy there to deliver the newspaper.
It was love that urged him to pass the torch to his children to continue his legacy of good journalism and better sense when he could have easily sold the enterprise- with likely a lot of takers.
The Chronicle, thank goodness, is a survivor in community newspapers as we witnessed the rise and fall of many other community papers. With profound thanksgiving, we are sharing the glory of having placed on our front page “Vol. LXVI”, proof of the longevity of this paper.
The Chronicle did not just survive natural calamities like storms and earthquakes, but the greater pressure of political vendetta and the deluge of libel cases, which we surmounted with God’s help.
Many times, personal friendships have to be given up to stand up for the higher honor of trust, justice, and democracy and this paper may have fought the good fight. Because, 69 years after, the Chronicle insignia still proudly remains standing after a parade of politicians have come and gone, both the friendly and hostile.
It was, of course, not always a bed of roses financially year in and year out but in those trying times, we held on firmly because it was not just about us and the mission but also our devoted employees who depended on us for their livelihood.
Have we passed the highest tenets of independent and competent journalism? We would rather let the awards given by the Philippine Press Institute (the biggest group of newspapers in the country) and the Manila Rotary Club speak for themselves.
While we are Bohol’s first community newspaper established in 1954, we are never remiss in upgrading our standards as we are now reaching out to the Boholanos anywhere in the globe through social media. To date, our Bohol Chronicle website which is www.obholchronicle.com.ph stands as one of the top community newspapers in the Philippines with the biggest number of followers on Facebook as well with 246,000 followers.
Technology-wise, as early as March 2015, we already positioned ourselves in social media.
“Breaking News” is our favorite dish on our menu as we have consistently been providing the latest news information to Boholanos, especially to the thousands of Overseas Contract Workers (OFW) who are naturally hungry for news from home
Boholanos used to say “Our Sunday is never complete without the Bohol Chronicle.” But now on social media, Boholanos now say “Our Day is never complete without the Bohol Chronicle” as we provide them the latest news information 24/7
This is of course backed up by our sister station DYRD, which turned 60 years old in broadcasting in 2022. Forty -three years ago, we also run the pioneering FM station in Bohol, now popularly known as Kiss 102.3FM.
It is hard not to be proud to belong to the Bohol Chronicle Radio Corp. (BCRC). But to the Lord still, be the glory. Shalom!
STOP THIS COVID “FEAR-MONGERING”
SEEMINGLY NOT CONTENT with being billed ignominiously as “having the longest Covid lockdown” in the world and with one of the worst medical Covid containment in the world, the Filipino “fear-mongers” in our midst are at it again.
There are news items saying that Covid cases in RP have gone up by 42% without adding that most of them showed no symptoms or just mild ones. One respectable news platform even showed the huge face of Aiko Melendez, actress-councilor who was supposedly diagnosed with Covid but was just staying home. Is that news?
One large Metro Manila City even announced that in one month they will require wearing face masks again.
We were also wondering who authorized a pot-bellied security guard at a major mall to tell us, consumers, there last week to ready our masks as they will be reimposed for wearing in one week.
All with a satisfied look (on their faces) as if feeling good to be the first to announce a non-issue. The fact is, gentlemen, in the two-year pandemic, Covid cases only claimed 66,000 lives while heart diseases killed 77,000 here in a period of just one year.
From January to September 2022, Covid fatalities only ranked at the far 11th place for killer diseases in the Philippines so what is this new fear-mongering again? A neurotic need to be unduly in control of people -medically and politically?
Look at WHO (World Health Organization) which has all but categorically declared Covid to be an “endemic” rather than a “pandemic”. More popish than the Pope as some people are- these same creatures think they are better medics than the WHO.
Allow us to share some things other countries are doing to put these fear-fomenters to shame. Japan is the first country to decide vaccines cannot be given without the patient’s consent and no one should discriminate between the vaccinated and those who are not.
The Czech Republic is the first EU country to rule that vaccination is no longer mandatory in their nation.
England has scrapped the digital Covid pass and no longer requires proof of vaccination. Spain has called for the EU to end digital Covid tracking and allow debate among professionals. It now considers Covid as an endemic milder than the flu, imagine that.
The German Federal Government declared the pandemic to be officially over in Germany. Meantime, 146 studies confirm that Covid-affected people in the past have longer-lasting immunity against future infection than any existing vaccine.
We have enough trouble with a hobbling economy, deteriorating peace and order, corruption, and rising prices of almost everything to be made to suffer mental anguish by these creatures born to scare other people like Count Dracula.
Sometimes, they can be worse than the disease itself.
For comments: email to dejarescobingo@yahoo.com or bohol-rd@mozcom.com