By Cris Diaz
Today, June 12, 2026, is 128th Philippine Independence Day.
Aside from writing for Mindanao Daily News, Mindanao’s widely circulated newspaper, it is also gratifying to write for “The Manila Times.”
Unknown to most of us, The Manila Times, a national daily newspaper, is 128 years old and the country’s oldest newspaper.
It went off the press in 1898.
I joined the mainstream media as a wire news reporter during my sophomore year in college in 1979. My news editor was a former reporter for The Manila Times.
However, I realized the historical value of The Manila Times when I joined the paper in 2017 as a correspondent based in Cagayan de Oro City.
It is heartwarming that The Manila Times became part of the Philippine struggle for independence and survived the rubble of WWII through “thick and thin.”
In its June 12, 1964 editorial, the paper clearly shared the problems and frustrations of the country that persist to this day.
Let me quote a portion of The Manila Times editorial from June 12, 1964: “Does the waving of the flag make a patriot of the man who sells his vote?”
The paper’s assertion that “vote buying” was prevalent even at that time we thought impossible showed that we have inherited an ancestral malady that breeds corruption and greed for power.
Until “vote buying” is completely resolved, celebrating an authentic Philippine Independence Day will always be farcical. -0- [Marites: Investigators are conducting a probe of the ₱138 million Sayre Highway in Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro City for non completion as scheduled in 2024..]
###
