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| News agency overview | |
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| Formed | March 1, 1973; 52 years ago (1973-03-01) |
| Preceding News agency |
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| Headquarters | Philippine Information Agency Building, Visayas Avenue, Barangay Vasra,Quezon City,Philippines 14°39.3′N121°2.8′E / 14.6550°N 121.0467°E /14.6550; 121.0467 |
| News agency executives |
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| Parent News agency | Presidential Communications Operations Office |
| Website | www |
Philippine News Agency (PNA) is the officialnews agency of thePhilippine government. PNA is under the supervision and control of the News and Information Bureau, an attached agency of thePresidential Communications Operations Office. It was established on March 1, 1973, byPresidentFerdinand Marcos,[1] and currently has its headquarters inQuezon City.[2]
The Philippine News Service (PNS) was organized in 1950 as a news gathering cooperative by the publishers of the then-leading national newspapers: the Manila Times-Mirror-Taliba,Manila Chronicle,Manila Bulletin,Philippines Herald,Evening News,Bagong Buhay, andThe Fookien Times. Its main function was to supply daily news and photos from the provinces to these newspapers, as well as to those in other provinces.[3]
Radio and television stations also used PNS stories for a fixed monthly fee or subscription. Foreign news agencies, such as theAssociated Press,United Press International,Reuters, andAgence France-Presse, and a few private entities were also allowed to subscribe.[3]
Through the old mail system, it also maintained a news exchange agreement with foreign news agencies such asAntara of Indonesia,Bernama of Malaysia,Kyodo of Japan,Yonhap of South Korea,Central News Agency of Taiwan, andTASS of the former Soviet Union, among several others.[3]
When President Marcosdeclared martial law on September 23, 1972, the PNS was forced to cease 24-hour daily operations since its major clients (newspapers, radio, and television stations) were padlocked and guarded by government troops. At the time of its closure, the PNS had some 120 news correspondents across provinces and cities of the country.[3]
About four months after the imposition ofmartial law, Marcos allowed a handful of newspapers and broadcast outfits to reopen. A group of former newspaper editors asked then the Department of Public Information (DPI) Secretary and later onSenatorFrancisco S. Tatad to explore the possibility of opening a government news agency by acquiring theWorld War II-vintageteletype machines and other equipment of the shuttered PNS.[3]
The group's efforts resulted in the government reopening PNS, renamed Philippines News Agency (PNA), and restructured as the government’s official news outfit.[3] Negotiations for the acquisition of PNS equipment were done by a group of former newspapermen from Tatad’s office atMalacañang Palace, including the late Bureau of National and Foreign Information (BNFI) Director Lorenzo J. Cruz and the late Press Undersecretary Amante Bigornia.[3]
José L. Pavia, the late former executive editor of the defunctPhilippines Herald, was appointed as the first general manager of PNA. He led its initial eleven-member staff, with the late Renato B. Tiangco as managing editor, and Severino C. Samonte as national and provincial news editor.[3]
It was created by a Special Department Order issued by Tatad under the BNFI, its first parent bureau that also funded it.[3] The agency initially used the vacated PNS editorial offices on the second floor of the National Press Club (NPC) of the Philippines Building along Magallanes Drive in theIntramuros district of Manila.[3] When Tatad turned on the switch to launch the agency in the afternoon of March 1, 1973 in Malacañang, he said: “ThePhilippines News Agency will be operated in the best tradition of the world’s professional news agencies.”[3]
According to PNA, during the martial law years, the PNA along with international news agenciesReuters,AFP,AP, andUPI covered the entire archipelago and entered into news exchange agreements with some of these news agencies.[4]
The following year, PNA inaugurated its first domestic bureau inCebu City, the country’s second-largest metropolitan area. In 1974, PNA also opened bureaus inIloilo City,Baguio,Davao City,San Fernando, Pampanga;Cagayan de Oro,Bacolod, andDagupan. These were followed by offices inLucena,Legazpi,Cotabato City,Tacloban,Zamboanga City,Dumaguete,Iligan,Laoag,Tuguegarao,San Fernando, La Union;Jolo; andLos Baños.[4]
The peak number of domestic bureaus was 23 in 1975, with the opening of additional ones inCabanatuan,General Santos, andTagbilaran. However, these satellite bureaus were reduced drastically due to the agency's cost-cutting measures in later years.[4]
Until early 1986, the PNA, through the former Office of Media Affairs (OMA) headed by then Information Minister Gregorio S. Cendana, had overseas bureaus in San Francisco, California; Sacramento, Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Toronto (Canada), Sydney (Australia) and Jeddah. These were closed down after the 1986EDSA Revolution that overthrew the Marcos regime.[4]
During government reorganization in 1987 under PresidentCorazon Aquino, the BNFI was abolished and replaced with two new bureaus: the modern News and Information Bureau (NIB); and the Bureau of Communications Services (BCS).[4]
The Philippine News Agency remains a division of the News and Information Bureau. The agency is an attached agency of the Presidential Communications and Operations Office (PCOO).
Media related toPhilippine News Agency at Wikimedia Commons
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