| Fair and Fearless | |
 | |
 Front page on June 25, 2015 | |
| Type | Daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet andnews website |
| Owner(s) | Philstar Daily Inc. MediaQuest Holdings (51%) Belmonte Family (21%) Private stock (28%)[1] |
| Founder | Paulino Gullas |
| Publisher | Jose "Dodong" Gullas |
| Editor-in-chief | Achilles Modequillo |
| Managing editor | Lucky Malicay |
| Founded | May 10, 1919; 106 years ago (1919-05-10) (38,996 issues) |
| Political alignment | Independent |
| Language | English,Cebuano |
| Headquarters | Philippine STAR Building V. Gullas Street corner D. Jakosalem Street, Cebu City,Philippines[2] |
| City | Cebu City |
| Country | Philippines |
| Sister newspapers | Banat,The Philippine Star,BusinessWorld,Pilipino Star Ngayon,Pang-Masa,Starweek |
| Website | www |
The Freeman is a dailyEnglish-language newspaper published inCebu, Philippines. It is the longest-running newspaper in Cebu, first published on May 10, 1919. Since 2004, the newspaper has been published by the Philstar Media Group, publisher of theManila-based newspaper,The Philippine STAR, with former owner Jose "Dodong" Gullas retaining editorial control over the newspaper.[1] The motto of the newspaper is "Fair and fearless".
The Freeman's beginnings can be traced back to theAmerican colonial era in the Philippines from 1898 to 1946. At the time, the Americans had just granted theFilipino people several civil and political rights, includingfreedom of the press, which encourage several enterprising individuals to establish various newspapers in English and the local languages.[3]
In Cebu, several local newspapers emerged, such as the first Cebuano-owned newspapersLa Justicia (1899) andEl Nacional (1899), owned by politician, lawyer and journalistVicente Sotto. He and his brother Filemon went on to establish other newspapers such asEl Pueblo (1900),Ang Suga (1901–12),Ang Kaluwasan (1902–10), andLa Revolucion (1910–41).[4][5]
Other scions of political families also followed suit and published their own newspapers, such asSergio Osmeña’sEl Nuevo Dia (1900–03),Mariano Cuenco'sEl Precursor (1907–41) andEl Boletin Catolico (1915–30), andVicente Rama'sLa Nueva Fuerza/Bag-ong Kusog (1915–40). Other newspapers includeLa Epoca (1922), owned by Jewish entrepreneur Leopoldo Falek, and the Catholic newspapersAng Camatuoran (1902–11) andAtong Kabilin (1916).[4][5]
Inspired by the success of earlier newspapers and the increasing popularity of the English language among locals, lawyer, journalist and scion of the Gullas political family,Paulino Gullas, decided to establish his own newspaper. A former correspondent for the Manila-based newspaperThe Cablenews-American, Paulino published the first issue of the English-language newspaperThe Freeman on May 10, 1919.[1][4][5]
The newspaper was first published at its office along P. Lopez Street corner Colon Street in Cebu City, before moving to an office at the corner of Juan Luna and Colon Streets later on. The maiden issue consisted of 16 pages: 12 in English and four in Visayan. The next six issues equally divided its pages between English and Visayan sections. Over the years, the number of pages varied from 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 40 and 32.[6]
The release ofThe Freeman soon gave rise to other English-language newspapers in Cebu, namely Jose Avila'sThe Advertiser (1922), Mariano Cuenco'sCebu Daily News, Leopoldo Falek'sStar (1927), Vicente Rama'sProgress (1928), Cesar Mercader'sThe Cebu Herald (1938), Cornelio Faigao'sThe Challenger (1940), Pete Calomarde'sMorning Times (1943), and Alfredo Cruz and Angel Anden'sThe Pioneer Press (1945).[5][7]
The Freeman became an important mouthpiece for the Gullas political family and was essential in Paulino's election as representative of Cebu City'sSecond District in theHouse of Representatives from 1925 to 1927. However, the newspaper temporarily ceased publication in 1934 after Paulino was elected as Cebu's delegate to the1934 Constitutional Convention from July 30, 1934, to February 8, 1935, that created theCommonwealth of the Philippines.[8][9][10]
The newspaper was not able to return to publication with the outbreak ofWorld War II and the Japanese bombardment of Cebu in 1941.[7][11] Paulino later joined theKapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas (KALIBAPI), the only Filipino political party recognized by theJapanese Military Administration and became commissioner of itsVisayas chapter. This led to his appointment as member of theNational Assembly from 1943 to 1944 during theSecond Philippine Republic.[7]
With Paulino's death during theAmerican bombardment of Cebu in 1945,The Freeman would not return to newsstands until 1965 when his nephew Jose "Dodong'" Gullas revived the periodical as a weekly magazine, and then as a daily English newspaper in 1969.[9][12] Dodong sought the advice of his fatherVicente Gullas and Paulino's widow Hilda in reviving the paper. He also hired journalists Balt Quinain and Juanito Jabat to manage the paper, with Dodong serving as publisher, Quinain as editor-in-chief, and Jabat as associate editor.[6][13]
After dictatorFerdinand Marcos placed the entire Philippines undermartial law in 1972,The Freeman and its printing press were shut down for a month, and one of its columnists,Resil Mojares (who would eventually be recognized as aNational Artist of the Philippines for Literature) was jailed for several months because he had published columns which criticized the administration of dictatorFerdinand Marcos.[14][15]
The Freeman was able to return to publication after a month,[14] and was among the few Philippine community newspapers that remained in circulation and dared to publish news and accounts about the excesses and abuses of the regime.[6]
On August 23, 1994,The Freeman began publishing theCebuano-language tabloidBanat as demand for printed news and content in the local language surged. In 2019,Banat celebrated 25 years in circulation as Cebu's leading tabloid newspaper in the vernacular language.[6][13]
The Freeman is currently owned and operated by the Philstar Media Group, publisher of the Manila-based, nationally circulated broadsheetThe Philippine STAR. The media company, which is owned by theBelmonte family, acquired the newspaper along with its sister publicationBanat on August 24, 2004, as part of its strategy of acquiring community newspapers to expand its reach and influence throughout the Philippines.[1][6][8]
In 2014, Philstar Media Group was acquired by Mediaquest Holdings Inc., the media conglomerate ofPLDT chairman and CEOManuel V. Pangilinan, makingThe Freeman andBanat part of the MVP Group of Companies along with other publications such asThe Philippine STAR,Pilipino Star Ngayon,Pang-Masa,Starweek andBusinessWorld.[16]
Aside from print,The Freeman also has an online presence viaThe Philippine STAR's website, as well as in social media. In January 2011, the newspaper opened its officialFacebook page,[17] followed by aTwitter page in March.[18] On May 10, 2019,The Freeman celebrated its 100th founding anniversary.[6][8][13]
In its more than a century of operation,The Freeman has received several accolades from different award-bodies due to its excellent reportage. The newspaper is a consistent award winner in various categories of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) Civil Journalism Community Press Awards since its inception in 1996. The newspaper has won Best in Business and Economic Reporting (1996), Best in Photojournalism (1996, 1998, 2009), Best in Newspaper Design (1996, 1998), Best in Science and Technology Reporting (1996), Best Edited Newspaper (1998), Best in Environmental Reporting (1997, 2015), Best in Fisheries Reporting (2015), Best in Cultural-Historical Reporting (1998) and Best Editorial Page (1998, 2016). In 1999, PPI placedThe Freeman in the awards' Hall of Fame for raking in numerous awards for three consecutive years.[6][19]
The Freeman was also named by theRotary Club of Manila as the Best Regional Newspaper in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018.[6][20] It has also received accolades from the Cebu Archdiocesan Mass Media Awards for Photojournalism (2017) and Column Writing (2011, 2015).[6][21][22]
In 2018, it received three Gawad Tugas awards—Environmental Story of the Year, Environmental Journalist of the Year, and Environmental Publisher of the Year—from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Region 7.[6][23]
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