| Truth Shall Prevail[1] | |
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 Front page from March 19, 2018 | |
| Type | Dailynewspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet andnews website |
| Owner(s) | PhilStar Daily, Inc. MediaQuest Holdings (51%) Belmonte family (21%) Private stock (28%) |
| Founder(s) | Betty Go-Belmonte Maximo V. Soliven Art Borjal |
| Publisher | Pilipino Star Printing Co., Inc. |
| President | Miguel G. Belmonte |
| Editor-in-chief | Ana Marie Pamintuan |
| Associate editor | Millet M. Mananquil Doreen G. Yu Marichu A. Villanueva |
| Managing editor | Romel A. Lara |
| Sports editor | Nelson T. Beltran |
| Founded | July 28, 1986; 39 years ago (1986-07-28) (14,365 issues) |
| Political alignment | Centre-left |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | The Philippine STAR Building, Amvel Business Park, Dr. A Santos Avenue, Sucat, Parañaque City |
| City | Manila |
| Country | Philippines |
| Circulation | Mon–Sat: 262,285 (2012)[2] Sunday: 286,408 (2012)[2] |
| Sister newspapers | BusinessWorld Pilipino Star Ngayon Pang-Masa The Freeman Banat |
| OCLC number | 854909029 |
| Website | philstar.com |
The Philippine Star (self-styledThe Philippine STAR) is an English-language newspaper in thePhilippines and the flagship brand of the Philstar Media Group. First published on July 28, 1986, by veteran journalistsBetty Go-Belmonte,Max Soliven andArt Borjal, it is one of several Philippine newspapers founded after the1986 People Power Revolution.
Its sister publications include business newspaperBusinessWorld; Cebu-based, English-language broadsheetThe Freeman; Filipino-language tabloidsPilipino Star Ngayon andPang-Masa; Cebuano-language tabloidBanat, online news portals Philstar.com, PhilstarLife.com,Interaksyon (formerly withNews5),Latest Chika, Wheels.PH, PropertyReport.PH, Multiverse.PH and TV/digital production unit Philstar TV. In 2025,The Philippine Star also launched thePinoy pop online platformJuanCast.[3]
In March 2014, the newspaper was acquired by MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., a media conglomerate subsidized by thePLDT Beneficial Trust Fund, after the company purchased a majority stake in Philstar Daily, Inc.
The Philippine Star was first published seven months after the 1986 People Power Revolution that toppledstrongmanFerdinand Marcos and propelledCorazon Aquino to thePhilippine presidency.[4] Before its establishment, founders Betty Go-Belmonte, Max Soliven andArt Borjal were veteran journalists involved in the "Mosquito Press", a collective name for the different newspapers critical of the Marcos administration that were published after theMartial Law era from 1972 to 1981.[5] At that time, Belmonte was the publisher of a small, monthly magazine calledThe Star, a predecessor ofThe Philippine Star.[1]
On December 9, 1985, a few months before the 1986 People Power Revolution, Belmonte, Soliven, and Borjal, together withEugenia Apostol,Louie Beltran, andFlorangel Rosario-Braid, founded the English-language newspaperPhilippine Daily Inquirer, which soon became the Marcos administration's most vocal critic. However, after the revolution, questions about finances and a divergence of priorities caused a rift among theInquirer's founders, which led to Belmonte, Soliven, and Borjal's founding ofThe Philippine Star. Belmonte served as the founding chairman of the Board of Directors, while Soliven acted as the founding publisher and chairman of the editorial board.[4][1] Antonio Roces served as the firsteditor-in-chief until his resignation in 1989.
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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mass media |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Founder | Betty Go Belmonte |
| Headquarters | The Philippine STAR Building, Amvel Business Park, Dr. A. Santos Avenue, Sucat, 1700 Parañaque City[6] |
Key people | Victorico P. Vargas (Chairman) Miguel G. Belmonte (President and CEO) Carlos R. Dizon (CFO) |
| Products | Printpublishing,digital media,Out-of-home advertising,television production,event management |
| Brands |
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| Owner | PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund |
| Parent | MediaQuest Holdings |
| Subsidiaries | BusinessWorld Publishing Corporation (majority stake) Philstar Daily, Inc. Philstar Global Corporation Pilipino Star Ngayon, Inc. |
The first issue of the newspaper on July 28, 1986, had eight pages, no advertisements and carried the headline, "Wear yellow and die" that featured the death of 23-year-old Stephen Salcedo, a bystander killed by a mob of Marcos loyalists during a rally atManila'sLuneta Park. The masthead of the newspaper carried the motto, "Truth Shall Prevail", reflecting its editorial policy of presenting both sides of the story instead of the prevailing "scoop mentality" of that time.[1] Aside from the main news section, the first issue also includes the World, Nation, Money, Life and Sports sections.
The first issue ofThe Philippine Star was printed at Philstar Daily, Inc.'s printing press in Port Area, Manila and made use of a blue and yellow color scheme, which eventually became its signature colors. For its initial price of ₱1.75, the newspaper had an initial print run of "a few thousand copies".[4]
At first, the newspaper was only published from Mondays to Saturdays because Belmonte prohibited work on Sundays. To capitalize on Sunday readership, Philstar Daily, Inc. began publishingStarweek on February 15, 1987, which served as the Sunday magazine ofThe Philippine Star. Eventually, in 1988, the newspaper added a Sunday issue in response to the demand for news on that day, while continuing its publication ofStarweek. Aside fromThe Philippine Star, Philstar Daily, Inc. also started publishing a Filipino-language tabloidAng Pilipino Ngayon, which eventually becamePilipino Star Ngayon and its other sister papersBusiness Star andEvening Star.
With the sudden death of Belmonte due to cancer on January 28, 1994, Soliven assumed chairmanship of the Board of Directors while retaining his position as publisher. He appointed Belmonte's 30-year-old son, Miguel Belmonte, as executive vice president. In the same year, the newspaper made use of the slogan "The only paper you read from cover to cover", in keeping with the new editorial policy of improving every single section of the paper so each can stand on its own even without the main news section. On August 4, 1995,The Philippine Star became the first Philippine broadsheet newspaper to publish a colored front page.
In 1998, the Board of Directors unanimously appointed Miguel Belmonte as president and CEO, while Soliven remained as chairman of the board of directors and publisher. The following year, the newspaper introduced "Hotline 2000", which made use ofSMS as a means foropinion polling, thus becoming a pioneer intelevoting in the Philippine print media industry. It was the beginning of other digital endeavors that brought the newspaper to theDigital Age. In 2000, the newspaper debuted its website,philstar.com, thus becoming one of the first newspapers in the Philippines to have a presence in theInternet (the website itself would later launched its own editorial team and began publishing news articles independently since 2009). In the same year, the company began usingcomputer-to-plate printing system. In that year too, Miguel's brother, Isaac Belmonte, was appointed editor-in-chief of the newspaper.
To further expand its readership,The Philippine Star entered into a partnership withfast food restaurantJollibee in 2003 to become the first newspaper to be distributed free of charge in a fast food restaurant. A complimentary copy of the newspaper was given to Jollibee patrons nationwide for every purchase of a Jollibeebreakfast meal.
On August 24, 2004,The Philippine Star acquiredCebu City-based English-language newspaper (which is also the longest running newspaper in the city)The Freeman and its sister publication, theCebuano-language tabloidBanat as part of its strategy to strengthen its presence and influence in the Visayas-Mindanao region.The Freeman is the longest-running broadsheet newspaper in Cebu City, established on May 10, 1919, whileBanat was first published on August 23, 1994. Both newspapers are owned by the influential Gullas political family.[7][8][9]
The newspaper lost its founding publisher after Soliven died inTokyo, Japan on November 24, 2006. Isaac Belmonte eventually replaced him as publisher and chairman of the editorial board in 2012. Former executive editorAna Marie "Amy" Pamintuan serves as current editor-in-chief after replacing Isaac Belmonte in 2012.
Philstar.com began as an online repository ofThe Philippine Star. In addition to this, however, the website has begun producing its own content and has a separate editorial team. While Philstar Daily Inc. operates the newspaper and social media platforms as well as niche websites, the website is operated by Philstar Global Corp.[10]
As early 2009, businessman andPLDT chairmanManuel V. Pangilinan had expressed his interest in acquiring a stake inThe Philippine Star in a bid to dominate the multimedia industry. The following year, Pangilinan's MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., the media conglomerate of PLDT, acquired a 20-percent stake in the newspaper, as well as an 18-percent stake in its rivalPhilippine Daily Inquirer. In 2014, MediaQuest finally took control ofThe Philippine Star after it acquired a majority stake of 51 percent in the newspaper. The Belmonte family retained a 21-percent stake, as well as management and editorial control. MediaQuest chairman Pangilinan has since appointed lawyer Ray Espinosa as chairman of the newspaper's board of directors.[11]
The Philippine Star acquired the 76.67-percent stake of Hastings Holdings, Inc. in its sister broadsheetBusinessWorld in 2015. The transaction was done to enhance to its market leadership and to strengthenBusinessWorld's position in the newspaper business.[12]
