Eugenia "Eggie" Apostol (born September 29, 1925) is a Filipino publisher who played pivotal roles in the peaceful overthrow of two Philippine presidents:
Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and
Joseph Estrada
Joseph Ejercito Estrada, (; born Jose Marcelo Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician and former actor. He served as the 13th president of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, the 9th vice presi ...
in 2001. She was awarded the 2006
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature & Creative Communication Arts.
[The 2006 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts](_blank)
(Retrieved on November 28, 2007)
Early life
Apostol was born on September 29, 1925, the second child and second daughter among eight children of Fernando Ballesteros Duran, a doctor and member of the National Assembly, and Vicenta Obsum.
In 1936, when her father was re-elected to the National Assembly, the family moved to Manila, where Apostol attended Holy Ghost College (now
College of the Holy Spirit
The College of the Holy Spirit Manila, or simply CHSM, was a private, Catholic education institution founded and ran by the Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit in Manila, Philippines.
Founded in 1913, College of the Holy Spirit Manil ...
), where she finished elementary school as valedictorian in 1938. With the Japanese occupation of Manila in 1944, the family returned to Sorsogon. While poking through the ruins of their home after the battle for liberation, 18-year-old Apostol was injured by shrapnel when an unspent bazooka shell exploded. Apostol graduated magna cum laude at the
University of Santo Tomas
The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Migue ...
with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Letters in 1949. She wrote a column for ''Commonweal'', a national Catholic weekly and copy for Philippine Manufacturing Company (now Procter & Gamble). She married Jose "Peping" Apostol on February 18, 1950.
Early career
In 1950 Apostol became
women's section editor of ''The Sentinel'', a national news weekly, which succeeded ''Commonweal'' in 1949 as a publication of the Archdiocese of Manila. The ultraconservative Archbishop of Manila became unhappy over liberal views expressed in ''The Sentinel'', at a time when the Church was defensive over
criticism from some social sectors about the complicity of the Church in the unjust power structures of Philippine society. The church authorities were not too pleased as well when the employees of ''The Sentinel'' organized a union with Apostol as the union's vice-president. Apostol criticized the archbishop's ban on ballet classes and performances in Catholic schools as well as a controversy triggered by the presence of Russian ballet teachers at St Scholastica's, a convent school. This was the era of the "Red Scare". Apostol resigned.
In 1954 Apostol became women's section editor and associate editor of ''Sunday Times'' magazine, the supplement of the country's leading daily, ''The Manila Times''. She stayed with the ''Times'' for ten years (1954–64), working with both the magazine and the newspaper. She found light work in handling, as editor and writer, the traditional women's beat of home, fashion, food, and human-interest features, and had a knack for infusing something lively, fresh, and innovative into what would otherwise be "canned" and conventional.
In 1964 Apostol moved to the ''Manila Chronicle'' as editor of its new Sunday supplement ''Woman and Home''. ''Woman and Home'' was phased out in 1969 but Apostol stayed on with the ''Chronicle'' as editor of its expanded ''Better Living'' section.
Apostol claims that it was because her husband was the defence secretary's favourite engineer that she was allowed to launch a woman's magazine at a time when
Ferdinand Marcos was closing down many publications, allowing only pro-government titles to operate. The magazine's publishers, former executives of the ''Manila Chronicle'', sought Apostol's aid in gaining the intercession of Defence Secretary
Juan Ponce Enrile for the approval of their application to publish. Apostol became editor of the ''Woman's Home Companion'', the first Martial Law women's magazine in the Philippines.
Apostol quit ''Woman's Home Companion'' in 1975 to launch ''Mr & Ms'' magazine. Amongst her shareholders was
Christina Ponce Enrile wife of the Defence Secretary
Juan Ponce Enrile. The magazine struggled for some years before it broke even due, Apostol says, to a crowded women's magazine market.
Apostol published a series of ''Mr & Ms'' supplements authored by
Nick Joaquin
Nicomedes "Nick" Marquez Joaquin (; May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004) was a Filipino writer and journalist best known for his short stories and novels in the English language. He also wrote using the pen name Quijano de Manila. Joaquin was conferr ...
- re-tellings of Philippine legends and mythology which were later bound as ''Pop Stories for Groovy Kids'', recognized as an important contribution to the history of children's fiction in the Philippines.
Politicalization
During the dictatorship of
Ferdinand Marcos, Apostol used the variety magazine as a platform to air anti-government views, publishing articles that would otherwise be banned in less independent media. In December 1982 the National Intelligence Bureau summoned eight women journalists including Apostol for interrogation at an army camp - described by outright "intimidation" by
Ceres Doyo, one of the women interrogated. When opposition leader
Benigno Aquino Jr.
Benigno "Ninoy" Simeon Aquino Jr., (; November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac. Aquino was the husband of Corazon Aqui ...
was assassinated, Apostol launched a weekly supplement to ''Mr & Ms'' devoted entirely to anti-Marcos politics, ''
Mr & Ms Special Edition
''Mr. & Ms. Special Edition'' was a weekly opposition tabloid magazine published from 1983 to 1986 that played a pivotal role in bringing about the downfall of the regime of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.
Background
''Mr. & Ms. Special Ed ...
''.
Examples of articles published in ''Mr & Ms'' viewed as anti-Marcos
These examples were contained in the National Press Club publication ''The Philippine Press Under Siege Volume II''
* "The Silencing of Letty Magsanoc" (by
Salvador P. Lopez, from 'Freedom of the Press', ''Mr & Ms'', July 28, 1981)
* "The Letty Magsanoc Story" (by
Leonor J. Aureus
Leonor or Léonor is a short form of the given name Eleanor.
People bearing the name include:
*Leonor Beleza (born 1948), Portuguese politician
* Leonor Briones (born 1940), Filipino academic and civil servant
* Leonor de Cisneros (died 1568), ...
, originally submitted to ''Celebrity'' magazine but subsequently pulled by the author because of censorship. ''Mr & Ms'', August 25, 1981)
* Freedom of the Press series, ''Mr & Ms'', August to October 1981)
* "Transcript: President Marcos responds to Eugenia Apostol's questions about the Magsanoc case", ''Mr & Ms'' 1981)
* "Why is Tony Nieva in Jail?" (by
Leonor J. Aureus
Leonor or Léonor is a short form of the given name Eleanor.
People bearing the name include:
*Leonor Beleza (born 1948), Portuguese politician
* Leonor Briones (born 1940), Filipino academic and civil servant
* Leonor de Cisneros (died 1568), ...
, published May 10, 1983)
* "Too Late the Memo (of General Ver)" (by Eugenia D. Apostol, published February 15, 1983)
* "Jose Rizal Lecture" (by
Jose W. Diokno, delivered at the
P.E.N. conference on The Writer in a Climate of Fear July 2, 1983, published by ''Mr & Ms'', July 26, 1983)
''Mr & Ms Special Edition''
On August 21, 1983, opposition leader
Benigno Aquino Jr.
Benigno "Ninoy" Simeon Aquino Jr., (; November 27, 1932 – August 21, 1983) was a Filipino politician who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac. Aquino was the husband of Corazon Aqui ...
was assassinated upon his arrival from exile in the United States. Though the funeral drew over two million people, it was ignored by the media. In a recorded interview, Apostol described her reaction: "Next day, I said: 'What's this? Not a single photo of the funeral in the papers, as if nothing happened.' What really got me was the Times Journal - owned by
Benjamin Romualdez, brother of Mrs.
Imelda Marcos
Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitacion Trinidad Romualdez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who served as the First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power during the dictato ...
. What they printed was the photo of the spectator who was hit by lightning — that was their top news!"
A ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine article that hailed Apostol as an Asian hero, described what she did next: "Apostol fumed. Within days she was printing a tabloid version of her glossy Mr. & Ms. called Mr & Ms Special Edition. It had 16 pages of photographs showing Aquino's body, the multitudes that came to view it, and the massive funeral parade that wound through the streets of Manila for almost 12 hours. The first run was some half a million copies, yet it could not satisfy demand. In the coming months, as momentum built for the People Power revolution that would topple Marcos three years later, Apostol turned the tabloid into a weekly endeavor, putting it out from a raggedy office that, for security reasons, did not even have the publication's name on the door."
Apostol had instructed her staff to put out a special report on Aquino in the September 2, 1983, issue of ''Mr & Ms'' as well as a "special edition" sixteen-page supplement about the funeral. The supplement sold 750,000 copies and had a significant impact in arousing public anger at the dictatorship.
She launched the weekly ''
Mr & Ms Special Edition
''Mr. & Ms. Special Edition'' was a weekly opposition tabloid magazine published from 1983 to 1986 that played a pivotal role in bringing about the downfall of the regime of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.
Background
''Mr. & Ms. Special Ed ...
'', with journalist
Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc (September 13, 1941 – December 24, 2015) was a Filipino journalist and editor, notable for her role in overthrowing the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. She was an icon of democracy. Magsanoc was editor of the crusading ...
as editor. The special edition's masthead declared its commitment to "justice and reconciliation in the aftermath of the Aquino assassination". The public response to the forty-page, black-and-white weekly was described as "phenomenal". Sales rose from two hundred thousand to half-a-million copies, numbers unprecedented in the country. The appearance of the publication was a high moment in the campaign against the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines.
Ferdinand Marcos was toppled by a popular uprising known as the
People Power Revolution
The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of c ...
in 1986.
''Philippine Inquirer'' (weekly)
In February 1985 the trial of the military personnel accused in the Aquino murder commenced, conducted by the Sandiganbayan, a special court for officers of the state. Apostol launched the ''Philippine Inquirer'', a tabloid-size weekly, on February 4, 1985, with herself as publisher and editor-in-chief and a staff of only two writers - JP Fenix and Candy Quimpo (now
Candy Gourlay
Candy Gourlay (formerly Candy Quimpo) is a Filipino author based in the United Kingdom who has been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
Biography
Candy Gourlay was born and raised in the Philippines.
Career Author
Her debut novel ''Tall Story ...
).
Initially focused on the trial, it slowly acquired all the elements of a regular paper. Its final issue came out on December 2, 1985, after the Sandiganbayan handed down its controversial decision acquitting the accused.
''Philippine Daily Inquirer''
When President
Ferdinand Marcos announced in November 1985 that a snap presidential election would be held in February 1986, Apostol saw it as an opportunity for a "concerted anti-dictatorship campaign". Apostol invited some of the country's biggest mass-media publishers to breakfast in her home. The group included:
*
Joaquin "Chino" Roces of the ''
Manila Times
''The Manila Times'' is the oldest extant English-language newspaper in the Philippines. It is published daily by The Manila Times Publishing Corp. (formerly La Vanguardia Publishing Corporation) with editorial and administrative offices at 2/F ...
''
*
Teodoro Locsin, Sr. and
Teodoro Locsin, Jr. of the ''
Philippines Free Press
The ''Philippines Free Press'' is a weekly English language news magazine which was founded in 1908, which makes it the Philippines' oldest weekly English language periodical currently still in print. It is known for being one of the few publicati ...
''
*
Raul Locsin
Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul.
Raul, Raúl or Raül may re ...
of ''
Business Day
A business day means any day except any Saturday, any Sunday, or any day which is a legal holiday or any day on which banking institutions are authorized or required by law or other governmental action to close.
The definition of a business day ...
''
*
Jose Burgos of ''
Malaya''
*
Betty Go-Belmonte
Billie Mary "Betty" Chua Go-Belmonte (; December 31, 1933 – January 28, 1994) was a Filipina journalist and newspaper publisher. She established the STAR Group of Publications which publishes the national newspaper, ''The Philippine Star'' and ...
of the ''
Fookien Times
''The Fookien Times'' () was a daily broadsheet newspaper in the Philippines written in the Chinese language. Founded by Dee C. Chuan in 1926, it was once the Philippines' largest Chinese-language newspaper in terms of circulation.
Although the ...
''.
Apostol's goal was to persuade the group to launch a single daily newspaper in time for the election but the group was largely unenthusiastic. Undeterred, Apostol pushed ahead with a seed capital of a million pesos from the profits of ''Mr & Ms'', using the printworks of Betty Go-Belmonte's family. Apostol originally envisioned a cooperative-owned newspaper but the pressure of events led to the ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' (''PDI'') being registered as a corporation, with the stipulation that only permanent employees could own stocks in the paper. Apostol headed the ''PDI'' as chair of the board of management with Betty Go-Belmonte as vice-chair.
The newspaper started with a staff of forty in a hundredsquare-meter office and a circulation of thirty thousand copies limited largely to Metro Manila. Aided by the high excitement surrounding the election campaign, ''PDI'' growth was dramatic. Its circulation quickly ballooned to a peak of half-a-million copies daily. In just three months after its appearance, it became the leading Philippine broadsheet, accounting for 22.3 percent of the Metro Manila market, making it the country's number one daily in terms of circulation. Demand was so great that production had to be done by five different printers in separate locations in the city.
Marcos dismissed the ''Inquirer'' and other opposition papers as the "mosquito press". Military plans to arrest opposition figures after a Marcos victory were leaked to the press. Apostol's name was at the top of the list. Later, Apostol dismissed the threat, saying, "It was alphabetical."
Juan Ponce Enrile filed suit against Apostol, alleging that she had diverted funds from ''Mr & Ms'' to establish the ''Inquirer''. The suit referred to the use of ''Mr & Ms'' money to capitalize ''PDI''. Apostol contended that the loan had been paid back. The case was dismissed in 1994 but continued until the Supreme Court finally ruled in Apostol's favor in 1998.
In the 1990s the ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' underwent a struggle for power - between Apostol and her managers. Apostol severed all corporate and editorial ties with the ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' on January 26, 1994, resigning from the board and retiring from the paper. She is said to have seen the battle for corporate control to be detrimental to the paper's growth.
Later career
On January 9, 1996, Apostol founded the Foundation for Worldwide People Power (later renamed as Eggie Apostol Foundation in 2012), a non-profit organization based in
Pasig
Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people.
It is located along t ...
with the aim to improve facilities and teaching in Philippine public schools, publish books and produce video
documentaries
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...
about
martial law under Ferdinand Marcos, the
assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr.
Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., a former Philippine senator, was assassinated on Sunday, August 21, 1983, on the tarmac of Manila International Airport (now named Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor). A longtime political opponent of Pr ...
and the
People Power Revolution
The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of c ...
titled ''Duet for EDSA'' (1996), ''
Batas Militar'' (1997), ''Dead Aim: How Marcos Ambushed Philippine Democracy'' (1997), ''Lakas Sambayanan: People Power'' (2002), ''EDSA 1986: Mga Tinig ng Himagsikan'' (2006) and ''Beyond Conspiracy: 25 Years After the Aquino's Assassination'' (2008). During the presidency of
Fidel Ramos
Fidel Valdez Ramos (, ; March 18, 1928 – July 31, 2022), popularly known as FVR and Eddie Ramos, was a Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was the only career military ...
, moves were made to revise the Philippine Constitution to extend the presidential term of office. Apostol published a sixteen-page, tabloid-size satirical weekly called ''Hu! Ha!'', to oppose charter change and expose regressive political practices. The weekly covered the 1998 elections and ran from September 20, 1997, to May 16, 1998.
When President
Joseph Estrada
Joseph Ejercito Estrada, (; born Jose Marcelo Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician and former actor. He served as the 13th president of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, the 9th vice presi ...
called for an advertising boycott of the ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' and sued ''Manila Times'' over a corruption story, Apostol set up the ''Pinoy Times''. Apostol designed it as a popular tabloid for the masses, written in everyday Filipino it attempted to deliver "quality journalism with the price, size and liveliness of a tabloid". From an initial run of 30,000 copies, its regular five-days-a-week edition rose to a circulation of 170,000 in just eighteen months. Its weekend Special Edition sold as many as half-a-million copies. The paper was met with bomb threats, hate mail, and libel suits from Estrada supporters, who at one point published an imitation tabloid in an attempt to undermine the ''Pinoy Times''. A popular uprising - known as
People Power II - forced Estrada out of power in 2001. Estrada's departure sent the sales of ''Pinoy Times'' into a slump. The paper closed on December 21, 2001, after two years in circulation.
Recognition
In the November 2006 issue of ''Time'' magazine (international edition), Apostol and
Letty Jimenez Magsanoc
Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc (September 13, 1941 – December 24, 2015) was a Filipino journalist and editor, notable for her role in overthrowing the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. She was an icon of democracy. Magsanoc was editor of the crusading ...
were cited thus: "Apostol, now 81, and Magsanoc, in her mid-60s, were not firebrands in their younger days. Both were veterans of the lipstick beat, writing for the lifestyle sections of newspapers. But the assassination of Aquino, which sparked [the
People Power Revolution
The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, was a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of c ...
], galvanized Apostol and Magsanoc to break the local media's complicit silence surrounding Marcos' oppressive rule. In late 1985 they phased out ''Mr. & Ms. Special Edition'' and launched the ''[
hilippine Daily Inquirer'', trailblazing a brand of hard-hitting, mischievous, in-your-face reporting that tested the limits of a dictator's tolerance and helped Filipinos win their freedom. 'In three months,' says Apostol, 'the Inquirer had not only helped to oust Marcos, it was also making money.' Today, the Inquirer is the country's largest newspaper and, while sometimes criticized for sensationalism, it has been unflinching in its coverage of government and the Philippines' uneasy transition to democracy."
Apostol was awarded the
Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature & Creative Communication Arts in 2006 in recognition of "her courageous example in placing the truth-telling press at the center of the struggle for democratic rights and better government in the Philippines".
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Apostol, Eugenia Duran
1925 births
Filipino journalists
Living people
People from Sorsogon
Ramon Magsaysay Award winners
Filipino publishers (people)
University of Santo Tomas alumni
Philippine Daily Inquirer people
Women's page journalists