''People's Journal'' is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper
published by the ''Philippine Journalists Incorporated''. Augusto "Gus" Villanueva,
(with interviews to key persons).'' Retrieved June 9, 2018. its former editor-in-chief, and Antonio Friginal
were founders of the company.
''People's Journal'', with its sister publications, tabloids ''People's Tonight'' and ''People's Taliba'', magazines ''Women's Journal'' and ''Insider''
and now-defunct broadsheet ''Times Journal'', is part of one of the country's "biggest daily newspaper publication group."
''People's Journal'' and ''People's Tonight'' were among the widest circulated daily tabloids.
Augusto Villanueva
Augusto "Gus" Buenaventura Villanueva was the ''Philippine Journalists Inc./Journal Group of Publications'' editor-in-chief and publisher until his death on January 14, 2022, at age 83.
He was also a leading sportswriter.
He worked first as a ''
Manila Times'' sportswriter in 1955 at age 17, while he was a
University of Santo Tomas (UST) student, before becoming a ''Times Journal'' editor in 1972. He was the president of the Philippine Sportswriter Association (PSA) in the 1970s and 1980s where he initiated the weekly PSA Forum.
He is credited for the popularization of
ten-pin bowling
Tenpin bowling is a type of bowling in which a bowler bowling form, rolls a bowling ball down a wood or synthetic lane toward ten pins positioned Tetractys, evenly in four rows in an equilateral triangle. The goal is to knock down all ten Bowlin ...
. He later became the media relations officer of the
Philippine Olympic Committee
The Philippine Olympic Committee Inc. (POC) is the National Olympic Committee of the Philippines.
The POC is a private, non-governmental organization composed of and serve as the mother organization of all National Sports Associations (NSAs) in ...
(POC).
History
During its establishment on December 7, 1978, only newspapers owned by
Marcos cronies were permitted to operate by the government since most of them were shut down after President
Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
declared
nationwide martial law in September 1972. Former workers of the ''Philippines Herald'', which was closed at that time, established the Philippine Journalists Inc. (PJI)
under the management of the late
Benjamin Romualdez, former First Lady
Imelda Marcos' younger brother.
PJI was allowed by the government to operate on October 21, 1972,
with its flagship paper,
''Times Journal''.
Villanueva, a former ''Manila Times'' sportswriter, was one of its founding editors.
Inspired by ''
New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative
daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'', ''People's Journal'' was first launched as a broadsheet on December 7, 1978, with Villanueva, its co-founder,
assigned as editor-in-chief and with the help of Vergel Santos, assigned as managing editor, and Friginal. Although with legitimacy, however, they were stopped by the Print Media Council due to lack of permit to print. Only with permit acquisition, they could relaunch the paper a week later.
In 1979, Villanueva co-founded its sister newspaper, ''People's Tonight''.
Content in newspapers were being
censored by the Media Advisory Council at the start of martial law.
According to Villanueva, the government "had somebody looking at our stories, a military man checking our stories."
Their headquarters were then located at the building now owned by ''
The Philippine Star
''The Philippine Star'' (self-styled ''The Philippine STAR'') is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines and the flagship brand of the Philstar Media Group. First published on July 28, 1986, by veteran journalists Betty Go-Belmonte, ...
'' at
Port Area, Manila. They later moved to the old ''
Manila Chronicle'' building, later renamed
Benpres Building, in
Pasig City until their return to the Port Area (''Times Journal Bldg.,'' now ''Journal Bldg.'') in 1977 with the acquisition of a new printing press.
Aside from ''People's Journal'', Villanueva was also taking charge of publications ''People's Tonight'' (bilingual paper, in English and
Tagalog,
launched in 1979), ''Taliba'' (its
Tagalog counterpart, launched in the early 1980s), and ''Insider'' and ''Women's Journal'' (launched upon re-acquisition in 2004, by that time, ''Times Journal'' already ceased its publication).
"People's Tonight"
(with interviews to key persons).'' Retrieved June 9, 2018.
In the early 1980s, the paper increased its popularity with the feature of the comics of
Carlo Caparas.
After the end of administration of Pres.
Marcos, in 1986, all PJI's shares were sequestered by the
Corazon Aquino
María Corazón "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipino politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines and the first woman president in the country, from Presidency of Corazon ...
administration's
Presidential Commission on Good Government for the suspicions of ownership and being part of the ill-gotten wealth.
This resulted to decrease of its sales and circulation since it focuses on government-related events. Majority of these were ordered by the
Supreme Court to be released in 1991. The company was later returned to the owner's associates in 2004.
Meanwhile, upon the sequester, Villanueva and some former co-employees established its rival tabloid ''News Today''. He became the head of the ''Journal Group'' again upon re-acquisition and served as its publisher and editor-in-chief until his death.
''Journal Publications, Inc.'', the publisher of the tabloid, is currently owned by the Romualdez family, through Congressman
Martin Romualdez, in which they also acquired the ownership of a broadsheet newspaper ''
Manila Standard'' in 2010.
Controversies
''People's Journal's'' sister tabloid ''People's Tonight'' was criticized for their featured headlines in its March 13, 2022, issue that, according to the supporters of
Vice President
A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
(and 2022 presidential aspirant)
Leni Robredo, containing stories seems to be biased against her.
On May 6, 2022, Robredo's spokesperson
Barry Gutierrez filed a cyber libel complaint before the
Quezon City
Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...
Prosecutor's Office, against six ''Journal Group'' staff over an April 21 ''Journal News Online'' (the paper's news website) article, which also appeared on ''People's Journal'' and ''People's Tonight'', claiming
Communist Party of the Philippines founder
Jose Maria Sison was allegedly Robredo camp's campaign adviser. The claims, which Gutierrez described as false, were denied by both Robredo and Sison. Those sued for the violations of ''
Republic Act 10175'' and the
Revised Penal Code
The Revised Penal Code contains the general penal laws of the Philippines. First enacted in 1930, it remains in effect today, despite several amendments thereto. It does not comprise a comprehensive compendium of all Philippine penal laws. The ...
included an article author and the
ate formereditor-in-chief Villanueva, as well as news site owner ''PJI Web News Publishing'', and ''Philippine Journalists Inc.''
See also
*
Manila Standard
References
External links
*
*
{{Metro Manila Newspapers
Daily newspapers published in the Philippines
English-language newspapers published in the Philippines
Newspapers published in Metro Manila