PEACE-MAKER
Jose de Venecia Jr.
Former Speaker of the House
Since its founding in 1900, the Manila Bulletin has been a chronicler of the events and developments that shape our country’s history.
Manila Bulletin’s commitment to responsible, fair, and balanced news reporting is one of its many valuable contributions in nation-building. Indeed, the country’s second oldest newspaper has been a steadfast “exponent of Philippine progress” for more than a hundred years.
As the paper celebrated its 122nd anniversary last Feb. 2, we wish to pay tribute to Don Emilio Yap, whose vision and leadership have deepened and enlarged the influence of Manila Bulletin.
Don Emilio Yap was a publisher in the classic mold of the Americans William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer and the Australian-born Rupert Murdoch. All of these media titans built newspaper empires that came to exercise enormous influence in their country’s development.
During the 30 years, from 1984 until his death in 2014, that Don Emilio headed the Manila Bulletin, the paper became an authority on Philippine events and trends in national business.
He also acquired and enlarged a host of other national and vernacular publications – notably the Liwayway, Bannawag, Bisaya and Hiligaynon – that reached out to Filipinos in almost all the regions and corners of the country.
After pioneering in shipping in the late 1940s, Don Emilio brought home refurbished public works equipment that built highways, bridges, mass housing, and other infrastructure, which helped create the first stirrings of Philippine reconstruction and industrialization after the ruins of World War II.
Don Emilio’s visionary and dynamic leadership in media, tourism, pharmaceutical, education, banking, and many other industries helped propel the country’s transformation and economic development and are among his great legacies that carve a large niche in our nation’s history.
Don Emilio’s immense love for the poor and the underprivileged, as exemplified by his innumerable philanthropy, especially in times of calamities, uplifted countless of our countrymen. When he turned 75 years old in 2000, Don Emilio stopped celebrating his birthday and instead donated to numerous charitable causes in the Philippines and around the world.
Don Emilio became a much-respected informal adviser and confidant to successive Philippine presidents.
This columnist will always be grateful to Don Emilio for co-hosting in September 2000 the historic founding assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) that has now grown to more than 350 ruling and opposition parties in 52 countries in Asia, inaugurating a culture of dialogue and cooperation among the competing political parties at the beginning of the “Asian Century.”
We are proud that Don Emilio’s family, whom he trained well, particularly the current president of the Manila Bulletin, Emilio Yap III, are carrying on his tradition of excellence, discipline, innovation, and service to the Filipino people and the global community.
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We wish to greet our beloved wife, Gina, who will celebrate her 73rd birthday on Feb. 15.
Gina is our family’s “Rock of Gibraltar,” a constant source of strength especially during our many years in Philippine politics and in our foray into parliamentary – and political party diplomacy in Asia and the international community.
We could not have carried out our modest initiatives and causes for our country and the international community without Gina’s unwavering support.
We are proud of her own modest legacy in nation-building, particularly her advocacies for women, mothers, children, and the elderly.
She established, with the congressional spouses, the Haven for Women in Alabang, now with 15 regional centers throughout the country, which rehabilitate women who are victims of rape, incest, domestic violence, forced prostitution, illegal recruitment, etc.; the Haven for Children in Manila, with four regional centers, which shelter streetchildren who are victims of illegal drugs and have committed crimes at their very young age; and the Haven for the Elderly in Antipolo, which serves as a home for senior citizens who have been abandoned by their families.
She also built the INA (Inang Naulila sa Anak) Healing Center in Quezon City which provides free counseling, psycho-social support, and livelihood trainings to mothers who lost a child.
She served twice, from 2010 to 2013 and from 2013 to 2016, as representative of the fourth district of Pangasinan and was elected two times as president of the Association of Women Legislators of the House of Representatives during the 15th and 16th Congresses.
Gina and we have had wonderful yesterdays together, and look forward to many more tomorrows to share with each other and our children and grandchildren.