BAGUIO CITY – Baguio Midland Courier, a prominent newspaper in this city and the oldest in the Cordillera region, will close on July 22 after 77 years in circulation.

The weekly BMC founded by Sinai Hamada published its first issue on April 28,1947.

Newsmen and newsstands were caught by surprise and expressed sadness over the closure.

"It is sad to lose a colleague in the industry and as a newspaper publisher, this situation is also worrying, because it could happen to me as well. We know that many newspapers have closed, whether local or national, due to the decline of the business caused by the digital platform," said Thom Picana, publisher of the weekly Amianan Balita Ngayon here.

Picana advised employees of BMC to be strong to be able to overcome this challenge.

Newsstands were concerned as they will lose hefty commissions from the sale of BMC.

"Every week, it used to be that Midland was the first to be bought and during the day my 300 copies were sold out. It's sad because many newspapers are closing down and we vendors are getting less and less, because others are changing jobs, because they are no longer making money selling newspapers," a vendor said.

Antoinette Hamada, publisher and chief operations officer, announced on BMC's social media page that they still have three issues left, July 7, 14, and 21, before they shut down on July 22.

"The decision to cease publication was a difficult one and the management deeply regrets any impact this may have on our esteemed readers, newsboys, supporters, contributors, and advertisers," Hamada said.

BMC has received several accolades in the past years and became a member of the Philippine Press Institute Hall of Fame in 2017.