As the Manila Bulletin celebrates its 126th anniversary, I pause to recall its role in my own life, spanning over 60 years and counting.

As a small child in the early 1960s, I often see my father, with his trademark tobacco pipe hanging from his lips, sit at a table in our restaurant in the morning, with the day’s Manila Daily Bulletin (later Bulletin Today) in hand. My father had learned English from the GI’s during the American occupation, even without a formal education locally. He’d speak to me in English to get me to speak the language better.

When I learned to read, I developed a voracious appetite for reading anything I could get my hands on. I’d read my text books and when I was done, read whatever I find at the moment, comic books, short novels, dictionaries, encyclopedias and the day’s Manila Daily Bulletin, after my papa had finished reading.

I’d read the newspaper from cover to cover, including the editorials and columns. Columnists whose names I remember and were impressed with were Jose Guevarra, Amando Doronila, Teodoro Valencia and Max Soliven. I enjoyed their wittiness and facility with the English language. Of course, I enjoyed the cartoons and the movie ads. I didn’t like the society pages so much, thinking how overdressed and fancy the socialites were with their bouffant hairdos rising a foot or so in the air.

So it was during my elementary and high school years. Then, when I had to leave for UP Diliman for my premed course, I lost contact with the daily news. But during those pre-digital years, the Bulletin was the only source of advertising nationally. It’s Sunday classified ads section were an entire section in itself, and I enjoyed browsing the different categories but was interested mainly in the used cars and pet ads.

It was how I’d look up different dog breeds and visit the advertised puppies. From there, I developed my love for dogs and when I found the breed of my choice, the Pekingese, it started my lifelong devotion to dogs. I started breeding and exhibiting my Pekingese as a medical student and never looked back. I would also advertise in the Bulletin classified ads when I had an extra puppy for sale. Now, I’m a recognized international dog judge, traveling to different countries to adjudicate in international dog shows. My Pekingese are recognized nationally and internationally with champions in many countries in Asia, Europe, America and Canada.

In the USA, I had finished 0ver 50 American champions and was awarded Breeder of Merit Gold Level by the American Kennel Club. Locally, I have been awarded Breeder of the Year multiple times with many of my dogs winning Best in Show, Best in Group, Best Philippine Born, and becoming Champions, Grand Champions and Hall of Famers. All these because I browsed the Manila Bulletin classified ads!

The eighties were spent in residency and fellowship training in New York and Connecticut. When we came back home in 1987, it was a fresh start and I found that although the Bulletin had changed ownership, it hadn’t lost its appeal to me. The Sunday classified ads were still going strong then until just a decade ago when digital advertising drove newspaper ads out of style.

When I was asked to be a columnist for the Bulletin in 2022, I didn’t hesitate and accepted the offer. To me, it was a chance to speak my mind and have interested people read my thoughts on whatever subject I wrote about.

As it was during the Covid-19 pandemic, many of my columns then were about the scourge and how people can avoid being infected. As a medical professional, I wrote about the impact of the pandemic on health workers, many of whom contracted the disease and died, including my cardiologist classmate, Raul Jara, and my wife’s classmate, Sally Rodriguez-Gatchalian who were among the first victims of the disease.

When executive editor Pinky Colmenares nominated me for best columnist in the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) awards, I was like, ok thanks, and thought nothing of it afterwards. Then she called me excitedly to tell me I won!

As a newbie columnist, I couldn’t have wished for more. Imagine how a little kid who started reading the Manila Daily Bulletin so many years ago ended up being a columnist for the same newspaper over half a century later! Is it fate, or just plain luck? And to be awarded just over a year since I started writing, that is simply just icing on the cake. Whatever may be the case, I’ll still be writing for the Manila Bulletin as long as I can and allowed to.

Thank you, Manila Bulletin! Happy 126th!