During the waning months of my stint as Communications Secretary to then President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III, I had a talk with the Chairman of the Manila Bulletin, Mr. Basilio C. Yap, who had been my classmate at the MBA program of the Asian Institute of Management (AiM) in the late seventies. He asked me if I was thinking of running for political office and I said ‘No, I prefer to work with the Manila Bulletin.” That became a reality on Sept. 1, 2016 when I joined this media organization and opted to resign from our alma mater where I had served as a Professor for 28 years.

Why did I opt to join this newspaper?

It is part of a group of companies imbued with a deep appreciation that responsible corporate citizenship is important, and that this could be attained through governance with integrity. Aside from the Manila Bulletin, the Yap family holds controlling interests in Philippine Trust Company (Philtrust Bank) and Centro Escolar University (CEU) that are both listed companies; the Manila Hotel Corporation and Euro-Med Laboratories, Inc., that largest manufacturer of intravenous dextrose and high-quality parenteral fluids.

It may be noted that except for Euro-Med that began operations in 1988; the four other firms are century-old organizations founded upon solid bedrock in terms of enterprise visibility and growth prospects.

Don Emilio Yap willed that his major companies be listed in the stock exchange to concretize their fidelity to the canons of good governance. He tapped men and women of known probity and integrity to serve in the boards.

Among those I have worked with are former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr.; former Senator Alberto Romulo; former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral; former Senator Jose Lina, Jr.; former Science and Technology Secretary William Padolina and his spouse, former CEU President Dr. Cristina Padolina; Rep. Georgina Vera Perez-De Venecia; and former Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor and General Counsel Juan de Zuniga, Jr.

Most recently, four new members joined the Manila Bulletin Board, namely: former Agriculture Secretary and University of the Philippines President Dr. Emil Javier; former Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato de la Peña; and former Department of Information and Communications Technology former Secretary Ivan John Uy.

The ethic of hard work and integrity is writ large in the corporate DNA of the Yap Group of Companies. Don Emilio Yap, who was born in Fujian province migrated to the Philippines where he studied and worked in a business owned by his grandfather in Manila, before he moved to Dumaguete City where he worked as a storekeeper. He began his business career in 1942; during the postwar period he engaged in selling pre-used Jeep vehicles, mindful that mobility was a priority need for reviving the economy.

He has been a steadfast supporter of the Philippine Red Cross. In his honor, there is now a facility in its headquarters named Don Emilio T. Yap Blood Apheresis Center, a facility that enables health care providers to treat certain medical conditions by segregating red blood cells from white blood cells, platelets, and plasma.

As the oldest newspaper of record in the country that was established in 1900 as a shipping journal, the Manila Bulletin has the distinction of being the newspaper that has maintained continuous operations except for a brief period after the declaration of martial law in September 1972.

Bulletin Today was the name adopted during the martial law period. I recall former Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Crispulo Icban, Jr.’s narrative that he patiently waited for a designated officer in Malacañang to vet and approve every issue of the newspaper before it went to the press. He recalled that Don Emilio prioritized the livelihood of the employees at a time when the commercial publishing industry was locked down due to national security concerns.

As I near the completion of a decade of service with Manila Bulletin, I am filled with gratitude and fidelity to an organization that fulfills its avowed commitment to be “the exponent of Philippine progress.” Although I did not have the opportunity to work with him directly, I witnessed how Don Emilio was respected and admired by President Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III when the latter attended the anniversary celebrations of the Manila Bulletin in 2011, 2012 and 2013. I joined the hundreds who paid their respects when Don Emilio passed away on April 7, 2014 at the age of 88.

Today, his bust stands at the lobby of the Manila Bulletin building in Intramuros, Manila, which has since been transformed into an avant garde coffee shop that has become a favorite among students at nearby universities in historic Intramuros – a fitting testimonial to his greatness as a Filipino entrepreneur and philanthropist.