Vice Mayor graces FNS’s first year anniversary celebration
BAGUIO CITY — Vice Mayor Faustino A. Olowan pepped the editors and staff up with his words of motivation during the first year anniversary celebration of budding local news media outfit Filipino News Sentinel (FNS) on Monday, December 20, 2021.
In his speech as the guest speaker, the vice mayor acknowledged the struggles and difficulties that the media industry is facing since the onset of the pandemic aside from the effects of the emerging digital technology.
He also recognized the prevailing audit requirements as to government notices which needed newspaper publication of general circulation.
“It is not the end of the tunnel. I think I know that you’re struggling but in struggling, you will see, you will understand, and you will know what would be the future of your newspaper,” Olowan said.
Being part of the defunct newspaper The Gold Ore of then Baguio Colleges Foundation (now University of the Cordilleras), Olowan mentioned that during the martial law days, there were only a few newspapers in Baguio City that really were fighting for the cause of the ordinary.
He said reporters then suffered harassment and were jailed for bringing out issues during the martial law days.
“Today, with democracy, reporters still suffer harassments which is not supposed to be because the constitution mandates that total freedom of the press has to be enjoyed,” Olowan said.
Olowan said that as an accredited media outfit, FNS is a key player as to what is happening in the city, and considers the media outfit’s role as a way of balancing the power of the press which is guaranteed by the 1987 constitution.
“As long as you bring out what is to be heard or what is supposed to be done, I believe you are covered by the freedom of the press,” Olowan said.
Olowan expressed the city government’s reassurance for FNS and hoped for a partnership in the days to come.
FNS Executive Editor and Chief Operations Officer Mario D. Oclaman hardly believed that a year had already passed with the outfit still thriving.
“Ang bilis ng panahon, di natin namalayan sa gitna ng mga pagsubok at pagsisikap natin ay narating natin ang isang taon. Ang hirap pala ng nag-uumpisa na kulang pa tayo sa capital,” Oclaman said.
(Time went by so swiftly that through diligence in the midst of challenges, we have come to our first year. It’s indeed very difficult to start with meager resources).
FNS is an online local news media outfit founded on December 8, 2020, brought about by the six siblings of the Oclaman Family, springing from the experiences of their father Mario, who had been a newsman for almost three decades.
FNS aims to disseminate reliable and relevant information that is family-oriented and envisions an informed community heading towards being progressive while promoting culture and a healthy environment.
FNS has the following as its core values: 1. God-fearing, 2. Patriotism, 3. Commitment to culture & healthy environment and, 4. Integrity. Merriam del Rosario//FNS
