Macapagal’s economic legacy and the emergence

of business journalism in the Philippines

Felipe F. Salvosa II

BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC journalism is a fairly recent development in the

Philippines. In the first place, we were late adapters of the American tradition of
journalism, which traces its roots to the publication of shipping information in the
1700s. While the Spanish-language press in colonial Philippines began such practice
more than a century and a half later (continued by the Manila Daily Bulletin,
originally a shipping journal founded by Americans in 1900), business sections did
not become standard in Philippine newspapers until the 1950s (Mojares, 1999), and
regular, English-language newspapers dedicated to business, financial, and
economic news did not appear until after the mid-1960s.

Regular press coverage of business and economics also came as a result of

the economic development. Pre-war journalism was preoccupied with the country’s
efforts to gain independence from US colonizers, and the internecine fights between
political leaders. After World War II, the subject matter was reconstruction and war
reparations; journalists also chased after crime stories (Locsin, 1994). The domestic
economy was tied to that of the United States because of parity privileges under the
Bell Trade Act of 1946, and foreign goods were restricted under an import-
substitution policy. The Central Bank, the economic entity in-charge of regulating
money supply and the supervision of banks, did not come to being until 1949. The
old Manila Stock Exchange had been up and running since 1927 in Binondo, but the
issues were quite limited; the stock market table of the 1950s did not even occupy
one-fourth of the business page.

By the 1960s, more economic issues entered the national discourse as

articulated by the press. It was the era of “decontrol.” Import substitution gave way
to exporting industries. The peso was devalued for the first time in nearly six
decades. Presidents began to gauge their successes in terms of the growth of the
economy as measured by either gross national product (GNP) or gross domestic
product (GDP) (Locsin, 1994). Government economic planners began producing
five-year economic programs. The nascent field of business journalism was no
longer one of the “soft” sections, and journalists had to learn and relearn to be able
to understand abstract concepts and terminologies such as GDP, money supply and
the balance of payments.

Thomasians have long distinguished themselves in various fields of

journalism – political, opinion, lifestyle and entertainment, sports. Is there some sort
of a UST legacy in business and economic journalism?
I. The economy opens up under a Thomasian president

Economic liberalization policies such as the peso’s overnight devaluation

versus the US dollar and the removal of severe restrictions on importation –
implemented during the administration of the Thomasian President Diosdado P.
Macapagal (1961-1965) – were said to have provided the impetus for the
emergence of business and economic journalism as a serious field in the Philippine
press.

Raul Locsin1, hailed as the father of business journalism in the Philippines by

Manila dailies when he died in 2003, cited Macapagal for his use of GNP as a
measure of his administration’s success:

It was around the early sixties when business and economic

reporting took palpable shape. It began to assume importance
when President Diosdado Macapagal measured the achievement of
his administration in terms of GNP. He was the first chief of state to
do so (Locsin, 1994).

Locsin – whose uncle was Arsenio “Arsenic” H. Lacson, the legendary

Thomasian journalist and former mayor of Manila – said Filipinos earning a living
began to feel the effects of economic developments here and abroad in the 1960s,
citing developments such as devaluation and the liberalization of importation by
decree of the Macapagal administration. It would be worthwhile here to revisit the
economic legacy of Macapagal2, which is almost always smeared by his unpopular
decision to deport an American business magnate who had corrupted a number of
Filipino politicians, in what is known as the Stonehill Affair.

Macapagal, the best educated among Philippine presidents, had an economic

agenda even before he became Chief Executive. Armed with a Ph.D. in economics 3
from UST, Macapagal sought to shift national activity toward economics and away
1
Raul Locsin is said to have studied at Ateneo de Manila, but his name is also found on the list of UST
students. In Academic Year 1951-1952, for instance, he was in the second-year journalism section along
with Wilfrido Nolledo and Bienvenido Lumbera, two great writers of the generation. Born Sept. 19, 1931
in in Silay, Negros Occidental. Locsin learned about the printing business in his father’s Spanish-language
daily El Civismo. He later joined the Manila Chronicle’s business staff, and went on to put up the
Economic Monitor, the country’s first business publication, in the mid-1960s. Later he founded his own
business daily, Business Day. He founded BusinessWorld in 1987 after shutting down Business Day
because of labor problems. In 1999, Locsin was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism,
Literature and Creative Communication Arts. He died on May 24, 2003 at 71.
2
Diosdado P. Macapagal (Sept. 28, 1910 - April 21, 1997), the ninth president of the Philippines, finished
law in the University of Santo Tomas in 1936 and topped the bar the same year. He finished his law
doctorate and Ph.D. in economics in 1947 and 1957, respectively, at the Graduate School of UST. After an
early career as government lawyer (he was assistant to his UST law professor, President Jose P. Laurel, in
the wartime puppet government) and diplomat, Macapagal became congressman in 1949. He won the vice-
presidency in 1957 even if his Liberal Party running mate, Jose Yulo, was defeated by the Nacionalista
Carlos P. Garcia. Macapagal in turn defeated Garcia for the presidency in 1961. Macapagal himself was
denied a second term by erstwhile Liberal Ferdinand Marcos in the 1965 polls. In retirement, he became
president of the 1971 Constitutional Convention. He is credited for moving Independence Day to June 12
from July 4.
from politics (Macapagal, 1968). His dissertation, titled “Imperatives of Economic
Development in the Philippines,” called for the “abolition of exchange controls to
release the inner vigor of the economy,” with US assistance. This was not entirely a
pro-American position. Macapagal believed that devaluation or revaluation was the
way to expand Philippine exports to other markets, arguing that the fixed peso-
dollar exchange rate of P2:$1 was in fact favoring Americans who had preferential
trade access to Filipino-made goods (Macapagal, 1957). It should also be noted that
Macapagal, who had worked at the Philippine embassy in Washington, was part of
the team that secured the 1955 Laurel-Langley Agreement. The historic trade deal
scrapped the Bell Trade Act’s controversial provision that the exchange rate could
not be modified without the consent of the president of the United States.

Macapagal assumed the presidency in 1961 amid chronic deficits in the

balance of trade. Budget deficits led to a balance-of-payments crisis in 1957, with
international reserves dwindling to their lowest level since 1949. By the end of the
1950s, the Central Bank had only $90 million left in reserves (Dakila Jr., Delloro, and
Redoblado, 2009). There was simply not enough dollars in the financial system,
which was governed by a complex system of currency controls that was in turn
supported by import restrictions. Wasting no political capital, Macapagal abandoned
the Garcia administration’s populist “Filipino First” policy. The long-held
industrialization policy anchored on import substitution did not lead to sustained
economic growth, much less stem the current-account deficit. In fact, manufacturers
of import substitutes merely reprocessed imported raw materials. (Baldwin, 1975;
Dakila Jr., et. al., 2009). Exporters also lobbied for a change in policy.

The President thought the Philippines needed to go back to the “free

enterprise” framework espoused by one of his predecessors, Commonwealth-era
leader Manuel L. Quezon, another UST alumnus. The first order of the day was
economics. In 1962, Macapagal broke tradition and dispensed with the pleasantries
for his first State of the Nation Address (SONA). Instead, he presented his Five-Year
Integrated Socio-Economic Program (1963-1967), crafted by a group of economists
and business leaders led by Sixto K. Roxas III. To make a dent on poverty, Macapagal
believed that economic growth should be double that of population growth, which at
that time was at a high of 3.2% annually. “In order to meet the requirements and to
improve overall levels of living,” Macapagal said, “gross domestic product needs to
grow over the five-year period at a compound rate of 6 per cent. The annual growth
rate must rise from 5.5 per cent between 1962 and 1963 up to 7.0 per cent from
1966 to 1967.” Macapagal of course was looking ahead at being reelected to another
four-year term, but it was the first time an economic plan, with clear economic
targets, was discussed at length by a president in the public arena.

The plan called for annual investments of P2.4 billion or a total P12 billion
over five years, to be funded by savings. Macapagal wanted savings to go up to 16%
3
Macapagal the economist remarked that there was no assistant or clerk in-charge of economic matters in
Malacañang. The next time a Ph.D. in economics would become president was when Gloria Macapagal-
Arroyo, his daughter, was installed in Malacañang by the 2001 “People Power 2” uprising.
of the nation’s income by 1965 from 12.7% in 1960. Foreign investments would
account for a little over a tenth (Jurado 2003) of investment spending.

A vital component of the plan was decontrol. It was an economic measure

and an anti-corruption strategy as well. Government’s prerogative to allocate
limited foreign exchange to the different sectors of the economy had become, in
Macapagal’s words, a “cesspool of corruption that brought disgrace to the nation.”
Macapagal did it via Executive fiat, as Congress was dominated by the opposition. In
a display of political will, he fast-tracked the decontrol plan earlier laid down by
monetary officials in the previous administration, which was in danger of being of
derailed by the lobbying of protectionist sectors of the economy. Macapagal also
knew his opponents in the export sector could potentially gain a windfall from the
devalued peso. In contrast, his predecessor Carlos P. Garcia tarried on the decontrol
schedule and held back in 1961, fearing a backlash in the national elections that year
(Emery, 1963).

On Jan. 21, 1962, the new president approved Central Bank Circular No. 133,
“after working for 20 straight hours” (Macapagal, 1968), abolishing the P2:$1
exchange rate in place since 1903. Under “full decontrol,” the exchange rate settled
at P3.90:$1. Reporting to Congress the day after allowing the peso to lose almost
double its value, Macapagal said:

It is my privilege to inform Congress that yesterday, January 21,

1962 I approved a unanimous decision by the Monetary Board of
the Central Bank, embodied in its Circular No. 133, to institute the
first large measure of genuine decontrol in our foreign exchange
transactions since the establishment of exchange controls over a
dozen years ago. This is both in fulfillment of our electoral pledge
to the Filipino people and in compliance with the provision of the
law requiring decontrol by 1963. In an atmosphere of freedom, our
entrepreneurs and citizens may now achieve prosperity for
themselves and the country not through artificial advantage but
through their talent, integrity and industry (Macapagal, 1962).

It was actually a multiple exchange rate system. The rules still required
exporters to exchange 20% of their dollar receipts with the Central Bank at the old
rate4. Devaluation, meanwhile, was accompanied by the liberalization of imports. As
a safeguard, Macapagal again used his executive powers to modify the tariffs on
some 750 items, the “second line of defense.” He took advantage of an “obscure”
provision in the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act of 1907 allowing the Executive to raise
tariffs when Congress was not in session (Henares, 2003). Emery (1963), in a report
to the US Federal Reserve System (later published), described the situation as
follows:

On January 22, 1962, after over 12 years of exchange controls, the

Philippine people suddenly found themselves free to import any
commodity they desired or to engage in any type of foreign capital
4
The 20% requirement was removed in 1965 ahead of the presidential elections.
 transaction that interested them. They could exchange pesos freely
for foreign exchange and deposit it in the U.S. or buy U.S. stocks, or
deposit it in Swiss banks, or use it to buy French perfume, or, in
short, use it in any way they desired. Before this, the bulk of import
and capital transactions were subject to governmental controls,
even down to the purchase of a 10-cent postage stamp from the
U.S.

Decontrol was supported not by the US government directly but by the

International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Washington-based multilateral institution
that came to the rescue of nations with balance-of-payments problems in exchange
for a set of economic prescriptions called “conditionalities.” But Dakila, et. al. (2009)
noted that while the Philippines entered its first IMF program in 1962 to support
decontrol, these standby arrangements or SBAs amounting to $40.4 million annually
up to 1965 were not used. (The Philippines did draw $28.2 million in January 1962
under a drawing arrangement prior to the first SBA.) It would not be until much
later, during the Marcos regime, when the Philippines began to depend heavily on
IMF emergency funding to plug deficits in the country’s balance of payments.

How did the economy fare under Macapagal? As shown in Baldwin (1975),
the pace of growth in GNP was faster in the period 1961-1965, at 5.6%, compared
with 5% in 1956-1960 (See Figure 1). Net domestic product growth kept its 5%
pace. Growth in GNP per capita was also faster at 2.1%. Macapagal did not achieve
his targets; after all a president could only do so much within a short four-year term.
In his final SONA, Macapagal told Congress and the people: “[W]e are pleased to
report to the Nation that for the second year of the Program, FY 1964, gross
domestic product increased by 5.7 per cent, which is much closer to its target rate of
5.8 per cent; thus, the gap between achievement and aspiration is growing smaller.”

But the balance of trade became positive for the first time since after the war.
In the period 1961-1965, the economy managed to eke out a $1.95-million trade
surplus, with total exports hitting $682.77 million versus imports of $680.82
(Baldwin, 1975). Export growth hit a peak of 31% in 1963. The year before that,
exports grew by 11.3% (See Figure 2).

Today, floating exchange rates and the free flow of trade are among the
pillars of the modern economy. In the Philippines, tariffs continue to be adjusted up
or down by executive order when Congress is not in session. Macapagal’s five-year
plan, while not the first one, was “the most comprehensive and perhaps most
‘revolutionary’ of the development plans” (Jurado, 2003), and had the backing of
both the Executive and Legislative branches of government. It was an “official” plan.
Macapagal subscribed to “growth” models that remain today’s norm:

The Plan was clearly informed by an acquaintance with growth

models. Among other things, it emphasized the crucial importance
of saving, computed the incremental capital-output ratio, referred
to the advantages of being a latecomer in the technological field,
 and referred to other considerations mentioned in the growth
literature. For instance, with respect to the incremental-capital-
output-ratio, it said: “If from 1950 to 1959, the equivalent of P1.00
of additional output in the economy could be achieved by over-all
investments of fixed assets and inventory of P1.36, in the coming
years it will likely take between P2.50 and P3.00 to achieve P1.00
of growth” (Jurado, 2003).

Figure 1: Gross National Product (1946-1971)

20,000 25.0

18,000

16,000 20.0
GNP (in million pesos, 1955 prices)

14,000

12,000 15.0

Growth rate
Gross national product
10,000
Growth rate

8,000 10.0

6,000

4,000 5.0

2,000

0 0.0
1946-1950 1951-1955 1956-1960 1961-1965 1966-1971

Source: Baldwin (1975)

Doronila (1997) noted that the plan was a “socio”-economic one, rather than
simply economic. The Integrated Socio-Economic Program, together with the
Agricultural Land Reform Code that abolished tenancy and established the Land
Bank of the Philippines, were two important reforms espoused by Macapagal, the
“Poor Boy from Lubao,” to ensure that economic gains reach the masses. Today, the
buzzword is “inclusive” economic growth.
 Figure 2: Exports and Imports (1946-1971)

1200

1000

800
(In million US dollars)

Exports
600
Imports

400

200

0
1946-1950 1951-1955 1956-1960 1961-1965 1966-1971

Source: Baldwin (1975)

These achievements by themselves could qualify Macapagal for the title “Best
President,” without even mentioning diplomatic milestones such as the creation of
Maphilindo (Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia, the forerunner of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations) and the revival of the Philippines’ claim to Sabah;
moving Independence Day to June 12 from July 4; and his leadership qualities as
well as personal character5. Henares (2003) wrote that presidents who lost
reelection were often “downgraded” and regarded as “somehow flawed,” but
Macapagal, who lost6 to Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1965, was “probably the best
Philippine president.” One of the first business reporters in the country, Romero
(2004), described the Macapagal years as the “halcyon days.” Veteran journalist
Amando Doronila, who covered Philippine diplomacy, called Macapagal a
“visionary” and the only “social reformist president” in the second half of the 20 th
century for swimming against the current of powerful economic interests.

5
Henares (1994) praised Macapagal, along with President Ramon F. Magsaysay, for not succumbing to
nepotism. He said of Macapagal: “His sister Lourdes Macapagal Bautista, summa cum laude and bar
topnotcher, was forbidden to practice law while he was president. His brother Angel who was his secretary
for years, was told to keep away from Malacañang.” Hilarion M. Henares, economist, business executive,
television host and opinion-maker, served under both presidents as Cabinet member.
6
Macapagal (1968) attributed his defeat to the Iglesia ni Cristo bloc vote which went to his rival, Senate
President Marcos. Macapagal said it was beneath the dignity of the presidency to kowtow to the Iglesia
executive minister at the Iglesia central temple (then in San Juan), just to get the fabled bloc vote.
 Macapagal’s reversal of protectionist policies set the ball rolling and allowed
the big economic issues of the time to enter the national discourse. Eventually,
Thomasians helped fill the business pages of Manila’s big metropolitan dailies. Later
on, products of UST’s journalism program helped establish the first economic
publications in the country in the 1960s.

II. The beginnings of business journalism in the Philippines

During Spanish colonial rule, there were a few periodicals that carried what
could be considered the earliest forms of business reporting in the country
(Mojares, 1999).Trade sheets and newspaper columns published shipping
information and prices of commodities. Revista Mercantil, established in 1865, was
published weekly. Another example was El Comercio (1858-1925), which absorbed
Revista Mercantil. The philanthropic organization Real Sociedad Economica Filipina
de Amigos del Pais published a monthly Boletin from 1882 to 1899. Mojares said:
“These were examples of what may be termed specialist publishing, intended not so
much for general readers as for merchants, agriculturists, and entrepreneurs who
needed practical information for the conduct of their business.”

The business section was the “happy result” of the departmentalization trend
that found its way into the country’s English-language newspapers and news
magazines after World War II, according to Jose Luna Castro, editor of post-war
Manila Times. Another factor was the emergence of Filipino business and financial
leaders “as a class by themselves.” Previously, there was no market for business
news, except the few Americans that controlled most of economic activity.
Eventually, laws were passed to increase Filipino control of the economy. Filipino
businesses were given tax incentives and even subsidies. Government economic
policies and the activities of these pioneer industrialists and financiers became
newsworthy (Castro, 1966).

But while newspapers had business sections in the 1950s, business reporting
was mostly confined to press releases and government economic publications.
There was little analysis and interpretation of economic news. Reporters who could
not be accommodated in other sections were assigned to the business page. Worse,
newspapers used it for “exchange deals,” where companies got exposure or news
coverage in exchange for advertisements (Locsin, 1994). Newspapers published
“photo releases” of business groups and wrote about businessmen’s speeches. There
were stock market tables but the stock market report came from the international
news services; the same was true for commodities. Occasionally, government
pronouncements on the economy found their way into the mix of stories on page
one, as well as on the editorial page. Locsin described the business section at the
time as a “desolate wasteland.”

According to Mojares (1999), business journalism in the early 1960s still “did
not have much of a status as a specialization. It was the poor cousin to other
journalistic beats and was not as glamorous or exciting as reporting on crime and
politics. In journalism, as in scholarship, economics was considered by many a
‘dismal science.’” By the mid-1960s, newspapers became more comfortable with the
subject matter, to the extent that business news began to be treated as page one
material (Locsin, 1994).

The first credible business publication in the Philippines was the Economic
Monitor, the weekly tabloid set up by one-time UST student and ex-Manila Chronicle
reporter Raul Locsin in the mid-1960s as editor (Calero, 1997). The financier was
Rufino “Fenny” Hechanova7, President Macapagal’s top adviser who was out of a
government position upon the election of Marcos to the presidency. Circulation
reached 8,000 copies from only 3,000. Locsin, however, lasted for only a year due to
disagreements with Fenny Hechanova on the way the paper was run. Calero (1997)
wrote that Locsin wanted a printing press for the Monitor, but had published news
stories critical of Hechanova’s prospective funding sources.

One of the Monitor’s founding reporters was Amado “Jake” P. Macasaet, who
studied journalism in UST and was editor of the Varsitarian’s “Cadets” section. When
Locsin left the paper, Macasaet did not join him8. A few years later, it was Macasaet’s
turn to leave the paper when the owner, Cecilio Hechanova, decided to sell it to the
Jacinto family. Macasaet had written stories critical of Fernando Jacinto’s Iligan
Integrated Steel Mills, Inc. (later the National Steel Corp.), the failed steel firm that
got billions in loans from the state-owned Development Bank of the Philippines.

The Monitor did not last long. Locsin, who craved for editorial independence,
moved on to found his own paper, Business Day, on Feb. 27, 1967. The weekly
business tabloid published by Enterprise Publications, Inc. (head office at the
National Press Club building) eventually became Southeast Asia’s first daily
business newspaper. Wrote Mojares:

Bannering the motto, “A newspaper is a public trust,” it aimed to

cover and explain economic events for decision makers and the
public and stay independent from pressure, even from its
advertisers and stockholders.

It started as a weekly with a circulation of ten thousand, turned

twice-weekly, and became a daily by the end of its first year. It was
rough going in the early years. Locsin borrowed money from banks,
sold shares of stock, and did most of the work as publisher, editor,
business manager, and writer. His wife, Leticia Locsin, was a great
partner and a writer herself, having edited movie and trade
magazines. Printing had to be jobbed out. Locsin had to rely on the
sense of dedication of a young staff of reporters, who had to go

7
Hechanova was Macapagal’s “boy wonder.” He became press secretary, trade and industry secretary,
executive secretary, and finally, finance secretary. Hechanova had seized the Evening News from the
deported businessman Harry Stonehill.
8
Interview, Nov. 24, 2011.
 through months of not being paid, as the paper struggled to survive
in Manila’s highly competitive media environment (Mojares, 1999).

The pioneer Business Day staff had Thomasian journalists. The managing
editor was Exequiel S. Molina, the famed musician who finished journalism at the
old UST Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. Locsin also brought in colleagues from
the Chronicle – his former editor Rafael “Ralph” Perez de Tagle (who was also part of
the Monitor) and another Philet, Ramon Almario (Dee and Locsin, 2003). Another
UST graduate, Tara S. Singh, helped Locsin put up the Economic Monitor and
Business Day (Locsin, 1999).

Business Day was, like all the other newspapers, shut down with the onset of
Martial Law in 1972. But the Marcos regime, which considered business news as
benign, allowed it to reopen shortly afterward. The paper was not for mass
circulation and its readers were mostly policymakers and those in the business
community. Marcos thought the paper was apolitical, and used it as an exhibit of the
“latitude he allowed the press” (Santos, 2003). Locsin eventually dropped his
neutral stance and carried stories critical of Marcos, as the regime began to weaken.
Business Day published position papers by anti-Marcos businessmen, and the
stinging exposé on Marcos wealth by California’s San Jose Mercury News. It was the
only credible newspaper at the time, as attested by the foreign press which relied on
it for Philippine news.

The paper outlived martial rule but did not last long in the post-Marcos era.
Locsin shut it down in 1987 when employees attempted to unionize and went on
strike. He stood for freedom of the press, but was still a capitalist, after all (Monsod,
2003). Months later, the non-striking employees convinced Locsin to go back to the
business of publishing a newspaper. The broadsheet BusinessWorld, this time
published by BusinessWorld Publishing Corp., came out on July 27, 1987 and
became the successor of Business Day. Locsin again took in Lito Molina as senior
editor and Tara Singh as his assistant and opinion columnist. A truly independent
paper, it became 70% owned by its employees through their provident fund. One of
the nation’s top businessmen, Enrique Zobel, contributed money to help
BusinessWorld, believing in Locsin’s journalistic principles. The amount was
converted into 30% equity9, although Zobel never interfered with the editorial
process. When Locsin died in 2003, his newspapers Business Day and BusinessWorld
were hailed by a major daily, in an editorial, as two of the most important papers in
Philippine journalism in the last 50 years. (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2003).
BusinessWorld is marking its 25th anniversary in 2012.

Business and economic reporting also flourished in the major dailies,

allowing a number of Thomasian journalists to make a name for themselves not only
here, but also overseas. The Chronicle’s Generoso “Gene” G. Marcial became
president of the National Press Club and went on to write stock market columns for
the venerable The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Forbes.com. Dende
9
Zobel’s stake was later on sold by son Iñigo to businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan.
Montilla, one of Asia’s first female business editors, got into Hong Kong’s South
China Morning Post. David-Gallardo (2011) and Mercado (2010) mentioned Montilla
as having studied journalism in UST.

At the Manila Times, Raul Locsin’s younger brother Alfio, who graduated
from Philosophy and Letters in 1954 (in the same batch with Gene Marcial and
Ramon Almario) was business editor along with Ernesto Ilustre. It was the heyday
of the Times, which at the time was the “only truly independent paper” (Santos,
2003). Alfio mentored the likes of Satur Ocampo and Jake Macasaet. Alfio closed the
Construction and Real Estate page and covered business beats such as the Central
Bank. Alfio was also part of the pioneer Business Day staff (Patolot, 2003). The next
section goes into some detail on the careers of Alfio Locsin and other Thomasian
journalists who were among the first in the specialized field.

III. Pioneering UST alumni in business journalism

A. Alfio Lacson Locsin

Unlike his older brother Raul Locsin whose affinity is with the Ateneo de
Manila , Alfio went to UST’s Faculty Philosophy and Letters and earned the
10

Bachelor of Literature or Litt.B. degree in 1954. He was classmates with Ramon D.

Almario and Generoso G. Marcial. Early on, Alfio and Raul displayed expertise in the
interpretation and analysis of economic developments (Doronila, 1999). Soliven
(1999) described Alfio and Raul as believing in “journalism as an honorable and
proud profession, just as politics is, or should be, an honorable and proud calling.”
Both honed their craft in community papers. Their mother Soledad was the sister of
Arsenio H. Lacson, the acerbic columnist who became Manila mayor. (Soledad
Lacson-Locsin translated Rizal’s Noli and Fili into English in her twilight years.) Alfio
and Raul worked in their father Don Aurelio’s El Civismo, the Spanish-language
periodical published in their hometown Silay, Negros Occidental that had a three-
decade run before being shut down permanently by martial rule. Before moving to
Manila to join the Manila Times, the brothers Locsin published the English-language
weekly Country Post (Calero, 1997).

The late brothers Alfio and Raul “greatly admired” Lacson, who had the
nickname “Arsenic” (Soliven, 1999). But it was Alfio who mirrored the great Arsenic.
Doronila (1999) recalled that “Alfio, had the flair and physique of Arsenic, who was
an amateur boxer at the University of Santo Tomas.” He was also “flamboyant,”
compared with Raul who was subdued. Wrote Doronila:

Raul and Alfio broke away from the limited opportunities for
professional growth of provincial journalism and joined the big city
papers. Raul joined the business section of the Manila Chronicle,
10
See, however, footnote 1.
 which had a soft heart for talented Ilonggo recruits, and Alfio joined
the business section of the Manila Times. Somehow, I had a sense
that there was quiet competition between the more flamboyant
Alfio and the more laid-back Raul. But there was a consistent
quality in both – they worked harder than most journalists and
they went to the bottom of things, seeking explanations to the
news.

Both had a fetish for interpreting and decoding the often abstract
and hard-to-understand language of economics, finance and
business. In those days, journalists were tantalized by the appeal of
what was then the fad of the day—investigative journalism and
during the ferment of activism, the so-called “new journalism,” in
which the journalist was both a witness of the news as well as an
activist engaged in the creation of news (Doronila, 1999).

Another contemporary, Benigno (1999), said Alfio was better known than
Raul in their early careers and was “was feisty, a two-fisted prose knuckler. He
stormed the inner citadels of business somewhat like his uncle Arsenio H. Lacson.”

B. Amado P. Macasaet

Jake Macasaet trained under the Locsin brothers, separately at the Monitor
and the Times. Macasaet, though, did not finish his journalism studies, for he was not
allowed to enroll the semester following a disagreement with Fr. Jose Cuesta, the
Dominican moderator of the university paper, the Varsitarian, over an enterprise
story. Macasaet claimed to have discovered that the Department of Military Science
and Tactics had been selling brass name plates at a 15-centavo profit over those sold
for 35 centavos at Morayta Street.11 Macasaet joined the Philippine Herald as a cub
reporter in 1963. At the same time he handled public relations for the National
Cottage Industry Authority. He then joined Raul Locsin at the Monitor, only to leave
upon learning that the owner wanted to sell the business paper to the Jacintos.
Macasaet had written critical stories on the Jacintos’ Iligan steel mill. He continued
to expose the failed state-backed steel venture at the Times with Alfio Locsin as
editor (1967-1972). When the Times was shuttered by Martial Law, he moved to
Bulletin Today (1973-1974) and then the Times Journal (1974-1975) (Venturanza,
2002).

Macasaet later became business editor for Ang Pahayagang Malaya, the daily
founded in 1981 by fellow Thomasian Jose Burgos Jr. Burgos sold the losing paper to
Macasaet in 1986. In 2009, Macasaet converted Malaya into a business newspaper
to rival BusinessWorld, naming it Malaya Business Insight after his original business
column. His son Allen runs Monica Publishing, the publisher of the popular tabloid
Abante. Recalling his colorful career:

11
Interview, Nov. 24, 1979.
 I have no claim to being a good journalist. But I dare say that I am
one of the most industrious. I remain to be a business reporter and
publisher of Malaya Business Insight at the same time.

In more than 50 years in journalism I never got an award. Clearly,

the reason is I do not deserve it. But even if I did, I would never get
it because I am required to fill out a form extolling my virtues. If I
had any, that is for my friends and enemies to talk about. Not me.

I was chairman-president of the Philippine Press Institute for 15

years. Elected by acclamation.

My career as a journalist is colorless. I have never behaved like a

publisher, least of all a newsman. I do not think that journalists are
a special mold. That is why I hardly ever joined a campaign for
justice when one of us is killed.

I am no different from the man next door. I just bear in mind that I
must keep the faith in my profession (Macasaet, 2011).

C. Generoso G. Marcial

Gene Marcial earned his credits at the pre-Martial Law Manila Chronicle
before making it to the big league. At The Wall Street Journal, he talked to fund
managers, investors and analysts to fill the widely followed column “Heard on the
Street” and “Abreast of the Market.” The stint lasted seven years. By 1981, he was at
Business Week, picking stocks for the column “Inside Wall Street.” He stayed on for
28 years until Bloomberg bought Business Week. In 2009, he moved his column to
the Internet, at AOL Daily Finance. He joined Forbes.com in April 2011 to write a new
column called “Street Beat.” The website newsbios.com, repository of the “Business
Journalism Hall of Fame,” said of Marcial: “Mr. Marcial’s columns are so influential –
a favorable mention in his column often results in a rise in the stock price on the
first trading day the magazine becomes available to the public – that others often
cite him, including James J. Cramer, founder of TheStreet.com.” Marcial became
famous for his 1995 book that exposed the “underbelly of Wall Street,” Secrets of the
Street: The Dark Side of Making Money, published by McGraw-Hill. The Amazon.com
description of the book had this to say of Marcial:

At one time, the author’s column was being sold by employees at

Business Week’s printer to stock brokers before publication. Based
on the inside information in the column, brokers invested in stocks
before the news release. Today, his weekly column is written under
strict security.

D. Exequiel S. Molina
 Lito Molina finished his Litt.B. in 1952, two years ahead of Alfio Locsin’s
graduating class. Molina’s classmates included Rogelio Buhay, Nealdio H. Cruz, and
Arnaldo B. Moss, journalism stalwarts all. In his unique way, he combined music (his
passion), and journalism (his profession). While he was among the top editors of
Business Day, he was first and foremost a jazz musician and music critic. He was
born into a “musical household” on May 20, 1929, being the son of classical musician
Antonio Molina. Lito Molina became a reporter in 1954 and Evening News deskman
four years later. At the Evening News, he was also editorial writer, features editor,
and music reviewer. He formed his own band, Jazz Friends, in 1955 and went on to
participate in international music festivals. Despite a stroke in 1982, he remained
active in the music industry (Defensor, 2003).

Upon Molina’s death at age 73 in March 2003, colleague Vergel O. Santos

wrote a moving tribute in BusinessWorld:

You should have seen and heard Lito on the saxophone when both
his hands were good. And you should have known him beyond
what you saw and heard. I somehow did.

I already had been more or less a regular in his audience and a

nodding acquaintance, as one journalist is bound at least to become
with another in their small, fraternal world, before I met him
properly. And that was when I joined Business Day, the forerunner
of this paper, as a copy editor for news. He had been one of its
founders and was associate editor, in charge of Arts and Leisure.

We were a lean weekday operation. Our editorial department could

fit in a barroom, so that when Lito took out and played the bamboo
flute he always kept in his desk drawer, as he sometimes did during
a slack, his tune carried fairly well all around unamplified. From my
prized seat, at a desk in the same cluster as his, not only could I
hear him better and watch him closer as his deft fingers worked
the holes; the aggressive learner that I was, I also profited from
what lessons in jazz appreciation I got from him at work (Santos,
2003).

E. Tara S. Singh

Tara Singh, in the words of Raul Locsin’s wife Letty, was the “compleat
facilitator, the publisher’s factotum.” “Name it,” said Leticia Locsin, “he could press
wrinkles off, fix everything up. And still write a column. And be the reporter to beat
on any beat he covered. Reporting, after all, is not merely writing a report. Reporting
is getting the news and making sure it gets printed, and on time. And getting the
news was something Tara did best.” Singh took care of the business permits when
Raul Locsin was putting up Business Day and BusinessWorld. He did the same for
Sun-Star Manila. (Locsin, L., 1999).
 Singh got an A.B. degree from UST in 1953, the same year Ophelia Alcantara
and Lilia Amansec graduated from college. He later got a law degree from Manuel L.
Quezon University. Like Lito Molina, he started a journalistic career in the Evening
News, moving in the same circles as the Chronicle’s Raul Locsin whom he had known
since his UST days. Tara Singh later joined forces with Raul Locsin – with whom he
shared the same birth date (they were born a year apart) – but the relationship was
characterized as on and off. Singh’s BusinessWorld column was “Shoptalk,”
containing juicy tidbits, verified or otherwise, that would never make it to the news
pages. As Business Day reporter, Singh scoured wastebaskets to look for office
memos, writing his story on a yellow pad, coupon bond or table napkin. Recalled
Leticia Locsin (1999): “If the desk needed documents to back up a story, he was
adept at ‘borrowing’ confidential correspondences and putting them back in place
before anybody was aware they were missing.” Singh eventually move on to writing
columns for other papers like Sun-Star Manila and the Manila Standard.

***

The trail blazed by the likes of Alfio Locsin, Jake Macasaet, Gene Marcial, Lito
Molina and Tara Singh allowed the later generation of Thomasian journalists
including Antonio “Tony” Lopez (Asiaweek, BizNewsAsia) and Victor Agustin
(Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Standard Today) to chart solid careers in business
and economic reporting. Today, the business journalism course under the
journalism program of the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters tries to live up to that fine
tradition.

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