The role of a free press is to counter official lies and serve as a check against the powers that be.
During the 20 years of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s dictatorship, the people’s alternative media published counternarratives against official propaganda and disinformation from newspapers, TV stations, and radio outlets controlled by the dictator and his rapacious cronies.
Alternating from underground to mosquito presses, this band of small, independent publications went beyond the barricades of Marcos Sr.’s censorship and published social realities as they were: wanton human rights violations, colossal plunder of the nation’s wealth and patrimony, the hamfisted suppression of civil liberties, transformation of Mindanao and other provinces into howling wilderness through militarization, and his collusion with the United States to perpetuate itself in power.
During those four historic days of the people’s uprising in 1986, the free press at EDSA was not a mere stenographer of events as they unfolded. They became active participants in the shaping of history, becoming front-seat chroniclers of how our people’s united, nonviolent, and militant action gave the decisive blow that dethroned the Marcos dictatorship.
The reportage of the mosquito press on the brazen cheating by Marcos Sr. and his stooges in the 1986 snap elections helped in tipping public opinion against his sham claims of victory. The alternative media, in print and in radio, narrated instances of ballot snatching, vote buying, vote manipulation, killings, and other tactics Marcos loyalists had employed to steal the elections and declare themselves the false winner.
During the People Power, the mosquito press and Radio Veritas were the people’s eyes and ears on the ground, fearlessly reporting the succession of events that eventually culminated in the despot’s downfall.
Thirty-nine years after the dethronement of the Marcos regime, his scion is at the threshold of power, and another election beckons from the horizon.
More of the same threats against our democracy exist: disinformation, vote buying, political violence, the perpetuation of dynastic politics, and the specter of fraud.
The current Marcos presidency and its erstwhile Duterte allies climbed to the echelons of power on the throes of a disinformed public. They show no sign of slowing down in their chorus of lies.
Both factions intoxicate public and electoral discourse with false information, nefarious rhetoric, and inflamed exchange of ideas. Both cliques serve as the foremost contributors to the further erosion of a public discourse underpinned by reason, goodwill, and facts.
Hence, the legacy of the underground and mosquito presses that challenged and vanquished the Marcos dictatorship’s deception deliver both a reminder and a challenge to this generation of journalists: a reminder of what a genuinely free and independent Philippine press could assert; and a challenge to do more, to write more, to publish more stories that matter, and to refuse the temptation of acting as mere spectators and note-takers during yet another tumultuous crossroad in our nation’s history.
Without a free and fearless press that countered the dictator’s falsities and checked on his totalitarian power, Marcos Sr. could have absolutely stolen the 1986 elections. There would not have been a powerful catalyst that gave birth to the People Power uprising.
In the end, an independent and critical Philippine media had worked—and could now work valiantly to empower the public with facts that would impel them to challenge and curb the abusive legacy of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., his son, and Rodrigo Duterte’s clan.
The year 2025 is as much of a historical juncture as 1986 had been. The press is now called to rise to the occasion.
Let our coverage and commitment to pound on the lies of the authorities be our strongest weapon against the legacy of lies and doublespeak that bedevil both the Marcos and Duterte political reigns. Let the lessons of history be our unwavering guide. Let the truth be our collective countercheck to vicious power.
This pooled editorial is signed by the following media organizations and publications:
College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines
The Polytechnician
Bataan Peninsula State University – Orani Campus
The New Builder
Mapúa University
The Animo
De La Salle University Manila Senior High School
The Bedan Herald
San Beda College Alabang – Tertiary Schools
Trinity Observer
Trinity University of Asia
Regina
University of the Assumption
The DEMOCRAT
University of Nueva Caceres
ThePILLARS Publication
Ateneo de Naga University
Tinig ng Plaridel
UP Diliman College of Media and Communication
The Benildean Press Corps
The Official Student-Journalists’ Organization
of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde
For those who would still like to sign this pooled editorial, please message us on our social media handles or email us via eb@upjournalismclub.org with the link to your logo, your organization’s name, and its connected educational institution (if any).
