! A dragonslayer In 1987, the Philippine Press Institute published a book "The Dragonslayers of the Countryside" authored by Dr. Crispin Maslog, a distinguished writer and former Dean of Silliman University College of Journalism.

Out of more than 200 provincial newspapers then existing, seven were chosen to be featured in the book, among them the then five-year-old Visayan DAILY STAR, the "youngest" among those included, possibly because of its unique history and composition.

The others were The Ilocos Times, The Baguio Midland Courier, The Sunday Punch, The Bohol Chronicle, The Mindanao Observer, and The Mindanao Cross.

The following is a reprint of the article in the book about the Visayan DAILY STAR.

The Visayan Daily Star: The Newsmen's Newspaper

Although the Visayan DAILY STAR is not the first daily newspaper in Negros Occidental, it is now the only daily in the entire West Visayas region. Its only competition, The Visayan Times, which had been initiated a year earlier by businessmen and politicians, folded up three years after the STAR came into the picture.

The founders of the DAILY STAR were Ninfa Leonardia, Modesto Sa-onoy and Primo Esleyer, all former presidents of the Negros Press Club. All were also minor stockholders and writers of the Visayan Times, then the only daily in the region. Because of some disagreement over policy with the majority stockholders, however, the three broke away from the Visayan Times and decided to invite other journalists and civic leaders to help them put up their own paper.

HISTORY OF THE PAPER

The decision to start a new daily paper was arrived at on March 10, 1982. On April 12, 1982, and 33 days later, the maiden issue of the Visayan DAILY STAR hit the streets of Bacolod and Iloilo.

In those 33 days, 26 persons had agreed to invest and had put up money for the project. Eleven of them were members of local media. About 16 others had pledged to join also as investors but never kept their word.

They had probably been turned off by the warning given to prospective stockholders: that they must consider their contribution as investment for community service and not expect to make profit.

The Visayan DAILY STAR Publication Inc. was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and started publishing with a total of P189,000 in its bank account. Within 10 months, that, plus all the earnings from subscriptions and advertising had all gone into printing costs, salaries, rental, and other expenses.

Furthermore trouble was brewing within the corporations with some members unable to see eye-to-eye on the policies and management of the paper. The impasse was resolved with the members voting Leonardia as compromise president of the corporation. Leonardia assumed as reluctant president in June 1983, with the corporation having a cash balance of almost zero. But with the help of other stockholders, and especially of Sa-onoy, appeals were made to more friends, relatives and community leaders to help put up a printing press.

Several responded, including STAR stockholders, and within a few days, another group, the STAR Printing Corporation, or Starprint, was set up. The group contributed an initial P95,000 with which an IBM electronic composer was purchased.

Starprint composed the materials, another printing press did the camera work, platemaking and graining, and still another ran the copies. This went on for several months. More contributions were solicited, Starpint acquired a camera, platemaking and graining equipment, and finally a SOLNA 124. The STAR was being printed wholly by Starprint by the end of the year.

All the printing equipment were purchased in cash, thanks to the supportive community leaders. They had apparently come to believe in the mission of the paper, and had freely given support, despite being told frankly that they may never see their money again since the printing press would exist mainly to print the paper.

Not one of the investors invited was a politician or a warlord, although some of them offered assistance. Certainly, the paper would have had smooth sailing from the start if it had buckled down to, or accepted "support" from such a group.

And even if it had agreed to be "rescued" by Roberto S. Benedicto or Armin Gustilo, sugar industry bigwigs and Marcos cronies, it would also have folded up since it would mean allowing itself to be used or playing ball with the powers-that-be.

During the snap election, the Visayan Times went all the way for Benedicto, Gustilo and Marcos. Enraged street parliamentarians, including sugar planters, burned the paper in a ceremony at the public plaza, and boycotted it, canceling subscriptions. The paper closed immediately after the election.

The DAILY STAR, while not burned or boycotted, also had its moments of shame. In the days before the snap election, all but one of its seven columnists were identified closely with either Benedicto or Gustilo and wrote only in favor of Marcos.

Today, however, the editorial section has almost complete control over what goes into the paper.

At the moment the STAR has only two regular staff members - the editor and managing editor. Two reporters are on part-time basis. The STAR has also two senior mass communication students from La Salle on internship, and another two students from the University of Negros Occidental on call for assignments to write features and special articles or to gather facts.

Despite its limitations, mostly financial, the DAILY STAR, to the surprise of many, has continued to survive. It has also surmounted its problem regarding editorial policy.

Its staff and founders also believe that it has gained a reputation for credibility, reliability and accuracy, with a high degree of acceptance not only in the community, but also in the world of national and foreign journalism.

Within the five years of its existence, members of the staff have been invited to write and be correspondents for the following:

1. Ninfa Leonardia - Reuter, Business Day, and now Manila Chronicle

2. Allen del Carmen - Associated Press

3. Carla Gomez - UPI, Daily Inquirer

4. Primo Esleyer - Manila Bulletin

Other agencies, both broadcast and print, also contact the DAILY STAR as source, or for confirmation, both in Manila and from the U.S., Great Britain, Germany, and other European and Asian countries.

The initial investment of all the original members was set at a maximum of P5,000 only, so there will be a more or less equal contribution. When difficult times came, however, an appeal was made for additional investment and a few gave again, but no single stockholder has more than P20,000.

THE STAR'S IMPACT

For a young newspaper, the STAR has already created some impact in Negros Occidental. These are some of the STAR's successful crusades.*

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