BAGUIO MIDLAND COURIER: Still Standing, But How?
 The Baguio Midland Courier has been around for decades now, but as an Ifugao person, I must admit that I am coming into this near empty-handed. I wouldâve preferred to look into the history of Ifugao press, but it seems as though that would be hard to trace. Not only do we not have any notable publications in the province but the ones that do come to mind that cover events in Ifugao are ones who are academic in nature or affiliated with certain organizations and not entities of their own.
This is my second best option.
I did come across the Midland Courier in the past, although I did not pay it much mind. Of course it wasnât until I did my research did I realize how much of a force it was. It isnât particularly the first publication to circulate Baguio, there were many ones that came before and with it, but it definitely is the oldest one to survive.
Maybe we should start with the context. Begin to the point before it began if you will.
It was the beginning of the 20th Century. The Spaniards left, and the Americans took over, so the logical next step for them is to succeed at where the past colonizers have failed. One of those things is to take political control over the Cordilleras. That kind of explains why Cordillera in general is more American than it is Spanish, adapted culture-wise.
So here steps into the picture, dear old Baguio City, which was revered by the American troops for its cool climate, in contrast to the scorching tropical weathers of the lowlands. They thought it would be a good idea to turn the place into a vacation spot. That of course lead to the modernization (by western standards) of Baguio City.
Where am I getting at? Good question.
Itâs the mining. Of course it is. A couple of publications at the time questioned the intentions of the Americans as to why they were so eager to construct the difficult Benguet Road no matter how irrationally high the spending for it was. It couldnât possibly be something as innocent as making vacation houses for the troops, right? Somehow, in retrospect, they were right, but it must be said. If it wasnât for the mining industry in Baguio, the city wouldnât have been as developed, or as popular to the rest of the country, and we wouldnât have our first pieces of homegrown journalism, which is surprisingly also concerning the mines.
Fast forward to World War II, the Japanese took over sovereign power, and Baguio City wasnât safe from the bombs. There was heavy censorship in terms of journalism. The only things that slipped through at the time were propaganda pieces by the Japanese.
Of course this didnât last. Tomoyuki Yamashita surrendered in Kiangan, Ifugao (which only takes a jeepney ride from our house, though Iâve never been to the shrine. Shame.) Little to none of us in the modern day Philippines have any remnants of a successful indoctrination tactic by the Japanese colonizers. They did leave us with a couple of things, though. A lot of generational trauma, and Baguio City being in shambles, along with the rest of the Philippines.
After the war, there was a boom in publications being produced in the city, One of them was Baguio Midland Courier. Because itâs the things in life that you silence that will blow up in your face eventually.
This is part of the efforts to restore Baguio City to its former glory, and again, a huge part of these efforts is the mines. If we learned anything from the Americans, itâs that if we are faced by the threat of economic crash like we are right now during this pandemic, we look to the homegrown mining industry.
The Baguio Midland Courier began its operations in 1947, and was founded by brothers, Sinai and Oseo Hamada. The first issue started with only four pages, four columns on each. Alongside that came its own printing press, Baguio Printing and Publishing Co., Inc.
Right off the bat they swore to live by the motto; Fair, Fearless, Friendly, Free. Which if you come to think of it, is quite a nod to the 5 elements of ethical Journalism; truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and accountability, although I do believe this was coined way after the first issue of the Midland Courier. Also youâd expect a publication called âBaguio Midland Courierâ to have its scope delimited to concerns of Baguio and Benguet, or at least start from that point. Nope.
In the article published by Sinai Hamada, founding editor of Midland Courier at the time, on its first issue, he made it known that it is somewhat of a responsibility for the publication to cover stories of interest for all of Cordillera. He made references to Baguio being the gateway to the rest of the region, thus the wider and more ambitious reach.
The problems around these times were mainly concerning the machinery used for its weekly production. That of which needed some funds. To supplement that, investors and advertisers were invited in and soon enough, five years later to be exact, they would have their hands on the Babcock flatbed printing press, which was capable of producing up to 1800 copies per hour.
The struggle they had to face then was to prove its worth to the Cordilleran masses, which the editors admittedly found difficult. See, people at the time favored the national publications based in Manila and did not see much need for a community publication.
In came the 50s and 60s, which lead to the rise of radio and television as the household media, along with the rest of the world, really. The first radio broadcast in Baguio was from New Yorkâs âVoice of Americaâ, while the first actual Baguio-based radio broadcast began in 1958 with DZBS, otherwise known as Voice of Baguio. Makes sense, right?
Not only that but itâs mother company, Radio Philippines Network or RPN, was responsible for bringing colored television to Baguio City back in 1971, after expanding from radio to television in 1969.
This significantly affected not only the Baguio Midland Courier but also the community paper industry in general at the time, in terms of advertising revenue.
While looking for parallels in Philippine History that I can correlate to the Midland Courierâs timeline, one question stuck to mind; Did Baguio Midland Courier shut down during Martial Law?
Turns out, it didnât. it was garnering some prestige in the early 70s if anything. Although according to a research by Kenneth Robles (2016) there was a significant drop in sales during this period, only to skyrocket again as soon as Martial Law ended. But get this, there was an increase in obituary entries during the time of the Martial Law. Quite a dark thought to ponder upon.
1986 was when the EDSA Revolution happened and the country saw another boom in terms of Media and Journalism. Capitalism was back in style, everywhere. Reagan was the president in the United States at the time. His âReaganomicsâ policies reeked in our country somehow. There was an air of competition in general amongst the media outlets. Everyone had a bit of taste for some greed and luxury. That was until the earthquake happened.
One of the most prevalent pictures to come out of the 1990 Luzon Earthquake was the image of the ruins of the Hyatt Hotel, located then at Camp John Hay, Baguio City. I watched this roughly 2 hour live broadcast of the 1990 earthquake by ABS-CBN, where they interviewed this woman who said that this might just be Godâs punishment to Baguio being âtoo materialisticâ.Â
The internet came to the Philippines in 1994 and became more popularized at around 1997. The Baguio Midland Courier officially went online in 2007. Apparently majority of the consumers of its online format are Overseas Filipino Workers.
Today, Baguio Midland Courier stands strong in their 74th year, and has proven to be resilient in withstanding all of the turbulent events and difficult competition that came and went with the times. With all the accolades under their name, the news, commentaries, editorials, and adverts tailor-fit for the Baguio City and Cordilleran lifestyle has made Baguio Midland Courier a significant part daily Bagui living.
And to that, I pay nothing but respect.