To all staff and Emilians,
The year 2008 has turned out to be another depressing year in the history of our beloved publication.
It started with more meddling by that joke of an adviser named Dr Leopoldo dela Cruz. As usual, there were more delays in the production of the issues because of his tampering with perfectly good articles. Although the staff under Wendy Guzman were able to eventually produce four issues, still the quality left something to be desired.
Because of his evil ways, the staff planned to resign en masse, but he got wind of the plan and asked them to restore a relationship with him.
Then in March 2008, dela Cruz did an act of betrayal that finally sank his credibility with the publication. He unilaterally barred non-staff members from entering the MAGDALO Office just because Mr Pierre Ordona allowed his crush to use the office computer for typing a thesis. His denial of the staff’s permission to work on what should have been their final issue for the year during the summer did not help his standing.
His brand of corruption demoralised the staff so much that only a few wanted to return the following year.
Schoolyear 2008-2009 began with the uncertainty of how the publication would fare now that practically the entire staff was gutted and threatened to be replaced by an all-new team of puppets. Word came down that dela Cruz was going to be replaced. The man turned out to be Armando Paras. However, the greatest threat to the publication’s honor came within days of dela Cruz’s dismissal…
On June 25, Ma Ye Albiola of EAC-Cavite’s TAMBULI sent the staff a message telling them to work on their grammar first before writing so many criticisms against the school. Her pubmate, Christian Paul Martinez, did the same by creating a thread comparing EAC Cavite to EAC Manila that eventually turned into a TAMBULI/MAGDALO flame war for most of July. The sheer timing of dela Cruz’s termination and the appearance of his former TAMBULI staffers criticizing MAGDALO can only mean one thing: He unleashed these people as a probable act of revenge against the staff perhaps, not to mention the rigging of the qualifying exams to make things hard for incumbents to return.
Soon enough, some of the staff members past and present came out to fight back, even if some thought of it as being the work of ‘easy’ people. Mrs Pia Colleen Chan-Fuentebella sought for the hostility to stop, when she denied herself a chance to see the facts. There are times when it is okay to stay quiet and let things run its course, but there are occassions when it is only proper to fight back when one’s own dignity and honor are gravely in danger. This was one of them.
Eventually, the flaming died down, but Martinez never fully apologized to the staff for acting the way they did. The new Editorial Board, with Ms Erica DA Pabon as Editor-in-chief, quietly assumed office in August 2008…really late by any stretch of the imagination. For unexplained reasons, they were labelled as the NEW Magdalo, up to the point that School of Liberal Arts professor Mrs Aurora Veronika Yumul wanted a NEW tag to be put on the staff box as if they were some fresh-out-of-the-factory product.
This untested lot, who showed much promise, went to a seminar in Baguio in September, but whatever they learned there could not be ascertained. This should have set the tone for a possible return to the CEGP LUNDUYAN seminar in Rosario, La Union, the following October.
Little did anyone know that they were experiencing problems with publishing their first issue (VOL XXIV-1) as the end of the first semester loomed. OSA Dean Estefanio Boquiron would deny the staff their opportunity to go to LUNDUYAN, where the new staff could have learned more about campus journalism than the school’s in-house seminar would ever impart.
The issue was eventually released during enrollment time, but the reception was mixed, due to the different layout and a radically changed nameplate, among others. Despite the marketing as the ‘new’ staff, many glaring flaws soon came to light.
In November, the first real criticism over the first issue came…not from a concerned student, but from one of MAGDALO’s own: former Editor-in-Chief Malou Manuel (2003-2004) BSN 2005.
As narrated by Staff Writer Rachel Ann Francia, Manuel had a copy of the paper and started nitpicking every last part, brashly calling it as garbage compared to the issues she produced and even invited Francia to read her articles. She even slammed the paper down like swatting a bug.
Unfortunately, no copies for the 2003-2004 Board’s issues still remain in the office, and it is known in some quarters that Manuel’s reign was not a good one.
As Christmas loomed, production of the second issue was somehow held up due to certain factors that only OSA knows.
Yet one thing remains clear: the hopes of the editorial board performing as advertised were quickly dashed because of the heavy turnover of the staff, leaving less room for institutional memory and handing down of lessons. They are not the NEW MAGDALO some people in the administration try to market.
As 2009 dawns upon us and we reflect at the things that came to MAGDALO, all the missed opportunities to learn from past lessons and from other student publications, we Emilians are left to ask:
Is there any hope left of salvaging the credibility of this paper?
Can our MAGDALO be overhauled to finally carry the voice of the students, not the administration bastards who comprise the screening committee every year?
When will the EAC administration ever come to realize that the staff cannot perform well if they are not given every opportunity to expand their creative horizons as students and as citizens of this country?
When will the school see the writing on the wall that states all is not well with the publication? When no more student applies to the exams every year? maybe when despite the good work, no student comes along to pick up a copy?
Let us all pray that some good things will come to MAGDALO in 2009, especially as the paper is creeping closer to the 25th anniversary in 2010.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL EMILIANS!
LET OUR FIRE NEVER BE EXTINGUISHED!
LONG LIVE THE MAGDALO EDITORIAL BOARD!
freedomagdalo 