Publisher’s Notes

By Ray L. Junia

OpinYon is a responsible advocacy paper. It is not an angry tabloid that detractors are wont to accuse it of. But if taking a passionate stand against abuses by big business means being angry and committing a crime, then we admit our writers, together our editorial staff, stand guilty of being angry and offensive.

That the editorial preference of this paper has hurt big business can not be overstated by the dirty tricks on censorship employed by big money.

One common complaint of our regular followers, buying their copies from our outlets, is that there are no copies to buy and outlets had run out of copies. Reports reaching me say copies are sold out in an hour upon reaching the shelves.

Too good to be true, so we did our own sleuthing. Indeed, it sold out fast on some issues.  We also found out that this is because of an organized effort to buy all copies from all our outlets in Metro Manila. Why? Some big business people do not want OpinYon reaching its readers. And they have the money to do this.

This is censorship done during the pre-Martial Law period of the former dictator of this country, Ferdinand Marcos. This is censorship resorted to when big money cannot buy the writers and the paper does not sell out stories.

On some occasions, we are forced to do a reprint when the number of those asking for copies justify the cost.

This censorship has strengthened our resolve to campaign for direct subscription, and in the process be trusted by advocacy groups and our readers.

We have redefined our priorities resulting in giving more space for stories to allow deeper analysis and articulation on issues of high national interest.

Notice these changes in this issue and the coming issues of OpinYon.

We are most thankful for the continued and growing patronage of this advocacy paper. We pledge not to abandon the cause to educate the people on economic issues affecting consumers, the environment, livelihood for the underprivileged, and advocacy of other groups.