{{short description|Daily newspaper published in Cebu, Philippines}} {{For|the now-defunct American publication by the [[Foundation for Economic Education]]|The Freeman (disambiguation){{!}}The Freeman}} {{for|the British newspaper established in 1855|The Baptist Times}} {{Use Philippine English|date=June 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Infobox newspaper | name = The Freeman | motto = ''Fair and Fearless'' | logo = The Freeman masthead.svg | logo_size = 220px | image = The_Freeman_of_Cebu.jpg | image_size = 220px | caption = Front page on June 25, 2015 | type = [[Daily newspaper]] | format = [[Broadsheet]] and [[news website]] | founded = {{Start date and age|1919|5|10}}<br />({{Age in days|1919|5|10|format=commas}} issues) | owners = [[The Philippine Star|Philstar Daily Inc.]]<br><small>[[MediaQuest Holdings]] (51%)</small><br> <small> Belmonte Family (21%)</small><br><small> Private stock (28%) </small><ref name=Vanzi>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsflash.org/2004/02/hl/hl100902.htm|title=Cebu's Freeman now a Philippine Star paper|last=Vanzi|first=Sol Jose|year=2004|work=Philippine Headline News Online|access-date=May 30, 2011}}</ref> | political_position = Independent | headquarters = Philippine STAR Building<br>V. Gullas Street corner D. Jakosalem Street,<br>[[Cebu City]], [[Philippines]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/contact-us|title=Contact Us|publisher=The Freeman|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref> | founder = Paulino Gullas | publisher = Jose "Dodong" Gullas | chief_editor = Achilles Modequillo | managing_editor = Lucky Malicay | website = {{official URL}} | language = [[English language|English]], [[Cebuano language|Cebuano]] | sister_newspapers = ''Banat'', ''[[The Philippine Star]]'', ''[[BusinessWorld]]'', ''[[Pilipino Star Ngayon]]'', ''Pang-Masa'', ''Starweek'' | publishing_country = [[Philippines]] | publishing_city = [[Cebu City]] }}
'''''The Freeman''''' is a daily [[English language|English-language]] newspaper published in [[Cebu City|Cebu]], Philippines. It is the longest-running newspaper in Cebu, first published on May 10, 1919. Since 2004, the newspaper has been published by the Philstar Media Group, publisher of the [[Manila|Manila-based]] newspaper, ''[[The Philippine Star|The Philippine STAR]]'', with former owner Jose "Dodong" Gullas retaining editorial control over the newspaper.<ref name=Vanzi/> The motto of the newspaper is "Fair and fearless".
==History== ===Background=== ''The Freeman'''s beginnings can be traced back to the [[History of the Philippines (1898–1946)|American colonial era in the Philippines]] from 1898 to 1946. At the time, the Americans had just granted the [[Filipino people]] several civil and political rights, including [[freedom of the press]], which encourage several enterprising individuals to establish various newspapers in English and the local languages.<ref name=AIJC1>{{cite web|url=http://commmedia.aijc.com.ph/comm_media/timeline/media_history_cebu_century.html|title=The Turn of the Century Media|work=Cebu Media History|publisher=Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication|year=2013|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref>
In Cebu, several local newspapers emerged, such as the first Cebuano-owned newspapers ''La Justicia'' (1899) and ''El Nacional'' (1899), owned by politician, lawyer and journalist [[Vicente Sotto]]. He and his brother Filemon went on to establish other newspapers such as ''El Pueblo'' (1900), ''Ang Suga'' (1901–12), ''Ang Kaluwasan'' (1902–10), and ''La Revolucion'' (1910–41).<ref name=AIJC2>{{cite web|url=http://commmedia.aijc.com.ph/comm_media/timeline/media_history_cebu_american.html|title=Cebu's American Colonial Media|work=Cebu Media History|publisher=Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication|year=2013|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref><ref name=Mojares>{{cite web|url=https://www.cebujournalism.org/bias-and-the-future-of-journalism/|title=Bias and the future of journalism|publisher=Cebu Journalism and Journalists|date=September 24, 2015|access-date=September 12, 2020|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190518041526/https://www.cebujournalism.org/bias-and-the-future-of-journalism/|archive-date=May 18, 2019}}</ref>
Other scions of political families also followed suit and published their own newspapers, such as [[Sergio Osmeña]]’s ''El Nuevo Dia'' (1900–03), [[Mariano Jesús Cuenco|Mariano Cuenco]]'s ''El Precursor'' (1907–41) and ''El Boletin Catolico'' (1915–30), and [[Vicente Rama]]'s ''La Nueva Fuerza/Bag-ong Kusog'' (1915–40). Other newspapers include ''La Epoca'' (1922), owned by Jewish entrepreneur Leopoldo Falek, and the Catholic newspapers ''Ang Camatuoran'' (1902–11) and ''Atong Kabilin'' (1916).<ref name=AIJC2/><ref name=Mojares/>
===Early years=== Inspired by the success of earlier newspapers and the increasing popularity of the English language among locals, lawyer, journalist and scion of the Gullas political family, [[Paulino Gullas]], decided to establish his own newspaper. A former correspondent for the Manila-based newspaper ''The Cablenews-American'', Paulino published the first issue of the English-language newspaper ''The Freeman'' on May 10, 1919.<ref name=Vanzi/><ref name=AIJC2/><ref name=Mojares/>
The newspaper was first published at its office along P. Lopez Street corner Colon Street in Cebu City, before moving to an office at the corner of Juan Luna and Colon Streets later on. The maiden issue consisted of 16 pages: 12 in English and four in Visayan. The next six issues equally divided its pages between English and Visayan sections. Over the years, the number of pages varied from 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 40 and 32.<ref name=Demecillo>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-news/2019/07/22/1936832/freeman-century-fair-and-fearless-journalism|title=The FREEMAN: A century of fair and fearless journalism|first=Jean Marvette|last=Demecillo|publisher=The Freeman|date=July 22, 2019|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref>
The release of ''The Freeman'' soon gave rise to other English-language newspapers in Cebu, namely Jose Avila's ''The Advertiser'' (1922), Mariano Cuenco's ''[[Cebu Daily News]]'', Leopoldo Falek's ''Star'' (1927), Vicente Rama's ''Progress'' (1928), Cesar Mercader's ''The Cebu Herald'' (1938), Cornelio Faigao's ''The Challenger'' (1940), Pete Calomarde's ''Morning Times'' (1943), and Alfredo Cruz and Angel Anden's ''The Pioneer Press'' (1945).<ref name=Mojares/><ref name=AIJC3>{{cite web|url=http://commmedia.aijc.com.ph/comm_media/timeline/media_history_cebu_commonwealth.html|title=The Commonwealth Period|work=Cebu Media History|publisher=Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication|year=2013|access-date=September 12, 2020|archive-date=December 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227085227/http://commmedia.aijc.com.ph/comm_media/timeline/media_history_cebu_commonwealth.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
''The Freeman'' became an important mouthpiece for the Gullas political family and was essential in Paulino's election as representative of Cebu City's [[Legislative districts of Cebu#2nd District|Second District]] in the [[House of Representatives of the Philippines|House of Representatives]] from 1925 to 1927. However, the newspaper temporarily ceased publication in 1934 after Paulino was elected as Cebu's delegate to the [[Constitution of the Philippines#The 1935 Constitution|1934 Constitutional Convention]] from July 30, 1934, to February 8, 1935, that created the [[Commonwealth of the Philippines]].<ref name=Loop>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/food-and-leisure/2012/08/02/833871/freeman-celebrates-its-93rd-anniversary|title='Freeman' celebrates its 93rd anniversary|first=Honey|last=Jarque-Loop|publisher=The Freeman|date=August 2, 2012|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref><ref name=Top100>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-news/2019/06/08/1924700/top-100-cebuano-personalities-paulino-gullas|title=Top 100 Cebuano Personalities: Paulino Gullas|publisher=The Freeman|date=June 8, 2019|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref><ref name=Mojares2>{{cite book|title=Cebuano Literature: A Survey and Bio-Bibliography with Finding List|last=Mojares|first=Resil B.|publisher=University of San Carlos|year=1975|series=San Carlos Publication Series A: Humanities Number Ten|location=Cebu City Public Library|pages=147}}</ref>
The newspaper was not able to return to publication with the outbreak of [[World War II]] and the Japanese bombardment of Cebu in 1941.<ref name=AIJC3/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.library.usc.edu.ph/today%20in%20the%20history%20of%20cebu.pdf|title=Today in the History of Cebu|last=Mojares|first=Resil B.|website=www.library.usc.edu.ph|publisher=University of San Carlos|access-date=May 18, 2019|archive-date=May 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524031621/http://www.library.usc.edu.ph/today%20in%20the%20history%20of%20cebu.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Paulino later joined the [[Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas]] (KALIBAPI), the only Filipino political party recognized by the [[Japanese occupation of the Philippines|Japanese Military Administration]] and became commissioner of its [[Visayas]] chapter. This led to his appointment as member of the [[National Assembly of the Second Philippine Republic|National Assembly]] from 1943 to 1944 during the [[Second Philippine Republic]].<ref name=AIJC3/>
===Post-war revival=== With Paulino's death during the [[Battle for Cebu City|American bombardment of Cebu]] in 1945, ''The Freeman'' would not return to newsstands until 1965 when his nephew Jose "Dodong'" Gullas revived the periodical as a weekly magazine, and then as a daily English newspaper in 1969.<ref name=Top100/><ref>{{cite book|title=The war in Cebu|last=Mojares, Resil B.|others=Bersales, Jose Eleazar R. (Jose Eleazar Reynes)|isbn=9789715390705|location=Talamban, Cebu City, Philippines|oclc=945648989|year = 2015}}</ref> Dodong sought the advice of his father [[Vicente Gullas]] and Paulino's widow Hilda in reviving the paper. He also hired journalists Balt Quinain and Juanito Jabat to manage the paper, with Dodong serving as publisher, Quinain as editor-in-chief, and Jabat as associate editor.<ref name=Demecillo/><ref name=Lacamiento>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/02/22/1895857/freeman-celebrates-100th-year|title=The Freeman celebrates 100th year|last=Lacamiento|first=Grace Melanie|date=February 22, 2019|website=The Freeman|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref>
=== Martial law === After dictator [[Ferdinand Marcos]] placed the entire Philippines under [[martial law]] in 1972, ''The Freeman'' and its printing press were shut down for a month, and one of its columnists, [[Resil Mojares]] (who would eventually be recognized as a [[National Artist of the Philippines]] for Literature) was jailed for several months because he had published columns which criticized the administration of dictator [[Ferdinand Marcos]].<ref name="Maslog1993">{{Cite book |last=Maslog |first=Crispin C. |title=The rise and fall of Philippine community newspapers |publisher=Published by the Philippine Press Institute with funding from Konrad Adenauer Foundation |year=1993 |isbn=971-8703-09-8 |location=Intramuros, Manila |oclc=29830136}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mongaya |first=Karlo Mikhail I. |date=2019 |title=Militant Struggles and Anti-Imperialism in Resil Mojares's The Freeman Columns during the Early 1970s |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/743688 |journal=Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints |language=en |volume=67 |issue=3–4 |pages=557–594 |doi=10.1353/phs.2019.0026 |s2cid=213742855 |issn=2244-1638|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
''The Freeman'' was able to return to publication after a month,<ref name="Maslog1993"/> and was among the few Philippine community newspapers that remained in circulation and dared to publish news and accounts about the excesses and abuses of the regime.<ref name=Demecillo/>
=== Establishment of ''Banat'' === On August 23, 1994, ''The Freeman'' began publishing the [[Cebuano language|Cebuano-language]] tabloid ''Banat'' as demand for printed news and content in the local language surged. In 2019, ''Banat'' celebrated 25 years in circulation as Cebu's leading tabloid newspaper in the vernacular language.<ref name=Demecillo/><ref name=Lacamiento/>
=== Acquisition by the Philstar Media Group and by Mediaquest Holdings === ''The Freeman'' is currently owned and operated by the Philstar Media Group, publisher of the Manila-based, nationally circulated broadsheet ''The Philippine STAR''. The media company, which is owned by the [[Feliciano Belmonte|Belmonte family]], acquired the newspaper along with its sister publication ''Banat'' on August 24, 2004, as part of its strategy of acquiring community newspapers to expand its reach and influence throughout the Philippines.<ref name=Vanzi/><ref name=Demecillo/><ref name=Loop/>
In 2014, Philstar Media Group was acquired by Mediaquest Holdings Inc., the media conglomerate of [[PLDT]] chairman and CEO [[Manuel V. Pangilinan]], making ''The Freeman'' and ''Banat'' part of the MVP Group of Companies along with other publications such as ''The Philippine STAR'', ''[[Pilipino Star Ngayon]]'', ''Pang-Masa'', ''Starweek'' and ''[[BusinessWorld]]''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Agcaoili|first=Lawrence|url=http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/04/01/1307461/mvp-gets-51-star|title=MVP gets 51% of Star|date=April 1, 2014|newspaper=The Philippine Star|access-date=August 5, 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917215841/https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/04/01/1307461/mvp-gets-51-star|archive-date=September 17, 2018}}</ref>
Aside from print, ''The Freeman'' also has an online presence via ''The Philippine STAR'''s website, as well as in social media. In January 2011, the newspaper opened its official [[Facebook]] page,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/thefreemannews|title=The Freeman|publisher=Facebook|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref> followed by a [[Twitter]] page in March.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/TheFreemanNews|title=The Freeman|publisher=Twitter|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref> On May 10, 2019, ''The Freeman'' celebrated its 100th founding anniversary.<ref name=Demecillo/><ref name=Loop/><ref name=Lacamiento/>
==Awards== In its more than a century of operation, ''The Freeman'' has received several accolades from different award-bodies due to its excellent reportage. The newspaper is a consistent award winner in various categories of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) Civil Journalism Community Press Awards since its inception in 1996. The newspaper has won Best in Business and Economic Reporting (1996), Best in Photojournalism (1996, 1998, 2009), Best in Newspaper Design (1996, 1998), Best in Science and Technology Reporting (1996), Best Edited Newspaper (1998), Best in Environmental Reporting (1997, 2015), Best in Fisheries Reporting (2015), Best in Cultural-Historical Reporting (1998) and Best Editorial Page (1998, 2016). In 1999, PPI placed ''The Freeman'' in the awards' Hall of Fame for raking in numerous awards for three consecutive years.<ref name=Demecillo/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://philpressinstitute.net/annual-civic-journalism-community-press-awards-winners/|title=Annual Civic Journalism Community Press Awards Winners|publisher=Philippine Press Institute|date=June 7, 2017|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref>
''The Freeman'' was also named by the [[Rotary Club of Manila]] as the Best Regional Newspaper in 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2018.<ref name=Demecillo/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-news/2017/06/22/1712880/freeman-bags-rotarys-regional-newspaper-award|title=The FREEMAN bags Rotary's regional newspaper award|first=Kristine|last=Quintas|publisher=The Freeman|date=June 22, 2017|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref> It has also received accolades from the Cebu Archdiocesan Mass Media Awards for Photojournalism (2017) and Column Writing (2011, 2015).<ref name=Demecillo/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/cebu-news/2011/08/29/721338/freemans-fr-roy-wins-camma-award|title=FREEMAN's Fr. Roy wins CAMMA award|date=August 29, 2011|publisher=The Freeman|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/31034|title=8 of 11 Cammas for SunStar Cebu, SuperBalita|first=Rebelander|last=Basilan|date=September 13, 2015|publisher=SunStar Philippines|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref>
In 2018, it received three Gawad Tugas awards—Environmental Story of the Year, Environmental Journalist of the Year, and Environmental Publisher of the Year—from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Region 7.<ref name=Demecillo/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-news/bottom-article-list/2018/06/29/1829014/resort-recognized-environmental-practices|title=Resort recognized for environmental practices|first=May|last=Miasco|publisher=The Freeman|date=June 29, 2018|access-date=September 12, 2020}}</ref>
==Notable columnists==
* [[Jose Gullas]], current chairman and CEO of ''The Freeman'' and nephew of its founder Paulino Gullas * [[Josephus Jimenez]], lawyer, author and former undersecretary of the [[Department of Labor and Employment]] * [[Leo Lastimosa]], TV and radio personality, former anchorman of ''[[TV Patrol Central Visayas]]'' * [[Cherry Piquero-Ballescas]], sociologist and retired professor at the [[University of the Philippines Diliman]] * [[Korina Sanchez]], TV and radio personality, former anchorwoman of ''[[TV Patrol]]''
==See also== *''[[Cebu Daily News]]'' *''[[SunStar Cebu]]'' *''[[The Philippine Star]]''
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== *{{Official website}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, The}} [[Category:The Philippine Star]] [[Category:Daily newspapers published in the Philippines]] [[Category:Newspapers published in Cebu]] [[Category:Newspapers established in 1919]]