History of Philippine press / Carson Taylor.

History of the Philippine Press

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It was published weekly and also succumbed as a result of
or just prior to American occupation.
This period marked the beginning of journalism in the
provinces. In forty years since there has been practically
no progress. Though there are some twenty-five or thirty
papers published in the provinces, there is not one worthy
to be called a newspaper and, exclusive of some very worthy
venacular publications put out by the missionaries, the combined circulation of all probably does not exceed ten thousand.
During 1885 and 1886 several papers were published of
a humerous and satirical nature. La Puya, Manila Alegre,
El Temblor, El Chiflado and Manalilla are mentioned. None
of them had more than a brief existence.
La Regeneracion, a Catholic daily, was started in October 1886. It was not kindly received by the three dailies
then being published, the Diario de Manila, La Oceania Espaiola and El Comercio, and was ridiculed to such an extent
by the humorous weeklies that it was discontinued. Another was started under the name of El Fenix, Diario Catolico, but was only published five days.
The year 1887 marked the beginning of an era of
greater liberty for the press, due somewhat to the influence
of Despujol, who became minister of the overseas possessions. The censorship was much less strict. To quote Retana, "It was no longer possible for the governor general to
impose fines on a paper for slight offenses, as had been the
case when General Weyler fined the Diario de Manila P200
for publishing the fact that he had left for Mindanao."
April 1, 1887, La Opinion appeared with its first number as a morning daily.
To quote Retana: "It was not so badly treated by its
contemporaries as were the Catholic dailies, La Regeneracion and El Fenix, the previous year. It was well financed
and organized and was destined to become a strong competitor of the old established papers. In June of that year
Benito Quiroga, arrived in Manila as director civil. He is
described as "A small man, young and energetic and obsessed
with a purpose to reform everything reformable, without
cosidering his hosts, the Friars, whom he caused much trouble by every forward step he took. He was looked upon as
an interloper, though his intentions were of the best.
"While he had right on his side, the Friars with Archbishop Payo at their head, opposed him at every turn and
did their best to counteract his activities.