History of Philippine press / Carson Taylor.

24

History of the Philippine Press

"Liberal public opinion was with him and La Opinion,
which before his arrival had kept away from politics, now
aligned itself with Quiroga.
"Quiroga gained prestige with the liberals day by day
and La Opinion gained subscribers until it got to a point
where, although it was published by Spaniards from the
Peninsula, the paper was more Filipino than Spanish.
"La Opinion, it must be noted was the first paper since
1823 that had dared oppose the religious orders, though it
had not been founded for this purpose and but for Quiroga's
campaign of reform, probably would not have done so.
"The advance of liberal ideas among the natives reached
the danger point and La Opinion was obliged to change its
policy. The climax was reached with the audacious demonstration on May 1, 1883, demanding the expulsion of the
Friars from the islands.
"Polanco, one of the editors, published a signed article
condemning this action. From that date La Opinion ceased
to mention either Jose Centeno, governor of Manila, who
was the idol of the progressive Filipinos or Quiroga, whose
democratic policy it had supported so enthusiastically.
"La Voz de Espafia was started on July 4, as a daily,
backed by the Friars, for the purpose of counteracting the
activities of La Opinion. It was edited by Augustin Alfonso
Moseras, a Catalan.
"Polanco and Bravo, two of the most active participants
in La Opinion went to Spain and Quiroga, finding his reformative policies frustrated, also left the islands.
"La Opinion lost prestige and continued to go down until
April 1889 when Pazo, who was the principal owner called
me (the historian, W. E. Retana) to be its editor and gave
me a free hand to do as I pleased with its policy."
(Retana was at the time editor of a weekly, established
by Manuel Schiednagel, January 10, 1888, called La Espania
Oriental. The policy of this paper was "All for Spain, of
which this country is a part and to which the people owe
the religion, education, progress and general welfare which
they enjoy." This meant a complete change of policy for
La Opinion).
Retana goes on to say: "My direction of the editorial
policy accomplished the ruin of La Opinion. Practically all
of its subscribers were progressive Filipinos. I was not a
reactionary, never had been one, but a passionately patriotic Spaniard, bitterly opposed to the Filipinos who advocated certain reforms which I believed meant the final loss
of the colony to Spain. La Opinion suffered great losses.