GAME-CHANGER

OpinYon aspired to become a game changer in the media front, preferring to tell stories not carried in the mainstream media.

It immediately caught attention, providing an alternative source of news, claiming boldly, “we take a stand.”

Its tallboy format, bold headlines, and eye-catching graphics caught the attention of readers seeking to know what others think.

It gained praises and support from many of its readers. But some were not happy, being the subject of its hard-hitting, analytical pieces on various socio-economic issues that affect the ordinary Filipino.

“Our original goal is to become the ‘voice of the unvoiced’ – the ordinary Filipino who bears the brunt a oligarchy-controlled government and brazen abuses by the rich and the mighty,” Ray Junia, OpinYon’s publisher said.

“We were also frustrated by the fact that these business oligarchs have also controlled media entities in the Philippines, which in turn have deprived Filipinos of space on which they can air their grievances,” he added.

It’s hard to believe that just over twelve years ago, OpinYon, the country's first (and probably the only) weekly newsmagazine, first hit the newsstands sometime in September 2010.

Not only did OpinYon provide a fresh new image to the country’s media landscape with its “tallboy” format, bold headlines and eye-catching graphics, the newsmagazine quickly gained prominence (and, for some sectors, notoriety) due to its hard-hitting, analytical pieces on various socio-economic issues that affect ordinary Filipinos.

"Our original goal is to become the 'voice of the unvoiced' - the ordinary Filipino who bears the brunt of the abuses made by these business oligarchs, enabled by corrupt officials in government,” Ray Junia, OpinYon publisher and a public relations practitioner, recalled.

“We were also frustrated by the fact that these business oligarchs have also controlled media entities in the Philippines, which in turn have deprived Filipinos of space on which they can air their grievances,” he added.

Through OpinYon, Junia and his small group of friends and fellow advocates had hoped to carry these “unpublished” stories and provide analytical yet opinionated pieces on the country’s socio-economic issues.

“Our guiding theme, which sustained us through the years, is ‘politicizing economic issues and giving an economic perspective to political issues,’” Junia said.

Advocacies

OpinYon quickly became noted among other publications in the Philippines as one of the few who dared to speak up against big business tycoons and government officials who have made life harder for millions of Filipinos.

Among the issues OpinYon tackled in its first five years are abuses in the power sector from generation all the way to distribution.

“Can you imagine, niloloko ang mga consumers all the way down?” Junia said. “That’s the main reason our country has one of the highest costs of electricity in Southeast Asia. Everyone, from power distributors to power generators, are just in to make a quick buck, and it’s the consumers who suffer.”

OpinYon was also not afraid in challenging the business tycoons who have come to control chief aspects of the country’s economy. And don’t forget, Junia also noted, that OpinYon was the first to call out the gradual “occupation” of Communist China of the Philippines through its control of various key industries such as power generation and telecommunications.

"We didn't hesitate to call these tycoons 'murderers' or 'dummies' of foreign tycoons," Junia said. "That, and the brilliant graphics our staff made, apparently made their blood boil."

For some time, OpinYon was banned from bookstores and convenience stores in the Philippines. And in places where OpinYon managed to get their copies for sale, there were reports of “bulk-buying” of copies allegedly done to deprive its readership base.

“Fortunately, we had a dedicated readership base and people who supported us no matter what. That enabled us to survive the ‘dirty tricks’ that, we believe, smacks of censorship and harassment,” he said.

Balanced criticism

And even when OpinYon declared its support to former President Rodrigo Duterte – a campaign which started in 2015 with its formal endorsement of the then-reluctant Davao City Mayor for President – OpinYon did not hesitate to call out abuses in power and incompetence under the Duterte administration.

OpinYon grabbed attention early in Duterte’s term with a series of articles criticizing the statements made by former Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, which had initially raised doubts on the Secretary’s abilities to solve the country’s transportation woes.

“Pinutakti kami ng trolls noon sa social media,” Junia recalled. “Even though everyone knows how OpinYon supported Duterte during that year’s elections, that didn’t stop the trolls who tried to bash us in the apparent misguided thinking that we should just approve blindly every move of the Duterte administration.”

However, he added that OpinYon was able to raise public awareness on the country’s mass transport woes, including heavy traffic, a then-deteriorating rail system, and congestion at the country’s largest airport, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

“And to his credit, Secretary Tugade worked very hard to prove us wrong,” Junia said.

“We can finally see the fruits of our advocacies in the long-term solutions that Tugade and the Duterte administration laid out through its ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. The extensive road, rail, sea and air network that Tugade has started is now benefitting millions of Filipinos and are expected to benefit more, as we begin to recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

What’s next for OpinYon?

This year, OpinYon relaunched the “flagship” national edition in a brand-new “hybrid” format that combined the dignified look of the broadsheet with the “masa” image of the tabloid.

And aside from strengthening its current network of community newsmagazines (Laguna, Region 8, Batangas and Quezon), Junia said he is now in talks of reviving other local editions of OpinYon that have been suspended due to the pandemic, as well as launching new community editions.

“Now that we are over the ‘worst’ of the pandemic, I believe business opportunities for local newspapers will become strong once again, even considering that competition with online and social media is now increasingly fierce,” he added.

OpinYon is also planning to re-enter the world of broadcast media through a “podcast”-type series of programs that will carry OpinYon’s trademark to an even wider audience.

When asked whether he feels intimidated by the increasingly tenuous media landscape in the Philippines, Junia answered:

“What carries OpinYon on in these troubled times is our continuous belief in our core principles that we established when it first came out in 2010. We’ve continued to stick through these principles, and as we enter into a new year of existence, we are confident that we will survive this.”