It seemed a lifetime ago when, sometime in September and October of 2010, public relations practitioner Ray Junia conceived OpinYon, the Philippines' first and leading weekly newsmagazine.
For Junia, who is also a media practitioner and advocate for consumers' rights, OpinYon will carry the "voice of the unvoiced," the educated sentiments of a public long under the thumb of a privileged elite of business and political oligarchs.
Fast forward to 12 years, and OpinYon has managed to survive attempts by oligarchs to shut it down and a highly competitive and vulnerable media landscape of the Philippines, to say nothing of a global pandemic that nearly brought entire economies to their knees in the past two years.
Despite the challenges brought by the pandemic and the increasingly uncertain future for freedom of the press and freedom of expression in the country, OpinYon has managed to not only survive, but thrive.
Its flagship edition, relaunched this year, has caught the attention of stakeholders not only by its "radical" design combining the elements of tabloids and broadsheets but also by its return to hard-biting opinion pieces on socio-economic issues.
This same vein has also become a trademark of its growing network of community weekly newsmagazines that have managed to stay afloat in the course of the pandemic.
The success of OpinYon Laguna and OpinYon 8 have proved that community papers are a key ingredient in the socio-economic progress of a province or region, and are vital for active public participation in nation-building.
These values OpinYon will carry as it enters a new year of existence with new editions and new challenges – but keeping true to its roots of taking a stand for the Filipino people.