Where we came from, as written in The STAR
MANILA, Philippines — In The Philippine STAR’s 40th anniversary logo, a lighthouse of newspapers, stacked in perfect symmetry, is seen lighting up the sky and the shores beyond — an unwavering beacon. The lighthouse, as the newspaper, is from where the truth shines.
As The STAR marks its 40th year on July 28, we look back to its rise as a lighthouse of truth.
"What's past is prologue" is a famous phrase from William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. The STAR’s present stands on the past, whose days, weeks, years and decades are stacked like newspapers to form the foundation for the future — which now includes the added wattage of several social media platforms and the performing arts.
As it is often recalled, The STAR was the 23rd newspaper to hit the streets after the restoration of democracy and a free press in the Philippines in 1986, with this slogan emblazoned on its front page: Truth shall prevail.
The STAR’s first newsroom was set up on the ground floor of the office on 13th Street in Port Area that was to be The STAR’s home for 37 years.
The first issue of The STAR, which had an initial print run on July 28 of a few thousand copies, was headlined “Wear yellow and die.” It was about a man who wore his true political colors and was lynched for it. It was the first of many issues of The STAR, from eight-pagers to 200-pagers, to hit the streets.
The Philippine STAR was founded by three bright stars: journalists Betty Go-Belmonte, Max V. Soliven and Art Borjal. Betty, who was founding chairman, passed away in 1994; Art, who was founding president in 2002, and Max, the founding publisher, in 2006.
According to an article by STAR associate editor Doreen Yu, “The early Philippine STAR was, to say the least, a rather unusual newspaper, with only eight pages and no advertisements. The paper also did not have a Sunday edition.”
You see, it was one of Betty’s initial requests when she co-founded the paper. “I am for giving one day to the Lord, thus, no Sunday paper,” Betty, a devout Christian, had said. She agreed to a Sunday edition later on, when she was assured part of the earnings would go to charitable causes, like Operation Damayan, which she had established to help the less fortunate.
Ten years ago, during the newspaper’s 30th anniversary, STAR president and CEO Miguel G. Belmonte said, “Thirty years ago, our founders — my mother Betty Go Belmonte, our publisher Max V. Soliven, and columnist Atty. Art Borjal — got together to put up a newspaper that frankly many believed had very small chances of success. Certainly, it was a case of uncertainty and courage outstripping logic.
“But as they say, fortune favors the brave. If there was one thing that was abundant, it was faith — in vision, in people, in our new leadership at that time, and in our capacity for nationhood and greatness,” Miguel said.
Max’s daughter Sara Soliven-De Guzman wrote on the newspaper’s 25th anniversary, “As my dad would often say, ‘If we have faith in ourselves and faith in each other, there is no obstacle that cannot be overcome’.”
In excerpts from their own words, immortalized in print and culled from The STAR archives, this was how it all began according to Betty, Max and Art:
Betty:
I may be chairman of the board, but as you must have noted, I take orders like a good soldier. This is because it was not I who thought of publishing The Philippine STAR in the first place. I was invited by three men to join them and when my initial response was “Oh, no! Why would the Lord ask me to leave a very successful newspaper just to start another one from scratch?” One of the three retorted, “Hey, since when have you been talking for yourself? I thought you always pray and ask for guidance first?”
When I told Sonny (Belmonte) about it, he sternly opposed the whole idea. In short, we –– husband and wife –– were in agreement. From our point of view, there was no logic in leaving a newspaper that reported a net of P5 million for the month of March 1986 with P30 million in receivables simply to start another newspaper from zero, this time, without a snap election and an EDSA revolution to propel it.
Many have asked me: “Why did you leave the Inquirer? More often than not, I would simply beg off from answering the question by saying “It’s a long story.” With people whom I feel would understand, I would say, “I had to follow God’s guidance. I became a co-founder upon guidance when it was dangerous to be publishing an opposition paper, likewise, I had to be obedient when the Lord said I had to leave even when the paper was a great success with 333,540 circulation at that time.”
When I told Max of my guidance to leave, he said he would leave, too.
“I am doing it out of guidance,” I told him. “Furthermore, I won’t be missed by the readers. But they will miss you.”
Max said he would pray for guidance also. After a few days, he called to say: “Betty, I have green light to leave.”
When Louie (Beltran) heard that both Max and Art (Borjal, whom Max fondly referred to as “my loyalist”) may leave the paper, he set a meeting with them. I joined them to dissuade them from leaving, reminding them that their powerful columns were what distinguished Inquirer from other papers at that time. Louie then remarked: “Kung sabagay, someone said the three of us can put out our own paper.”
“You are together now. You also are co-owners of the paper. Why start anew?” I reminded them. They gave reasons, which I would rather not mention.
Then Louie looked at me and said, “Since you have resigned, we want you to join us when we put out our paper.”
“Oh, no!” I said. “Why would the Lord ask me to leave a very successful newspaper just to start another one from scratch?”
“Hey,” Louie said, “since when have you been talking for yourself? I thought you always pray and ask for guidance first?”
“Okay, okay, I’ll pray and ask for guidance,” I promised.
When I went home and told Sonny about it, he pointed at me and said, “Don’t you ever! Don’t you ever!” I said I understood how he felt, as I felt the same way. So, I asked that he pray with me this time.
My prayer went: “Dear Heavenly Father, the three –– Max, Louie and Art –– asked me to join them. Please give me a word to show them whether it is Your will or not. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
The Lord’s answer flabbergasted both Sonny and me. I did not realize until then that there was such a passage about three men in the Bible. It read: “Meanwhile, as Peter was puzzling over the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, ‘Three men have come to see you. Go down and meet them and go with them. All is well, I have sent them.’” (Acts 10:19)
I heard Sonny exclaim, “Nakakagulat, ano!”
When I showed the passage to the three (Max, Art and Louie), how they laughed.
(Louie Beltran didn’t end up joining Max and Art at the time, and Betty, who acted on faith and the word of God, decided not to push through as she believed she had to forge this new newspaper venture with three men. Then, lo and behold, there was a third man who came into the picture. – JRR)
Max knew what I meant because he knew I was merely following my guidance, which I showed them, and it said, “three men.”
Then one day, three men came to see me – Max, Art and Tony Roces.
The first question I asked them was: “What are we for? To help in nation-building or to make a lot of money for ourselves?”
The answer of the three men was: “We are for helping nation-building.” Max added: “We are for giving everyone a good salary; we are for serving readers; we shall aim for a 700,000 circulation.”
I then asked what our policy would be regarding the scoops. Max said, “Between having a scoop just to sell the paper and checking our facts thoroughly, we would opt for the latter.”
I told them: “I am for projecting the positive. And in cases where the story is negative, we should present both sides and all sides.” They concurred.
I also asked, “I am pro-Cory, how about you?”
“For as long as she has not stolen one single centavo herself, our paper will be supportive of her. However, we as columnists are free to give our own comments,” Max said.
Our editor-in-chief was going to be Raul Gonzales. Thus, he and Tony, then our president, took charge of interviewing everyone with the help of Art and Max. I was relegated to the position of chairman of the board.
Max’s guidance was for us to launch the newspaper on July 26, while Tony’s was July 27. So what really happened was we had the dry run and blessing on the 26th, started work on the 27th and hit the streets on the 28th.
Max liked the format of “USA Today,” and so did Tony, Art and I. As for the name, they all like “STAR.”
Just before we came off the press, Raul said he could not assume the editor-in-chief position because of other commitments, but that he would write our editorials, which he did for a while. Thus, Max made Tony also editor-in-chief.
Max:
One day in 1986, just a few months after Marcos was overthrown by People Power (EDSA I) and Cory had been established as President of the country, and the Inquirer had become the biggest and most successful daily, I decided to quit. When I told Betty, she declared: "I’m leaving, too." We had no intention, at that time, of starting another newspaper. (Louie Beltran asked to stay on as editor for a few more months "so the kids on the newspaper wouldn’t lose their jobs" — but he joined us about a year later.)
When he saw me packing my papers and stuff in my office, Art asked me what I was doing. "I’m leaving, Art," I replied. Without hesitation, he asserted: "Wait for me! I’m leaving, too!"
"Why on earth are you leaving?" I asked him. "You have no part in this quarrel!"
To which he answered: "I’m going with you because I am a Soliven loyalist!"
Afterwards, when we were outside, he asked me: "By the way, where are we going?"
I’m afraid I didn’t have an immediate answer to that. So, Art smiled and shrugged: "Anyway, Max, I can always go back to law practice."
In any event, whenever critics assailed Art and tried to turn me against him, I would say, "Nonsense!" I could never forget what he did.
A few weeks later, Betty resolved the question. She prayed, opened the Bible with closed eyes, then found her finger on a phrase in the Holy Book. She told Art and myself: "The Lord has given us His approval to start a new newspaper!" Believe it or not, that’s how The STAR was born. Sounds corny, but it’s . . . uh, Gospel truth.
Art, indeed, became not only a board member but served for a while as president of The STAR. As for Betty, God bless her, she always chaired our Board meetings with Bible in hand. We’d pray, she would open the Bible with closed eyes, and her finger would descend on the page – and we would get our "marching orders" from above. In the early years, when we were undergoing hard times, Art and I used to irreverently murmur a "side-prayer" to God: "Lord, Lord – along with Your divine inspiration, please, could You send us some profits?" Our prayers were ultimately – indeed, ultimately – but very generously answered. What even helped us prosper was the jibe some of our detractors coined against us: "Who do those people at The STAR think they are? They believe that they are the only newspaper run by God!"
To be frank, I always considered myself the sinner in the group, while Betty was the saint — and Art was the impish and mischievous cynic.
Art:
A few weeks after our first meeting at the National Press Club, our Gang of Four – Betty, Max, Tony and I, drew up the plans and charted the course of The STAR. Betty asked each one of us how much we wanted to invest in the newspaper. Because I do not belong to the burgis, I asked to be allocated only five per cent of the total number of shares. The initial investment for my five per cent was P50,000.
Betty, whom we looked up to as our “godmother,” understood our financial predicament. She agreed to shoulder the major bulk of the required investment. And she had no qualms at all about pushing through with the birth of The STAR.
Yes, she appeared so optimistic of The STAR’s future. That the new newspaper would become the brightest star in the firmament. Apparently, Betty’s sixth sense was working efficiently, and she was not worried at all of the stiff competition that the old existing newspapers would put up.
Soon, I was coordinating with the ACCRA Law Office in the drafting of The STAR’s Articles of Incorporation. Soon, Betty, Max, Tony and I were interviewing editors and reporters from other newspapers for their possible transfer to The STAR. At the same time, our Gang of Four was churning out ideas on how the newspaper should look.
It was during the third week of July 1986, a few days before July 27, when the dry run for The STAR’s maiden issue began. Everyone –– from the editorial to the production to the circulation staff –– awaited with bated breath of the birth of the new STAR. And when the maiden issue, all eight pages of it, without any paid advertisement, came out of the press, everyone heaved a sigh of relief that at last, a blinding, hurtling star had finally been born.
For the next five years, The STAR floated in the firmament. Advertisements were hard to come by. Pushing the paper’s circulation was a day-to-day struggle. When times got rough, Betty would ask us, her partners, to put up an additional investment, just to keep The STAR afloat.
Eventually, The STAR sparkled. Slowly but surely, it caught the attention of a large cross-section of the reading public. A dozen years after it was born, The STAR became a dominant figure in Philippine journalism, shining brightly in the firmament.
Turning back the pages of time and scanning The STAR’s existence, I am awed by the power of the pen. Indeed, The STAR has become a mighty instrument for public service.
I am inspired by the images of the sick and disabled to whom Betty, through her Pebbles column, and I, through Jaywalker, were able to lend a helping hand and spread some shafts of sunlight to fellowmen in need. I am also moved by images of the political leaders in the corridors of power who, because of STAR stories, opened their eyes and ears to the cries of anguish or anger of the populace. Of plain and ordinary citizens who, because of the space given them by The STAR, were able to make their voices resound far and wide, even in the innermost chambers of power.
It is said that many stars in the firmament have been there for thousands, perhaps even millions, of years. And it is satisfying to see signs that The STAR, which was born out of lofty, ennobling dreams of four adventurous spirits, is going to last forever.
The legacy of The STAR’s founders Betty Go-Belmonte, Max V. Soliven and lawyer Art Borjal — the “saint,’ the “sinner” and the “cynic” respectively, according to Max — continues to shine and illumine the country, especially when it navigates dark days and stormy nights. Just like a lighthouse, because for The Philippine STAR, truth shall prevail and the truth shall shine.
