Alberto M. Alfaro

Alberto “Bert” M. Alfaro, 86, founder and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, Executive Editor of the Manila Mail, passed away on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Manila Mail, which celebrated its 25th year anniversary last November 2015, is for him “a labor of love,” a culmination of more than 60 years in journalism.

After graduating from high school at the Ateneo de Zamboanga and completing his Associate in Arts degree at the Zamboanga A.E. College, he moved his family to Manila where he worked at the Manila Chronicle initially as a proofreader. At the same time completed his Bachelor of Arts degree, major in history, from the Far Eastern University in Manila in 1955.

At the Manila Chronicle where he stayed for 18 years, Bert Alfaro worked his way from being a proofreader to become assistant features editor, deskman, foreign news editor, diplomatic reporter, and then editor of the full-color Chronicle Magazine, the weekly magazine of the Manila Chronicle for three years. After that he was named senior political reporter covering the Philippine Senate while concurrently teaching journalism at the Lyceum of the Philippines and De La Salle University.

After martial law was proclaimed in 1972 and the Manila Chronicle was closed, Alfaro was appointed by then Information Minister Francisco Tatad as one of his special assistants. Later, he was named editor of The Republic, a weekly publication of the ministry, and after a few months, he joined the government-owned Philippine News Agency. In 1975, he was appointed the first bureau chief of the Philippine News Agency in Washington D.C. Although PNA was controlled by the government, he tried his best to maintain his journalistic integrity.

In the late 1970s, Bert joined European, Middle Eastern, Latino, African, and Asian correspondents to organize the first Foreign Correspondents Association in Washington, D.C. He also became an active member of the National Press Club and the nationwide Sigma Delta Chi, a professional journalists' association. In 1980, He founded the now defunct Filipino Chronicle, a fortnightly Filipino American publication in Washington, D.C.

After the People Power revolution in the Philippines in 1986, Alfaro returned to Manila where he founded and edited “Dateline Manila," a weekly news and features service of Associated Editors headed by Juan T. Gatbonton and the late Jose U. Macaspac, Jr. At that time, 13 of the more than 20 newspapers in Manila subscribed to Dateline. At the same time, he also edited a weekly political paper owned by Antonio Cabangon Chua in Makati.

After his return to Washington to rejoin his family in 1991, he joined a group of professionals in the Virginia area to form Salakot Corporation which is the original publisher of the Manila-US Mail. It was here, and which continued for the past twenty five years, that he finally experienced the true meaning of the often quoted “freedom of the press”.

From his unpublished autobiography, which he began writing in 2006, he wrote:

“On November 15, 2006, the Manila Mail marked the start of its 16th year of publication. Editorially, it was a one-man effort. I did all the writing, editing, layout and proofreading for a total of 760 issues without interference from anyone about my editorial prerogatives.

What gave me the ultimate satisfaction was that for the first time in my 50 years in journalism, I was able to observe the real freedom of the press. I was not under the control of a publisher or advertisers. I was free to write and publish what I felt was in the best interest of the readership.

I am proud that besides tasting the freedom of the press, I was able to handle all the editorial work for 16 years, without missing a deadline or a single issue. I am proud that the Manila Mail proved to the pessimists that a Filipino American newspaper can survive in the capital of the greatest nation on earth. If I have not pushed the publisher, Maya Media, Inc., to make the Manila Mail into a weekly publication and operate like a real business enterprise, it is probably because of the fear that this will affect my editorial freedom.

When I was contributing articles for the Zamboanga Times in the early 50s, I only wrote articles that would please my bosses at the Ateneo de Zamboanga where I was the assistant librarian. When I contributed articles for the Philippines Free Press I selected topics that were in line with the policy of the Free Press.

The same thing was true with the Manila Chronicle. The publisher, through the editor, dictated what a journalist is supposed to do. While I was free to write what I wanted, my stories that were contrary to the publisher’s interest never made it to print.

It was the same when I was appointed Bureau Chief of the Philippine News Agency in the U.S. because it was a government news agency, I had to adhere to government’s line if I wanted to continue working as such. I had to follow all that my “boss” (Marcos) wanted me to write and how to write it.

When I edited the weekly Manila Dateline together with Joe Macaspac and Johnny Gatbonton, I always had to bear in mind who my “boss” is and that I should do his bidding.

Throughout my 30 years stay in the U.S., I realized that even journalists in American mainstream publications do not fully exercise the freedom of the press. There are times, when there is a clash between the interest of the publishers and the public, the editors often resolves it in favor of the publisher.

And despite all these, some cynical readers think the editor or reporter is only serving the interests of the publisher or financier, not the public. But regardless of what the readers think, my satisfaction is that I have experienced the real freedom of the press after almost half a century in journalism.”

Bert (with wife Milagros G. Reyes who died in 2001)is survived by their six children: Cristina A. Burgos, Rebecca A. Flores, Teresa A. Lopez, Luisa Alfaro, Armando Alfaro, and Alberto Jeff Alfaro; eleven grandchildren, John Burgos, Jennifer Phommasack, Ian Flores, Cynthia Andres, Mia Liezl Padro, Samantha Alfaro, Jeffrey Alfaro, Albert Arguedas, Theresa Lopez, Philip Lopez, and Mila Sophia Lopez; eleven great grandchildren, Akashi Burgos, Taira Burgos, Noah Arguedas, Chloe Burgos, Giselle Burgos, Jordan Phommasack, Eva Flores, Eleanor Andres, Madeleine Andres, Giovanni Andres and Carlo Andres.

In Lieu of flowers, it is the family's wish that donations be made to the Alberto Alfaro Memorial Fund established in the following organizations:

1) Migrant Heritage Commission

3900 Jermantown Rd #100, Fairfax VA 22030 (202)247-0117

Contact Person: Ms. Grace Valera

www.migrantheritage.org

2) Philippine American Charities Foundation Inc

3843 Gallows Rd, Annandale VA 22003 (703)868-5660

www.pafc-dc.org

Contact person: Aylene Mafnas

Please make all checks payable to either the Migrant Heritage Commission or the Philippine American Foundation for Charities, Inc, with a memo item: "Alberto Alfaro Memorial Fund". Or you may also hand in your donation during the services on March 4,5 and 7 to Alberto Alfaro's daughter Rebecca A. Flores or for MHC (Atty. Arnedo Valera, Mr. Jesse Gatchalian or Ms. Grace Divina Valera) and for PAFCDC, Ms. Aylene Mafnas.

Both organizations are active in the Filipino American Community in the metropolitan DC area and donations to MHC and PAFCDC are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law, The Alfaro family appreciates any donation that you give to these organizations.