Your SUNDAY PUNCH, moving from 69th to 70th year
ON July 5, 1956, PUNCH founder-editor Ermin Erfe Garcia, decided to publish a pocket-sized weekly community newspaper with contributions from some close friends. He believed that newspaper readers would find it more convenient to be updated with local news that could be folded to fit a man’s back pocket. (Nobody saw this as an innovative publication that we’ve since come to know today as “tabloid-sized” newspaper.
It was a dream come true for him after working as a correspondent for Manila’s mainstream press for years.
He had a clear vision of what The SUNDAY PUNCH. In his maiden issue, he adopted Socrates’ “No man is to be reverenced more than the truth,” accepting a possible consequence that “A hero newspaperman is a dead newspaperman.”
Alas, it was this editorial policy that cost him his life on May 20, 1966. He refused to be intimidated and threatened by a Lingayen town councilor who reportedly headed the payroll padding racket in the town. He rejected news stories where truth would be compromised.
So, to do justice to our founder’s legacy, our men and women behind The PUNCH knew it was their mission to enshrine his vision in every issue, as proven by his martyrdom for truth and press freedom.
It was this mission that inspired our journalists through the decades, never to miss putting out an issue every week for the past 99,687 weeks!
Your SUNDAY PUNCH reported and delivered the news about governance in Pangasinan during the martial law regime, during and after deadly typhoons and earthquakes, every change of government, and during the two-year COVID pandemic.
Thanks to our loyal readers, advertisers, and everyone who shares our founder’s vision, your SUNDAY PUNCH is now the oldest, surviving community newspaper in the Philippines!
It’s now moving to its 70th year.
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