SIXTY-EIGHT years ago, the late Ermin Erfe Garcia founded The SUNDAY PUNCH, July 2, 1956, the country’s first “pocket-sized newspaper” during that period. (The format size he referred to is known today as tabloid). His idea was to provide business men, government officials, members of various civic clubs, teachers and other opinion leaders the convenience to have a newspaper they can conveniently tuck inside their back-pockets and bags after reading it.

Notably, our founder did not envision The PUNCH as a crusading newspaper but as a carrier of information and needs from people from all walks of life, particularly from the lowly and abused, from the governors and the governed. As an example, it cited the case then of the plight of nightclub hostesses that were being harassed by the city government.

And with pride, The PUNCH kept our founder’s mission as a conveyor of true, credible news, credible opinions for public and private sectors over seven decades.

Looking back, unknown perhaps to many, The PUNCH was the only community newspaper in the north trusted by the national government in1972 to continue publishing throughout the martial law era. It carried out its mission as the source of vital information (with no censorship). The PUNCH reported news and stories when the province was hit by a number of raging typhoons and floods. Not even the devastating earthquake in Dagupan City in 1990, prevented The PUNCH from accomplishing its mission every week, without fail.

The PUNCH was the first community newspaper in the region and among the first in the country that was exempted from quarantine rules so it can continue to serve Pangasinenses with news updates and developments throughout the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. The PUNCH stepped up to the challenge with no potential source of advertising revenues and street sales throughout 2020-2022. It gathered and reported the news and opinions weekly when daily social and economic community activities were suspended, barangays were isolated, families were quarantined, barangays were locked down and mobility was restricted. The PUNCH published and distributed the news via its online edition as well, every week without fail.

The serious and difficult challenges for The PUNCH’s continued existence are no different from those faced by other national and community newspapers.  Pages of national newspapers have thinned while struggling community newspapers had to end their operations. The latest to succumb due to difficult financial straits is the Baguio Midland Courier.

The SUNDAY PUNCH only prays that the support from friends and advertisers will not wane because the commitment of our editors, reporters and staff is far from waning.

With God’s grace, your SUNDAY PUNCH will be there for you every week without fail, as the oldest surviving community newspaper in the Philippines.

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