Punchline
How it all started
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
On May 20, The PUNCH marks the 43rd death anniversary of our founder-editor Ermin E. Garcia.
It was on May 20, 1966 (during the Marcos regime) when then Lingayen Councilor Rudy Soriano pumped three bullets in my father’s chest in his editorial office after the latter refused to hold the publication of the expose on the padded government payroll in the capitol town that identified him (Soriano) as the ringleader. EG later succumbed to his wounds at the Pangasinan General Hospital (now the Region 1 Medical Center) and became the 2nd Filipino post war journalist to be killed in the line of duty.
As a tribute to his legacy, allow me to post some trivia here.
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THE FIRST PUNCH LINE. Unknown to many, the “Punch Line” column was started in 1956 by prominent Manila journalist Ernesto Granada, who wrote under the pseudonym ‘Ernog’.
Here are excerpts from Ernog’s first column as published in the PUNCH’s July 22, 1956 issue:
“The dream of every metropolitan journalist is to someday edit a provincial newspaper like The Sunday Punch.
They feel that a provincial newspaper is much closer to the simple virtues that these virtues are valuable allies in a newspaper’s inevitable fight against corruption, cupidity and immorality.
The fear among those who start provincial newspapers is that the local readers are never enough, not because the number of those who could read is limited, but because the provincial intelligentsia simply does not “go” for provincial newspapers when metropolitan newspapers are available.
I think the fear is foolish.
If there has not been a popular consumption of local newspapers, it is only because these local papers were never fit for popular consumption in the first place it is no secret that numerous provincial newspapers are edited by worn-out hacks. A good number of them are public relations officers of provincial officials. Now, how could you expect the independent-minded provincial reader to waste money and time on some rag edited by second-raters like that?
I have been privileged to have been in on the conception of The Sunday Punch its sole purpose is to serve the community in the most fearless and intelligent manner possible. I, for one, am confident that it will live up to this purpose, since its editor – who has been, to me, a respected personal and professional acquaintance – has never showed signs of lacking either the courage or the intelligence.
In a time like ours when the mediocre rule the government with the aid of the inept, there is an urgent need for a newspaper conceived along the lines of the Punch. In a time like ours when society pays tribute to the immoral and stupid of its brethren, a newspaper like the Punch hopes will be a breathe of fresh air.
The Punch has no business to beg for the patronage of readers. Its business is to print what will bring peace and truth and security into the lives of the readers. If it does that, the readers will wait for its “every issue with bated breath.”
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EG’S PUNCH LINE. A few months later, when Ernog could no longer continue writing, EG picked it up under the pseudonym “Carl O’ Cohan” – try reading it fast and you’ll get the drift! (It was already in my teens when I realized where my pet name in the family -Cohan – came from).
Below are excerpts from one of Carl O’ Cohan’s columns in 1965:
“Archbishop Madriga is most desirous of tracking down a published report that the first time Christianity’s cross was planted in the Philippines was in the 13th century in what is now the Pangasinan territory. This antedates the Magellan cross in the 16th century by 300 years.
A short article in a recent manila newspaper magazine said that a Rev. Fr. Odoric of Perdenone, Italy, “set foot on the shores of Pangasinan and planted a cross” way back in the 13th century.
“Fr. Odoric, who belonged to the Franciscan Order, was tracing the Nestorian Christians who came to East Asia in the 13th century. With his men, he was sent by the Catholic Orthodox Church as missionary to the Far East. After a few years he strayed to the Philippines.” said Ireneo B. Angeles, in the Daily Mirror Saturday Magazine.
Fr. Odoric’s account reportedly described the cross to be of black wood from Italy and said he planted it in “the kingdom of Tamasin,” which is known to be the Pre-Spanish name of Pangasinan.
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Archbishop Madriga is interested for the sake of Pangasinan. He has a wild hunch that Fr. Odoric’s beachhead was on Agoo, which after all was once a colony of Pangasinan, until it was assimilated by Ilocano neo-colonialism and expansionism.
Other scholars of history, however, think it could be in San Fabian, twice the landing site of American forces for half a century. There are others well-versed in today’s modern import shipping operation, who suspect it to be Sual.
If substantiated, Fr. Odoric’s sojourn into Pangasinan would rewrite history. It would make Magellan a Johnny come lately or a carpetbagger, instead of the discoverer.
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But levity aside, this is a vital aspect of Philippine history and that of Christianity in the Orient which deserves a painstaking research by the nation’s historians. Pangasinan, particularly must mobilize its talents in tracking down Father Odoric’s odyssey.
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The complete takeover of the Pantranco by Mr. Rafael and Mrs. Gonzalez, (she is the former Cristina, daughter of the founder) is so far the biggest financial transaction in the history of Pangasinan, and will always rank among the largest in the Philippines. It could safely be called the transaction of the century in this province.
It took a lot of optimism and faith in the Pangasinan people for anyone to go all the way in the transportation business. Many bus transportation fleets in the century, some of them as big as Pantranco, walk the tightrope between survival and loss.
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POST EG. After EG’S death, my Unc Gerry took on the “Punch Line” and maintained the Carl O’ Cohan pen name.
When I finally took over the PUNCH management in l969, I gave the column an irreverent twist and spelled it “Punchline” and saw the last of Carl O’ Cohan. Unc Gerry finally appended his name to it. It was suspended in mid-80s when he took a leave.
I took over the column finally in early 90s and here we are.
I wonder what Punch Line would likely be in the decades ahead but, hey, I live for the present so I’ll leave that to the next genset of Punchers to work on!
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