UP groups, martial law documenter pay tribute to Apostol

MANILA, Philippines — Eugenia “Eggie” Duran-Apostol may have passed on, but she made a lasting imprint on Philippine journalism, inspiring the next generation, according to the University of the Philippines College of Media and Communication (UP CMC), which conferred honors on the founding chair of the Philippine Daily Inquirer more than two decades ago.

The UP CMC, along with the organizers of the UP Gawad Plaridel Award, hailed Apostol as a trailblazer whose example lives on through those “who carry forward her vision of fearless journalism.”

Apostol, who died on Sept. 13 at the age of 100, was the inaugural recipient of the Gawad Plaridel Award in 2004, the highest honor bestowed by the UP CMC on outstanding media practitioners.

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“Her life’s work embodied the award’s ideals of integrity, social responsibility, and excellence,” the two UP groups said in a statement on Monday. “She exemplified the power of independent journalism to challenge dictatorship and empower citizens.”

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“Eugenia Apostol’s passing marks the end of an era, but her legacy endures in every journalist who continues to defend truth, independence, and the people’s right to know,” they said.

Lean staff, big mission

Project Gunita, a research organization working to preserve the history of martial law during the first Marcos administration, also recognized the late Inquirer founder for pushing back against the curtailment of press freedom under the regime.

“Apostol and her lean Inquirer staff began to chronicle the final months of a dying dictatorship; after the dictator’s downfall, Inquirer has since emerged to be the country’s newspaper of record,” Project Gunita.

Much of the archival and historical documentation of that period exist because of her “fearless example of resistance” and her commitment to publish what the administration wanted to suppress.

“Her promise was to document the abuses, to detail the realities on the ground, to publish the sentiments of a people yearning to break free from the clutches of a Filipino-style tyranny,” the group said. /cb