“To all media owners, please consider this appeal: It’s time the law considered all media workers entitled to all the benefits as regular employees in government and in the private sector”
I turned 95 years old yesterday, and by the grace of God and the Blessed Virgin and all the saints I pray to before I go to sleep and when I wake up in the morning, I am comparatively healthy and sound and still able to pound on my old Olympia typewriter for my twice-a-week columns.
Yes, I still use my typewriter and I am a dinosaur when it comes to techie gadgets like the computer. I tried very hard to catch up and learn how to work with a computer and the Internet but to no avail. It’s a mindset, I guess.
I have been a journalist for over 74 years now, and I consider it a calling and a journey through life. My recent award from the Manila Rotary Club — a Life Achievement Award – tells it all when the oldest Rotary Club in Southeast Asia cited me as follows:
“What does it take for a journalist not to be forgotten?” Benjamin Franklin said: “Either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.”
“EMIL JURADO did both. His work — reporting, writing a column, teaching future journalists — all done in every exemplary way would not risk a reversal by prosperity’s critical assessment with the benefit of hindsight. His genius lies in the freedom of thought with the guidance of conscience that characterized his life.
“The corridors of power were his hunting ground, his presence a sword of Damocles to those with ill intentions. This opportunity allowed him to accumulate wisdom from those who thought along parallel lines with him and even those with the opposites. He mixed these in one brew and imparted them to his students and younger journalists – the totality of his experiences his GIFT to them.
“His lifetime is his legacy to the world!”
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Coincidentally, I would like to greet President Bongbong Marcos on his 65th birthday last Tuesday. It is my wish as a Filipino that he will fulfill our dreams as Filipinos within the six years that he is in power, just as he dreams he would.
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President Bongbong Marcos signed an executive order mandating the wearing of face masks as optional upon the recommendation of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) in low-risk areas nationwide.
Personally, I have my misgivings about this. Many health experts and the Department of Health itself have expressed their misgivings, but knowing how the IATF carries its clout on COVID-19 health protocols, the President must have his own reasons on why he will issue that executive order.
It’s optional especially in outdoor spaces, which means AT YOUR OWN RISK.
My family decided that caution is the better part of it, and we still observe all the health protocols like wearing face masks, washing our hands regularly and maintaining social distancing.
The executive order to be ordered is optional, isn’t it?
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A group of House representatives filed a bill calling it Media Welfare Act, mandating all media corporations to consider all media workers as regular and permanent employees in line with the mandate of both government and the private sector employed to be regularized and getting all the perks and benefits like those in government and private sector, entitled to retirement benefits under the Social Security System.
I consider this bill about time that those working in all media corporations and networks, which include television, radio and print to be under the SSS, which provides retirement and pension plans.
Sadly, journalists like me do not get extra perks and benefits.
To clarify anything about media, I would suggest that the bill pending in the House needs further studies in fairness to all the media owners of print, broadcast ( radio and television) to clarify issues involved.
Media owners have their own publishers association, and I believe that they should get involved not only for their sake, but in fairness to all media workers.
I have worked as a journalist for over seven decades and sadly enough the SSS only gives me a pension of a little over P3,000, believe it or not.
This is because some of the media outfits and networks I worked for did not fulfill their mandate under the SSS to provide pension plans for their workers, as provided by law.
It is for this reason I am still working at the age of 95.
Well, it’s my choice since I believe that journalism is not only a profession but also a calling.
To all media owners, please consider this appeal: It’s time the law considered all media workers entitled to all the benefits as regular employees in government and in the private sector.
And lastly, to all media owners, please support the Media Welfare Act.
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With this column, I greet my close and dear friend, Dr. George Yang, a “Happy 84th Birthday,” marking that day with a series of successes in both business entrepreneurship and in his personal and private life, married to Kristine, an entrepreneur in her own right and founder of the well-known Kristine Jewelry with branches abroad.
George may well be known as the man who founded McDonald’s in the Philippines and truly revolutionized the Filipino taste for hamburgers and french fries.
I have known George for a long time, when he was starting his own business and later on applied for a franchise for McDonald’s in the Philippines.
He invited me when he opened his first McDonald’s store at Morayta beside Far Eastern University, a big market for McDonald’s.
At one time, when we were both in Chicago, he invited me to what is known as “Hamburger University” where they teach people the secret formula on how to make McDonald’s hamburgers.
George and I shared the same passion for tennis, but I understand he is now into golf.
George has since turned over the business to his eldest son, Kenneth, and sold 50 percent of the business of Golden Arches to taipan and real estate tycoon Dr. Andrew Tan.
George’s wife, Kristine, is something else. She is a very good friend of my wife. Before George started his fast-food venture, she already started her jewelry business,
Kristine Jewellery at the Farmer’s Market in Cubao with just one small hole in the wall shop, with my wife as one of her favorite customers, and made it grow into a famous brand with many branches.
With George’s success as McDonald’s founder and with Kristines’s success in the jewelry business, I nominate them as the No. 1 couple in entrepreneurship.
Now George is his own person singing operatic classical tunes and is founder of the country’s Foundation for Classical Music. Congratulations, George and Kristine. More power to you both.
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I cannot end this column without mentioning the death of my distant relative and good friend Carlos “Charlie” Agatep last Monday, September 12.
Charlie was a public relations guru, the chairman and CEO of Grupo Agatep, a PR and media agency. He was also a former president of the Public Relations Society of the Philippines.
My sincerest condolences to his family. I will certainly miss my good friend, Charlie.