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President Aquino honors Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc during necrological service
President Benigno S. Aquino III on Tuesday night attended the necrological service for editor-in-chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, recognizing her contributions to restoring democracy in the country.
In his eulogy, delivered at the Heritage Park in Taguig City, the President honored Magsanoc, whom he fondly referred to as “Tita Letty”, as “one of the stalwarts of the mosquito press” and as one of the “women who, at times, were seemingly braver than the men in standing up to the Marcos dictatorship”.

Under her watch, he said, the Panorama transformed from an innocuous Sunday magazine into a publication that dared to question the regime.

Magsanoc also joined the team behind Mr. & Ms. Special Edition, which made history, as it “dared to chronicle what the controlled media denied”, he added.

President Aquino noted that when there was a need for a truly independent broadsheet to challenge the controlled press, Eggy Apostol and Magsanoc launched the Philippinr Daily     Inquirer, with the latter giving the newspaper its name. She eventually took the helm of the broadsheet in 1991 as editor in chief.

“The dictator went into the snap election not only with guns, goons, and gold, but with a controlled press to sing him praises. Even then, he knew that the buzz of the mosquito press had turned into a thunderous roar for democracy, for truth, for justice,” he said.

“In a matter of weeks, the Marcos dictatorship ended at EDSA. It was at that moment that the Philippine Daily Inquirer established itself as the country’s journal of record, with the headline that summed it all up: ‘It’s all over: Marcos flees’.”

The President praised Magsanoc for publishing fearless yet balanced stories in the Inquirer.

He noted that while he has been criticized by the Inquirer, the publication has not deviated from its obligation to keep the people informed about the developments in the country.

“When Tita Letty was around, I knew that my side—the government’s side—would be heard—not because she was my friend, but because she wanted to do right by the Filipino people,” President Aquino said.

Magsanoc passed away last Thursday, Christmas eve, at St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City after suffering cardiac arrest. She was 74.

A friend of former president Corazon Aquino, the President’s mother, Magsanoc is remembered as an icon in Philippine journalism. PND (as)

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