A house made of newsprint
‘Cebu journalism firsts’
A house made of newsprint: The SunStar Cebu building along P. del Rosario St., Cebu City
RESIL B. MOJARES
First published in SunStar, Nov. 25, 1994. Adapted to CJJ, Nov. 29, 2024.
Highlights from the 1994 article
What the SunStar building is a ‘first’ in
“It is the first building in Cebu to be exclusively designed as a newspaper publishing house… designed from the ground up for a single purpose: to produce publications.”
Republic News building a ‘first’ too
The building of the defunct Republic News, along Colon St. in Cebu City, “may be regarded as the first newspaper (in Cebu) to have a permanent building of its own.” But it was an old Cuenco house “transformed into a two-storey concrete commercial building.” Parts of the Republic News building contained living quarters and the Cuenco law offices. Not in the category of the SunStar building, which was designed and built solely for publishing newspapers.
In 1994, when the SunStar building opened, it became a landmark…
A landmark to a “new phase in the history of Cebuano journalism — and of provincial (or community) journalism in the country.” and projects an image of a forward-looking publishing house.
The building “illustrates, in quite dramatic terms, the professionalization and expansion of the newspaper as an organization.”
The building, along with the rise of the newspaper, “marks a coming-of-age for local newspaper publishing as an industry.” It “presents an image of a newspaper dedicated to breaking the ground.”
‘Tastefully designed.’ ‘Attractive, functional, contemporary’
The building presents to the public “an image of solidity and gravity.” Something of this quality “is to be seen, albeit on a quite modest plane, by the Republic News building. The SunStar building, however, looks toward another time.”
A ‘house of newsprint’ then, more of a digital house now
“It is, by virtue of what it is and what it contains, truly a house made of newsprint.” With digital technology, the building, years later, has been more than that since the late 1990s and early 2000. But truly it was a house built by newsprint.
It is a tastefully designed building of glass, marble, and concrete, but it is more than just a building. It stands as a landmark to new phase in the history of Cebuano journalism and of provincial journalism in the country.
Façade of the SunStar building, with a low-slung concrete canopy projecting outward all the way to the sidewalk.
THROUGHOUT much of its history, the practice of local journalism has been built around a few fundamental elements: the printing machine, typewriters, an editor, and a crew of writers and contributors. Such elements were often welded together by the sense of entrepreneurship and mission of single person.
In 1886, the Spanish businessman Eduardo Jimenez bought a printing press from Chofre y Compania in Manila, set it up in a house on Colon st., and published a newsheet called El Boletin de Cebu, which carried government notices, trade and shipping information, brief reports on important events of the day, and occasional literary pieces.
This was Cebu’s first newspaper. In 1900, the young Sergio Osmeña, with the help of his then prospective father-in-law, the merchant Nicasio Chiong-Veloso bought a secondhand press from the Manila newspaper La Opinion, recruited the writers Jaime de Veyra and Rafael Palma, set up shop in a warehouse on Calle Comercio (M.C. Briones), and published El Nuevo Dia. This was Cebu’s first daily newspaper. In 1901, the young Vicente Sotto acquired a small printing press, established quarters in a rented house on Calle Manso (A. Bonifacio), and published “Ang Suga”. This was Cebu’s first newspaper in Cebuano.
RELATED. “Bias and the Future of Journalism” by Resil B. Mojares in CJJ10, Sept. 24, 2015.
MODEST PROFITS. While the early papers turned in modest profits, they were more like social projects than business enterprises. With few exceptions they did not last very long. Papers existed as adjuncts to other interests, useful to keep the presses running (if the publisher is into the printing business) or useful as a social asset (if one desires social influence or political office). Others operated on their own steam but, undercapitalized, they led a marginal existence, sustained from issue to issue by the zeal of their writers and the dogged industry of ambulant advertising solicitors.
The most successful of the early news publishing houses were those of the Cuenco and Rama families. Mariano Albao Cuenco’s Imprenta Rosario, established in 1907 on the ground floor of the old Cuenco residence on Colon street, produced a line of newspapers that included Ang Cama-tuoran, El Precursor, and El Boletin Catolico. In 1947, it published The Republic News. In 1951, what used to be the old Cuenco house was transformed into a two-storey, concrete commercial building. While parts of the building contained living quarters and the Cuenco law offices, The Republic News may be regarded as the first newspaper to have a permanent building of its own.
Vicente Rama’s Bag-ong Kusog was printed by Cuenco’s Imprenta Rosario when it was founded in 1915. In 1917, however, Rama acquired the press of the defunct Cebu Chronicle (established by an American, J.R. Flynn Anderson, in 1909). Rama moved the press from corner Lapulapu-Morga to Ezpeleta street in San Nicolas and named the printshop “The Cebu Press”. It published Bag-ong Kusog, its sister English language publication, Progress, as well as books (mostly authored by Rama him- self). Bag-ong Kusog was remarkable in that it was not so much a “local” as an ethnic publication which extensively carried reports on Cebuano communities elsewhere in the Visayas, Mindanao, and even Hawaii (places where the news-magazine was circulated).
FLEDGLING INDUSTRY. Even then, journalistic publishing was a fledgling and pioneering industry.
Management and fiscal systems were underdeveloped, wages were low and irregular, and production systems inefficient and informal. The informality, improvisation, disorder, and autonomy gave to the newspaper trade a kind of “masculine” appeal.
All these, however, occasioned many of the lapses in the trade as well. The rise of Sun.Star Daily marks a coming of age for local newspaper publishing as an industry. Entering only its 13th year (Nov. 25, 2024 was its 42nd anniversary), it has been a pacesetter in local journalism in newspaper management, the use of new technology, and editorial content. With its sister publications, it has become not just a newspaper but a family of papers.
SunStar first occupied Door #4 of Borromeo Arcade along F. Ramos St., then moved to a building at Osmena Blvd. where it spent most of its first 11 years. On its 12 th year, SunStar began occupying its own building.
FORWARD-LOOKING Its new building projects the image of a forward-looking publishing house. It is the first building in Cebu to be exclusively designed as a newspaper publishing house, with its three floor interior space neatly divided into a news publishing concern’s functional divisions. It is a far cry from the time when all that one needed to put out a paper was a printing press and a few tables with typewriters. It illustrates, in quite dramatic terms, the professionalization and expansion of the newspaper as an organization.
With its own building, SunStar also changed address.
Traditionally, newspaper buildings sought the look favored by old civic architecture, like the design of post offices or town halls severe, reserved, and dignified. The press, after all, is the Fourth Estate, government’s co-equal, and it must present to the public an image of gravity and solidity.
Something of this quality is to be seen, albeit on a quite modest plane, by the Republic News building. The Sun.Star building, however, looks towards another time. Attractive, functional, and contemporary, it presents the image of a newspaper dedicated to breaking new ground.
In 1980, architect Robert Stern did a post modern design for the Chicago Tribune Tower in which the four corners of the tall tower are layered with striped black-and-white glass, the architect’s metaphor for newsprint. The Sun.Star building does not proclaim itself in such loud manner. Yet, it is, by virtue of what it is and what it contains, truly a house made of newsprint. 
RESIL B. MOJARES, a native of Polanco, Zamboanga del Norte but has spent most of his adult life in Cebu City, is a historian and critic of Philippine literature.
Recognized in 2018 as National Artist for Literature, the state’s highest recognition for artists, and won a Carlos Palanca memorial award for short stories. Obtained his B.A. and M.A. degrees from University of San Carlos, Cebu City and his Ph.D. from University of the Philippines Diliman.
Dr. Mojares taught at USC and was a visiting professor at Kyoto University, National University of Singapore, and University of California. He was founding director of USC’s Cebuano Studies Center and authored books on history, literature and politics, receiving six National Book Awards.
He wrote opinion columns for The Freeman and later wrote articles for SunStar Cebu and its weekly magazine SunStar Weekend. He was arrested with few other writers in 1972, when he was writing the Freeman column “Sticks and Stones.”
He has four children with Salvacion Ouano Go and resides in Talamban, Cebu City.