The Bicol Mail entered its 15th revival publication year last week with not much of a fuss --- though we received some reminders from the legal officer of City Hall, Atty. Angel R. Ojastro III, regarding editorial policies.

        Thanks and no thanks to the legal officer. We “noted” his reminders and we take it that what he wrote were what the City Mayor Jesse M. Robredo would like him to say. The reminders stated that: public interest must be upheld at all times; impartiality should be required of all articles for publication; no personal or business favor should be bestowed on or requested from any political or religious group; confidentiality of sources; legal and actual documents are bases for information; materials for publication that are contrary to law, morality and public order shall be prohibited; government and non-government agencies are sources of constant coordination.

        Well and good. We appreciate the reminders. But we would prefer to hear them from our publisher. We would on our own way come up to these expectations --- but not along the way City Mayor Robredo would have it. We, at the media, have our own way of looking at what is happening in Naga City.

        For the past five years, Bicol Mail has looked at things the way Mayor Robredo has. In fact, the Bicol Mail has earned the reputation of being the mouthpiece of Mayor Robredo. Nothing --- no news item, no editorial, not even a column --- nothing has been written in it that has criticized the administration of Mayor Robredo. The Bicol Mail was no better than a printer of press and praise releases of City Hall, with nothing said about the printing cost week in and week out.

        Though we felt somewhat comfortable in that way for the past years, the feeling soon had a falling off even as the true mission of the Fourth Estate eventually haunted us. After a while – for the past three months --- we came out with some items and editorials that are not, according to Mayor Robredo, a “fair shake” for City Hall. In truth, the current manner that Bicol Mail handles the issues on Mayor Robredo is very tame compared to the standards established in the May 16, 1954 editorial of the Bicol Mail, then edited by Francis T. Nacianceno. Bicol Mail then went to the extent of drawing the line between the editor and its publisher, and defined the moment when Bicol Mail was freed from the clutches of political patrons.

        Runs part of the May 16, 1954 editorial: “The Bicol Mail is not an anti-administration paper, contrary to the claim of one Nemesio Arroyo in an article in the Philippines Free Press, May 15, 1954. This is a newspaper that fights the rascals, scoundrels, and undesirables who fatten themselves by clinging like leeches in the government payrolls. Furthermore, the editor sets the editorial policies of this weekly --- not the owners or its publishers”.

        This policy apparently does not go along the way Atty. Ojastro defined the role of a local newspaper. Atty. Ojastro would like that government and non-government would be sources of constant coordination, be they rascals or scoundrels. Nacianceno did not buy that and went even further to the point of contending that the editor should not only be freed from the clutches of political patrons but even of the paper’s publisher.

        This apparently does not jibe with the expectations of Mayor Robredo even as he wrote the editor last week: “I do not think we will get a fair shake from him. So from hereon, we will just look for other avenues to ventilate the truth.” To this we may add as a corollary: for the past years, did the Bicol Mail get any “fair shake” from the Office of the City Mayor?

        Apparently Mayor Robredo who was accustomed to reap praises for what he has been doing or has done ---- and we admit he has done a lot of good for the city --- feels slighted when the Bicol Mail takes him to task on some issues. That is the trouble with one who is used to receive awards, nationally and internationally. He expects everyone --- including the media – to look at glasses half full. This habitude for adulation leaves no space for us to tell him that he has glasses that are also half empty.

        But that is precisely what a local paper, worth its salt, sees. And that is also what Bicol Mail can be writing about. And we will stick to that role as defined for us by Nacianceno a long time ago. Of course this definition was not registered as a Torrens Title. And we do not expect Mayor Robredo or Atty. Ojastro to have knowledge of it.

        After all, Mayor Robredo belongs to the First Estate, the Bicol Mail to the Fourth Estate. The distance should be maintained. And Bicol Mail intends from hereon to keep it that way.