Echoes From
BY JOHNNY DAYANG

Dapitan and the Community Press

In the time of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, Dapitan in Zamboanga del Norte was a place for the banished and the abandoned. Distant and remote from Manila, Dapitan stood as of the outposts of the Spanish colonial government in what was then the largely untamed frontier of Mindanao.

It was in Dapitan that Rizal was exiled by the Spaniards for formenting "unrest" in the hearts and minds of God-fearing Filipinos. By "unrest," they meant Rizal's invocation of the basic rights to free speech, free expression, and free assembly - all considered abominations by the Spanish clergy, when invoked by "Indios" like Rizal.

But instead of feeling forlorn, Rizal used his stay in Dapitan as a celebration of his humanity and of his unstinting love for his country. Historians said that in the four years Rizal was exiled in Dapitan, he helped build a school, a hospital, and an entire water supply system.

And so it is not by chance that from December 5 to 7, the "Month of the Community Press in the Service of the Nation" and the "National Press Congress Month" will have for its highlight the 15th National Press Congress under the auspices of the Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PAPI) at the Dakak Park & Beach Resort in Dapitan.

Like it was fated to return to the place where the fiery spirit to be free in words and speech once soared proud and unbowed, PAPI will pay homage to our national hero by way of the 3-day press congress that will see the participation of some 250 publishers, broadcasters, editors, media executives, press club officers and members, journalists working abroad, writers, college editors, information officers, online journalists, and other mass mass communication practitioners.

No less than President Benigno S. Aquino has hailed the PAPI National Press Congress. Among those expected to lead in welcoming Congress participants are Zamboanga del Norte Gov. Rolando Yebes, Dapitan City Mayor Dominador Jalosjos, Jr., Vice Mayor Patri Bahamonde-Chan, and City Councilor Anna Marie "Apple" Agolong, chair of the city council committee on tourism.

Aside from the round table dialogues, symposia, workshops, fellowship, and cultural shows, there will also be tours of Dapitan, the national shrine city and Zamboanga del Norte.