“And Katharine Graham made a very risky decision without knowing what the newspaper really stands for…The concept of standing up for the principles of press freedom. She made a very momentous choice by saying, ‘Publish’.”

And quoting from the movie, “The Post”, Pangilinan said, ‘News is the first draft of history.”

PLDT Inc chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan (or MVP, as popularly known in business circles) was our guest speaker during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) induction of officers on 2 February. We were told he will not give a keynote address and would just induct the incoming officers for 2018.

He surprised us with an impromptu speech, starting with the story of The Post, the Tom Hanks-Meryl Streep movie about the Pentagon Papers and the Washington Post. I think he was inspired by the movie that he was prompted to give a short speech about mass media. (He watches at least two movies a month, he said).

And as the owner of two newspapers, The Philippine Star and Businessworld, and broadcasting company TV5 Network Inc, PLDT should know the pitfalls and difficult decisions a media outfit needs to make, especially during a time when press freedom is under heavy attack.

By telling the story of The Post to us business journos, Pangilinan was relaying to us his reflections on the repercussions or the rewards of bringing out the truth…and the snowballing of the Pentagon papers and later on, the Watergate scandal.

“So it just points out to the very valuable role that media plays in a democracy like ours,” he said.

“And everyone, including the leadership, must accept that is important. It is not a weakness but it is actually a source of strength.”