The Mindanao Cross in digital media at 69

COTABATO CITY – In a world gone digital,
one might think that the presence of online platforms would eventually spell
the death of the print industry.

Not for the longest running Catholic
newspaper in the Philippines, The Mindanao Cross, which is the first newspaper
in Mindanao to undergo a micro-filming process to preserve the nation’s
cultural heritage and promote academic and research interests for the country.

Editor-in-Chief Eva Kimpo-Tan and News
Editor Carlos Bautista turned over on Tuesday, January 31, the digital copy of
the newspaper dating back to its first issue in February 1948 up to December
2012 to Notre Dame University (NDU).

The CDs containing the digital copy were
received by NDU President Fr. Charlie Inzon, OMI and Sheila Algabre, NDU VP for
Administration and Extension, also Executive Assistant to the President.

The microfilming process began in 2013
and finished in 2015. It was a joint project of the Ateneo De Manila University
Rizal Library and The Mindanao Cross Publishers Inc. with funding support from
the Center for Research Libraries - Southeast Asia Microforms Project.

In the past, researchers both local and
foreign, have to fly in to Cotabato City to secure a copy. This time, there is
no need to travel far. It is now convenient and accessible, said Fr. Jonathan
Domingo, OMI, chief executive officer of The Mindanao Cross.

To facilitate the implementation of the
project, a memorandum of agreement was entered into by Fr. Domingo and Rodolfo
Ang, acting vice president of Ateneo De Manila University.

Under the agreement, The Mindanao Cross
will receive free from the Ateneo Rizal Library a copy, scanned from the
microfilm, in digital format. Additional copies shall be provided at the
regular price.

Strictly following the international
archival quality standards on preservation microfilming, the Ateneo Rizal
Library made a master negative film of every page of the newspaper.

The digital copies of The Mindanao
Cross are not only for the preservation of history and cultural heritage, but
also for the academic and research interests of the members of the faculty and
students of Notre Dame University, Fr. Domingo said.

Microfilms are films strips rolled in
reels containing photographic records of printed materials on a reduced scale.

Mindanao Cross microfilmed copies
are now preserved in an earthquake- and fire-proof Ateneo Rizal Library. With
right temperature and humidity, microfilm copies can last up to 500 years.

MC
at 69

The turn-over of the digital copy of the
paper to Notre Dame University was done as The Cross, known as the Little Paper
With A Big Cause, turns 69. Over the past six decades, The Mindanao Cross has grown
to be a standard bearer of news for the whole of Central Mindanao, pioneering
in peace reporting and advocating for Muslim, Christian and Lumad solidarity,
and the preservation of the cultures and traditions of the region.

The Mindanao Cross has received multiple
awards since 1997.

It was first awarded the Best in
Editorial Page by the Philippine Press Institute in 1998. It took home the 1999
Gerry Gil Foundation’s Best Editorial Page and again won in the 2006 Community
Press Awards also in the Best Editorial Page category.

It won Best Edited Newspaper 3 times,
Best in Editorial Page 4 times, and Best in Culture and Arts Reporting. It has
since been a consistent finalist in almost all 7 award categories in the PPI’s
Annual Community Newspaper Awards.

Humble
beginnings

Originally founded by Oblates of Mary
Immaculate missionary Gerard Mongeau, the first Archbishop of Cotabato, as part
of the congregation’s mission in Mindanao, The Mindanao Cross first hit the
streets of Cotabato on February 6, 1948, with the help of a printing press that
was donated to the Oblates.

Archbishop Mongeau, who died on October
29, 1994 at the age of 94, wrote in his diary his dream of publishing a
Catholic paper in Cotabato.

Fr. Boyd, OMI received an offer of a
small printing press in New York. He generously donated to me the press. We
made arrangements for the shipping. I met Fr. Cuthbert Billman, OMI who showed
much interest to be in charge of the press and publish the Cotabato paper which
we decided to call The Mindanao Cross, a littler paper with a big cause, wrote
Archbishop Mongeau in 1981.

Fr. Billman was the first editor of The
Mindanao Cross. After him came other Oblate priests and laymen who have pooled
their talents in making the paper grow from four pages to 28 pages.

The paper missed one issue when martial
law was declared in 1972. Former Editor-in-Chief Patricio Diaz went to the
Supreme Court to petition and the paper was allowed to publish again.

It is the only Catholic paper which has
survived to so long in the Philippines. Others were born, lived for a while and
died, Archbishop Mongeau wrote. Valerie
Ann P. Lambo