Manila Standard Today - History

History

The Manila Standard was founded on February 11, 1987 when the conglomerate owned by the family of Spanish-Filipino businessman Manuel Elizalde established the publishing company Standard Publications Inc. In 1989, the group of companies owned by the family of Andres Soriano III bought out the Elizalde group and renamed the company Kagitingan Publications.

In June 1991, the group of businessman Alfonso Yuchengco bought into the company and spun off the publishing company. It was incorporated as Kamahalan Publishing Corporation. Kagitingan Publications was renamed Kagitingan Printing Press Inc., which continues to print the Manila Standard Today.

In 1997, businessman Enrique K. Razon Jr., chairman and president of the International Container Terminal Services Inc., acquired the shares of the Yuchengcos and bought out the Soriano group to become the sole owner of Kamahalan Publishing Corporation and Kagitingan Printing Press Inc.

In August 2007, a campaign to boycott the paper was launched by a number of Filipino bloggers in response to an article by one of its columnists, Malu Fernandez, whose article "From Boracay to Greece" (published June 2007 in People Asia) disparaged overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), saying "I wanted to slash my wrist at the thought of being trapped in a plane with all of them". Fernandez issued an apology and resigned from the newspaper. She was later reinstated.

Victor Agustin took reigns as chairman of the Editorial Board in 2008. Under his term, the company formally adopted an advocacy for the environment.

"In 2010, ownership of the Manila Standard Today changed hands again. This time, the Razon group sold its interest to the Romualdez group, who acquired the newspaper just as the Aquino administration took the reins of power. "