My husband, the founder of this newspaper passed away in 2013. His life story is a chronicle of the fights he waged on behalf of others, those with less in life who were being victimized. He absolutely wanted Balita to carry on with his championing of the underdog, at all costs if need be.
I can affirm that I have done my best, and made him proud of his paper, according to our reading public. Somebody commented that I am incompetent but for those that saw what I have done and accomplished, for them it just depends on who is saying it.
Having survived the acid test for his political beliefs, after being locked up in Camp Crame by former President Marcos for his critical writings of the Dictatorship, it hardened him.
He was unforgiving, especially when it involved people in power, most especially those in government abusing their power.
I remember people congratulating and encouraging him saying, “Go, Ruben, expose the son of a bitch”.
Today, there are still people in our community that lack conscience and they would even steal other group’s resources just to stay as leaders and under the limelight.
In one of the Upsilon Sigma Phi international reunions that we attended; I remember the former vice president Salvador Laurel told everyone listening that Ruben was one of the reasons why the former president Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law.
I was a bit confused but I thanked him for the comment that was seconded by some of their Upsilon brods that knew. And Ruben just had a good laugh.
Am very proud that Ruben Cusipag with that caliber believed in me and made effort to encourage me to write my feelings. He always said, “as long as you can express it, then there are no rules about writing. You don’t have to be a journalist to write from the heart. And leave the analysis to us real journalist.
A great advice from somebody who is so great in his chosen field, then others I can conclude are just self-promoting. In this community, there are those who think of themselves as the greatest yet no accomplishments to show, it can just be compared to picture-hungry characters who push themselves for photo-ops at every opportunity,
It is free to write about yourself as the greatest but if we see otherwise, then who are you fooling? With YouTube now a days, it is easy to decipher if somebody is telling the truth about themselves.
I was told bobo, not capable of editing and running Balita, forgetting that am also a businesswoman. I am paying accomplished writers to do some of the writings so I can concentrate on the business side of the paper.
Working on 80 pages of this every two weeks is not a joke yet we never missed an issue or became late either.
Ruben’s continuing legacy remains to be his crusading spirit to be the voice of our community, to articulate the public interest of Filipinos, to expose and to stop and make them account for their misdeeds, those who take advantage and live off of the vulnerable members, through the pages of Balita Newspaper.
We have successfully brought out some of those scammers and swindlers into the public eye, as Ruben had mandated, they are fighting back as expected, defaming, slandering, and threatening us openly.
Like what a senior say in Tagalog, sagad sa buto ang pagka walanghiya”, Bahala na ang Diyos, kasumpa sumpa” said another. .
For these criminals, no one can really enjoy blessings till there are issues that need clearance. You start wrong so you will carry them forever. Never mind that there are pseudo journalists and announcers out there who won’t hesitate to make you look good for a few peanuts.
These cheap hacks are what late journalist and Balita columnist the late Tenny Soriano referred to when he said, “pa bente bente lang, okay na”.
And some publishers who knew the truth and what happened before but because of their envy, that in their greediness they wish Balita to go down.
Because of their malicious intentions their lives never really took off either financially or with sickness. It is unforgivable when your goodness and generosity are paid back with betrayals.
I remember the late Carlos Padilla, a principled civic leader, and a good friend of ours, who stepped up as a whistle-blower when he could no longer stomach dishonesty.
He told us that in an event, when he brought up the issue of financial statements to a fund-raiser, he was thrown a dollar as a response. That made him pursue it more and tell the community about the truth and what transpired, and until the day he died he tried his best to make the man accountable.
His efforts to make a difference for the community is commendable. He and I discussed cases and a lot of issues that were shocking for me that we will pursue. How people can stomach deviousness for money. Monies that did not come from your sweat will bring an enormous bad luck to your life anyway. It has been proven so I wish them luck.