Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel lll lauded the achievements of the Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc. (PAPI) as he cited a new law which recognizes “publishing and printing media” as one of the creative domains.
The senator was one of the special guests at PAPI’s 2023 Midyear Executive Session last month.
“Freedom of the press is a fundamental right here in our beloved country. We can never allow for print to be dead,” the senator told PAPI members headed by its national president, Nelson Santos.
Pimentel was the principal author of the Creative Industries Development Act in the Senate.
“Under this law, RA No. 11904, we are recognizing nine creative domains and it may interest you to know that the ‘publishing and printed media domain’ is a recognized creative domain. Newspaper articles are journalistic literature,” the senator said.
“I will help you and do whatever I can to contribute to the protection and promotion of the newspaper publishing industry and to news reporting as a whole,” Pimentel added.
In the same event, PAPI chairman emeritus, Johnny Dayang launched his book while PAPI members from 1970-1980, Outstanding Court Sheriff 2023 Joannah Avigail Timkang of RTC Trece Martires, and former president and House Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were honored.