Abundo, Jan Carl Daniel B.

BAJ 1-A

MarileNews: Pahayagan ng mga Marilenyo

Driven by purpose. A publication whose foundation is their heart to serve. Built with the following

pillars: accuracy, integrity, humanity, impartiality, and accountability. They tell the story of

Marilao and its people, the Marilenyos. They inform and they empower. They are the MarileNews.

In 2007, MarileNews was established under the second term of Mayor Peping Guillermo’s regime.

It was first launched as a sub-division of the Public Information Office until later recognized as an

independent publication sector operating under the Office of the Mayor. From black and white

newspapers to colored magazines to now using social media as a platform to spread awareness and

disseminate information to Marilenyos. Because of technological advancements in today’s

generation, print media is no longer considered a mainstream for readers since news and

information can be obtained online. And that prompted MarileNews to create a Facebook page to

keep in step with what we call now as New Media to cater a larger number of readers online faster

and easier. MarileNews publishes two issues annually for more than a decade now. But under the

direction of the newly appointed mayor Mr. Ricardo “Ricky” Silvestre, the publication is set to

publish an issue every month starting year 2020 to keep the public up to date with the latest

happenings and upcoming events or projects in the Municipality of Marilao. The medium in which

they disseminate or publish information is in Filipino because they are firm believers that using

our native language, the readers/audience will better understand and comprehend the message the

writers wish to convey.

Below are the vision, mission, and objective statements they live by.

Vision:

A pro-active public information team creating a well-informed community about the

municipal government plans and programs and to inspire their support and participation.

Mission:

To provide constituents with adequate information that will help them make better

decisions and identify opportunities that could improve their quality of life.

Objectives:

To effectively promote the programs and projects of the municipal government through

information dissemination via all forms of media.

To keep the constituents informed of all services intended by the municipal government so

that they could avail of such services.

Maintain effective liaison with the various sectors of the community on matters and issues

that affect the livelihood and the quality of life of the inhabitants and encourage support

for programs of the local and national government.

The following are the different departments that comprise of MarileNews.

1. Communication and Research

The department tasked to obtain information and data about the events and happenings

in the Municipality of Marilao. They do coverages, researches, and interviews to get

much needed information that will be helpful and useful to the public. This unit

comprise mostly of reporters and photojournalists.

 2. Production

The division that makes use of the information and data collected by Communication

and Research team to produce articles and stories for the issues they publish on paper

and on line. This team includes writers and graphic and layout artists.

3. Dissemination

The unit responsible for overseeing the publishing of the magazines and newspapers,

managing the posts and messages in their MarileNews Facebook page, and also the

supervising of the distribution of printed paraphernalia to the general public to spread

knowledge and awareness.

Below are the organizational chart of the office and editorial board of the publication.

Figure 1 – Organizational Chart

Ricardo M. Silvestre
Mayor

Wilfredo D. Diaz Rhyan Delos Reyes

Administrator Editor in Chief

Rhyan Delos Reyes Karen Bonifacio Maria Christina Juan

Head (Research) Head (Productions) Head (Dissemination)
 Figure 2 – Editorial Board

Editor in Chief: Rhyan Delos Reyes

Associate Editor: Karen Bonifacio
Writer: Camille Marcelo
Contributors: Mark Joseph Sta. Rosa
Olivo Barandino III
Jhon Aaron Tadeo
Crispin Zamora, Jr,
Jay Mart Francisco
Michael Vergara
Advisers: Jon Louie Santiago
Dolores Cajucom
Anselmo Del Carmen

I included the organizational chart to show flow of command in the office. They use Schramm’s

model of communication with the factors sender, message, medium, and receiver present. Their

staff includes writers, photojournalists, graphic and layout artists, reporters, and IT personnel.

Reporters and photojournalists cover events and gather data. Those information are either used by

the writers to write stories or by graphic artists to make visuals. Layout artists compile

articles/outputs for a certain period of time to produce a newspaper/magazine. IT personnel are in-

charge of their Facebook page. Currently, they are working on an issue that will highlight Mayor

Ricky Silvestre’s achievements and projects in his first 100 days of service which is set to release

on October.

As part of my exposure, I visited the publication last Monday, September 2. I was able to interview

the Associate Editor of the publication, Ms. Karen Bonifacio. She graduated Bachelor of Fine Arts

major in Advertising Arts in University of Santo Tomas. She started serving Marilenyos as a vital

part of MarileNews in 2016. She didn’t take formal education regarding journalism but she attends

seminars and trainings regularly. I was also able to talk to three other contributors in their
publication. As I entered their office at about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, I observed their workplace

and I saw people facing their computers. They immediately entertained me and asked me questions

despite their busy schedule with the deadline of their next issue fast approaching. The ambiance

was light. It felt as if we were just having a normal conversation. They were very welcoming and

accommodating. They were laughing and joking around. They even gave me a copy of their latest

release. They also gave me few tips and reminders about the field I was about to take. Before we

parted ways, I asked for a photograph for documentation. I really enjoy meeting and interacting

with different people with diverse sets of morals. To say that I learned a lot in this exposure is an

understatement.