Journalist Eduardo Lee writes 30

Many people have the impression that owners and managers of media outlets are bossy, bask in their power to keep people informed, and in some instances even woefully misinformed, and shape public opinion for right or otherwise.

Fortunately, there are those who are the complete opposite. They are soft spoken and amiable, and they take their ownership and management of a media outlet not as a status symbol or a manifestation of power and influence, but as a responsibility to disseminate nothing but the truth and to keep people properly informed.

Eduardo “Eddie” Ibañez Lee is one such pleasant exception.

An agriculturist by training and a media practitioner by destiny, Lee passed away in Canada last 19 August, Manila time. His remains were cremated also in Canada.

After finishing his degree in Agriculture from the University of the Philippines in Los Baños in 1957, the native of Magallanes, Sorsogon took on a few business concerns in agri-business, and then ventured into rural banking, and on to computer technology. He migrated to Canada in the early 1970s to join the growing Filipino expatriates there.

Like many Filipinos in Canada at that time, Lee felt homesick and longed for news from and about the Philippines.

Back then, Filipinos based in Canada learned about events in the Philippines only through occasional news stories in the international pages of Canadian newspapers, or through the rare news reports about Asia on Canadian television. The detailed news was obtained usually from letters sent by relatives from Manila, and through long-distance telephone calls from those who could afford the expensive costs of international calls.

Direct news from the Philippines was difficult to obtain. Martial law restrictions on overseas travel by Filipinos made it difficult to come across Filipinos with news from Manila. There was no Cable News Network.

In 1976, Lee and his good friends in Toronto, Canada, namely, Jimmy Borres (who later operated his own community newspaper in the Philippines), Ruben Cusipag, Roggie Concepcion, Tony Cruz and Noel Cruz, put up a small English-language newspaper, Atin Ito Philippine News Feature, with the aim of keeping the Filipino-Canadian community in Toronto informed about events in the Philippines.

That was difficult work considering that there was no digital telecommunications technology, no Internet, no e-mail, no nothing.

Despite the odds, Lee and his team moved heaven and earth to get news and feature stories about the Philippines enough to keep Atin Ito economically viable. To get the news directly from sources in the Philippines, he frequently visited Manila on a Canadian passport.

In time, Filipinos in Canada eventually came to rely on the newspaper for news from home. This allowed Atin Ito to expand its operations and increase its circulation.

Through Atin Ito, Lee kept the Filipino community in Canada informed about major current events in the Philippines including the assassination of opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., the EDSA Revolt, the Mount Pinatubo eruption, the closure of the American military bases, and the Philippine Centennial.

The advent of affordable telecommunications and borderless social media streamlined the once tedious process of news gathering. This allowed Atin Ito a wider readership.

There were, of course, a few competitors along the way, but all of them proved to be erstwhile, spur of the moment type of periodicals that had no loyal following, which led to their short-lived existence.

By 2018, Atin Ito was the oldest community newspaper in circulation in Canada. Lee’s experiment with news dissemination, one triggered by his loneliness abroad, earned him a place of honor in the annals of community journalism.

Sadly, the stress of running Atin Ito had taken a toll on Lee’s health. In the last few years of his life, he had been breathing with the help of a portable oxygen tank. He never let that inconvenience get in the way of his work.

Despite his failing health, Lee managed to become an octogenarian. That was, by itself, another accomplishment. In the end, only old age made him drop his tools.

Lee is survived by his widow Marita Ramirez and their three children.