Ladies and Gentlemen, thecapiztimes.com!
One year shy of 40, we are now officially online.
As a member of the fourth estate seeking to inform, educate and entertain, we have been trying our hand in it for quite a while now. And now the inevitable has come: this week we have officially launched our website.
Ladies and gentlemen: welcome thecapiztimes.com.
By going online, we have not only made ourselves more indispensable, we have also opened more doors of opportunity.
But we have not ceased printing our small paper even as we can only be grateful to our subscribers and advertisers who have journeyed with us all these years.
In fact, in the middle of the year, we also welcomed the neighboring Aklan into our pages. After forging partnerships with our friends there, we launched the “Dateline: Aklan” in August, highlighting the local life but also tourism in the towns of Kalibo and Malay, which is home to the world-class Boracay.
We hope to expand further and be the chronicler of the Northern Panay—with Northern Iloilo and the town of Carles (the place of the Gigantes Group of Islands).
All these efforts, however, do not undermine the fact that we have been the chronicler of the province of Capiz. In fact, we have always been here, bearing witness but most importantly, keeping track of the milestones of the province for almost four decades.
From our first issue when we bannered the National College Entrance Examinations in October 1981, we commenced publication in the last days of Martial Law era, when the Marcos dictatorship stalked the land and freedom of the speech was banned.
Through the years, we have become an essential part of the life of every Capizeño. We have had our own share of victories and losses as a community.
We not only cheered with you when we saw Rep. Dinggoy Roxas as the hope for Capiz in the early 1990s; we also shared your gratitude when Sen. Mar Roxas won great victory for Capiz, topping the senatorial race in 2004.
We saw your tragedies when typhoon Undang wreaked havoc in the province in 1985; but also witnessed the fury of super typhoon Yolanda in 2013. In the aftermath of Ursula in 2019, we were there, continuing to bear witness with you and chronicling the strength of you, the Capizeño—and your resilience that can only inspire.
When Capiz welcomed the new millennium in 2000, so did we. Today, two decades later, in the midst of the Corona Virus Disease-19 (Covid-19) pandemic, we are responding to the call of the New Normal by going online full-time—if only to reach you and constantly be of service to you.
Indeed, in the name of service—we were here then, we are here now and we will be here tomorrow. We were your past; and we are your present. Then, before this new normal and now, right now in these most difficult times—and up until all this blows over, we will always be here.
What happens to you, to us tomorrow nobody knows for sure—but one thing is certain for you, the Capizeño: The Capiz Times will always be your voice.
Your life. Your hope. Your tomorrow.
