Last week, I was privileged to have been part of the 39th anniversary of The Philippine STAR. I was a sophomore in college when the paper first came out. But I have been an avid reader right from the start—thanks to the influence of my father, Cesar, who had daily subscriptions to multiple newspapers, and my grandfather, Rodolfo Nazareno, who was a newspaper columnist (and who had the distinction of being the first Filipino to head the Manila Overseas Press Club—he was also the first two-term president of the MOPC).
This year also marks a decidedly less auspicious but more personal anniversary with regards to this newspaper—my 25th year of writing for The STAR. To be honest, I can’t remember if I started in July or August, but I am absolutely sure it was in 2000.
What I remember was the thrill and excitement of seeing my own byline on these hallowed pages. I was not the motoring editor then; I would wait 12 years for that, when my predecessor, Dong Magsajo, crossed over to the corporate side to join a car company in 2012 (which makes this my 13th year as PhilStar Wheels editor).
Things have changed a lot since 2000. For one thing, this section wasn’t even called Wheels yet. It started as just the motoring section, just like in other papers. It would be The STAR’s marketing team who would rebrand it as Wheels—a brand name that would eventually be used as a new automotive TV show (Wheels TV) hosted by Matteo Guidicelli and the rest of the Wheels editorial team (Kap Aguila, Ulysses Ang, Angel Rivero and myself) on ABS-CBN Sports & Action network in 2015. Wheels would also make the jump to the digital realm when it spawned its own website, wheels.ph, in 2019, and which runs to this day.
So how was the state of the car industry in 2000? It was so much less vibrant then. There was just about a dozen car brands in those days (there are over 40 car brands now). The bestselling cars were still sedans. Pickups were still a minor segment. There was no subcompact 7-seater MPVs then (unlike now when we have the Avanza, Veloz, Xpander, Ertiga, Stargazer, and Livina). The terms “crossover” and “SUV” weren’t being used yet (even though we already had the CR-V, RAV 4, Pajero, and Patrol—the pioneering crossovers and SUVs—back then).
The popular segments then—compact and midsize sedans—are almost gone now. From more than eight, there are now just four compact sedans in the market (Altis, Civic, Elantra and Mazda3) and from more than seven midsize sedan models way back, there are now only two (Camry and Mazda6). The year 2000 was more than 10 years away from the appearance of pickup-based SUVs like the Fortuner, Montero Sport or Everest (although we already had their pickup equivalents in the Hilux, L200/Strada, and Ranger back then).
And there were no hybrids, PHEVs or EVs on the local market then (even though I got to drive all those and even fuel cell/hydrogen vehicles in Japan and Europe as long ago as 2001). There were also no Chinese brands in 2000 (there are now more Chinese car brands here than all the other car brands combined).
On a more personal note, I also make kind of a full circle with this newspaper. I started out as a reader, but before I started writing and working for The Philippine STAR, I was working for Nissan’s advertising department in the 90s, which put me on the advertiser-client side of the business. I still remember our esteemed Executive Vice President, Lucien Dy Tioco, having meetings with my then-boss at Nissan, Teresa Guanzon (who was a TV newscaster back then).
As I celebrate this 25-year milestone, my journey reflects not only personal achievement but also the evolution of automotive journalism in the Philippines—from print (newspapers and car magazines) to purely digital in the form of websites, vlogs and social media. I’m just thankful for the resiliency of this newspaper at a time when many print publications are struggling in the worldwide transition to digital.
I’m also grateful to have been blessed with truly supportive people who guided and mentored me along the way—the aforementioned Mr. Dy Tioco, our Senior Vice President Ms. Tammy Mendoza (whom I met at the Honda Media Challenge in 1998, two years before I joined The STAR), and of course, our beloved president, Sir Miguel Belmonte.
Reader. Advertiser. Writer. Editor. It has been a pleasure and an honor to have been able to be many things to this newspaper. But more than anything, it has been a privilege to share a voice in the country’s dynamic and fast-paced automotive industry for two generations of readers. Thank you for granting that, The Philippine STAR!
