Misyun! Statement
"Misyun! is a general interest newspaper that will initially cater to a niche readership – namely, MMGHHSCP members, the doctors and their patients. This will be distributed nationwide by mail and by courier (med reps of MMG-Medicine Trading Inc.) to our hospitals, doctors offices and to other high density areas.
In time, we hope to move Misyun! out to the streets on a more frequent basis.
We are publishing Misyun! in cooperation with the Final Edition Inc., a group of cooperative-minded media workers.
The reason why we are opting for a general interest newspaper format rather than a newsletter is because we believe Health is not merely about doctors and hospitals.
We believe that Health is the basic ground upon which our daily needs and survival walk on.
One cannot talk of Health if 30 percent of the population of the Philippines still does not have safe water while CocaCola rakes in P10 billion in net profit a year.
One cannot talk of Health if 70 percent of the population do not have their own shelter.
One cannot talk of prevention of high cholesterol levels and proper diets if 80 percent of our children are in various stages of malnutrition.
One cannot agonize forever over babies who die of diarrhea in the dry season and dengue in the wet season year after year after year while the Department of Heath of the Republic of the Philippines issues directives against flower vases in classrooms.
No. We are not waging war again. The taste of war is still bitter in the mouths of our children in the countryside. We believe that our effectiveness as Healthbringers lies in addressing the disease that grips the minds of our community.
More than the lack of food, we suffer from the lack of proper community generated and directed information and the presence of irrelevant, distorted, distracting and even deadly information (and entertainment) fed by vested interests in media.
So it is time the Media belongs to the people. A Media Cooperative. It has been tried before. So far, the efforts have failed. But the efforts have not been wasted. Media has learned invaluable lessons from all that. She is willing to try again. And ever again.
When MMGHHSCP was a fledgling, media gave us the wind beneath our wings.
Now, eight years later, MMGHHSCP is coming back to be by Media as she struggles to fly on her own wings. And fly she will. In her own way.
The Misyun! is a fun newspaper.
JOSE M. TIONGCO
CEO
MMGHHSCP
