Founder of Daily Tribune succumbs to ‘lingering illness’

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Veteran journalist and founder of local broadsheet Daily Tribune Ninez Cacho-Olivares passed away at the age of 78, the publication announced on Friday, January 3.

“Daily Tribune founder and moving spirit Ninez Cacho Olivares passed away the morning of 3 January due to a lingering illness,” the Daily Tribune said in a Facebook post.

“Through all the challenges that the newspaper went through, she had one stubborn purpose, which was to put the Daily Tribune to bed every day,” it added.

Cacho-Olivares wrote for various broadsheets such as Bulletin Today, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Business Day, and Business World.

She founded the Daily Tribune in June 2000, which was acquired by the Concept and Information Group, Inc. in June 2018.

The journalist’s last opinion piece, titled “‘Nuff said,” was published on the same day she passed away. In her last column, Cacho-Olivares slammed detained Senator Leila de Lima, as well as the American senators who are calling for her release.

‘Shining example of a journalist’

On Saturday, January 4, Malacañang expressed its condolences to the family of Cacho-Olivares, whom it described as “a shining example of a journalist who wrote with truth accompanying the movement of her pen.”

“We have lost a welcome hell of a journalist that struck fear in the hearts of corrupt bureaucrats and politicians with pretended nationalism as well as pseudo intellectuals who suffocate the air with their nonsense,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

The Palace official remembered the journalist for her “biting commentaries and insightful analyses laced with wit and elegant sarcasm” when she talks about the government incompetence and corruption, saying that her words are like a scalpel that “cuts through the lies and corruption of political scoundrels.”

Panelo recalled how Cacho-Olivares became “one of the leading figures who carried the torch for freedom of expression” during the martial law regime under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“She bravely joined the parliament of the streets against the Marcos presidency. The threat of arrest and detention could not deter her from pursuing her advocacy of freedom of the press and good government,” the spokesman said.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar earlier hailed Cacho-Olivares’ “fearlessness” to comment on the issues that the country is facing, saying it is something that will be remembered and admired by her colleagues and friends.

Cacho-Olivares is survived by her children Peter Bambina, Michael and Pixie, her children-in-law Tweety Quintero, Xandra Barretto, and Jay Fonacier, and her grandchildren Carlo, Iñigo, Isabella and Enrique Olivares, Samantha and Jessica Wise, Julio Olivares, and Noelle Fonacier.