Tony Nieva
Antonio Maria "Tony" Onrubia Nieva was a Filipino journalist, union organizer, and activist. He worked to defend press freedom and the rights of workers, and campaigned to end authoritarian rule in the Philippines. He led the National Press Club as president and founded the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. He was secretary general of the International Organization of Journalists based in Prague, Czech Republic, from 1995 up to the time of his death in 1997. His name is on the Bantayog ng mga Bayani Wall of Remembrance, for his contributions to the fight against injustices of the dictatorship under President Ferdinand E. Marcos.
Biography
As writer and editor
Tony Nieva was a journalist who worked at the Philippines Herald, Manila Bulletin, and the Philippine Daily Inquirer. He worked as a columnist at the Bulletin, where he later became a desk editor. His column for the Inquirer appeared alternately with that of Letty Jimenez Magsanoc. He published a magazine for workers called Bagwis.He was also a poet and short story writer who won first prize in the first Asiaweek Short Story Contest in 1981.
As organizer
Nieva headed the union at the Manila Bulletin for two terms and helped workers in other media organizations form their own union. He led the National Press Club of the Philippines as president for two terms and organized "Save the Press" marches in Manila in a campaign for press freedom in the Philippines.In 1972, when he learned that martial law had been declared, he ran to the National Press Club building to warn its officers Antonio Zumel and Eddie Monteclaro, so they could escape the first wave of arrests.
In 1983, Nieva was arrested and detained for his work as a union organizer following a military raid on his home in Malate, Manila.
As president of the National Press Club from 1984 to 1986, the organization's office became "a refuge and haven for harassed journalists who needed protection from the dictatorship." Under his leadership, the National Press Club, with the Women's Committee to Protect Writers, published the two-volume The Philippine Press Under Siege, which collected essays by journalists who were threatened or detained during the rule of Marcos.
In 1986, he helped organize the People's Movement for Press Freedom. He continued his work as organizer even after Marcos had fled the Philippines in 1986. He founded and headed the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and helped establish the Kapisanan ng mga Manggagawa sa Media ng Pilipinas, an organization for media workers and practitioners.
From 1995 up to his death, he was secretary general of the International Organization of Journalists based in Prague, Czech Republic. He died of natural causes in Prague on October 13, 1997.