‘Real reviews’ at Tech News

Art Samaniego

rt Samaniego—editor of the Manila Bulletin Tech News who is now considered a tech expert and is often invited to guest at television talk shows—used to be so certain about his desire to become a priest.

But perhaps God meant him to serve elsewhere, to serve fresh technology news to the anxious public.

Samaniego was almost a priest when he came to realize that he needed to move forward, so out he went from the seminary. Moving out of the walls of the seminary, he sought his destiny at The Manila Bulletin, starting as secretary to the executive vice president for advertising.

Thereafter, he was assigned to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) department.

His only pre-condition for taking on the new position—that only people with background and expertise on information technology be assigned to the Tech News section.

Today, the writers and columnists in Tech News have background and expertise on technology, and that combination, he said “is one of our advantages over other newspapers.”

Speaking about his TV appearances, Art said: “They are asking me for interviews because they see our knowledge. And because The Manila Bulletin is unbiased. We don’t accept review units. We buy our own. I always tell them, real foodies buy their own food; real techies buy their own gadgets. When they give you something for free, you have no choice but to say good things about it.”

Despite challenges and criticisms, Samaniego, who also created The Manila Bulletin website, said he continued to move forward.

And now, Tech News is the most credible technology section in the country.

To tech writers, his advice is: “Don’t compromise your credibility. Call a spade a spade. Don’t be influenced by freebies.”