The National Media Production Center (NMPC) was a government-owned media agency in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

that existed during the regime of then-President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

. Like any government departments, it was then headed by a Secretary, and later by a Minister.

History

The NMPC was established on June 1, 1953. They acquired the facilities of the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

Malolos Malolos , officially the City of Malolos (), is a component city and capital of the province of Bulacan, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 261,189 people. It is the capital city of the province of Bulacan as the ...

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...

in 1965 and steadily brought the old complex up to standards by a steady overhaul, fine-tuning, and outright replacement of outmoded equipment and machines. The NMPC operated the Voice of the Philippines, VOP, on both medium wave-918 kHz and shortwave 9.810 mHz transmissions. In 1975, the NMPC obtained DZRB-FM. With this new station and some provincial stations that came under its wings earlier, the NMPC was a network and effectively covered a wide range of the Philippine listenership. After

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

was closed and the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

was abolished to give way for the Bureau of Broadcasts (BB), the government through NMPC started to broadcast its own television station on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

as " Government Television" (GTV) under Lito Gorospe and later by then-Press Secretary

Francisco Tatad Francisco "Kit" Sarmiento Tatad (born October 4, 1939) is a Filipino journalist and politician best known for having served as Minister of Public Information under President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. from 1969 to 1980, and for serving as a Senat ...

. In 1977, NMPC produced the epic historical anthology film ''Tadhana: Ito ang Lahing Pilipino'' (), recruiting five filmmakers to direct five segments depicting Philippine history, though it ultimately went unreleased. In 1978, the agency produced the film ''Gisingin Mo ang Umaga'' () directed by Orlando Nadres, which tackled societal issues facing people in the provinces. The BB and the NMPC were brought under one administrative roof in 1980 when the Office of Media Affairs was created to provide a loose union for both networks within the Broadcast Plaza (now

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center The ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center (also called ABS-CBN Broadcast Center; formerly known as Broadcast Plaza from 1974 to 1986 and current edifice formerly spelled officially as ABS-CBN Broadcasting Centre) in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines is th ...

) along Bohol Ave. in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

. At that time, Tatad was succeeded by Gregorio Cendana as the new Minister. NMPC relaunched GTV as the Maharlika Broadcasting System (MBS). All networks became the backbone of the Marcos propaganda. After the

People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...

, the Office of Media Affairs, as well as the NMPC itself (along with the BB) were abolished to make way for the creation of the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) through Memorandum Order No. 32 on September 1, 1986.

Former stations

*Television **Government Television (GTV) / Maharlika Broadcasting System (MBS) - now known as the

People's Television Network People's Television Network (; abbreviated PTV) is the flagship State broadcasting, state broadcaster owned by the Government of the Philippines. Founded in 1974, PTV is the main brand of People's Television Network, Inc. (PTNI), one of the att ...

*Radio (now part of the

Presidential Broadcast Service The Presidential Broadcast Service - Bureau of Broadcast Services (PBS-BBS) (Filipino: ''Pampanguluhang Serbisyong Pambrodkast - Kawanihan ng mga Serbisyong Pambrodkast''), is a state radio network owned by the Philippine government under th ...

-Bureau of Broadcast Services) **DWIM-FM (now DWBR) **Voice of the Philippines (now DZRP-Radyo Pilipinas on shortwave, and

DZSR DZSR (918 AM), on-air as Radyo Pilipinas - Sports Radio, is a radio station owned and operated by the Presidential Broadcast Service, an attached agency under the Presidential Communications Office. The station's studio is located at the 4th ...

on 918 kHz AM)

References

{{authority control Mass media companies established in 1953 Mass media companies disestablished in 1986 Government-owned and controlled corporations of the Philippines News agencies based in the Philippines Presidency of Elpidio Quirino Presidency of Ferdinand Marcos