Ninez Cacho-Olivares, 78

JOURNALIST AND Daily Tribune founder Ninez Cacho-Olivares passed away Friday, January 3. She was 78 years old.

In a Facebook post, the Tribune said Olivares died after a “lingering illness.” Olivares served as its publisher and editor-in-chief and, until recently, a columnist.

Before founding the Tribune, Olivarez was publisher and editor-in-chief of the now defunct Philippine Post. She also wrote for the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Business Day (now BusinessWorld) and Bulletin Today.

“As a columnist, Olivares was a leading critic of the Marcos dictatorship,” the Inquirer reported. “She went on to write critically about the succeeding administrations, prompting her arrest in 2003 for multiple counts of libel,” it added. Olivares was at the helm of the Tribune when it was raided at the height of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of Emergency in 2006.

She is survived by her children Peter, Bambina, Michael and Pixie, her children-in-law Tweety Quintero, Xandra Barreto and Jay Fonacier, and her grandchildren.