United Daily News

United Daily News
Submitted by: Ken Filomeno, Johanna Jakosalem & Marie Ces Lugtu

Editorial Address: 812 Benavidez Street, Binondo, Manila
Business/Advertising Address: 818 Benavidez Street, Binondo, Manila
Production Site: Muralla corner Recoletos
Intramuros, Manila
(Manila Bulletin)
Phone Number: 244 71 71
Fax Number: 244 48 80
Website: http://udn.com/NEWS/main.html (in Chinese)

The United Daily News is a Taiwanese newspaper that started its publishing in Taiwan in 1951. Great China and Pong Lipo were two existing Chinese newspapers in Manila before the Martial Law was declared by the late former president Ferdinand Marcos. It was until 1973 that these two newspaper publications merged to form what is known today as United Daily News, and it was then that such Chinese publication was first launched in the Philippines. Back during the Martial Law Regime, United Daily News produced about 30 to 40 thousand copies a day. It was also the number one newspaper during this time.

United Daily News is simply a Chinese newspaper published in Traditional Chinese. Chingking Keo, Ching Binyan and Cua headed this publication. Its main goal was to relay news to the Chinese community in the Philippines when it first began to publish in the Philippines. The newspaper mainly contains the latest news and information in China and of the Chinese community in the Philippines.

Existing for at least 35 years, United Daily News still continues to be one of the 5 Chinese newspapers in the Philippines; namely: Chinese Commercial, World News, Sinophil and Philippine Chinese News.



Chua Kee is both the editor-in-chief and managing editor in United Daily News here in the Philippines. They do not have an executive editor or an associate editor, but Chua Kee is also doing such jobs because United Daily News is a relatively small publication that has a limited number of employees. His job is to write columns in both the first and second page on Philippine News as well as editing the other articles being published. The editor-in-chief is also responsible for the operations and policies of the publication.

There are a total of three (3) reporters in the whole circulation of United Daily News here in the Philippines. The news and information they relay in the newspaper are from China – a reason why the publication is so small in the Philippines. Each of the employees of United Daily News receives Social Security Service (SSS) and Pag-ibig Funds from the government. Other employees, such as the messengers, receive minimum wage as their salary.



There are six (6) columnists in the publication. In an interview with Mr. Edgar Villanueva, in charge of United Daily New’s business sector, he said that their columnists are constantly changing because the publication is smaller as compared to the other popular newspapers in the Philippines. He also stated that they had guest columnist who wrote for them on a weekly or uncertain basis. He could not give us definite names of columnists for the publication because as he said, they did not keep very consistent records of their columnists.

Selling a minimum of 12,000 newspapers everyday, United Daily News is certainly getting around China Town, which is their main market. For this publication, it did not matter what day it was, whether a weekday or a weekend but they sell at most 14,000 copies for Php10 each in Manila. The copies printed range from 12,000 to 14,000. The number of newspapers they publish depends on the market for that particular week or day.

The editor comes to work at around 3 pm and the deadline varies depending on how thick the newspaper will be, and how much content it will have. The final copy must usually be ready by 10 pm (for printing at 12 am in Intramuros) but they go as early as 4 pm – 6 pm, as stated, depending upon the thickness or the news available for that day.

The size of the United Daily News’s front page is 22.75 inches by 12.5 inches. So it follows that if the page is wide-open, the size is, therefore, 22.75 inches by 25 inches. Because the publication is mainly a Chinese newspaper in Traditional Chinese language, the layout of reports is downward. It is certain that the spaces are vertical. Also, the front page is the “usual” back page of the other Philippine newspapers so as to conform to the Chinese tradition of reading Chinese characters. It is usual that we flip the pages of a newspaper from right to left. United Daily News, on the other hand, because of it being in Traditional Chinese, the pages are flipped from left to right. It is merely the opposite of other newspapers.



While the editorial is done in Binondo, the printing of United Daily News is done in Muralla corner Recoletos Intramuros, Manila wherein they have Manila Bulletin printing their newspapers at 12 mid-night. Because their printing is in the same place as Manila Bulletin’s printing, the process of printing is also the same. The process is that it is either offset or dry offset uses NAPP plates.

United Daily News, unlike other newspaper publications, has a standard advertisement size, which is only 9 inches x 5.4 inches. The rate for advertisements depends on where it is placed. For front-page advertisements, the rate is Php 235. The rate for inside-page advertisements, however, is Php 150. The rate for an advertisement place at the back page, on the other hand, is Php 165. The advertisers of United Daily News, however, are usually banks, such as EastWest Bank and Philippine Bank of Communications, and Chinese products.