Ben Emata

Ben Emata was born in the progressive class A town of Balingasag, Misamis Oriental, Philippines on July 25, 1936. He was the 4th of 15 children of Bienvenido Sambaan-Emata and Felisa Madronio-Valmores. He took his elementary and secondary courses in the same town. He pursued his college education in Cagayan de Oro, Cebu City and Manila.

After completing Bachelors of Arts in Journalism at the MLQ University in Manila, he put up his own newspaper, the Mindanao Reporter. The fast growing weekly was shut down when the country was declared in the state of martial law on September 21, 1972 and the President of the Philippines ordered all media outlets closed. Jobless for more than seven years, he embarked in several kinds of business ventures to keep him and his family afloat.

When the grip of martial law was relaxed in the media industry seven years later, the author was hired as editor of the oldest newspaper in Mindanao, Ang Bag-ong Katarungan, a weekly newspaper based in Cagayan de Oro City. It was in this publication that he got entangled with 52 cases of criminal libel but survived after five years of bitter legal battle. During this time, a top TV nightly newscast, Newscope, hired him as newscaster-production manager. In a few months, a radio station, DXOR, hired him as radio commentator.

In 1996, the hard-hitting journalist established his own weekly newspaper, The Headliner. A Manila-based national daily, People's Journal, took himas its provincial correspondent. He was covering northern Mindanao when another national daily, The Malaya, offered him a better income and benefits as its provincial correspondent for the same territory. He was president of the Rotary Club of South Cagayan de Oro in 1985; President of the Cagayaqn de Oro Press Club (COPC) in the same year; President, Regional Unified Command (RUC-10 Press Corps); Executive Vice President of the Mindanao Press and Radio Club (MINPRA) in 1986; President for two terms of the Filipino-American Press Club of Silicon Valley in Northern California; Vice President - Breakfast Club; President of the LUDABI (Lubas Sa Dang Bisaya) in 1986; Member, Dr. Jose Rizal Assembly of the Knights of Columbus (Fourth Degree). Recipient of the "Most Outstanding Editor of Region 10 Award" given by the Federation of Provincial Press Clubs of the Philippines; "Most Outstanding Achievement Award" given by the Philippine Army; "Most Outstanding Award" given by the Philippine Constabulary plus several other major awards.

In 1989, he and his family immigrated to the USA where he got employed with the County Assessor's office in the County of Santa Clara, until his retirement 14 years later. He was member of the Advisory Council. In San Jose, California, where he settled, he studied paralegal and graduated with honors. He was in the dean's list. He also completed several short courses in computer. He joined the law firm of Atty. Andy Bosque for a short while. In 1991, he put up the Filipino-American Headliner, a newspaper that became the only Filipino-edited publication in the world-famous Silicon Valley. Another newspaper in San Francisco, The Asian American Times offered him to be one of its regular columnist thus - - the birth of the column, "The Striker". In the South Bay, he founded the fighting Filipino-American Press Club of Silicon Valley and stayed as its president for two terms. As Paralegal practitioner, he handled immigration cases such as asylum, labor certification, permit to work, filing of petitions of alien relatives and citizenship, uncontested divorce and drafting of all legal forms. Ben Emata authored two books, namely: "Too High The Ladder" and The Newsbreaker".