Public Relations In The Philippines

Public relations is a Western concept that has been transplanted to Asia and undergone transformation in the process. Culbertson and Chen (1996) claimed that it has been growing in the Philippines for nearly half a century. However, public relations in the Philippines has been drawing most of its wherewithal from its own state soil and the practitioners themselves have been making it so. Essentially, they have been devoted to their own principles and setting, making the field robust and pertinent.
Public relations practices in the Philippines have escalated in terms of numbers and styles. These practices have attained remarkable steps forward. Edralin (2007) stated that “PR is seen as a profession with both government and business recognizing

These influences to Philippine public relations practices include religion, politics and media. Concepts of the new media and corporate social responsibility also permeate in the country. As Watson (2015) stated in his study, “Outside observers would describe current public relations practice in the country as modernist, media-driven with strong focus on corporate social responsibility.” He stated that the drive to develop the field of public relations comes from several factors which are strong media system, unrestricted government, a young population of practitioners and a global attitude.
Religion and Public Relations
Jack Miller (1996) claimed that “Philippines proudly boasts to be the only Christian nation in Asia. More than 86 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, 6 percent belong to various nationalized Christian cults, and another 2 percent belong to well over 100 Protestant denominations. In addition to the Christian majority, there is a vigorous 4 percent Muslim minority, concentrated on the southern islands of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan. Scattered in isolated mountainous regions, the remaining 2 percent follow non-Western, indigenous beliefs and

With publicity as its principal role, public relations practices in both industry are really patent.

Veteran PR practitioner Maximino Edralin recalled that in the beginning, “PR was understood as media relations”, which he believed explains the influx of journalists to the profession. Edralin further suggested, “successful journalists were thought to make ideal PR men because they knew how newspapers worked and had a built-in network of friends in media” But such an arrangement also made ethical practice difficult since combining friendships with business become vulnerable to abuse and wrongdoing. (Molo et al, 2007)
In the public relations industry, one of the ways to accomplish objectives is through media relations. According to Sabourin (2014), media relations is an aspect of public relations. The terms are not interchangeable as media relations focuses solely on the relationship between the company and the media. They use different media outlets and coverage to tell the company’s story, rather than directly engaging with the publics and key stakeholders.