Ernie LopezIn the rough-and-tumble world of publishing, it’s not easy being Ernie Lopez. ABS-CBN Publishing Inc.’s (API’s) managing director, however, manages to get through each day by seeking divine guidance for the API team and himself. This, he believes, is what helps him triumphantly direct API through the turbulent times that define the current print industry.

The situation was at its rockiest a few years ago, before the publishing arm was operationally made part of the network’s Cable Channels and Print Media Group (CCPMG). But when ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III declined an external offer to buy the publishing group, Lopez found his second wind. “Gabby felt publishing was strategic,” recalls Lopez, younger brother to the ABS-CBN chairman. “It had a purpose to serve within the ABS-CBN family. We had to look at the big picture.”

The business began to look sustainable as financial controls were corrected, and staff members were reassigned to the right jobs. “CCPMG was synergized with other ABS-CBN divisions,” he explains. “The interaction with other ABS-CBN subsidiaries expands our reach and enhances what we offer to our readers.”

Lopez’s ability to look into small but significant details, a crucial trait in publishing, is gleaned from years of working his way to the top. He started out as an assistant to the president with a staff of five, where he bagged magazines for delivery to dealers. He saw the company grow through birthing pains as a single-title company (with Skyguide), which came after a brief venture into tabloid publication with Dyaryo Patrol. But it was with the purchase of Metro from the LJC Group that started API’s growth to a multiple-title enterprise as the market for glossy magazines grew in the country.

Although he started with publishing only because his dad, the late Eugenio Lopez, Jr., assigned him to the company, Lopez has grown to love and breathe the business.

“I feel our publications, as part of ABS-CBN, can take full advantage of the digital age,” he says. “TV and magazines have merged on electronic devices like the iPad. And with prices of these devices coming down, we know we will be able to reach even more Filipinos and raise the standards of reading for entertainment, education, information.”

His staunch belief in producing Filipino-made content is something that is still clearly seen in the company’s titles. “We have only a couple of franchised titles from abroad,” he says proudly. “What I want is for foreigners to purchase our publications. I believe in what the Filipino can do. I know we can still come out with unique products that make us different from our competitors.”

A father of three, Lopez shares that he wants the ABSCBN publications to represent local values and principles. “Filipinos have our own culture and values, and I want that reflected in our magazines. We are intelligent enough to do this,” Lopez says. For instance, in Maven, a glossy for twentysomething working women, editorial takes pains to understand the unique psyche of the Filipina as far as her relationships and sexual life are concerned. It’s more culturally attuned to our value system,” he says.

He encourages LopezLink readers to continue patronizing ABS-CBN Publishing titles. “I’d love to hear feedback. Tell us what you like and what you don’t like about our products. Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ABSCBN.Publishing and leave your comments there.”