| Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) | |
| Type: | Private |
| Industry: | Broadcast radio station |
| Foundation: | April 11, 1969 |
| Location: | Quezon City and Lahore |
| Key People: | Rev. F. Carlos S. Lariosa, SVD (General Manager) Aurelia Elarde (Administrative/Finance Director) Rev. Msgr. Pietro Nguyen Van Tai (Program Director/Director) Engr. Manuel A. Mopal (Asst. Program Director (ISO) |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Owner: | Philippine Radio Educational and Information Center |
Radio Veritas Asia is the non-commercial Catholic shortwave station broadcasting to Asia. It is based in Quezon City, Philippines, and is owned by the Philippine Radio Educational and Information Center, which previously owned the original Radio Veritas from 1969 to 1991. Its Urdu Service started its broadcast on August 14, 1987, in Lahore, Pakistan.[1] Its mission is to promote justice to the oppressed through programs with specific moral, religious and inspirational content, and to voice peace and harmony among the sects, races, and sexes through sociocultural programs and to promote dialogue among different religions.
In December 1958, the delegates of the Southeast Asian Bishops' Conference unanimously resolved to establish a radio station to serve the countries of Southeast Asia. Eleven years after that, Radio Veritas was inaugurated, on April 11, 1969.
The Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference (FABC) was entrusted with the operations of RVA from its beginning in 1970. This was confirmed by FABC's governing body, the General Assembly, in 1974.
Since 1991 the annual magazine of the Radio Veritas Asia Urdu Service has been housed in the office building of the WAVE Studio.[2] Most programs for Radio Veritas Asia's Urdu service are also recorded at the WAVE studio.[3]
See main article: People Power Revolution and Timeline of the People Power Revolution. Camp Crame later became one of the rallying points of people during the People Power revolution of 1986.
In February 1986, reports of election fraud during the 1986 Philippine presidential election caused unrest among Filipinos and saw the organization of various protest activities, including the massive Tagumpay Ng Bayan rally at Rizal Park on February 16, 1986, and a systematic boycott of products and companies associated with Marcos and his cronies. Hoping to take advantage of the disarray, the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM) under then-Defense Secretary Juan Ponce Enrile attempted to stage a coup, and took over Camp Aguinaldo.
After he learned that Marcos' forces had uncovered the coup plot, Enrile invited PC Chief Fidel Ramos to join their cause and withdraw support from Marcos. Ramos agreed, and the two held a press conference to that effect in Camp Aguinaldo, after Ramos returned to Camp Crame, and Enrile Stayed in Camp Aguinaldo.[4] [5]
When Cardinal Jaime Sin learned about Enrile and Ramos' predicament, he went on air through Radio Veritas and appealed to Filipinos near Camps Aguinaldo and Crame to go to the stretch of EDSA in between the two camps, forming a human shield to prevent Marcos' forces from coming down hard on the coup plotters.[6] Radio Veritas embarked on different means of delivering its religious message. It started using new technology such as the Internet and webcasting, and plans to upgrade to digital broadcasting.
Between 2007 and June 2011 it had received over 30,000 letters from listeners in Pakistan, over 3,500 from India, and nearly 500 from other countries.[7]
On October 9, 2011, more than 80 people from all over the country attended the 11th listeners' conference of Radio Veritas Asia's Urdu language service in Lahore. RVA's Urdu service airs 13 morning and evening programs reaching listeners in Pakistan and India. In 2011 Father Nadeem John Shakir was the studio director.[8]
The 15th Conference of Catholic radio listeners was held on September 21, 2015, at Loyola Hall in Lahore. It was attended by 120 people from around the country. Bishop Joseph Arshad of Faisalabad and head of the Commission for Social Communications, addressed the conference invited the participants to build peace, tolerance and brotherhood in society via the radio.[9]
Shortwave transmissions ended on June 30, 2018.[10]
The service is largely funded by the German donors Missio. In 2010 they announced a cut back of 10 percent of their annual funding. The center received until 2005 annual funding of 10,000 rupees from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Pakistan for their Urdu service.[11]
RVA programming evolves from its two-fold objectives.
It has a mix of moral, religious, evangelical and sociocultural, and entertainment programs on offer, as well as a few political, economic and informational programs. Programs include:
In 2015, it offers two 27 minute programs, one in the morning and one at night, dealing with health, culture, values, famous places in the world, personalities, social issues, literature, inventions and world news.
During the 25th anniversary celebration of RVA in 1995 Pope John Paul II said that RVA must be helped to fulfill its mission even though this will certainly involve even greater sacrifices and renewed commitment on the part of the local churches in Asia.
Pope Francis sent a message to the station, which celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 11, 2019, calling for it to help build “a more just and united society".[12]
The broadcast tapes of the 1986 People Power Revolution are housed in the RVA archives. UNESCO has catalogued the audio files as part of the selected collection included in the Memory of the World Program and Digital Preservation of Documentary Heritage.[13]
On July 25, 2020, the chair of the National Commission for Social Communications, Archbishop Joseph Arshad of Islamabad-Rawalpindi launched the Radio Veritas Asia Urdu news service. This is the first Catholic news program of its kind in the country.[14]