MANILA, Jan. 26 -- The history of the Chinese-language newspapers in the Philippines is invariably linked to Philippine- China relations and even to major events in Philippine history.

For example, the World News, currently the largest Chinese language broadsheet in the Philippines, was founded in l981 immediately after the lifting of martial law in the country.

The World News was founded by Florencio Tan Mallare, a Chinese lawyer who used to work as a reporter of the old Chinese Commercial News.

According to published accounts, Mallare established the World News six years after the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Philippines and China in l975 in order to provide alternative news to then largely pro-Kuomintang Chinese-language press.

From its founding up to today, the World News is the favorite newspaper of pro-China organizations in the Philippines, such as the Filipino Chinese Amity Club under the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCI).

But in terms of its contribution to contemporary Philippine history, the old Chinese Commercial News had played a more vital role.

The Commercial News, formerly the Chinese Commercial News, was founded in October 1919 as the Huachiao Commercial News, a monthly newsletter for the Manila Chinese Chamber of Commerce then headed by Dee Cheng Chuan, with Yu Yi Tung as the newspaper's first editor.

According to published accounts, the newspaper was founded because in the aftermath of World War One, the Philippines, then a colony of the United States, experienced rapid economic growth, which called for the need of a newspaper on the country's latest business developments for the large Chinese-Filipino business community.