About The Philippine Times

The Philippine Times

Overview

The Philippine Times is a Filipino community newspaper based in Melbourne, Victoria, serving Filipino-Australians in the city and beyond. It has been published since 1990, which makes it one of the longest-running Filipino publications in Australia; Radyo Filipino Australia has described its print edition as "the highly respected and well-read Philippine Times print edition" and called it "the longest-serving Filipino newspaper in Australia". Historically a monthly print newspaper, it reports on the Philippines, on the Filipino diaspora in Australia and on issues that affect migrants, including employment, migration policy and community life. The newspaper publishes in English, the working language of most of its community coverage, and maintains both a print edition and an online edition.

History

The Philippine Times was first published in November 1990, according to an academic audience study of the newspaper conducted through Victoria University, which drew on information supplied by the newspaper's own managing director. The study records that the paper was published by Filcom Publishing Company Pty Ltd, a company owned by Filipino-Australian shareholders with a common interest in publishing material of interest to Filipino-Australians, and that it was the only monthly Filipino newspaper in Melbourne. The Encyclopedia of Melbourne likewise notes that "the monthly Philippine Times has been published since 1990".

The founding managing director told the researcher that the paper's aim was to "provide a service of excellence in information sharing, news reporting and advertising", and that the publisher believed the community "has the right and deserves to receive accurate and reliable information". The study, titled "If We Were The Editors", examined how Melbourne Filipinos read the paper and found that readers treated it as an agent of community solidarity and cultural maintenance as much as a source of news.

By the 2010s the newspaper's masthead named a different publishing company: print editions from 2015 and 2016 state that The Philippine Times was published by Finemarks Pty Ltd (ACN 054 911 625, ABN 20 141 918 783), with an office at 23 Rendell Place, Hampton Park, in Melbourne's south-east. Alice Nicolas was named as publisher and editor-in-chief, with Reby Gaw as managing editor and George Gregorio as editorial consultant; the online edition credited Gregorio as publisher and Nicolas as editor-in-chief. In 2025, SBS's Filipino program Pinoy Pride featured a retrospective on the newspaper marking, in its words, "three and a half decades of service to the Filipino diaspora", with Nicolas appearing as publisher for print and Gregorio as online publisher — evidence that the leadership team and the title remained active 35 years after the 1990 launch.

Programming and Content

The Philippine Times covers three broad streams of content: news from the Philippines, news about Filipinos overseas, and material serving the local Melbourne and Australian Filipino community. Its website organises coverage into sections including News, Philippines, Politics and Government, Business, Filipino Icons, Health, Sport, Technology, Travel, Arts and Entertainment and Style.

Recent online coverage illustrates the mix. In May 2026 the site published an analysis of "brain circulation" and how it is reshaping the story of Filipino migration, and a warning to Filipino job seekers about recruitment schemes linked to foreign military service. In March 2026 it reported on overseas Filipinos being encouraged to help detect and respond to human trafficking risks. Its Filipino Icons features have profiled figures such as the actor Rosa Rosal, in November 2025, and the singer and actor Nora Aunor, in April 2025, and it covered the death of Pope Francis in April 2025 with a focus on his significance to Filipino Catholics. It also publishes explainers and commentary on Philippine politics, including an analysis of the Iglesia ni Cristo's political endorsements in January 2025 and coverage of registration for the 2025 Philippine general elections.

The print newspaper has historically carried Philippine News Agency wire reporting alongside locally written community material, a consular bulletin from the Consulate of the Philippines in Victoria, contributions from a wide roster of community writers, and letters to the editor, which its masthead actively encourages. Its 2015–16 mastheads show a broad volunteer-style structure typical of community publishing: a special supplement editor, a literary editor, an entertainment editor, named photographers, a social work coordinator and some twenty listed contributors.

The paper also reports on disputes within its own community, and has been drawn into them. Its June 2016 edition carried an account of a defamation dispute involving the Philippine Fiesta of Victoria, in which the Fiesta organisation filed a third-party notice against the newspaper over an article it had published in its print and online editions; the paper used its editorial space to state that it would "invoke our right to freedom of the press" rather than defend its position in its own pages. The episode illustrates the watchdog role the title plays within Melbourne's Filipino organisational life, where it functions as a community noticeboard and record as well as a news outlet.

Audience and Reach

The newspaper's audience is the Filipino community of Melbourne and Victoria, with the online edition extending its reach to readers elsewhere in Australia and overseas. Victoria is home to the second-largest Filipino community in Australia: the Victorian Government's Filipino community profile counts 95,188 people in the state with Filipino ancestry, of whom 68,463 were born in the Philippines. The Encyclopedia of Melbourne notes that Filipino Melburnians have historically been concentrated in the western suburbs, including Sunshine, Keilor and Footscray, with smaller concentrations in the south-east at Oakleigh and Springvale; the newspaper's own office at Hampton Park sits within Melbourne's south-eastern growth corridor. The academic study of the paper found that its readers used it to maintain cultural connections and community cohesion, functions the paper has now performed across three and a half decades of Filipino migration to Australia. No independently audited circulation figure for the newspaper is published, and none is claimed here.

Digital Presence

The Philippine Times publishes online through its website, listed in its own print mastheads as philtimes.com.au and also operating at philtimes.com, where the publication styles itself "PhilTimes". The online edition is updated with new stories on Philippine and diaspora affairs, and it was carrying new material through May 2026, including the migration analysis and job-seeker warning published that month. The site maintains archives of news, politics, business, health, sport, technology and culture coverage stretching back several years, and carries the paper's Filipino Icons feature series. The digital operation is led, according to SBS's 2025 retrospective, by online publisher George Gregorio, alongside print publisher Alice Nicolas.

Ownership and Organisation

The newspaper was established under Filcom Publishing Company Pty Ltd, owned by Filipino-Australian shareholders, as documented in the Victoria University study. Print mastheads from the 2010s name Finemarks Pty Ltd as publisher. Alice Nicolas has been the paper's publisher and editor-in-chief across the period documented by its mastheads, with Reby Gaw as managing editor in the 2015–16 editions and George Gregorio moving from editorial consultant to online publisher. The newspaper is an independent, community-owned title rather than part of a larger media group, and its masthead states that the opinions expressed in the publication are those of the writers and not necessarily of the board and management of The Philippine Times and its publisher. The newspaper carries the ISSN 1329-3834 and was distributed as an approved Print Post publication, PP332726/0009.

Contact and Availability

The Philippine Times is available in print as a monthly newspaper and online at its website. Its print masthead in the 2010s listed the office at 23 Rendell Place, Hampton Park VIC 3976, a sales office telephone number of (03) 9467 6896, and publisher and editor-in-chief Alice Nicolas, whose published contact email was alicegnicolas@gmail.com. Readers and advertisers can reach the publication through its website, where current stories, archives and section pages are freely available.