Ben Medina and a group of students, the "The Defender" (TD) was primarily intended to to promote students' awareness and to serve as an avenue of discussion of school related issues. Starting with not more than ten student writers, and The Defender has released its pioneering issue on October 1971. After a year, the next batch of Editorial Board pursued the publication's membership to College Edit
ors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP)
The student publication was smoothly sailing until it was closed down during the Martial Law. After the People Power Revolution in 1986 and along the rekindled freedom and democracy, the publication's normal operations was redeemed. The editorial board during that time adopted this line from Dylan Thomas: "Rage, rage against the dying of the lights!" this has been the publication's battle-cry since then. In 1998, the Bataan Colleges (BC) merged with Bataan National School of arts and Trades (BNSAT) by virtue of Republic Act 8562 to a chartered state college, now known as the Bataan Peninsula State University (BPSU). Though BC has only become a campus of BPSU, having BNSAT as the main campus or mother unit,the The Defender was retained as the Official Student Publication of BPSU-Balanga campus. Now, the The Defender has already proven its worth as a vital student institution as its continuously earns awards and citations from different regional and national press conferences as well as from other student organizations. TD has constant advocacy to provide social consciousness through conferences. Having served the students for almost thirty-nine years, the defender still aims for a higher service to the studentry. The The Defender is a proud member of the proactive Network of Campus Journalists of the Philippines, the Young Journalists Association of Region III (YJAR-III) and the Luzonwide Association of College Editors (LACE)
