up Inquirer. On March 17, 1986, Belmonte established her own Filipino tabloid newspaper, Ang Pilipino Ngayon. It would grow in circulation to become the leading Filipino tabloid in the Philippines. A few months later, on July 28, 1986, Belmonte, Soliven, and Art Borjal established the national broadsheet The Philippine STAR that would compete against Inquirer and Manila Bulletin. Under Belmonte's chairmanship, STAR would later on surpass the two broadsheets to become the most widely circulated newspaper in the Philippines, distinguished for its balanced, objective, and fair reporting. Philanthropy As chairman of STAR, Belmonte was active in various corporate social responsibility activities. In the STAR's maiden issue, the day's biggest news was the death of 23-year-old Stephen Salcedo at the hands of Marcos loyalists, just because he was wearing yellow. The headline screamed, "Wear yellow and die," and was accompanied by photos of the mob beating Salcedo to death. For several days, the paper closely followed the story and, through photos, those responsible were eventually caught. The story touched Belmonte so much that she extended financial (from donations solicited through her column "Pebbles") and emotional support to Salcedo's widow and children. This laid the foundation of Operation Damayan, the STAR's corporate social responsibility arm, which was formed in 1989 and would help thousands of communities in the Philippines during natural disasters and calamities. Belmonte was also involved in other civic associations. She was president of the Quezon City Associated Ladies Foundation, Inc., governor of the Philippine National Red Cross, director of the UP Alumni Association, and trustee of the UP Foundation and the Sigma Delta Phi Foundation, Inc. In 1993, Belmonte was awarded the Gintong Ina award for her contributions to media and journalism. Personal life and death Belmonte was married to Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. until her death. The couple had four children, namely Isaac, Kevin, Miguel, and Joy. Their three sons hold editorial and managerial positions at The Philippine STAR, and its sister at publications like Pilipino Star Ngayon, Pang Masa, and The Freeman. Her daughter Joy serves as the incumbent mayor of Quezon City. Belmonte was a devout Protestant, instructing the staff of The Philippine Star to forfeit the Sunday issue in its first two years of existence as they should not work on the Sabbath day. She died in Quezon City on January 28, 1994, due to cancer at the age of 60, 27 days after her 60th