MANILA - Ninez Cacho-Olivares, founder of newspaper The Daily Tribune, passed away on Friday, the publication announced.

Olivares died of a "lingering illness," the paper said. She was 78.

A veteran journalist, Olivares wrote news articles, features and columns in various newspapers such as the Bulletin Today, Business Day, Business World, and The Daily Tribune.

During the Marcos years, she was one of the women columnists of Bulletin Today who wrote critical pieces about the dictator and then First Lady Imelda Marcos. Olivares and 2 other women columnists--Arlene Babst, Melinda Quintos de Jesus-- were eventually let go by the paper for their anti-Marcos articles. She then moved to Raul Locsin's business paper, Business Day.

After the fall of the dictatorship, Olivares was appointed manager of sequestered TV station RPN9, where she briefly hosted a current affairs show.

She was also columnist for the Philippine Daily Inquirer for more than 10 years.

During the latter years of her career, she worked as publisher and editor-in-chief of The Daily Tribune.

During the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, The Daily Tribune was often at odds with the government. In 2008, Olivares was convicted for libel for a story she wrote about the mothballed Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 and a leading law firm in the country. She appealed her conviction.

When asked in June 2008 if her libel case had a chilling effect on her, she said: "Not on me. I am a fighter. I've always been a fighter."

The Daily Tribune was also closed briefly in 2006 after Arroyo declared a state of national emergency.

"Through all the challenges that the newspaper went through, she had one stubborn purpose, which was to put the Daily Tribune to bed every day," Daily Tribune said in a Facebook post.

Malacañang on Saturday expressed its "deepest condolences" for the family of Cacho-Olivares, "whose hard-hitting publication is known to deliver news without fear or favor."

"She is known for her biting commentaries and insightful analyses laced with wit and elegant sarcasm on government incompetence and corruption that provided probing and intellectual insights to her readers," Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

"We have lost a welcome hell of a journalist that struck fear in the hearts of corrupt bureaucrats and politicians with pretended nationalism as well as pseudo intellectuals who suffocate the air with their nonsense," he said.

"She was a shining example of a journalist who wrote with truth accompanying the movement of her pen."

Masses are set Saturday and Sunday, 5 p.m. at the Capilla de la Virgen at the Santuario de San Antonio Parish in Forbes Park, Makati City.

A funeral mass is set Monday, 9:30 a.m. at the same chapel.