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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 20142

Through the wonder years: 1985 - 2014ON HISTORY’SFRONT LINESJust over twomonths after itsfirst issue inDecember 1985,the newspaperconceived in thetwilight ofthe Marcosdictatorship seesthe new dawn ithelped hasten: theEdsa People PowerRevolution. Theeye of the four-daypolitical storm iscaptured in thisshot taken onFeb. 23, 1986, bythen chiefphotographerJohnny Villena.INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS

IN THE EYE OF COMMITMENTThe central news desk at the Romualdez Street office inErmita, Manila, on Dec. 9, 1991, the year Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc (second from left) became editor in chief

EARLY EDDIEFive months after being elected President,

Fidel V. Ramos is the guest of honor during the7th anniversary celebration in December 1992.

DEMOCRATIC SPACEPresident Cory Aquino graces the inauguration of the INQUIRER’s firstoffice, formerly the Madrid restaurant on Edsa—finally an officialaddress after its clandestine beginnings in Port Area, Manila—onJune 27, 1986. The blessing was officiated by Msgr. Nico Bautista(right). At left is Jose Angel Honrado, then Ms Aquino’s security officerand now general manager of Manila International Airport Authority.

TRANSITIONThe torch is passed from Eggie Duran Apostol, INQUIRER founding chair,to present chair Marixi Rufino Prieto. Photo taken on Jan. 26, 1994.

SOLID GROUNDIn January 1995, whatis now the country’sleading print mediacompany moved to itsfourth home onChino Roces Avenuein Makati City(above), built next tothe Louie R. Prietobuilding where theprinting press ishoused(at left).

AD-RENALINE RUSHA seemingly hushed but verybusy day sometime in 1995at the advertisingdepartment’s supplementssection

NEWS HAS WINGSChristmas decor by RachyCuna that also happens to

remind the news desk howtime flies toward

the deadline

CHARMED CIRCLEThe not-yet-so-cluttered newsroom

at the Chino Roces office inherits aprized fixture that has been the

INQUIRER’s “lucky charm” since DayOne: the round narra table originally

from the office of founding chairEggie Apostol. It was her table at the

Mr & Ms office on Edsa, theINQUIRER’s forerunner.


Through the wonder years: 1985-2014

FOUNDING chair Eggie Apostol delivers herresponse after receiving the first UP GawadPlaridel in 2004. By then she was retired.

‘MR. Y’ DOTS THE I’SThen publisher IsaganiYambot presides over asession reviewing the paper’svarious sections and othernewsroom concerns. Hepassed on in March 2012.

LIGHT UP FOR JUSTICEEmployees hold a candlelight vigil to join the nation in mourning the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre whilepublisher Isagani Yambot (right) raises a fistful of rage.

KNOCKOUTSLong before he became an eight-division king, congressman

and undisputed People’s Champ, Manny Pacquiao is cheeredfrom a winning corner outside the boxing ring. Here with wife

Jinkee and INQUIRER president Sandy Prieto-Romualdez andchair Marixi Prieto, The Pacman was the INQUIRER’s Filipino ofthe Year in 2003 and 2008 and is INQUIRER’s lone hall-of-famer.

APPETITE FOR DISCUSSIONOne of the INQUIRER dinners with newsmakers, where inside and back stories and perchance ascoop often turn up on the menu. This evening’s guest is Sen. Loren Legarda (head of table, left).

INDUSTRIAL STRENGTHDon Jaime Zobel de Ayala with editorial andbusiness executives Magsanoc, Yambot and thenINQUIRER president Ben Pangilinan (right).

COURAGE AMID CRISISEmployees join a November 2000 rally in the Makati City central business district (left) against then President JosephEstrada, who earlier instigated an ad boycott against the INQUIRER for its stories of graft involving him, his relatives andhis cronies. The boycott, which ran from July to November 1999, drew an outpouring of public support for the paper,as shown in the flood of letters reaching the newsroom. INQUIRER PHOTOS


Through the wonder years: 1985-2014

THE FORGIVENManaging editor Joey Nolasco welcomes deposed President JosephEstrada, who hosted an I-am-sorry dinner for INQUIRER executives andeditors in July 2011 at the paper’s Makati office to “clarify matters”regarding the 1999 ad boycott during his tenure.

HELPING HANDGoing beyond reportingcalamities, the paper has been anactive contributor to disasterrelief efforts. In 2011, senior deskeditor Totoy Sarmiento andassistant vice president forcorporate affairs ConnieKalagayan (first and second fromleft) lead the turnover ofdonations for earthquake andtsunami victims in Japan.

WINNING WAYSAnother bountiful harvest of Catholic Mass Media Awards in 2009. From left: ReportersJocelyn Uy, Tarra Quismundo, Nikko Dizon; Yambot, Apostol; artist Jess Abrera,photojournalist Niño Jesus Orbeta and reporter Marlon Ramos. INQUIRER PHOTOS

MASCOT YOU CAN’T MISSThen Vice President Noli de Castro is shown a Guyito sculptureduring the 21st anniversary celebration in December 2006.


12.9.85Date of first issue

P2Price of the maiden issue

30,000Number of copies sold of the first issue

P3,000Prize money

shared by the two winnersof the slogan contest.

The winners were Palancaawardee Jesus S.M. Dimapilis

and marketing practitionerRobert M. Friedlander.

1986Year the Sunday INQUIRER Magazine(SIM) was first published.On March 9, the first issue of SIMcame out with then newly installedPresident Corazon Aquino andher late husband Ninoy on the cover.

27,000Number of entries drawn

for the slogan contest,which ended on Jan. 24, 1986.

The winning slogan:

“Balanced News,Fearless Views”

P750First profit share

received by employeesin 1987.

P18MILLION

Worth of the first CollectiveBargaining Agreement package

signed by the Philippine DailyInquirer Employees Union

and management

in the Visayas Bureau,the first INQUIRER bureau, whenit was opened in August 1991.The correspondents reported

mainly from Cebu, NegrosOccidental and Leyte provinces.

1992Year the Mindanao Bureau

was set up in Davao City

Number of regularcorrespondents7

5MONTHS

Duration of the boycottof the newspaper led by movie

producers and other bigbusinessmen and governmentofficials in Makati City in 1999,

reportedly arising from a requestby President Joseph Estrada

2001Year the maiden issue of INQUIRER Librewas first distributed to Metro Rail Transit

and Light Rail Transit commuters

2004Year the regular

“Corrections” column beganappearing on Page A4.

AD

14Number of correspondentsin the Mindanao Bureau

when it was set upin Davao City in 1992

9.10.93Date the Northern Luzon Bureauwas organized in Baguio City.Rolando Fernandez was the one-man teamset up in time for the Marcos burialin Batac, Ilocos Norte province.

1997The Year the SouthernLuzon Bureau,the fourth INQUIRER bureau,was established in Legazpi City

12Number of studentswho received grants

from the INQUIRER NewsboyFoundation when it started

offering college scholarshipsin June 1996

40Initial number of employees

3Number of telephonesin the first newsroom

77Number of essays in the first

Youngblood compilationpublished in 1998

72Number of journalism

scholars as of 2014

8Number of pages

in the maiden issue

1998Year the newspaper started printing in full color.Originally a black-and-white daily, it began printingits front pages and Section A in full color in timefor the centennial of Philippine independence.

P2MILLION

Cost of the Electronic Newsroomand Inquirer.net Classroom

at the UP Collegeof Mass Communication in

Diliman, Quezon City. Locatedat Plaridel Hall, Rooms M209

and M211 underwenta multimedia makeover.

1MILLION

Number of daily readers,according to a study by StrategicConsumer and Media Incites Inc.(SCMI), a media and consumer

research agency

7.4MILLION

Number of Inquirer.net users

1.01MILLION

Number of Facebook followers

12.4MILLION

Total audienceof new platforms

MORE THAN 450Number of awardsreceived as of October 2014

P1,800First rice subsidyreceived by regular

employees

INQUIRERINNUMBERS

20Number of typewritersin the first newsroom

INQFOGRAPHIC: ERNIE SAMBOCOMPILED BY INQUIRER RESEARCH

1991Year the INQUIRER

opened its first bureau,the Visayas Bureau in Cebu City


121,000,000Highest number of page views

achieved by INQUIRER.net from July 12to Aug. 31, 2013, when it published

a series of big news events,particularly the pork barrel scam

1992Year the INQUIRER first honors

a Filipino of the YearThe late Raymundo Punongbayan,

then the country's chief volcanologist,is the INQUIRER’s first Filipino

of the Year awardee.

100SQUARE METERS

Size of the first INQUIRER newsroom

15Number of restrooms

in the INQUIRER building in 1995

P50,000Amount raised

by the 28th anniversaryfun run last year for survivors

of the Bohol earthquakeand Supertyphoon “Yolanda”

P5Cost of the INQUIRER's Sunday issue in 1986

40MEGABYTES

Size of the INQUIRER's Molecular file server,which stored files of up

to four INQUIRER issues, in 1988

100,000Circulation during Corazon Aquino’s

presidential campaignin January 1986

6. 27.86Date the INQUIRER

transfers to a new officeat what used to be

the Madrid Restauranton Edsa. President Corazon Aquino

is guest of honor at the inauguration.

10.7.95Date of the first issue

of the weekly Junior INQUIRER

1994Year Marixi R. Prieto became

chair of the board

12.10.85Date of first salary of INQUIRER employees

Over 2,000Number of runners

in the INQUIRER's 25th anniversaryfun run “25 for 25”

at Bonifacio Global Cityin Taguig City

held in February 2011

P350Per diem given

to INQUIRER reporterson out-of-town assignments

in 1988

INQUIRERINNUMBERS

COMPILED BY INQUIRER RESEARCHINFOGRAPHIC BY ERNIE SAMBO


By Chelo Banal-FormosoEducation Editor

LIKE MOST STRONG WOMEN,the chair of the Philippine Daily Inquir-er has a signature hairstyle. MarixiRufino-Prieto wears her hair slightlyteased on the crown and swept backinto a knot or a ponytail with endsneatly tucked in.

The effect is austere and corporate—alook that says she doesn’t want to beworrying about her hair the rest of theday because she has better things to do.

And, really, what could be better thanheading the board that runs the coun-try’s largest circulated and most influen-tial daily newspaper in the country?

“I have a feeling that certain thingscome your way for a reason and it’s upto you to make a choice, whether or

not you want to accept,” says Mrs.Prieto, who is alternatively known asMRP around the INQUIRER. “But onceyou accept you have to see it full way.”

That’s exactly what has happened.She has gone the whole nine yards,and so has the INQUIRER, in setting thenews agenda in the country.

Mrs. Prieto says she had bought intothe paper to be the third force thatwould bring accord to the two squab-bling factions in its ownership andmanagement. As newsprint supplier,she was well aware that the in-fightingcould kill the paper.

She recalls that she didn’t even tellher husband about buying into theINQUIRER, even though Alex Prietocomes from a family that was activelyinvolved with the pre-martial lawManila Times.

“I knew he was going to say no had Itold him,” says MRP. “The INQUIRER was so‘anti-everything’ . . . But then I could seewhat it had done in the political land-scape. I could see that it was bringing outthings that needed to be threshed out.”

She thought that what the broadsheetneeded most was help in balancing thenews. She understood that it was in thenature of journalists as watchdogs for anation still reeling from years of dicta-torship to focus on the ugly realities, ofwhich there was no short supply.

“And yet one of the missions of thepaper was nation-building,” she says.“You’re not going to build the nation ifyou’re just going to continually beagainst everybody. We needed to putmore good news in the paper—storiesabout successes—without of courseclosing our eyes to the wrongs that

were happening around us.”So that was the reason the INQUIRER

started coming out with a feel-good sto-ry every day, or whenever possible.Eventually, the paper also adopted a“radical” (her own word) Positive Sun-day outlook.

“They were saying that good newsdoesn’t sell and I was telling them yesit does,” says Mrs. Prieto. “You want tobe able to attribute success to the peo-ple who are doing good and to sharetheir stories with other people. Whywould you want to read the paper ifyou know it’s all going to be bad news?You want to open it in the morning andsee some daylight.”

Keeping the contents of the INQUIRER

balanced is an overriding concern forMrs. Prieto, more so now that, at 74,

INQUIRER / 3

Inquirer ‘anti-everything’ until MRP came along

THE GOOD NEWS Marixi R. Prieto’smandate is to balance the bad with the good.


You’ve come a long way, Sandy

VERY PROPER (1 and 2) Direct from Assumption College, her highschool alma mater, where she taught Community Development andService (her BS Sociology degree she obtained from the College ofNotre Dame in California; her master’s degree in DevelopmentManagement from the Asian Institute of Management ), Alexandra“Sandy” Rufino Prieto (much later hyphenated with Romualdez),arrived in 1993 at the INQUIRER to become an executive assistant tothe president for six years after stints at the library sharp scissors inhand to cut news clips and as an editorial assistant aside from taggingalong with reporters, among other occupations too menial for a COO(Child of Owner). But having immersed herself with tribals in Kenyafor six months, she was more than ready to adjust to the thenprimitive trappings of her new calling.

IS THIS ANY WAY TO GET OLDER? (11) See photo 1. She gets even better.THE FINEST HOUR for Sandy and the INQUIRER (12). At the general assembly for an update on the advertising boycott in 1999, Sandy assuresthe staff that no one would be retrenched and that management had decided to continue to publish even if the paper is down to a 12-page tabloid.

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6 7

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ENGAGED From biz talk withtycoons Jaime Augusto andFernando Zobel (5) tochatting up first lady LoiEjercito and Nora Aunor withmom Marixi (4 and 6) to roleplaying with older and onlysister Tessa (3), Sandy cuts anarresting but heartwarmingpresence.

TOP OF HER GAME (7 and 10) Manila Golf Club’s ladies champion several times over, she also led the PDI badminton team during theSportshouse Corporate Celebrity Cup on July 15, 2003.

THE GLAMOUR GAME (8) She plays it sexy whenever the occasion callsfor it as when the INQUIRER hosted the Ad Congress in CamSur in 2011.

BIRTHDAY GIRL (9) Variations on the same theme: She’s admirable, loved.


she is often wont to think about retirement.She says that she has told her daughterAlexandra “Sandy” Romualdez, the paper’spresident, to start weighing things.

“The continuity of INQUIRER is up to her,”says Mrs. Prieto. “Because whether you likeit or not, the INQUIRER will always need aleader. It is not enough to have the editorialdoing what it does and the business side do-ing what it does; you must have someonethere to keep the paper together. You needto keep the editorial content balanced be-cause you cannot just keep hitting withoutsuffering in some way. At the same time,you have to be profit-oriented in order tokeep the paper alive.”

The INQUIRER as a group of companiesnow has more than a thousand people onits payroll. Mrs. Prieto says she considersher employees as family.

“They depend on us for their livelihood.That’s why we continually have to keep thepaper vibrant. We have to keep looking formeans of supporting it.”

No government contractsMRP looks back to the Estrada presiden-

cy as a particularly trying time.“My fear was never physical because I

knew him well enough and he was not thatkind of man,” she says. “What I feared washow long the ad boycott would continueand its effects on our employees.”

Owning a newspaper can be a liability ifyou’re running other businesses, sheagrees. People in power who feel they havebeen prejudiced by the paper take theiranger out on the owners when given the op-portunity.

She says she has turned down invitationsto join other businesses, especially thosethat might need protection from the media.

Perks“Also, if you own a newspaper, you cannot

have a government contract because you willsacrifice the paper to ensure your contractswith government,” says Mrs. Prieto.

But the newspaper business also has itsperks.

“You feel so good when you bring wrong-doing out in the open, like in the pork bar-rel scam,” says MRP. She and her husbandeven joined the INQUIRER employees at RizalPark last year for the “Million PeopleMarch” to show indignation over the porkbarrel scandal.

Mrs. Prieto is aware that the publishingbusiness is going to be even more difficultin the coming years because of the competi-tion and the technology coming up.

“But if you see your role clearly, then youhave to find the means to keep going,” saysMrs. Prieto. “The INQUIRER’s role is clear tome, but I have to find a way to keep it bal-anced. It is important to know how to get tothat end point without losing gas some-where along the way that you cannot com-pete.”

With Sandy at the helm of the INQUIRER,Mrs. Prieto only has to show up once ortwice a month for the executive committeemeeting or “do the things that Sandy has notime for, like social events.”

She plays golf every Tuesday morningwith a group of seniors who are all over 70years old.

She is looking forward to spending theholidays with the entire family now thather son Andrew, who is a cardiologist, ishome for good with his family.

Mrs. Prieto serves on the board of theMakati Medical Center Foundation whereone of the projects is helping governmenthospitals professionalize their operationsand give quality, competent and efficientcare.

AdvocacyBut it is to the Sisters of Mary (SOM) in

Silang, Cavite, that her heart belongs. It isan advocacy that Mrs. Prieto has inheritedfrom her husband’s family. The SOM runsGirlstown, a boarding school for disadvan-taged girls, and its counterpart Boystown.

The Prietos have donated astate-of-the-art auditorium to the schooland named it in honor of Louie R. Prieto,

the eldest son who wasthe INQUIRER’s executivevice president when hedied in a motorcyle ac-cident in 1993.

Mrs. Prieto is thebiggest endorser of theSisters of Mary, and oflate has brought thelikes of PresidentAquino, Vice PresidentJejomar Binay, US Am-bassadors Harry K.Thomas and KristieAnne Kenney, philan-thropist WashingtonSyCip and San MiguelCEO Ramon Ang to seefor themselves the highschool kids there whoare receiving free edu-cation, room andboard, medical anddental services, andheaps of hope.

“The best part aboutowning the INQUIRER,”Mrs. Prieto says, “iswhen I see things unrav-eling, like the pork barrelscam. The difficult partis keeping it balanced.”

Inquirer ‘anti-everything’until MRP came alongFrom page 1

MUTUALADMIRATIONSOCIETY MRP andWash SyCip

PARTNERS ALL THE WAY MRP with husband Alex Prieto whosefamily once owned the pre-martial law Manila Times.

STAR OF THE MORNINGSandy was way out there for the 4th INQUIRER Read-Along Festival last November at theCultural Center of the Philippines. She wore a star-shaped headgear she made herself. Sheread “Umaga sa Tala” or morning star.


Inquirer online’s multiplier effectinspires unexpected impact

By John NeryEditor in ChiefINQUIRER.net

IT WAS ONE OF THE MOSTunforgettable stories to emergeout of the “Yolanda” tragedy. IN-QUIRER reporter DJ Yap, whowas in Tacloban City togetherwith photographer Niño JesusOrbeta when Yolanda cameroaring in on Nov. 8, 2013, fileda harrowing story about oneperson’s survival.

“High school teacherBernadette Tenegra, 44, wouldnever forget the last words ofher daughter.

“‘Ma, just let go. Save your-self,’ said the girl, whose bodywas pierced by wooden splin-ters from houses crushed by Su-pertyphoon ‘Yolanda.’

“‘I was holding her and I kepttelling her to hang on, that I wasgoing to bring her up. But shejust gave up,’ said Tenegra, herface contorted in grief.”

The story appeared in thenewspaper on Monday,Nov. 11—and on INQUIRER.netseveral hours before, at 30 min-utes after midnight. The head-line alone captured both the hu-man scale of the tragedy, andthe absurd, upside-down worldthat Yolanda created: “Daugh-ter’s last words: ‘Ma, just letgo… Save yourself.’”

Single most read articleThree days after the superty-

phoon made landfall, two daysafter the true and unprecedent-ed scope of the tragedy startedto become clear, Yap’s storyabout Tenegra’s unbearable lossstruck a nerve. It went on to be-come the single most read arti-cle in the last year and a half,generating over 1.88 millionpage views.

If we assume that the news-paper has a base of anywherebetween 600,000 and1,200,000 readers, based onpass-on readership (let’s agreeon the mid-point, or 900,000),and if we assume further thatall 900,000 readers read thestory, then the version pub-lished online drew a readershipthat was double the size of theprint story’s audience.

This is the multiplier effectthat INQUIRER.net contributes tothe INQUIRER Group of Compa-nies; it allows stories that seeprint in the Philippine Daily In-quirer or break on dzIQ RadyoINQUIRER or begin as an item onan RSS feed managed by Mega-mobile to reach a new and oftenlarger audience. In 2014, themonthly number of UVs orunique visitors (a measure ofthe number of devices that ac-cess INQUIRER.net) has averagedat over 7 million.

One million likesINQUIRER.net, the INQUIRER

Group’s online operation, alsohelps run the Group’s main so-cial media accounts on Face-book and Twitter.

The Facebook account

reached a major milestone onSept. 15, at 5:03 p.m. to be ex-act, when it broke the 1-mil-lion-likes barrier. Since “so-cial” is a growing source oftraffic for the website, and“liking” the INQUIRER accounton Facebook gives the socialnetwork user the option tosign up for notifications fromthe INQUIRER, the million-likesmark was a real milestone.

Organic growthBut as an INQUIRER.net story

noted then: “We are not the firstPhilippine brand to reach thismilestone, nor even the firstmedia organization. (We are,however, the first newspapergroup to do so. INQUIRER.net isthe online operation of thePhilippine Daily Inquirer, thecountry’s leading newspaper.)But we are happy that thegrowth of the audience in Face-book was organic—that is, donethe old-fashioned way.”

The growth in traffic toINQUIRER.net is also organic; thecompany does not use so-calledclick factories. Today, the web-site is among the Top 10 Philip-pine sites as measured by Alexarankings (others on the list in-clude tech giants Facebook,Google, and Yahoo, as well asTV network ABS-CBN), andboth Google Analytics andAlexa measure its “time on site”(the average amount of time awebsite’s users spend accessingit) as by far the highest amongPhilippine news and informa-tion websites.

One million pesosPerhaps the most powerful

(and unexpected) proof of theimpact the INQUIRER online canmake is the simple, stirring sto-ry of Ashley Nepomuceno.

Reporter Kristine AngeliSabillo (now INQUIRER.net’schief of reporters) was ridingthe MRT last April when shechanced upon an unusualscene. The story she wrote theday after described it clearly.

“When 54-year-old CleofeNavarro boarded the Metro RailTransit (MRT) carrying hergranddaughter Ashley AnneNepomuceno, there was a mo-mentary silence among the pas-sengers.

“A couple of women stood upand gave up their seats. NanayCleofe, cradling the 6-year-oldchild, smiled shyly. “Pasensya napo kayo,” she said, seeminglyembarrassed at her predica-ment.

“In her arms was a child withlimbs covered in bandages,head bleeding despite thegauze.

“A visibly weak Ashley wailedin pain while Nanay Cleofe po-sitioned her away from the heatof the sun.

“Suddenly, a woman sittingacross her handed over whatseemed to be money. A coupleof minutes later, one or twoother good Samaritans didthe same.”

A chance encounter, a simplestory—and an almost casualmention of people sponta-neously doing acts of charity.By some alchemy, “MRT pas-sengers pass the hat for 6-year-

old Ashley” got people givingtoo. Immediately after publica-tion, hundreds of people in-quired, by e-mail or phone oron Facebook, about how to do-nate to a fund for Ashley. Two

days after the story broke, theINQUIRER published the detailsof the bank account to send do-nations to, and in less than aweek, over P500,000 had beenraised.

To date, donors large andsmall have given a total of al-most P1.4 million to help Ash-ley. Unexpected, inspiring ac-tion, worth a million likes, ormore.

STRANGERS ON THE TRAIN An online story of MRT passengers’chance encounters with Ashley Anne Nepomuceno waiting in pain inthe arms of her grandmother Cleofe started a fundraiser that is nowat P1.4 million, and counting. INQUIRER PHOTO


All this material a bit over-whelming? INQUIRER Plus alsohas you covered with e-mailalerts on topics you’re interest-ed in and notifications onwhen a favorite publicationhas a new issue.

Want to give it a try? Sign upat the INQUIRER Plus DigitalNewsstand and download thePDI Digital apps on the AppleApp Store, Google Play andWindows 8.1 for a free trial.INQUIRER Libre is also alwaysfree and can be downloadedeven without a print or onlinesubscription.

And if you’re a print sub-scriber, you’re already an IN-QUIRER Plus subscriber, call8966000 to activate your IN-QUIRER Plus account.

Living, Southern Living, CebuLiving, Scout, Cocoon andLook, to name a few.

Moreover, the INQUIRER Plusis also a book club with sub-scribers having access to e-books such as “Youngblood 4,”“Northern Eats,” “SouthernEats,” and “Best Desserts”—with more books added overtime.

INQUIRER Plus also givesreaders a perspective onSoutheast Asia with bundledaccess to INQUIRER’s sister pa-pers under the Asia News Net-work: The Jakarta Post in In-donesia, The Star of Malaysiaand The Nation in Thai-land—all providing a local, in-sider perspective of our Aseanneighbors.

http://inq.ph/inqplusINQUIRER Plus gives its sub-

scribers access to the full issueof the INQUIRER, not just the se-lection of articles picked up bythe INQUIRER.net web portal,edited for search engine opti-mization and social mediareach and posted at differenttimes of the day. Every photo,advertisement and notice car-ried in the print edition is car-ried on INQUIRER Plus, just as itappears in print.

But wait, there’s more. Notonly do INQUIRER Plus sub-scribers have access to the IN-QUIRER, they also have access toall other magazines and booksproduced by the INQUIRER

Group: Cebu Daily News, Ban-dera, INQUIRER Libre, Northern

By JV RufinoDirector for Mobile

GET MORE FROM THEINQUIRER.

That’s the promise behindthe INQUIRER Plus Digital News-stand, the INQUIRER Group’spremium digital product forINQUIRER subscribers, both on-line and offline.

Imagine a product that com-bines the readability of a news-paper with the interactivity ofa website and the portability ofa tablet, phablet or smart-phone—the best of both oldand new.

Imagine having articles readaloud to you while you havebreakfast—with both hands.

Imagine sharing articles onTwitter and Facebook and sav-ing them on digital tools suchas Instapaper and Evernote.

Imagine reading the INQUIRER

in Chinese, Japanese, Korean,German, Spanish and Italianand several other languages viaon-the-fly translation.

Imagine sharing your IN-QUIRER issue (no more fightingover the sports pages!) witheveryone else in your familyon up to five devices (AppleiOS, Google Android, Win-dows 8.1 or a web brows-er—it’s up to you).

Imagine no more. INQUIRER

Plus is real and it’s availableas part of an INQUIRER sub-scription and as an online-on-ly subscription product at

Imagine the unimaginable

DZIQ Radyo Inquirer: The battlecryis to go beyond radio

By Bobby Ante

WHILE SIPPING A CUPof coffee in the morning, read-ing today’s edition of the Philip-pine Daily Inquirer and listen-ing to dzIQ Radyo Inquirer, I askmy son, who is seated across meat the breakfast table, if heknew today’s news already. Heanswers me in the affirmative,stating that he saw it on Twitterand Facebook while chattingon-line with his orgmates. Hedoesn’t need to read the news-paper nor listen to the radio tobe informed.

I drive my two other kids toschool early everyday and theylisten to the radio only whenthey’re with me in the car andneither of them bother to readthe newspaper either. They getthe news, music, celebrity triv-ia, the weather report, etc. notfrom traditional media but frompopular social media sites andother sources.

Such is the reality now thattraditional media faces in thisage of the digital revolution. Inthis digital chaos, where the vir-tual population will very soonoutnumber the world’s physicalpopulation, the Internet has ex-

ploded exponentially at such analarming pace, much fasterthan that of all traditional me-dia combined. They say, eventhe TV screen, is no longer, theprimary screen now—it is thesmartphone or tablet.

Is dzIQ still being heard? Isour broadcast signal strongenough to reach a wide rangeof the populace? Maybe, that isno longer just our concern now.The Internet has changed allthat—the way people get thenews, information, music andother audio/video transmis-sions that traditional mediaused to dish out. The audienceout there is no longer a bunchof “listeners.” We don’t justcater to a “listening” audiencenowadays. They are now verydifferent because their behav-ioral patterns have been revo-lutionized with the advent ofsmartphones. When they wakeup in the morning and beforethey go to bed, they check theirFacebook, then, Twitter, Insta-gram, Viber, and countless oth-er sites and web streaming ser-vices.

Listening to a radio stationlike dzIQ is just one among themany available options that

they can do to amuse or enter-tain themselves, and that is ondemand, anywhere and anytime. They are now more pam-pered, have a shorter attentionspan and need to be engaged allthe time because of the manydistractions that continuouslybombard them.

Major ingredientSounds like very difficult

times for radio? What about dz-IQ, that is still considered a ba-by compared to the giants in theindustry that have been in thebusiness for decades? Are westill up to the challenge to getnoticed?

The INQUIRER DNA is a majoringredient in helping boost lis-tenership for dzIQ.

Managing dzIQ is a balancingact between managing the hugeoperational costs of a radio sta-tion and sourcing out revenuesfrom various revenue streamslike the regular advertisingagencies, direct clients, co-pro-duction shows and block-timers.

Go beyond radio is a battlecryfor dzIQ in the coming months.The digital age has ,indeed, sentbroadcast practitioners in a

panic mode. Not to fret becausethere is light at the end of thetunnel. We should change ourmindset since advertisers andbrands are now creating theirown platforms to push theirproducts. DZIQ, together withthe IGC Group should continuepursuing projects that will useour platforms to help and col-laborate with these brands in acreative way. It should con-stantly search for creative peo-ple who will serve as a pool thatcan help in the full convergenceof the INQUIRER platforms. Sincethe audience doesn’t just listennow, a digital platform is veryimportant, either linked to IN-QUIRER.net or by way of the mas-sive use of other sites like Face-book, Twitter, Instagram,YouTube in promoting and dis-seminating the programs andnews info that emanate fromdzIQ.

At the end of the day, contentis still king—content that isfound on dzIQ, as created bythe news anchors, news re-porters and writers, contentthat is relevant and fresh al-ways. But dzIQ has to go be-yond just being heard. DZIQ hasto go beyond radio to survive.

In the Internetof things; have you heard?

By Jake MaderazodzIQ Anchor

IN THESE TIMES OFsmartphones, super speedcomputers and gadgetry, theworld is seeing a monumentalshift of traditional media intodigital media.

Today, we have 44.2 millionPinoy Internet users and 29.8million Facebook members ac-cording to the latest 2014statistics. The numbers offi-cially declare the “OnlineWeb” or the Internet as thenew dominant medium forPinoys, at the expense of drop-ping viewership ratings forbroadcast networks and de-creased print media reader-ships.

These new inclination ofPinoys towards the Internet astheir source of news and otherissues, sparked a ratings waramong Philippine news web-sites. The latest buzz is that IN-QUIRER.net is the acknowl-edged leader, landing No. 10on the list of the veneratedAlexa.com ratings in Septem-ber this year (ABS-CBN is No.18/ GMA No. 20). This out-standing feat has been con-firmed by Google Analyticsand several other Web trafficstatistics.

In these digital wars, dzIQ990 (Radyo INQUIRER), the ra-dio arm of the Inquirer Groupof Companies, plays a majorrole in continuously beatingthe competition. As early as 5a.m., dzIQ never stops airingimportant and relevant infor-mation to all Pinoys via AM ra-dio, or by tweeting, live blog-ging and Live-streaming. Asfrontliner for INQUIRER.net, dz-IQ (Radyo INQUIRER) is thesource of breaking news andflash reports 24/7 demandedby digital Filipino audienceson radio or on the Web.

David and GoliathA virtual David fighting the

Goliaths of the local radio andTV industry of today, dzIQworks hand in hand with IN-QUIRER.net in keeping the pub-lic informed on developingnews throughout the day. Ithas been confirmed that itsclosest competitors have beenconstantly monitoring dzIQspecifically for its breakingnews items and substantive in-terviews.

With a formidable radionews-anchor lineup, support-ed by professional reporters intheir beats, dzIQ provides thePinoy digital audiencethrough INQUIRER.net with fast,reliable and necessary infor-mation via Twitter, Facebookand other social media. In-stant images of breakingevents and its details, are pro-cessed for broadcast and thenuploaded to the online Web,resulting in a very updatedand responsive PDI news web-site.

INQUIRER newspaper head-lines are pushed forward, andupdated daily on dzIQ byguesting news personalitieswho are asked hard-hittingquestions which broadcast anunbiased analysis of the newsevent or controversy.

Leading the programs is“Banner Story” (6-9 a.m.weekdays), hosted by veteranjournalist, film director andauthor Arlyn de la Cruz andthis author. A direct to thepoint and no-holds-barredthree-hour program covers themorning routine of Pinoyswith specifics on national andlocal issues. This includes is-sues that affect them like theweather, traffic, public ser-vice, entertainment, worldnews and all others.

News Director DenMacaranas and seasoned mul-timedia journalist Ira Pangani-ban follow with the very infor-mative, “Good Morning In-quirer” (9-10:30 a.m. week-days) a program focusing ondeveloping news stories of the

day with a more grounded andlighter approach to issues. Onan earlier timeslot, “InquirerBreakfast Club” (5-6 a.m.weekdays), Macaranas alsopartners with entrepreneur-producer Brenda Arcangel forthe early morning dzIQ newsshow.

Multi-awardedDaily public service begins

with the multi-awarded “Ban-tay OCW program” (10:30a.m.-12 noon) hosted by muchacclaimed radio-TV host andcolumnist Ms Susan K. Thisshow has been acknowledgedas a Hall of Famer for out-standing public service radioprogram by KBP and otherawards organization.

“Partners,” (5:30-7 p.m.),with INQUIRER Libre editor inchief Chito de la Vega and sea-soned broadcaster Jay Dones,tackles the major stories thatarise during the day. Hard-hit-ting interviews and insightfulanalyses are dished out thisvery interesting late afternoonradio tandem on dzIQ.

“DZIQ Radyo InquirerBalita” (30 minutes newscastsweekdays) are aired 7-7:30a.m. (Ira Panganiban as newspresenter), 12 noon-12:30p.m. (Jupiter Torres andReysie Amado) and 5-5:30p.m. (Reysie Amado).

Hourly news breaks are alsoaired by the Radyo InquirerNews Desk all throughout theday.

Focus programsFocus programs on other

public service, music and en-tertainment make listening todzIQ a very informative expe-rience. “Wow It’s Showbiz”(3-5 p.m. weekdays), hostedby Fernand de Guzman (MissF), current president of thePhilippine Movie Press Club(PMPC), provides a real pic-ture of show biz, its highs andlows and is a handy source ofentertainment news featuredon INQUIRER, Bandera and Li-bre.

Jupiter Torres’ “Kliq Musicsa Hapon” (3-5 p.m. week-days) is a great musical jour-ney for AM radio listenersspecifically Gen Xers and Mil-lennials (80’s, 90’s, 2000 mu-sic) “Radyo Mediko,” “LunasKalusugan,” “Tinig ng mgaEksperto,” “Gabay ng mgaPamilyang Marino,” and oth-er well-produced radio pro-grams during weekends pro-vide refreshing informationfor our listeners.

Facebook customized paperAn interesting development

that may further fuel onlinenews wars among news orga-nizations was the declarationof Facebook that they will soonlaunch their own online news-paper (customized). As I said,there are almost 30 million Fil-ipinos on Facebook and basedon recent research, they spenda minimum of 1-2 hours everyday checking their accounts.

Since Facebook will be local-ized, its content will be aggre-gated or curated from localnews organizations, mainly IN-QUIRER.net. This, in turn, willtrigger a difficult race forspace in that Facebook news-paper for all media to reachthe greater Filipino audienceoutside of traditional TV. Andexpectedly, the demand forbreaking news in the field,scoops and also long or shortform journalism (print orvideo) will boom.

Rest assured that dzIQ 990(Radyo INQUIRER), with thesupport of the INQUIRER family,will engage other broadcast gi-ants in this new journalisticwars for supremacy in onlinenews and information forPinoys worldwide.

Times have changed fornews, whether print or broad-cast, and in the prevailing “In-ternet of things,” anything canhappen.

THEROUNDUPof dailymorningpaperson theInquirerPlusDigitalNewsstandis much,muchmorethan justtheInquirer.

“BANNER STORY” anchors Jake Maderazo and Arlyn de la Cruz give dzIQ listeners their morning fix of the day’s hottest issues.


Present at the creation over ‘tapsilog’By JP FenixFormer Inquirer reporter

LET ME HARK BACK TOthe birth of the PhilippineDaily Inquirer—or what Irecall of it before years ofdrinking diet cola fries mybrain. Here goes.

The birth of PDI was a result of acrystal clear vision, unrelentingpursuit of a mission, impeccabletiming, flexibility in leadership anda healthy dose of humor.

Eugenia Duran-Apostol, PDI’sfounding chair and Publisher, metwith me in one of those lean cover-age days of the Trial of the Century:the Aquino-Galman Double MurderCase in 1985. She had called me tojoin her in this Manila Bay restau-rant. It was a small wooden pier forcheap bay cruises, between thepricier Harbor View seafood restau-rant and then exclusive Army NavyClub, at the driveway to QuirinoGrandstand in Manila.

Tita Eggie (she was not officiousand actually liked being called byher nickname, but I still used “Tita”as a form of respect. She was, afterall, still The Boss) said the tapsilogwas good there. She asked me howthe trial was going and mythoughts on its progress. We couldall see that the trial’s end was com-ing up, especially since I was work-ing on a story that the originalgame plan of then President Ferdi-nand Marcos was to run the trial toappease people, then have the

court find everybody in the con-spiracy innocent and thus puttingan end to the case and protectingall against double jeopardy.

I was focused on the exposé ofthe day: Malacañang’s deceit. ButTita Eggie was many steps ahead,just as she was in her numerouspublishing projects. The businessmodel she so admired, believe it ornot, was MAD magazine. It hadmass appeal, its issues and materialwas timely, and its content could bereused and recycled into thematic,author-based and various othertypes of books, magazines and mer-chandise.

And so, in her publishing careerTita Eggie founded Mr. & Ms. Maga-zine, a general knowledge, lifestyleand entertainment magazine which,over time, spawned other books andpublications like cookbooks, literaryanthologies and the like.

With the assassination of formerSen. Benigno S. Aquino in 1983 sheresponded with the need for infor-mation on the unfolding historicalevents with the Mr. & Ms. SpecialEdition, a black-and-white allnewsprint weekly. Again thesespawned other publications, likethe book on the majority report ofthe Agrava Commission which hadthe full presentation of the assassi-nation by lead investigator (and lat-er Chief Justice) Andres Narvasa.

In late 1984 the Aquino-Galmandouble murder case was set tomove to its trial phase, and againTita Eggie assembled her core staffat her Dasmariñas Villagehome—Editor Letty Jimenez

Magsanoc (now PDI Editor inChief), staff writers Joey Nolasco(PDI Managing Editor), Fe Zamora(PDI staff), Candy Quimpo (nowGourlay, multi-awarded Londonchildren’s books author), FrankieJoaquin (now Drogin), J.R. Alibu-tud and myself to brainstorm on avision she had. Marcos had said thatthe trial would be intense and mayrun on a daily basis and thus itwould need a totally different pub-lication than what weekly Mr. & Ms.SpeEd could do. The trial was tooimportant and economically, theMr. & Ms. SpeEd published everyFriday would suffer losses from theadditional pages without an adjust-ment in cover price, something thatthe market would not appreciatefrom a single publication.

The solution: a new publicationthat would give the importance theAquino assassination case deservedpublished every Monday. Two is-sues were then brought forward tothe group: first, a name. It had to becatchy and reflective of its contentand direction.

Discussing this over macapunoice cream (hey, we had to make dowith what we were served) Candyand I proposed the Philippine In-quirer. It was, after all, the coverageof the “Inquiry of the Century” andwe thought it was cool to be writingfor something called the Inquirersince we were hanging out with alot of foreign correspondents andparachute journalists anyway.

(Mr. & Mrs. Special Edition editorLetty Jimenez-Magsanoc writes(above, right):

PRESENT/ 4


Present at the creationover ‘tapsilog’

Tita Eggie wasn’t convinced. She wasworried that the newsboys would not beable to sell it on the streets. “They wouldsay ‘In-queerer! In-querrer!’” she said, mim-icking street kids running around holdingup the paper. “It’s going to be queerer andqueerer.”

Her idea was “JAJA”, a takeoff from theJustice for Aquino, Justice for All move-ment that had been born from the assassi-nation. It was clear and concise, she ar-gued, it was associated with the words “jus-tice” and “Aquino” and a movement grow-ing in popularity. Most important of all, itwas easy for newsboys to say.

Somehow, as she again mimicked anewsboy strutting about in her living room,with an imaginary newspaper repeating“JAJA! JAJA!” Tita Eggie finally paused andsaid, “OK, Philippine Inquirer.”

Second point: content. Outside the 360degree trial coverage, Philippine Inquirerhad to have some other content to give itsome added flavor. Here, using deeply dis-guised pseudonyms, the waning journalis-tic legacies crushed by martial law yearswere revived: Louie Beltran, Art Borjal,Max Soliven.

NPA’s hitlistSociety columnist Maurice Arcache and

photographer partner Alex Van Hagen pro-vided their social scene coverage in thehopes of pulling in some business fromManila’s high society. Some of us cringed atthis section at first, feeling it had nothing ofsubstance to offer this type of publication.But we changed our minds when Fe pointedout it was, in fact, a very clear and graphichit list for the New People’s Army’s assassi-nation teams called Sparrow Units. Ah, abroader market.

To balance it off, Mr. & Ms. Magazine edi-tor Doris Nuyda was tasked to collate allpress releases from the Malacañang newsdesk and compiled it in a special sectioncalled “The Week with the President” and asmall subsection on Imelda’s press releasescalled “…and Mrs. Marcos”. They werepractically unedited and provided a bufferfor the more controversial material on theAquino assassination trial coverage.

And that went on nearly a year. And asthe trial was about to wrap up and my storyabout what a sham it was from the start wasabout to go to press, Marcos again providedthe impetus for Tita Eggie’s vision: he an-nounced in a live satellite interview withAmerican broadcast journalist Ted Koppelover ABC News that he would declare asnap presidential election, if only to provethat he still had the mandate of the people.Seeing that all the daily newspapers wereMarcos controlled, she saw the need toequalize the snap election coverage.

Thus, there we were, over tapsilog,shooting the sea breeze over the newPhilippine Daily Inquirer. We would need toput together a bigger staff—news desk, re-porters … the works. Those who were writ-ing under pseudonyms would be called tothe light and lead the paper. Recruitment,however, must be done with one steep andspecific condition: work may last only twomonths.

It was simple, really. Marcos could justclose us down on a whim. That was the bestcase scenario.

Worst case? Well, as the story goes (andthis was a scene in that Edsa-inspired moviewith Gary Busey called “A Dangerous Life”)all Marcos opposition was supposed to beshipped off to a concentration camp in Ca-ballo Island (where the Philippine Militarycontingent to Liberia was quarantined for21 days due to the Ebola virus). TitaEggie—as seen in the movie—was numberone on that list for arrest: Apostol, EugeniaD. And, no, it wasn’t in alphabetical order.

But we didn’t know that then, as we dis-cussed the new daily. She wanted me totake charge of covering the Marcos cam-paign and Malacañang. If I were as experi-enced then as I am now (I’m in my 50s) Iwould have said: “Are you nuts?” That waslike being thrown in the lion’s den likeDaniel. But I was in my 20s and felt inde-structible, raring for some action.—BettyGo-Belmonte.

The next few days were a frenzy of set-ting up facilities. Tita Eggie and I visitedBetty Go-Belmonte for discussions and in-spection for the use of their offices andprinting facilities in 13th street corner Rail-road in Port Area, Manila.

Using Tita Eggie’s trusty Nissan pickuptruck (converted like a station wagon), wewould go to furniture shops along Buendiain Pasay City to buy chairs and tables, thecheaper the better. Secondhand typewrit-ers were acquired, although as some sort ofa favor for me she also bought a couple ofApple II clones from a supplier who lookedlike Mr. Magoo with thick glasses and anerdy grin, since she was so into “the waveof the future.”

Max Soliven, who was named publisher,arrived from Hong Kong and handed me apair of ICOM VHF walkie-talkies to aid myMarcos coverage. I did not know what to dowith them because they were just simple ra-dio sets that worked if the line of sight wasclear, no repeater system that will allowbroad coverage. Hide behind a wall and theguy at the other end could not hear you. Be-sides, they did not come with batterypacks.

And so it finally came out. Dec. 9, 1985,Volume 1, Number 1. Headline: “It’s Cory-Doy,” the story written by Belinda OlivarezCunanan confirming the unification of theMarcos opposition, with Ninoy Aquino’swidow Cory picking up from the popular,mass-based call and Salvador Laurel, longtime opposition politician, taking a backseat for unity. (Hmmm, sounds familiar.)

Along these early days Max Soliven al-most became the earliest casualty of TitaEggie’s management style. He had caused adelay in the production of the newspaperby making it wait until his column wasdone. He was, after all, the publisher. Shewould not have any of it and so he threat-ened to pack up and leave.

Tita Eggie raised an eyebrow. “Nobody isindispensible,” she said.

The next day Max came to the office witha bag of siopao, which he handed over as a“peace offering” (his words) to Tita Eggie.She smiled her little smile, and as sheturned around and passed me, handing methe siopao bag to share with the staff. Thatwas that.

Thus, it came to pass that the honor ofbeing the earliest unemployment casualtywent to one reporter who, assigned to theManila International Airport, could not getbeyond the departure ramp because hecould not get accredited. Not having anystories and complaining about his lack ofaccess to boot, the reporter found himselfat the receiving end of the INQUIRER’s firsteditor in chief Louie Beltran’s first manage-ment decision: “You’re fired!”

Later a quick succession of events—asham election, a failed coup attempt, and apeople’s revolt—put an end to Marcos’ planfor our Caballo island vacation. The staff of40 or so reporters, editors and administra-tors suddenly found themselves with somemeasure of job security.

Prayers, note of thanks for those who leftINQUIRER FOUNDING COCHAIR BETTYGo-Belmonte resigned from the INQUIRER onMay 24, 1986. Founding board memberMax Soliven resigned days later, on May 28,1986.

Art Borjal, who was a columnist of the IN-QUIRER and another board member, wrote hislast column for the INQUIRER on June 15, 1986.

In July 1986, Go-Belmonte, Soliven andBorjal founded the Philippine Star with So-

liven as lead columnist and publish-er.

The INQUIRER staff was reorga-nized on Feb. 3, 1987, when the IN-QUIRER board of directors asked Bel-tran to relinquish his post as editorin chief, but to continue as dailycolumnist and member of theboard. The board appointed Federi-co Pascual as editor in chief.

Beltran wrote his last column,“Straight from the Shoulder,” onFeb. 2. His name last appeared onthe staff box on Feb. 26, 1987.

Go-Belmonte died of cancer inJanuary 1994. She was president ofThe Philippine Star at the time ofher death.

Beltran died of a heart attack onSept. 6, 1994.

Soliven died of cardiac and res-piratory arrest in November2006. He was 77. At the time ofhis death, Soliven was publisherand chair of the board of ThePhilippine Star, People Asia mag-azine and Mabuhay, the inflightmagazine of Philippine Airlines.He was also chair of the OBMontessori Center.

APOSTOL wanted to call her vision of anewspaper “Jaja.”

From page 3


I GREW / 4

I grew

By Pam PastorLifestyle Subsection Editor

AT THE RECENT PHILIPPINELiterary Festival, during our pan-el on nonfiction, the host readmy introduction: “I feel like Igrew up in the newsroom.”

Then, he turned to me and said, jokingly,“I’m sorry.”

We laughed. But there’s nothing to besorry about.

It was 1998 and I had just gotten homefrom school when I spotted a small ad an-nouncing INQUIRER’s search for student cor-respondents. I faxed my application and,months later, received my first assignmentvia snail mail: A survey on virginity.

“Fantastic,” I thought, “I am an expert onthis subject.”

The first story was just the beginning.That newspaper ad changed my life.

I was 17 when I first wrote for the INQUIR-ER; 18 when I started coming in to helpclose pages; 19 when I became editor of theyouth section 2bU; 20 when I joined the ed-itorial group that started INQUIRER Libre; 22when I became editor of the pop culturesection Super and also 22 when I addedLifestyle reporter to the list of roles I wasjuggling.

I still remember my first day in the news-room vividly. I was in awe. Everyoneseemed so interesting and so worldly. I feltlike a little kid in an adult world—andthat’s exactly what I was. I was so intimidat-ed that when the drawer that held the key-board I was using slammed shut and Icouldn’t figure out how to open it again, Ispent the rest of the day typing blindly withmy hands inside the drawer.

The flurry of activity in the newsroomwas intoxicating. There were stories to bewritten, pages to be laid out, photos to becaptioned and deadlines to be met. I washooked. I returned the next week. And theweek after. And the week after that.

Although I had always loved writing, Ididn’t think it was something I could dofull-time. My plan had always been to be-come a lawyer and maybe, just maybe,write books on the side. But almost threeyears after my first byline appeared in thepaper, I abandoned all thoughts of lawschool and switched my major from politi-cal science to journalism.

The newsroom had seduced me and de-railed my plans, helping me find what I re-ally wanted to do with my life.

No days-offFor a couple of years, I had no days-off—I

was in school five days a week and at the IN-QUIRER three times a week. I used to bring achange of clothes for days when my sched-ule overlapped but I soon gave up the cha-rade, deciding to just go to the office in myUST uniform.

What I lacked in experience and sophisti-cation, I made up for with passion, enthusi-asm and hard work. I was so in love withmy job that I couldn’t stop working, noteven when I was in school. My notebookswere filled with article drafts and ideas in-stead of notes from my classes.

Students sometimes go to the office to in-terview me for their school papers. Onegirl, who said she was writing about “wom-en in the workplace,” kept pressing me forstories about discrimination. “Did you everfeel like you weren’t treated fairly becauseyou’re female?” she wanted to know.

When she finally revealed that her topicwas sexism in offices, I had to laugh.“You’ve come to the wrong place,” I said.“Our chairperson, president and editor inchief are all women. This is a great place forwomen.”

And not just women (and men). TheINQUIRER is a great place for young people,

up righthere


Tell me a story again and againMAY 5, 2007, INQUIRER Library. First ever INQUIRER Read-Along session with Manilyn Reynes MARCH 8, 2008, Philippine General Hospital pediatric garden

NOV. 22, 2008, Carmel Cottage, Talisay City, Negros Occidental province. Peque Gallaga reads toseriously ill kids. With the INQUIRER bureaus, the Read-Along simultaneously goes to three other citiesnationwide, Baguio, Naga and Davao.

FEB. 13, 2009, INQUIRER main office. Gary Valenciano dances with a special child after reading “IbongAdarna.”

DEC. 4, 2010, Tawi-Tawi province, part of the 25 simultaneous Read-Along sessions, “Telling the story toempower, to inspire from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi,” in time for the INQUIRER’s 25th anniversary, participatedin by more than 2,000 children nationwide

FEB. 17, 2012, St. Michael’s College High School in Barangay San Miguel, Iligan City. Part of the specialback-to-back INQUIRER Debriefing Read-Along sessions in areas damaged by Tropical Storm “Sendong” inDecember 2011

NOV. 28, 2011, GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center on the University of the Philippines campus in Diliman,Quezon City. Muslim children have fun with Guyito during the first Read-Along Festival.

DEC. 2, 2013, Gazeta Wyborcza headquarters, Warsaw, Poland, during the Youth Engagement Summit.For its success in promoting love of reading among the youth, the INQUIRER Read-Along wins the silveraward for “Enduring Excellence in Public Service” from the World Association of Newspapers and NewsPublishers (WAN-Ifra). The team with Dr. Aralynn McMane (second from left), executive director ofWAN-Ifra Young Readership Development

LAUNCHED IN MAY 2007,the INQUIRER Read-Alongaims to promote love of read-ing among children ages 7 to12 through storytelling ses-sions with celebrities, rolemodels and professional sto-rytellers.

The story so far• Over 18,000 - Number ofkids who have participated inthe Read-Along• Around 350 - Number ofcelebrities who have read inRead-Along sessions• Around 300 - Number of Read-

Along sessions since May 2007• Over 240 - Number of localtitles read in the Read-Along• More than 50 - Number ofcities the Read-Along has visited• 9 - Number of special eventsheld by the Read-Along team: onesimultaneous Read-Along session

from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi(2010), four festivals (2011-2014) and four Reading for Heal-ing sessions (for survivors of “On-doy,” “Sendong” and “Yolanda”)• 7 - Number of awards won bythe Read-Along program

For its advocacy, the Read-Along

has been honored here andabroad. Last year, it won the silveraward of the World Young ReaderPrize by the World Association ofNewspapers and News Publishers.In 2011, it was also declared over-all grand winner in the communi-cation management division of the

10th Philippine Quill Awards forstaging 25 simultaneous story-telling sessions across the countryon Dec. 4, 2010. The program hasalso been recognized by the Na-tional Commission for Culture andthe Arts and the Reading Associa-tion of the Philippines.


I grew up ...too. I should know—I grew up here.

I will always be grateful to the people inthe newsroom. They were never conde-scending or patronizing and they neverhandled me with kid gloves either. Theygave me room to grow and I learned—and Icontinue to learn—so much from them.

ChangesI have been here long enough to witness

changes in technology. Invitations to eventsused to be faxed, not texted and e-mailed.Press releases had to be typed into our sys-tem and not dragged and dropped fromCDs and flash drives. If readers wanted tocommunicate with us, they sent snail mail,faxes or e-mails; they couldn’t tweet us,comment on our Instagram posts or send usFacebook messages. I used to record inter-views on cassette tapes, not on my iPhone. Iused film cameras and had to wait for thefilm to be developed to find out if I actuallyhad a decent photo to accompany my arti-cle. There were no hashtags.

When I tell these stories, sometimes I feelancient, which is strange because on mostdays, I still feel like the awestruck 18-year-old who had just walked into the INQUIRER

for the first time. My excitement for thework we do and my desire to serve ourreaders have not changed.

It took me a while to realize that I was nolonger the kid in the newsroom. It finally hitme because year after year, new employeesarrive, and they all keep trying to call me“ma’am.” (I keep trying to make them stop.)

Like any home, the INQUIRER’s different cor-ners hold so many memories for me. Sir GaniYambot’s office. The rooms where we used tohold our meetings with 2bU correspondents.The fourth floor and the rooftop where wedid shoots. The back of the library where wespent hours digging through the filing cabi-nets full of alphabetically arranged pho-tographs. The couch in the Digital PrepressUnit where I buried my face to control my ex-citement as I did a phone interview with No-rah Jones. The editorial lounge where wewere reminded that scantily clad peoplehave no place in the newspaper pages.

My official records will tell you that I’vebeen a full-time employee of the INQUIRER

for 11 years now. But the truth is, this paperhas been my home for 17 years. This iswhere I grew up and this is where I intendto grow old—old but still passionate, oldbut never jaded.

From page 1

NOV. 28, 2011, Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila. The Read-Along program is declared overall grand winner in thecommunication management division of the 10th Philippine Quill Awards for staging 25 simultaneous storytellingsessions across the country on Dec. 4, 2010. The program has also received an award of excellence for the sameproject that was held in 25 locations nationwide as part of the paper’s 25th anniversary celebration. From left: EllenCaparos, Kate Pedroso, Bianca Kasilag-Macahilig, Ruth Navarra-Mayo, Benita del Rosario, Margie Pagtalunan DelaVega, Minerva Generalao, INQUIRER president Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, INQUIRER Libre editor in chief Chito de la Vega

DEC. 12, 2009, INQUIRER main office.Christmas comes early for 100 children whowere treated to heartwarming stories readby mother-daughter tandem INQUIRER chairMarixi Prieto and INQUIRER president SandyPrieto-Romualdez.

NOV. 7, 2008, Hyatt Hotel and Casino in Manila. First INQUIRER Read-Along award. Forspreading the passion for reading to more than 4,000 children in just over a year, theRead-Along receives an award of excellence from the Philippine Quill. From left: KatePedroso, Minerva Generalao, Bayani San Diego, Margie Pagtalunan Dela Vega, RemediosGregorio, then INQUIRER publisher Isagani Yambot, Junior INQUIRER editor Ruth Navarra-Mayoand INQUIRER Libre editor in chief Chito de la Vega


Young Blood:Always white-hot,also silver-cool

ANTHOLOGIES of angst and ardor—all blockbusters. Another compilation—the fifth—is coming up.

By Rosario A. GarcellanoOpinion Editor

A BLIZZARD OF CONTRIBUTIONSto Young Blood regularly pelts theOpinion section, and if the stuff werenot transmitted electronically wewould be slogging knee-deep in pa-per weighed down by red-bloodedangst, “the force that through thegreen fuse drives the flower [drivingtheir] green age,” profuse with purpleprose, embraced by black moods orparrying the blues, always white-hot,but then also silver-cool.

It’s cause for amazement, as wellas proof positive that young people(roughly a thousand in threeweeks) mean to add their voices tothose aired by this newspaper—infact the only one that offers themthe space thrice a week (Tuesday,Thursday and Sunday) to do so.They grab the offer by the throat, asit were. Thus this constant blizzard,howling digitally and triggeringanxiety attacks in the editor: Howto shovel through these snowbanks, to sift through the fine pow-der of their language, to take a pick-ax to the dense blob of theirthoughts? The cutoff age, after all,is 29, after which the enfants terri-bles (reluctantly) take their placeamong those, as the youth every-where swear, never to be trusted.And it now appears that being pub-lished in Young Blood has become arite of passage before the surrenderto the Big 30—an obligatory stepnot only for the true acolytes of The

Word but also for the pretenders.What do they write about, these

students straining at the leash, thesenew graduates in the throes of a newjob or desperate to find one? TheReader would be pleasantly surprisedat the length and breadth of the expe-riences they present like Prufrock’s“evening spread out against the sky,”preponderantly personal and there-fore intense, by turns amusing andwrenching, thoughtful and combat-ive, earnest and sly. They write—nat-urally, being young and expectant—of awakenings: to love, to sex, toheartbreak, to grief, and also to injus-tice, to bigotry, to poverty, to theburning need to burst from the closet,to the disappointment of organizedreligion.

Fastidious detailThey write in fastidious detail, per-

haps to ensure that the attentiveReader will get their drift, perhaps al-so to convince themselves of the fi-delity of their remembering. Whetherit’s activist Marjohara Tucay recallinghis one-person lightning rally duringHillary Clinton’s visit (“Hillary’s heck-ler”) or seminarian Anthony Capi-rayan jousting with himself under thegaze of his loving God (“Still figuringit out”), it’s important to them tobreach the brief attention span pecu-liar to their era and to convey the con-text of the moment, the point when,say, anxiety turns to grit or pain be-comes deliverance. In writing, theychoose.

In “Rainbow cats,” mechanical en-

gineering student Mariel Alonzo’sfunny-elegant meditation on thecorpse of a cat that she found flat-tened on the street between two carhumps roughly 20 meters fromGate 8 of their subdivision, she notesthat “[t]ill now the cat continues todecay. Slowly he or she (too flat todetermine) is losing his or her fur. Heor she is getting eaten by the invisi-ble scavengers, being consumed bythe circle of life, succumbing to theinevitability of the food chain, of en-ergy distribution, of entropy and de-cay, of quantum physics, of differen-tiation.”

She contemplates the corpse (ametaphorical dead child that couldhave been any of the strays dartingacross the metropolis), and she wantsto know, among other things: “Does

the National Bureau of Investigationknow that somewhere in my peacefulvillage lurks a murderer? Where arethe media?”

In “Looter’s letter,” in the wake ofthe worst typhoon ever to makelandfall, band member Tata delaCruz writes to a Tacloban City su-permarket and confesses to swiping,in the fetid darkness pierced by thewatery beam of a flashlight: “sixsmall jars of nata de coco, two cansof spaghetti sauce with meatballs,eight cans of sardines (differentbrands) and two cans of pork andbeans.” He swears to pay for the lootand wonders if there’s a discount,considering, he points out, thatsome of the cans were dented andwere the mere leavings of the mob

YOUNG / 3


By Thelma Sioson San JuanLifestyle Editor

THERE WAS A STORM,just like now, when INQUIRER

Lifestyle held its first fashionshow in 2008. It was rainingcats and dogs, and traffic wasgetting snarled around ThePeninsula Manila, the fashionshow venue. We were gettingtexts inquiring if the fashionshow would push through ornot, given the nasty weatherand flooded streets and horrifictraffic.

With prayer on our lips andfaith in our hearts, we did pushthrough with “Fitness.Fashion,”the collections of the Philip-pines’ foremost designers in-spired by the fitness lifestylethat mostly everyone was into.The Peninsula Rigodon Ball-room was SRO that night. Fit-ness.Fashion was a fitting startto the annual fashion show se-ries that INQUIRER Lifestylewould stage from then on.

That same year, Fitness.Fash-ion would be brought to Cebu,at the Waterfront, with thesouthern city’s top designersjoining in and its prominentmen and women, starting withthen Gov. Gwen Garcia, model-ing clothes on the runway.

The rains must have broughtus luck.

And faith, we add. For thepast six consecutive years, IN-QUIRER Lifestyle has been hold-ing fashion shows, each onewith a different concept, butwith the same vision: to show-case and promote the incompa-rable talent of the Filipino fash-ion designer—the seasonedones as well as the upcomingones—and make the creativearts a source of pride for thebattered psyche of the nation.

The INQUIRER Lifestyle,through these fashion shows,gives the Filipino designers aplatform to showcase theirwork. Just as important, it initi-ates a “fashion talk,” so tospeak, setting the tone and theagenda for the Philippine de-sign industry.

Comparative pictureThis was how we conceived

“Face-Off” in 2009. We wantedto present a comparative pic-ture of Philippine fashion de-sign at any given time—how de-signers fared alongside eachother in interpreting themes.

The concept wasn’t so muchcompetition—sabong (cock-fight), the fashion industry pun-dits called Face-Off—as an ac-curate barometer of the pace ofPhilippine fashion design.

But then, if Face-Off was seenas and continues to be seen ascompetition, that is well andgood. It was the cutthroat com-petition that gave rise to thegolden era of Philippine fash-ion—from the late ’50s to theearly ’80s.

In the late ’50s, Ramon Valerawas the indisputable king ofPhilippine fashion, and even af-ter his death, he continued to bepitted against Jose “Pitoy”Moreno. The rivalry betweenMoreno and Ben Farrales flour-ished for three decades, startingin the early ’60s, theiron-and-off friendship thesource of many intriguing anec-dotes.

The ’70s and early ’80s sawthe competitive reign of AuggieCordero, Inno Sotto, JoeSalazar, Gang Gomez (whowould become the Benedictine

monk, Dom Martin), ErnestSantiago, Mike de la Rosa,among others; and inready-to-wear, Jeannie Goul-bourn, Larrie Silva, LuluTan-Gan, Cesar Gaupo, EfrenOcampo, Rusty Lopez (whowould become a popularbrand).

This generation of designerswould pit their talents almostevery few months in luncheonshows that would be held dailyin the country’s five-star hotels.It was an exciting time tocover a very dynamic—andvolatile—fashion design scene.We had to churn out fashion re-views weekly.

Source of prideIt was while covering that

very dynamic fashion scene—that war zone—that we sawhow competition brought out

the best of the Filipino creativi-ty, which then gave our countrya source of pride.

It was with that perspectivethat INQUIRER Lifestyle’s Face-Offwas conceived.

Face-Off 2009 was held at theCultural Center of the Philip-pines (CCP), the first time afashion show was held at itslobby—a concept that wascopied a few times after that.

Face-Off 2009 pitted the de-signs of the country’s hottest de-signers—the triumvirate of Ra-jo Laurel, Rhett Eala (who cre-ated the graphic design of thePhilippine map, which wouldbecome the global icon for thePhilippines) and Randy Ortiz.The three remain the go-to de-signers of the who’s who inPhilippine society.

Face-Off 2009 at the CCP hada very interesting guest, the for-

mer first lady Imelda Marcos,she who built the CCP. It was thefirst time—at least the most pub-licized occasion—that Mrs. Mar-cos set foot at her old wateringhole. She sat through the fash-ion show, and won a Samsungphone in the raffle, which shedidn’t know what to do with.

A first in PHThis was followed by

Face-Off 2010, which featuredthe use of hologram onstage, afirst in the country and done toshowcase the technological fea-tures of Samsung. Featuring thecollections of Patrice Ramos,Joey Samson, Ivarluski Aseronand Auggie Cordero, Face-Off2010 marked the steady collab-oration of INQUIRER Lifestylewith corporate sponsors led bySamsung.

Face-Off 2011 brought the se-

ries to Cebu featuring the com-parative bridal collections ofdesigners from Manila and Ce-bu. This was followed byFace-Off 2012, which again fea-tured the bridal designs ofManila-based designers, butthis time with an exhibit of fa-mous bridal gowns, includingthose by Pitoy Moreno for Su-san Roces.

These shows and exhibitsproved the big audience forbridal designs. The 2012 collec-tions were brought to RadissonBlu Hotel Cebu in 2013, wherethe exhibit included the wed-ding gowns of famous Cebua-nas.

Toward the end of 2013,Face-Off featured the retrospec-tive gala show of Randy Ortiz tomark his 25th year in fashion. Amix of lifestyle and show bizcelebrities watched hismore-than-60-piece collection.

Fashion’s biggest fund-raiserWhen the “Yolanda” disaster

struck, INQUIRER Lifestyle andSM mounted a benefit fashionshow featuring the collectionsof almost a hundred designersbelonging to various designerassociations. Titled “FilipinoPara sa Filipino,” it was thebiggest fund-raiser of the fash-ion industry to help the calami-ty-stricken Visayas, the pro-ceeds of which went to TabangVisayas.

Last Nov. 30, Face-Off 2014was held, entitled “Masters andMillennials,” featuring the col-lections of 32 designers fromtwo generations tackling themaria clara design.

For the past few years,Face-Off has been in collabora-tion with Hana Shampoo andChampion Infinity of the Peer-less Group—proof that big busi-ness can support the Philippinecreative industry.

Also for the past few years,INQUIRER Lifestyle with LOOKMagazine and the British Coun-cil has been holding a nation-wide competition of young de-signers in the LOOK of StyleAwards. Its winners are sent bythe British Council to a shortcourse at the prestigious Cen-tral Saint Martins in London,and the London College of Con-temporary Arts. This is the onlycompetition in the country thatgives young Filipino designerssuch an opportunity.

By giving the Filipino fashiondesigners a platform on whichto showcase their artistry, IN-QUIRER Lifestyle takes lifestylejournalism a notch higher—it’sable to give back to the commu-nity.

THE BEST OF YESTERDAY TODAY Some of the fashion design “Masters” and one “Millennial” join the directorsof “Face-Off 2014” at the show’s finale on Nov. 30 at Solaire Resort and Casino’s grand ballroom. “Face-Off: Masters

and Millennials” was a presentation of INQUIRER Lifestyle with Hana Shampoo and Champion Infinity.PHOTOS BY JILSON SECKLER TIU AND PJ ENRIQUEZ

How lifestyle journalism shapesPhilippine fashion agenda


long been tormenting his parents. Ne-na borrows P500 from a loan shark,and mother and son make their wayfrom their home in Cavite to a hospitalin Manila. Jamjam is found to have tu-berculosis complicated with severepneumonia. He is in a bad way: Hisblood pressure is dropping, he cannotbreathe, the infection has spread in hisblood. Nena is in panic and despair.She has no money for lab work, respira-tor, medicines; she manages to reachJojo and waits for him to come withborrowed cash.

“A doctor approaches Jamjam and lis-tens to his chest and heart.

“CODE! Doctors and nurses instantlysurround Jamjam. A doctor pounds thechild’s chest with a fist.

“Another doctor tells Nena what is go-ing on. Her son’s heart has stopped beat-ing and they are trying to revive him. Ifhis heart does not start beating again af-ter 30 minutes, they will stop all effortsof resuscitation.

“Nena suddenly feels that theweight of the world is upon her. Shecries. She prays. Diyos ko! Ang anak ko!For the first time in her life she shoutsher prayers, hoping that from earthher screams will be heard by God inheaven.

“Thirty minutes pass. We’re sorry, thedoctors say.

“The nurses remove all the devices at-tached to Jamjam’s body. Nena embracesher child and shakes him, hoping he isjust sleeping. ...”

“Filipino horror story” was shared on-line 18,000 times.

The way they wereYoung Blood pieces are not only

shared but have also been compiled inperiodic collections; there’s anotherone coming up. The collections are allblockbusters, going into several printruns, indicating the wide audience thatthese young voices continue to reach.That audience consists of not only fami-ly, friends and peers but also Readers ofa certain age, who may feel provoked tobounce off their gained wisdomon these callow creatures, andfind—chuckle—poignant strains of theway they were.

that had first dibs at the merchandise.In “Different bowl of ‘goto,’” develop-

ment communication student CarloBonn Felix D. Hornilla remembers thedearly missed dish produced by his fa-ther in their beloved Batangas—“a richstew of beef fat, heart, blood, liver, in-testines and tripe, kept on a slow simmerover a low fire, flavored with chili, gin-ger, onions, fish sauce and roasted gar-lic”—and somehow finds a life lesson inthe shocking, sorry pretense served himin the city.

Can’t show tearsIn “‘Kilig’ and trembling,” medical stu-

dent Gelo Apostol recalls a fateful after-noon at the dissection lab: “I was care-fully rummaging inside the cadaver’spericardial sac to get a good feel of theheart, the aorta, pulmonary arteries,and vena cavae. Retracting the heart tofinally detach it from its major vesselsand the mediastinum, I reached for thescalpel. But then, another hand had al-ready picked it up and was now offeringit to me. I looked up. It was Lou.” Shesaves him, in effect. Ultimately sheleads him to a momentous conclusion:“[H]ow are we to heal with love whenwe have closed ourselves to this love?When we stand to lose all the ‘kilig’ thatlife offers?”

New physicians and nurses, as well asthose still aspiring to take the oath, burnthe wires to connect with Young Blood.By their words they are profoundlymoved by the profession, the calling,they have chosen. To a man and woman,they man up to the 24- or 48-hour duty,the literal life-and-death choices they arecompelled to make, and crumble beforethe children they could not save despitetheir efforts. But, trained to be deadpan,forced to be stoic, they cannot let thetears show.

‘Filipino horror story’Pediatrics resident Korina Ada D.

Tanyu’s “Filipino horror story” is aterse vignette about the couple Nenaand Jojo and their 5-year-old son Jam-jam, whose enduring cough, recurringfever and agonized breathing have

Young Blood: Always white-hot …

By the Sports Staff

FACED WITH THE STIFFchallenge of making the mostout of dwindling space, the IN-QUIRER Sports section shifted itsfocus to quick-read articles witha kind of brevity that doesn’tsacrifice details for the sportsjunkies among the paper’s read-ers.

The Sports section has cer-tainly felt the effect of the grow-ing problem facing journalism’sprint industry, but has refusedto view it as an obstacle.

Instead, the Sports sectiontook it as a challenge to try andmeet the demands of a reader-ship whose attention span hasgrown incredibly shorter andwhose options have grown ex-ponentially with the rise of digi-tal and social media.

For starters, the Sports sec-tion, composed of the country’sfinest sportswriters, has adopt-ed a tighter style of writing andsuch is palpable in the daily out-put of its writers. Stories aremore direct to the point, butstill manage to provoke conver-sation in social circles.

The depth of the section’s“bench” has also allowed it tobe more flexible in coverages.Thus, in a country obsessedwith basketball, the INQUIRER

Sports section has managed tofan out its reportage to othersports such as boxing, chess,volleyball, golf and football.

In fact, in most of these areasof coverage, the INQUIRER cansay it is the industry leaderwhen it comes to the extensive-ness of coverage.

INQUIRER Sports was in theforefront of such major cover-ages as the Fiba World Cup,where the Philippines won itsfirst game in the world stage indecades, the continuing jour-ney of the Philippine Azkals andhuge fights of Manny Pacquiaoand Nonito Donaire Jr.

Big feats, considering that

the INQUIRER has the fewestpages among the major broad-sheets.

Sports in social mediaThe passing year has also

marked a breakthrough for IN-QUIRER sportswriters when itcomes to facing the demands ofreportage via social media. Be-fore the year started, the INQUIR-ER’s sportswriters were hardlyvisible in digital space. But now,the Sports section has one of thebiggest followers in social me-dia.

More than a year ago, therewere only two or threesportswriters active on informa-tion-sharing platform Twitter.Now, that number has morethan doubled, boosting efforts ofthe main INQUIRER Sports ac-count to acquire a strong and en-

gaging social media presence.The Sports section has also

produced different multimediacontent. Apart from the tradi-tional text and photos, it hascome up with valuable and eye-catching infographics from timeto time. The Sports staff has al-so moonlighted on radio andvideo, throwing in spot reportsand shooting quick videos dur-ing major coverages.

But for all the focus on bite-size articles in print and quick-sharing information on digital,the INQUIRER Sports section hasfound ways to flaunt its greateststrength: Writing. The Sportssection has contributed heavilyto the paper’s supplement ef-forts, coming up with qualityspecials that are not only infor-mative and reader-friendly, butalso income-generating.

From collegiate specials toPBA specials to Pacquiao spe-cials, the INQUIRER Sports sec-tion has helped the Supple-ments section veer away fromadvertorial-type articles to pull-outs that readers enjoy.

The effort extended to boostthe paper’s Supplements sec-tion and did not stop with writ-ing and editing articles. Thesection lends manpower-hoursto do layouts so that the specialshave the look and feel of regularSports pages, thus enhancingtheir credibility.

With each supplement, thequality of writing that theSports section is capable of pro-ducing comes to fore.

The Sports section has also ac-tively spread its wings to othersections of the paper, contribut-ing every now and then to Page

the big move that the Sportssection plans to make in 2015,when the staff will strike thatbalance between holding on tothe strength of its legacy and ex-ploring groundbreaking pathsin terms of coverage, reportingand developing different formsof content for the INQUIRER’s dif-ferent platforms.

Sports keeps it short but snappy

One, Sunday INQUIRER Magazineand the Opinion page by way ofsports-themed editorials.

So while the dwindling spacehas become a limited platform forthe staff to flex its writing mus-cles, the INQUIRER’s sportswritershave found other avenues fortheir creativity.

All this is in preparation for

INQUIRER Sports was in the forefront of major coverages including the campaign of Gilas Pilipinas in the Fiba World Cup and the fights of Manny Pacquiao. REUTERS/AFP

From page 1


Training, Learning, HealingBy Minerva GeneralaoChief, Inquirer Research

TRAUMATIC LIKE NO OTHER COVERAGE.Journalists are the first responders in

disaster cases. But the trauma of cover-ing “Yolanda,” which now ranks as theworst natural disaster to hit the countryand one of the strongest typhoons to hitland on record globally, made INQUIRER

reporters, correspondents and photogra-phers become victims and survivorsthemselves.

INQUIRER reporter DJ Yap’s tweet on thefateful Friday morning when Supertyphoon“Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) hitTacloban City—“Sounds of glass shatter-ing; hotel guests in lobby, restless,alarmed.”

Later, entertaining morbid thoughts, hedeleted everything in his laptop, “every-thing I didn’t want people to find thereshould I be killed.”

In his vivid, impassioned, heartrendingand tragic account of his five-day experi-ence in covering Yolanda, he said it was like“meeting a monster.”

When Yolanda was roaring, INQUIRER

photographer Niño Orbeta said “JesusChrist. Worse than Reming.” INQUIRER re-porter Nikko Dizon, on the other hand, hadnightmares and for days slept in her par-ents’ room after her coverage of Yolanda-devastated Tacloban.

Tacloban-based correspondent Joey Ga-bieta was crying when he interviewed ayoung victim.

INQUIRER Training Center (ITC) head JunBandayrel said, “No other typhoon has seri-ously affected INQUIRER field reporting andnewsroom operations since the newspapercame into existence.”

Survivor workshopsHe added: “The coverage did not just

mean the usual prepositioning of reportersand photographers along Yolanda’s pro-jected path to capture that witness’ ac-count as an indispensable front-page ma-terial. It also entailed their prolongedpresence in the midst of uncertain re-sources due to widespread destruction andimpact the disaster left to people, propertyand communities—and journalists them-selves.”

This made psychosocial debriefing ses-sions urgent and necessary.

ITC conducted two debriefing and disas-ter survivors workshops on March 27 to 28at Sarroza Hotel in Cebu City and onApril 26 at Brahma Kumaris Center inMakati City. The workshops were attendedby 29 INQUIRER Group journalists who cov-ered Yolanda—15 reporters, nine corre-spondents, six photographers, one videog-

DISASTER coverage debriefing session in Makati City. INQUIRER reporter DJ Yap (extreme left) and participants get tips from psychosocial workshop facilitator Romeo “Toto” de la Cruz (right).

COPYEDITING training-workshop in Cebu City. INQUIRER bureau chiefs and their staff and Cebu Daily News editors listen to the copyediting guidelines and tips givenby INQUIRER Opinion editor Chato Garcellano (third from left) so keenly one would hear a pin drop.

The ITC seminars are learner-centeredand are designed on the belief that thelearners are often the best source of learn-ing. The debriefing and survivors trainingsessions for the staff who covered Yolandacould be said to be more learner-centeredthan usual. The activities from start to fin-ish called for exchange of feelings, in-sights and experiences among the partici-pants.

The resource persons for the sessionswere psychiatrist and trauma specialistJune Pagaduan Lopez and Romeo “Toto” dela Cruz. Lopez said the sessions were tohelp the participants deal with the dehu-manizing effect of the coverage, where inorder to do the job, a journalist was calledto detach himself/herself from what he/shefelt.

Participants got to learn what “trauma” isand its symptoms, and they got tips on howto take care of themselves.

Intimate sharing of experiencesIn the “Bilog ng Buhay” workshops, the

participants were divided into smallgroups where members had intimate shar-ing of experiences. Among the guide ques-tions are: How did the experience affectyour thoughts, feelings and behavior andyour relationships at home and at work?What did the experience mean to you?How did it affect your life in general?What gave you strength to survive and re-cover? What is making it difficult to recov-er?

The sessions were also geared for partici-pants, as well as the institution, to moveforward. The next small group discussionthe participants had were on needs, policyand institutional gaps. At the end of the ses-sions, the participants presented their poli-cy recommendations for the moral, spiritu-al and ethical well-being of INQUIRER jour-nalists covering disaster and disaster-stricken areas before assignment or the dis-aster, during the assignment and after theassignment.

The next important task of ITC is to dis-seminate the guidelines based on theshared experiences of the participants ondisaster coverage: before, during and after.This is because, as in the beginning, thewelfare and well-being of INQUIRER journal-ists is a top concern.

When asked on his thoughts and learn-ings from the sessions, Yap said: “Thebiggest takeaway was that the feelings theothers experienced were pretty much thesame things I had, especially the helpless-ness over not able to transmit stories andthe dilemma of whether to cross the line be-tween self-preservation and professionalethics.”

He added that it was comforting that hissentiments were common with the otherswho covered Yolanda.

“The sessions helped not so much be-cause I learned anything particularly pro-found but in the sense that sharing was agood way for me to voice out thoughts Inormally wouldn’t say about the experi-ence.”

rapher, four editors and one editorial assis-tant. Bandayrel said the workshops weredifferent from the other training sessionsdone by ITC.

ITC was established in 2012 when it or-ganized two preparatory courses, “Train-ing Journalists to Train Themselves,” totrain prospective trainers among the IN-QUIRER’s 200-plus editorial complement

PROFILE-WRITING workshop at INQUIRER Makati. INQUIRER researcher Rafael Antonio shows off his certificate ofcompletion. Flanking him are (from left) Ruel de Vera, Jun Bandayrel, Pennie Azarcon-Dela Cruz and Thillie Panlilio.

with the help of consultants from the Uni-versity of the Philippines.

Last year, ITC’s new training team con-ducted seven seminars, including fouroutside Metro Manila. These four semi-nars dwelt on the basics of reporting.The rest were all multipart seminars onphotography (two sessions), on slide-show applications (two) and on gram-mar (three). There were also brief ses-sions on the use of social media. All to-gether, 127 participants attended, in-cluding several from INQUIRER.net and IN-QUIRER Radio.

Learner-centeredThis year, ITC also conducted a seminar on

grammar on May 13 to 15 and profile-writ-ing on June 6 at the INQUIRER Makati office. Italso conducted copyediting training work-shop in Cebu on June 19 to 21 for the heads,editors, subeditors and senior reporters ofthe four bureaus with Chato Garcellano andEster Dipasupil as resource persons.

COPYEDITINGtraining-

workshop inCebu City.

Anotherhappy “class

picture”

DEBRIEFING in CebuCity. INQUIRER Taclobancorrespondent JoeyGabieta (center) andCebu Daily News’(CDN) Doris Bongcaclisten to the sharingof CDN’s Jose SantinoBuenchita.

NES

TOR

BURG

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E l eva t o rtakes over

going upand down

the spiral stairway

By Cake Evangelista

IT WAS AN EARLY CHRISTMAStreat that even a technophobewould love and appreciate.

Last month, the employees ofthe INQUIRER were amazed todiscover one of mankind’s mostimportant and trailblazing in-ventions at the newspaper’smain office on Chino RocesAvenue in Makati City.

No, it’s wasn’t a hoverboardlike Marty McFly’s (though wewould love to have one), nor

was it Google Glass (but wewould like to try that out, too).

It was better—or should wesay timely? Long overdue? Be-cause almost three decades afterthe Philippines’ No. 1 broadsheetwas founded, the INQUIRER finallyinstalled in its office—drum roll,please—an elevator!

(A little anticlimactic, youwould think, but it’s a ground-breaking addition—literally andfiguratively—to the newspaper’sheadquarters.)

You see, we only had our spi-ral staircase before—a stair-case that is pretty historic, ifwe say so ourselves. Anyonewho’s anyone, illustrious or in-famous, has climbed thosewinding steps, from the pastand present presidents of thePhilippines to the brighteststars of Tinseltown to themovers and shakers of thecountry, nay, the world!

Those stairs bore witness tothe beginnings of stories thatsparked momentous events inPhilippine history.

Now, you couldn’t begrudgeus for wondering why the ele-vator was constructed. Why anelevator? Why now? (Thoughthis is not to say that we aren’tgrateful, because we definite-ly are. Thank you, INQUIRER

bosses!)To understand better (or not)

how it came to be, here are ourtop five theories (feasible andotherwise) why the INQUIRER

elevator came into existence:• Because a teleportation

pad has yet to be invented:

Imagine zipping through abuilding in a flash of light, yourbody dematerializing from onefloor only to appear on another.That would be so cool. Too bada teleportation device isn’t ex-isting yet—or is it?

• As a makeshift selfiebooth: Even INQUIRER employ-ees couldn’t let a perfect selfiemoment pass them by. Justhours after the elevator was de-clared operational, the youngermembers of the editorial staffhad selfies taken while inside it.They even got INQUIRER.net edi-tor in chief John Nery to join thefun.

• For future movie offers:Rumor has it that a movie wassupposed to be filmed in theINQUIRER main office a fewyears ago, but because there

was no elevator back then,which was necessary for logis-tics issues and moving heavyequipment, it didn’t pushthrough. And it was reallyquite unfortunate because thefilm’s leading man, we heard,was super cute!

• For convenience’s sake:This is the most realistic, but,meh, how boring.

• To serve as an entranceto a parallel dimension:Maybe it’s a gateway to Narnia?But an elevator instead of awardrobe? Or to Hogwarts? Noneed to ride the Hogwarts Ex-press! (Now this is more like it.)

And since we’re talking abouttech upgrades and additions,what groundbreaking technolo-gy should we get next? (We votefor the teleportation pad!)

UP, UP AND AWAY! MarianneFaith Reyes of the marketingsection tries out the INQUIRERelevator for size.


From A to Z (Art to Zumba),PDI employees have more fun

HOMEGROWN MINSTRELS The InqChoirer enchants with another winning performance.

By Volt ContrerasMetro EditorBallroom dancing dropout

WITH THE GROWING NUMBER OFhobby clubs and sports activities in the IN-QUIRER for the past 29 years, the followingscenarios are highly probable—if not al-ready based on real events.

• Artist Stephanie Bravo loses a fewpounds thanks to her Zumba class, butgains them again after a hearty lunch at aChinatown restaurant during one of thefield trips of the Pen & Inq Club.

•Business reporter Doris Dumlao scoresa big scoop for the paper, then picks up herbadminton racket the next day for the com-pany’s MRP Cup tournament, where shedelivers a killer smash. Good thing lifestylewriter Vangie Baga-Reyes is there to repulseand return it as a drop shot.

• A senior desk editor, still cranky fromthe deadline crunch, attends choir practiceto soothe his nerves. A fellow editor joins inthe singing and both achieve that elusiveharmony.

• Utility man Renil Bacalangco makes acrossover move against vice president foradvertising Kenny Nuyda on the basketballcourt. Production specialist Darwin Ro-manillos provides help-defense.

• Entertainment section editorial assis-tant Jodee Agoncillo leads the Awtdor Klubin donating secondhand personal comput-ers to remote villagers in Kalinga province.Network communications chief Noli Navar-ro, who also happens to head the Photogra-phy Club, takes pictures of her upland trek.

• This writer takes ballroom dancinglessons—but gives up after a few sessions.His dance partner, along with the rest of theparticipants, is secretly relieved. (This real-ly happened.)

Weekend warriorsWith a current personnel of around 450,

the leading media company known for itsaward-winning journalism is also a bee-hive of weekend warriors, dabbling dilet-tantes or after-work adventurers. Thanks

to a supportive management (read: bud-get), INQUIRER employees have found adeep sense of kinship through variousclubs and activities where interests inter-sect, talents are discovered and friend-ships are kindled beyond the cubicles anddaily shifts.

It helps to have a conducive environ-ment. As Winston Churchill said: “First weshape our dwellings, then our dwellingsshape us.” Starting out as mere barkadagimmicks, most of the clubs and sports festsstarted to form and gain traction after theINQUIRER moved in 1995 to Chino Roces Av-enue in Makati City, where its four-story of-fice building provides a multipurpose hallnot only for official corporate events but al-so for “extracurricular activities.”

No sore losersDance lessons, for example, were con-

ducted there in the mid-1990s; later itrolled the mats out for yoga and Pilates.Now it’s Zumba territory at least once aweek, where instructor John Jay Cuaykeeps the calorie-busting beat for 10 to 20regular attendees.

Meanwhile, the company’s seasonaltournaments—basketball, badminton,bowling—and other fitness activities, likefun runs and cycling, have never failed toproduce high-scoring heroes, surprise fin-ishers and courtside jesters, but never sorelosers.

For more leisurely pursuits, there is thetouring Photography Club (a clique tutoredby the paper’s top photojournalists), whichhas done scenic spots and colorful festivalsin various provinces; the Arts & Crafts Club,whose crowning achievements include theproduction of dainty scrapbooks and per-sonalized flip-flops; and the more recentlyformed Pen & Inq Club, which started outwith simple sketching sessions at the em-ployees’ lounge but now goes on museum(and lunch-out) tours in Metro Manila andnearby cities.

Outreach projectsThere’s one club that since 2011 has

been turning mountaineering trips intooutreach projects. Agoncillo’s Awtdor Klubhas journeyed to poor communities inKalinga, Aurora, Zambales and Cagayanprovinces to donate used PCs from the IN-QUIRER office. They also delivered usedclothes, toys and relief for victims of the2013 Bohol earthquake.

“I just noticed that many of our employ-ees have plenty of time to spare and are en-couraged to join activities for their person-al enrichment outside work,” Agoncillosaid, summing up what drives the INQUIRER

family to channel passions in many direc-tions.

Of late, however, rumor has it that there’sanother coterie of enthusiasts just waitingin the wings and eager to recruit anyonewho still has enough energy left after all theabove-mentioned activities. They callthemselves the Nightclub.

But then, they’re probably from anothercompany.

COMPUTER programmer Kenneth Molina carries one of thecomputer monitors donated by the INQUIRER to Luplupa ElementarySchool students in Kalinga province. RADING DE JESUS

AWTDOR Klub members Jodee Agoncillo and Kenneth Molina orientteachers and students on the use of computers. RADING DE JESUS

FOR ART’S SAKE Pen & Inq members view works at Pinto Gallery in Antipolo City (above).The club, whose core includes staff members of the paper’s art section but is open to allemployees, started out by having sketching sessions at the office (below).

INSIDE GAMERS The INQUIRER’s reigningmen are no softies on the hardcourt PHOTO(GENIC) FINISH A PDI fun run is double the fun with family members in tow.

SATURDAY SHUTTLERS Lifestyle writer Vangie Baga-Reyes gets ahigh five after a doubles victory.

BOWLED OVERCopy monitorRolly Abad aimsfor a strike.

ZUMBAAAAH Fitness buffsand beginners sweat it outto the tempo of instructorJohn Jay Cuay (center).


The go-to guys in the newsroom

By Sara Isabelle Pacia

RSARMIENTO. Rabad. Ellantada. Amortel.They’re words that, at first, make no

sense. But ask anyone from the INQUIRER’seditorial department and they can tell youexactly what—or should I say who—thesefour are.

The codenames belong to the INQUIRER’scopy monitors, who—as the position’sname suggests—keep track of all thecopies—or the sheets of paper stories areprinted on—reported by or sent to the IN-QUIRER, making sure the editors are up todate on the developments of the day’sevents.

The current roster of “copy boys,” as thefour are often called despite their age(three are already past 50), predates thenew millennium.

Roy Sarmiento (rsarmiento) was hiredas copy monitor in 1990, after his three-year stint as a security guard for the IN-QUIRER. Rolly Abad (rabad) followed in1991 upon the recommendation of TinoCastalla, the all-time favorite driver of theINQUIRER’s editor in chief; then EdwardLlantada (ellantada), an INQUIRER pioneerwho started out in the circulation depart-ment, in 1995; and finally Allan Mortel(amortel) in 1999, after a janitorial stintunder an agency.

Almost every copy under News ismarked with their code names. They arepresent when the first story is input intothe system until the newspaper is put tobed in the wee hours of the morning.

They are the go-betweens to the in-be-tweens in running the country’s most cir-culated national paper.

The position is almost as old as the IN-QUIRER itself; three of the boys have ex-ceeded the 20-year milestone in the com-pany. But Sarmiento, Abad, Llantada andMortel can still remember all too well thecompany’s earlier days.

Days of fax, rolled filmsBefore computer screens replaced dark

rooms and trucks that delivered rolledfilms with the day’s mockups, fax ma-chines—one machine per wire agen-cy—littered the newsroom, each churningout stories up to three rolls long. It was acopy monitor’s duty to segregate thecopies into folders labeled by section—lo-cal and international news, business,sports, lifestyle and motoring, among oth-ers.

“When we would arrive in the morning,the fax machines would be full,” Llantadasaid, recalling that every morning, thefloor could barely be seen under all thatpaper. Arranging the stories made it easierfor editors to pick the stories for their re-spective sections.

Even a second of distraction could derailthe whole operation, Llantada added. If amachine were not constantly fed paper ontheir watch, the stories it could have print-ed would be lost forever.

A copy monitor also had to take over forthe copy takers, who answered phones andmanually jot down stories dictated by re-porters over the telephone, when theywere swamped. A copy monitor also usedto take calls from the INQUIRER’s bureausoutside Metro Manila before a Nation deskwas set up.

Choosing photos, too, involved more man-ual labor. Mortel, then a working student,said he would go to the main offices of wireagencies around the Metro to pick up theirphotos every day after his class ended at 3p.m. Even if his shift started at 3 p.m., he said,his “lates” would be excused because hewould go straight to the office after school.

The specifics of the job changed drasti-cally only when Tera—the INQUIRER’s cur-rent system used to produce the sto-ries—was implemented in 2002.

E-mail replaced the rolls upon rolls ofpaper. INQUIRER reporters now submit theircopies via e-mail, which are then input in-to Tera by editorial assistants and edited,laid out and proofread on the computer byeditors, artists and production assistants.

The system is more streamlined, “moreorganized,” Llantada said. “Now, it’s morehigh-tech.”

Still, Abad said, the essence of a copymonitor’s duties has not changed overtime. “Only the tearing of papers off thefax machine had lessened,” he said.

“We don’t tear off as much paper as be-fore but we’re still as busy because the IN-QUIRER is getting bigger. We’re servingmore people in different [departments],”he added.

That service to the people in the editori-al department, specifically—INQUIRER’semployees have ballooned to hundreds inits 29 years—goes beyond what the official

title suggests. In reality, the copy monitors’work is more arbitrary than constant.

To be a copy monitor is to be a jack-of-all-trades in the newsroom. The work goesbeyond monitoring their three computersthat flash the latest stories and the twoprinters that are never turned off.

They are the self-dubbed utusan(gofers) in the editorial department whocater to whoever may need them and dowhatever tasks need to be done.

What, then, does that entail?Ask Sarmiento, and he’d say work is also

printing the summaries of wire stories for theeditor of The World. Ask Abad, too, and he’dsay work is also pinning the latest front pagesof various national dailies—the INQUIRER’sand its competitors’—on a bulletin board tosee who out-scooped the other and who hadthe best layout. And if you ask Llantada andMortel, they’d both say work is also standingbehind editors on duty, always ready to getthis story, process that photo, buy this meal,check what’s done and what else is needed.

‘We’re always there’“The editors are always looking for

someone to assist them when they needsomething,” said Llantada. Today, the fourfocus on the News sections of the paper,ferrying stories for the front page, the in-side pages and The World from the com-puter to the editors who close the sectionsand to the editorial production assistantswho proofread the final copies.

“We [copy monitors] and editors [andother employees] already know each otherwell, we’re familiar with their personali-ties. That’s why we know what they want,what they like,” he added, “and we’re al-ways there.”

Or so it should be.On Dec. 9, Abad retires after 23 years of

service, returning to Southern Leyteprovince to be with his wife and children.Sarmiento said he was also contemplatingleaving the company once his youngestgraduates with a degree in architecture.Only Mortel may be left behind next yearonce Llantada exceeds 30 years in 2016,the mandatory retirement for years of ser-vice in the INQUIRER.

But whatever the future holds for thefour, these copy boys will always be boundby their common beginnings in the compa-ny—thanks to various “backers” who pro-vided the opportunity and helped themland their jobs, said Sarmiento—a sharedcommitment to provide their children agood education and an appreciation of theINQUIRER’s mission and role in society.

“[We’re] part of the team that assembles thenewspaper. Every day, I think, ‘We (copy moni-tors) are a part of that,’” Abad said, citing eventhe rallies he joined to protest the ad boycottby the Estrada administration in 1999.

“If I weren’t enjoying my work, Iwouldn’t have lasted for 25 years,” saidSarmiento.

But pending their retirement after theirchildren finish college, these copy boyswill keep doing what they’ve been doing

BAND OF BOYS: Rolly Abad (top left), RoySarmiento (above), Edward Llantada (far left)and Allan Mortel

for the past 20 odd years. Current techno-logical advancements don’t bother them,either, because even if computers havestreamlined the process, machines can’t doeverything.

Like making that perfect cup of coffeefor the editors, Sarmiento offered in jest.“It’s perhaps the only [job] left that isn’thigh-tech.”

‘Computers can’t makethat perfect cup of

coffee for the editors’


20 YEARS: Sandy Prieto-Romualdez and Marixi RufinoPrieto

Let’s hear it for the Service Awardees

5 YEARS: (Seated, from left) Adrianne Mei Esguerra, Jefone Abong-Francisco, Ma. KatrinaGutierrez, Almi Ilagan-Atienza, Annelle Tayao-Juego; (standing, from left) Niño Jesus Orbeta,Danilo Ramos, David Michael Pallarca, Lamberto Acuña Jr. and Lee M. Elgincolin. Not in thephoto are fellow awardees: Kristine Felisse Mangunay, Paolo Montecillo, JV Rufino, JulietaAlipala Inot, Mary Grace Zabala Oberes, Nestor P. Burgos Jr. and Vincent Charlemagne T.Cabreza

25 YEARS : Ramil Rodriguez, Vangie Baga-Reyes, Aileen Garcia, Juliet Labog-Javellana and Larry Mariano. Not in the photo are fellow awardees: AgnesJavier and Christine Avendaño.

15 YEARS : Chito San Mateo, Mary GracePagulayan, Armin Adina, Maricris Irene Tamolang,Arnel Rillera, Iris Desvarro and Sonny Cruz. Not inthe photo are fellow awardees: Allan Mortel, MariaCristina Tulipat, Lito Zulueta, Chelo Banal-Formosoand Analyn Cruz.

PHOTOS BY RICHARD REYES, JILSON TIU AND ANDREW TADALAN

10 YEARS: Mervin Gene Lota, Rolando Suarez, JongArcano, Noemi Melican, Ruben Alabastro, Monette deLeon and Francis T.J. Ochoa. Not in the photo are fellowawardees: Fe Zamora, Musong Castillo, DJ Yap, Edna Garciaand Ciriaco Cinco Jr.

20 YEARS: Ruel S. de Vera, Cathy Yamsuan, Eugenio Araneta Jr., Marilou Arboleda, MagellaPinili, Elizabeth Andres, Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, Marixi Rufino Prieto, Nilda Añosa, JocelynTabuso, Josie Buño, Matias Dennis Eroa, Oscar Delgado and Gary G. Libby. Not in the photoare fellow awardees: Edralyn Benedicto, Gil Cabacungan, Donnabelle Porcalla, Arnel Santosand Rodolfo A. Isaac


THE ACTORS

ADDITIONS TO OURlist of honoreescontinue to come in

as we go to press. Nothingnew: It happened whenwe launched INQUIRER In-die Bravo! tribute to for-eign festival winners five

years ago and every yearsince, the only differencebeing, the number of hon-orees grew each time.

The cut-off period would in-variably be moved—once,twice, oh-please-just-one-more-time-there’s-another-festival-winding-up-tomorrow. We were

always rewarded for the wait,and still ...

This time around, the train lefttoo early for three victors: FrancisXavier Pasion’s “Bwaya” just wonbest film at Tokyo Filmex, and Gi-ancarlo Abrahan’s “SomewhereSouth of Reality,” was declaredbest project at Talents Tokyo; 10-

year-old Miggs Cuaderno wonbest actor in Chéries-Chéris FilmFestival, Paris.

No doubt, between produc-tion deadlines and our annualIndie Bravo! filmmakers’ partyon Thursday, a few more Pinoyindie triumphs will be an-nounced. Their INQUIRER tro-

phies and Guyito dolls will haveto wait till next time. Such asweet predicament!

Three years ago, on accountof the heavy breaking news traf-fic in the local indie community,INQUIRER Entertainment intro-duced a dedicated Indie Bravo!box. It has been the most consis-

tently busy corner in the sec-tion.

In these celebratory pages, asusual, we hear from the top ofthe heap these past 12months— their joys, hopes and(something new in their orbit)game plans. Cheers! Emmie G.Velarde

Indie Bravo! 2014: Joys, hopes, game plans

INDIE movieworkers nurturea film like a baby,says Santos.

A vote for simple, moving moviesVILMA SANTOS, ‘Ekstra’

ONLY THE MOST LOYALof fans may know theexact number of tro-

phies that Vilma Santos haswon in her stellar five-decadecareer, an extensive collectionthat now includes at least threeinternational trophies.

In 1999, she won best actress atthe Brussels Interrnational Festivalof Independent Film for ChitoRoño’s “Bata, Bata Paano Ka Gi-nawa?” In 2003, she won best ac-tress at the Cinemanila Internation-al Film Festival for Roño’s “Dekada’70.”

This year, she added another in-ternational trophy to the trove, forJeffrey Jeturian’s “Ekstra,” from theDhaka (Bangladesh) film fest.

She recalls that she got the callabout the Dhaka win at two in themorning. “It felt good tohear thenews.It’s a bonus for all the hard work.”

Santos is proud of this latest hon-or, especially because it cites herfirst indie film. “I am happy that Igot to experience the indie way ofmaking movies. I met new people,the new breed of directors. It was agood experience.”

She has realized that indiemovie workers regard each otherlike family. “They are united byone goal. They treat a movie liketheir baby. They give their all be-cause they want to make a filmthat tackles socially relevant is-sues. They are not afraid to trysomething different.”

Santos, who has been actingsince age 9, has seen the movie in-dustry through good times and bad.“I am still optimistic,” she says.“Slowly, but surely we are gettingthere. Filipinos are winning awardsleft and right. That’s a good start.”

She remembers her directors inthe 1970s, Lino Brocka and IshmaelBernal, who paved the way for the

present generation of internation-ally acclaimed filmmakers. “Theystarted it all. How I miss the kind ofmovies that Lino, Ishmael and Cel-so [Ad. Castillo] used to make,” shesays.

Whenever she is free from herduties as Batangas governor, shewatches indie films, local and for-eign. “I saw a Chinese-languagefilm about a girl who had to bor-row her brother’s shoes in order togo to school (“Homerun”). I hopewe can make more films like that… films that tell simple but mov-ing stories.”

Her passion for the movies re-mains just as strong even thoughshe is now a public servant. “I ad-mire our veteran actors ... EddieGarcia and Gloria Romero ... I hopeto remain as active as they are whenI reach their age.”

She is forever a child of the silverscreen. “I love the movies. It’s mylife.” Bayani San Diego Jr.


‘Fulfillment that money can’t buy’

‘Risks must be taken fearlessly’CAST OF ‘TNT’

Achieve progress with unitySID LUCERO, EMILIO GARCIA, ‘Selda’

ALLEN DIZON, ‘Magkakabaung (The Coffin Maker)’

contribution to the movie, Dizon says:“Winning two consecutive internationalawards is priceless … a confirmation that Idid as well as I should. That’s fulfillmentthat money can’t buy.”

Dizon is mindful of the growth in the in-die film scene in the last few years. “It needsto be sustained,” he stresses. “We need towin over more Filipino viewers. Let’s faceit—that’s a bit of a struggle.”

Meanwhile, he says, it is significant thatlocal indie movies are getting the acclaimthey deserve. He definitely sees “a brightfuture ahead” for independent films, andvows to keep appearing in them, the better“to showcase my love for acting.” Oliver M.Pulumbarit

A LLEN DIZON, PREVIOUSLYknown as a sexy actor, tookthe indie route and proved

he’s got some serious acting chops,and he was recognized twice in twomonths.

In September, he won best actor for“Magkakabaung (The Coffin Maker)” inthe 9th Harlem International Film Festi-val in New York. In November, he won thesame honor for the same role at the 3rdHanoi International Film Festival, beatingthe illustrious English actor Ralph Fi-ennes, who had been nominated for theRussian film “Two Women.”

The awards are precious reminders of his

DIZON acknowledgesthat indies need to winmore Filipino viewers.

PERRY Escaño(left) and RamonPrado Mappalain “TNT”

EMILIO Garcia(left) and SidLucero in “Selda”

DIÑO saysacting feedsher soul.

Time to open mindsLIZA DIÑO, ‘In Nomine Matris’

NO MORE LABELS.No more hashtags.Let’s not pull each oth-

er down,” says actor SidLucero, replying to INQUIRER’Squestion: How can the localfilm industry’s current condi-tion be improved? He is refer-ring to the “polarizing” main-stream and indie tags.

“To be able to say that we’re doingwell, we have to do so much first. Weshould be united. We need to supportand respect each other,” Lucero says.“Achieving progress will be a lotfaster.”

For his victory at the 49th Thessa-loniki International Film Festival inGreece (best actor for “Selda”),Lucero is one of this year’s honorees.He shared the award with costarEmilio Garcia in the 2008 drama di-rected by Ellen Ramos and Paolo Vil-laluna.

“Selda” director Villaluna recallsthe time when they ran out of moneyfor food while the movie competed atthe Montreal World Film Festival.

“My mom, who is a nurse in the Unit-ed States, had to go all the way toCanada just to buy us dinner,” Villalu-na says. “She is Emilio’s fan, and will-ingly did it just [for a photo] withhim.”

Villaluna also confirms what Garciasaid in his 2008 Gawad Urian speechabout sharing an eggplant meal duringthat Montreal trip. Lucero and Garciawon the Urian best actor and best sup-porting actor honors, respectively. “Hejust arrived from the airport and saidhe was hungry. Montreal is one ofCanada’s most expensive cities. Wedidn’t want to use all of the allowancegiven to us by the festival organizer. Wewanted to bring the dollars back toManila so we bought that meal at a ke-bab store,” Villaluna says.

“I don’t really care about awards,”says Lucero, “Although, as a Filipino, Iknow that they’re a big thing. It’s sadthat an indie movie remains unno-ticed locally until it gets internationalrecognition.”

(He is also in Lav Diaz’s “Norte,Hangganan ng Kasaysayan.”)

He says the global acclaim that Fil-ipino movies received this year is “an-

other big step up.” He explains:“We’re being talked about all over theworld. This helps the country in a lotof ways. We are earning the respect ofmore people in the international filmcommunity.”

The actor insists, though, that thepresent situation is also very frustrat-ing. “I’m proud of what we’ve accom-plished, but we’re moving too slow.

We’ve been part of the global indiescene for quite a while now. What’shappening is, although the indie sec-tor gets support from the Film Devel-opment Council of the Philippines(FDCP), we still lack funding.”

It is important for Filipinos, he says,to keep telling their stories, but also forlocal viewers to patronize their own.“We’re on the right track—more film

festivals are organized locally now,meaning, more showcases for ourfilms.”

He’d like to make “more sensible”films, Lucero says: “Making movies iswhat I love more than anything, whatI know and what I want to keep do-ing. It’s what gives me sense as a hu-man being.”

Marinel R. Cruz

L IZA DIÑO BELIEVESthe goal of every Fil-ipino filmmaker should

be “to bridge the gap betweenmainstream and independentmovies.”

Says Diño, who bagged the bestactress award at the 2014 Interna-tional Film Festival Manhattan forher work in the independently pro-duced film “In Nomine Matris” byWill Fredo: “It is such a sad realitythat, no matter how well our indiefilms perform abroad, no one watch-es them here in Manila. We have thismentality that indie films are toocerebral and not for the so-calledmasses.”

She wonders, “How can we make

them spend P200 to watch theseaward-wining movies in cinemas justas they willingly do it for mainstreamproductions? How can we market in-die films [for] local audiences, to givethem a chance?

She says of the medium, “To wit-ness how people are moved, howthey empathize with the characters,reinforces the reason that I do what Ido, why I love this art.”

Diño notes that the film industryhas grown exponentially becausemany “avenues” have opened for in-die filmmakers to showcase theirworks. “It’s our gain as well, becausemore people are taking chances totell their stories,” she observes. “I be-lieve that cinema is a reflection ofone’s culture and identity, and how

rich the country is with those beauti-ful narratives just waiting to be told.”

She is grateful, of course, for hav-ing won her second best actressaward for “In Nomine Matris.” Thefirst one was from the 2012 MetroManila Film Festival, where the filmcompeted in the New Wave category.“I am fortunate to have found thepeople of Hubo Productions, who be-lieve in me as an actor.” In 2011, shewon best actress for Fredo’s “Com-pound” in the same Manhattan fest.

For Diño, “acting feeds the soul.”And winning an award, she says,“makes me feel that I’m doing some-thing right ... I wouldn’t be where Iam now if I didn’t take risks and con-stantly kept an open mind.”

Marinel R. Cruz

IN ACTOR-DIRECTOR PERRYEscaño’s view, theater own-ers and operators should

show more sympathy for filmproducers by not pulling outfilms that perform poorly ontheir first day of exhibition.

“While we understand that theyneed to earn, we hope they would ex-press a little concern by giving thesemovies at least a weeklong run,” saysEscaño. “Producers, meanwhile,should not be afraid to take risks onwhat they think are worthwhile pro-jects. The industry needs more com-pelling local content.”

Escaño’s most recent project, RobertoReyes Ang’s short film “TNT (Always onthe Run),” tells the story of a Filipino ex-patriate living illegally in New York City.“The subject of illegal immigrants in theUnited States remains highly debated.Hopefully, this will make overseas Fil-ipino workers become more aware ofwhat to do and what to avoid whenworking abroad.”

The film won for Escaño, RamonPrado Mappala, Ged Merino, Do-minique Liwanag and Anneberyl

Corotan Naguit the award for best en-semble acting at the 2014 Interna-tional Film Festival Manhattan NYC.

“I’m happy that the group got thisaward. All the actors I worked with onthis film are New-York based. What’sinteresting is that they are not profes-sional actors. Ged is a painter, Ramonis a film producer (“Batang WestSide,” 2001), and Dominique worksin a restaurant,” Escaño tells the IN-QUIRER. “Yet they were very focusedand serious. They would all sit downand analyze each other’s characters. Iguess that’s why this project turnedout very well.”

Escaño said they worked on the filmfor three straight days in severalplaces in Queens and Manhattan, insubway stations and in Times Square.“It was only after the shoot that I gotto learn about my costars’ personallives. One of them hosted a gatheringin his apartment,” he said. “I felt un-comfortable in the beginning. I feltpressured because I was the only pro-fessional actor on the set. I know that Ishouldn’t commit any mistakes, thatthey expected a lot from me.”

Escaño says winning has opened

doors to new opportunities for thegroup. “TNT” will be screened at theFilipino Art and Cinema (Facine) FilmFestival in San Francisco, California,this month. It is also the only Filipinofilm included in the official selectionof the 13th Third Eye Asian Film Festi-val in Mumbai, India, in January2015.

“An international recognitionmeans that the global communitynow trusts Filipino products; that ifit’s Filipino, it’s a good film,” he says.Escaño directed the short film “Alibi,”declared first-runner up in the MostPopular Film Competition of the 2012IFF Manhattan.

Philippine cinema, in terms of out-put, has improved immensely in thelast five years, Escaño observes. “Thisis why industry people should do theirpart in making sure that this situationcontinues by coming up with interest-ing, socially relevant stories.” Fortheir part, local viewers should keeppatronizing movies for it to continueto thrive, he adds.

“Making films is my passion. I wantto keep making projects that move theaudience and make them rethink old

views,” he says. “There’s satisfactionin being able to share your art.”

Escaño wrote “Tama (Deranged)”and “Overture,” both included in theofficial selection for the 2011 Gawad

CCP Film Festival. In 2013, he wroteand directed “The Platinum Hair,” adocumentary on the life of the latetheater actress Ama Quiambao.

Marinel R. Cruz


‘Acting is both work and passion’RONNIE QUIZON, ‘Rekorder’

Making films for local cultureHAZEL ORENCIO, ‘Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon’

HAZEL ORENCIO VERYvividly recalls the risks—not the least of them non-

stop rains and leering drunks—while making Lav Diaz’s five and-a-half hour film “Mula sa Kung Anoang Noon (From What is Before).”

On the bright side, Orencio—awardedthe Boccalino D’Oro Independent Critics’prize for best actress at the Locarno(Switzerland) International Film Festival inAugust—acknowledges that the cast andcrew’s hard work paid off big time. Shehopes such persistence will ultimately ben-efit others. “We make films for Philippineculture,” she says. “Someday, our films willmatter without us pushing people to watch,understand and appreciate.”

The vibrant local indie scene, she notes,can only bode good things for its creatives:

ORENCIO saysthere is anabundance offilmmakers.

“The growth has inspired many to keepmaking more films.”

She sees even better times ahead “if film-makers focus on their vision and not onwinning awards. Audiences have to learn toidentify and support filmmakers who havesuch a vision.” Oliver M. Pulumbarit

I HAVE RUN OUT OF WAYSto say ‘thank you’ [for the waveof] congratulations I’ve been re-

ceiving since I won,” enthuses ac-tor Ronnie Quizon. He won the ElRey Award for excellence in actingin a lead role at the Barcelona(Spain) International Film Festivalin June, for his role as a movie pi-rate in “Rekorder.”

The triumph was a stunner, the actor re-calls: “In a festival with 50 countries com-peting, I was the only Filipino to win in anycategory—and I was up against all lead ac-tors, male and female. For this, we (Fil-ipinos) are all winners.”

The outspoken thespian says acting isboth “work [and] passion” for him, as itwas for his late dad, Comedy King Dolphy:“He said to me, ‘This is endless learning.’”

While he is certain that the future of Fil-

“THEPROBLEM ismarketing,”Quizon says.

ipino films is assured, he still sees many ob-stacles. “The talent and artistry are there.The problem is marketing the movies.”

The local industry should begin thinkingglobally, Quizon insists: “Filipino filmmak-ers should probably start making moviesnot exclusively for Filipino audiences.”

Oliver M. Pulumbarit


Certain stories just have to be toldSANDY TALAG, ‘Lilet Never Happened’

“AN ACTORis a narrator,”Talag defines

her job.

SANDY TALAG CONFESSESthat her international awards“challenge” her to hone her

craft all the more.“Winning is humbling and gratifying at

the same time,” she explains. “To be hon-est, it also makes me feel nervous. Everytime I have a new TV show, I have to per-form well. Otherwise people may doubtthat I deserve my trophies.”

Only 16, Talag has been winning awardsabroad for her work in Jacco Groen’s “LiletNever Happened.”

Last year, she won best actress at theOaxaca fest (Mexico) and led the cast witha best ensemble citation from the Interna-tional Film Festival Manhattan (UnitedStates).

This year, she won best actress at theJaipur International Film Festival (India).

Certainly, the repeat win proves she is nofluke, but Talag remains persistent in herquest to grow as an actor. “I am no longerthe same actress that I used to be. It’s a bigstep up … but I have to keep improving.”

On a personal level, she regards therecognition as validation. “It tells me that Ican somehow make a difference.”

On a macro level, she feels the slew ofawards that Filipino filmmakers and ac-tors have been bringing home thesepast few years proves that “our countryis rich not only in natural resources, butin creativity and talent as well. We real-ly have lots of stories that need to betold,” she says.

The international acclaim serves as in-spiration in our constant search for identityas a people, she says. “Not just one or twopeople, but our entire country should cele-

brate these victories,” she stresses. “Ourartists need the public’s support—bothmoral and financial—so that they can con-tinue making indie films.”

Talag, a senior high school student, re-mains hopeful about the future of Philip-pine cinema.

“It grows stronger, more powerful, everyyear,” she says. “I believe Filipino filmsmake a difference in the lives not only ofFilipinos but of foreign audiences as well.”

She looks at her work as an actress asone way to “serve the Philippines.”

“I want to tell stories,” she says. “An ac-tress is a narrator … a storyteller. Mydream is for young people to idolize me notbecause I wear cute clothes or look glam-orous onscreen, but because I tell storiesthat move and inspire them.” Bayani SanDiego

JAKE CUENCA, ‘Mulat’

L ET’S WELCOME STORIESthat are edgy and not for-mulaic. We’re already win-

ning awards, so we need to comeup with movies of high quality.”

Thus says Jake Cuenca, winner ofthe best actor award (for “Mulat”) atthe 2014 International Film FestivalManhattan in New York City.

“Hopefully, with all the recognitionwe’ve been receiving, we will be en-couraged to bring Filipino movie-mak-ing to a higher [level],” he tells the IN-QUIRER. “It’s obvious that our filmmak-ing industry is ... getting better, with allthe young, talented directors who areshockingly good.”

He acknowledges the value of ex-perimental works, too. “These daringnew directors whip up the most

provocative stories. They are simplyfearless.”

Cuenca, who recently came homefrom a monthlong training at the LeeStrasberg Theater and Film Institute inNew York, says the award came as abig surprise. “It felt really good to getthe chance to represent the Philippinesin that competition. It was very flatter-ing to win, and it inspired me to studyharder,” he says.

“If we came up with four or fivemovies a year, it would make a big dif-ference,” says Cuenca. “It’s good thatmore small and independent produc-tion outfits are sprouting.”

He adds, “While television work is mybread and butter, I like making movies be-cause they last forever, and you are givena script ahead of time, to study and givedepth to your character.” Marinel R. Cruz

CUENCA says hiswin has inspiredhim to studyharder.

‘More quality, less formula’

Philips and DMSF Hospital bring fastest CT ScanServices to Southern MindanaoThe Davao Medical School Foundation(DMSF) Hospital, together with Philips,recently added to its facilities a new 128-Slice Computed Tomography (CT) Scanequipment as part of its mission to pro-vide state-of-the-art medical technologyat reasonable rates to patients. The CTscan is presently the best and fastest inthe region.

The first to be distributed in the coun-try by Philips along with RG Meditron,the equipment is also the first of its kindamong private hospitals in SouthernMindanao.

Smiling during the blessing of ribboncutting of their new imaging facility wasDMSF President Dr. Jonathan Alegrewho described the arrival of the 128-Slice CT Scan machine as a landmarkachievement and the realization of adream for the hospital.

According to Dr. Alegre, they are opti-mistic that the benefits of their newequipment will be felt in the communi-ties served by the hospital. He also saidthat the rates for the service would alsohelp improve people's access to healthservices.

"Although we have the latest technol-ogy does not mean that we will be ex-pensive," Dr. Alegre said.

Cromwell Tarca, Business Develop-ment Manager for Philips Healthcare,added that the arrival of the 128-SliceCT Scan in DMSF-with its advanced ap-plications and imagery options-is in linewith the company's tradition of provid-ing services that are truly capable of spe-cialized help for its patients'.

• Clinical benefits of 128 slice CTwith 33% improvement of z-axis visual-ization

• iDose Premium Package which in-cludes two leading technologies that canimprove image quality: iDose4 and met-al artifact reduction for large orthopedicimplants (O-MAR).

• iDose4 improves image qualitythrough artifact prevention and in-creased spatial resolution at low dose. O-MAR reduces artifacts caused by largeorthopedic implants.

Together they produce high imagequality with reduced artifacts.

• NanoPanel Elite Detector - lownoise imaging

• MRC Ice Tube - reliable and fastcooling

• Built on iPatient - Patient-specificmethods facilitate optimal managementof image quality and radiation dose

Moreover, DMSF Hospital RadiologistDr. Samuel Bangoy said the equipmenthas greatly widened the services that canbe offered by the hospital to the public,which includes less invasive CT Angiog-raphy, CT Colonography, CT Bron-choscopy and brain diffusion studies.

He said, "We can now reconstruct im-ages in the best possible way."

One of the most important features ofthe machine, according to Bangoy, is itslow radiation dose feature, which is vitalparticularly for children who are havingmultiple examinations. He also tookpride in the machine being the fastest ofits kind.

"Imagine five years ago, for an imageto be produced it would take about anentire minute. But now we can produceit as fast as 0.3 seconds. For the entirebody, we can scan it from 10 to 15 min-utes, which previously would take youhours," he explained.

Dr. Bangoy commented that thiswould definitely improve their servicesby hastening the process, allowing ser-vices to reach 30-40 patients on a busyday. At the same time, the improvedspeed will lessen the waiting time of pa-tients for medical results.

Meanwhile, RG Meditron BusinessDevelopment Manager Ryan Garcia ex-

pressed gratitude over the all-out sup-port given by Philips.

"RG Meditron is proud to continue itstradition of being among those whowant to advance the healthcare sector byconnecting the country's top healthcareproviders with the latest innovationsacross the globe, and making it our toppriority to ensure that our installationsare working as intended.".

Tarca continued to say that Philips in-

tends to provide continuing support byregularly sending in experts to sharetheir experience and know-how. Suchknowledge-enhancing efforts of Philipsis part of the company's endeavor to helpusers, doctors, and healthcare workersmaximize the potential of the equipmentto ensure that the general public benefitsfrom the superior technology that Philipsoffers.

This was supported by Dr. Jose ReneLacuesta, Chair of the DMSFI Board ofTrustees, who said that the recent pro-curement would not only boost the rep-utation of DMSF but also help the hospi-tal offer better learning opportunities for

the students of the medical school.DMSF graduates recently landed on

the top 2 and top 6 of the August 2014Physician Licensure Examination.

"As by tradition, the school is a benefi-ciary of the hospital and all equipmentwill benefit the students," Lacuesta said.He added that the new equipmentwould definitely help produce moredoctors who are better-equipped tobring health services closer to the peo-ple.

With the best doctors, best equipmentand best service in DMSF Hospital, thecommunities in Southern Mindanao arein the best of hands.


THE FILMMAKERS‘Easiest way to share an advocacy’

ADJANI ARUMPAC, ‘War Is a Tender Thing’“Founded in 1989, Yamagata is one of the

oldest docu fests in the world,” she says. “Itwas my first time to compete [anywhere]. Tobe awarded for a low-budget, very personalfilm was humbling and encouraging.” Shesees that the local filmmaking scene is flour-ishing. “These current awards inspire us tokeep creating.” But she is quick to caution:

“Quantity doesn’t always mean quality, al-though diversity of perspectives is alwaysgood.”

Telling stories through moving images is theeasiest way to share an advocacy, she says. Sheis heartened that filmmaking activities includethe regions and docus. “They are no longermetro- or genre-centric.” Bayani San Diego Jr.

ALEX

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THE RECOGNITION CAMElike a bolt of lightning.

“I was honestly surprised,” says AdjaniArumpac of winning special mention in theNew Currents section of the Yamagata In-ternational Documentary Film Festival inJapan last year for “War Is a Tender Thing.”


From mainstream to indie

IT’S A GREAT HONOR THAT MYindie work is recognized,” saysJoel Lamangan, known for

decades of mainstream fare. Hewent indie with “Kamkam (Greed),”declared best film at the 9th HarlemInternational Film Festival in NewYork last September.

“I have received awards from all award-giving bodies [in the country] for mymainstream work,” he points out. “Thisone gives me extra joy for the honor it lentthe story that I wanted to tell without in-

Opening doors, widening worldsJOSEPH ISRAEL LABAN, ‘Nuwebe’

‘Capture their hearts’WILL FREDO, ‘In Nomine Matris’

This year’s topnotcher

Storytelling is proof of existenceSIGRID ANDREA P. BERNARDO, ‘Ang Huling Cha-Cha ni Anita’

FOR SIGRID ANDREA P.Bernardo, the mere opportuni-ty of competing against high-

budget films in international festivalsis already enough. That’s why it cameas a surprise when her first featurefilm, “Ang Huling Cha-Cha ni Anita,”reaped honors abroad.

“Cha-Cha” got a special mention at theOsaka Asian Film Festival in Japan lastMarch; and bagged the Volunteers’ ChoiceAward at the 38th Frameline San FranciscoInternational LGBT Film Festival in June.

“To win is something special ... and to berecognized internationally makes meproud of my team, the cast and staff. Theawards are the best gifts I can give them forall the effort and support they’ve given me,”she says.

Bernardo isn’t into filmmaking for the ac-colades. “I do it because I want to tell mystory … and to keep me sane,” she clarifies,adding that receiving international recog-nition inspires hope and makes one proudof being a Filipino despite the country’smany problems.

“It’s not a perfect country, but we dealwith the imperfections and show themthrough cinema. It’s a way of letting theworld know that we exist,” says Bernardo,who remains positive about the future ofthe industry, especially now that technolo-gy has made filmmaking more accessible toaspiring directors.

Bernardo, also a theater artist, points outthat many years back, one could count thenumber of attendees at screenings. “I’mhappy that the Filipino people have grownto appreciate this kind of cinema,” she says.

She adds that more financial supportfrom the government is imperative, andthat producers “shouldn’t abuse, and in-stead give more rights” to filmmakers.

“I believe there will come a time whenthe line separating indie and mainstreamwill be blurred, and that we will simply callit ‘Philippine cinema,’” Bernardo says. Al-lan Policarpio

LAV DIAZ, ‘Mula sa Kung Ano ang Noon’

LAV DIAZ IS THE MOSTawarded Filipino filmmakerthis year, winning here and

abroad, for two landmark films:2013’s “Norte, Hangganan ngKasaysayan” and 2014’s “Mula saKung Ano ang Noon.”

“Norte” swept the Gawad Urian (given bylocal critics) and won for Diaz best director atthe Cinemanila festival. “Norte,” the country’sentry in the Oscars and Golden Globes, wonbest picture at the Pancevo Film Festival heldin Serbia last September and is nominated forbest international film at the Indie SpiritAwards.

“Mula” scored the country’s highest victoryso far: The Golden Leopard at the top-tier Lo-carno (Switzerland) IFF last August. Also atLocarno, “Mula” won the Fipresci, Environ-ment is Quality of Life, Don Quixote andYouth Jury prizes. “Mula” then went on towin audience prizes in Murcia (Spain) andSao Paulo (Brazil).

For his body of work, he was declared a re-cipient of the Netherlands’ Prince ClausAward.

Diaz compares awards to “a surprise smilefrom a complete stranger on the street.”

“Affirmations make you feel good,” he says.“That’s very primal and immediate. I don’tmake films for awards, but if it is given, I shallaccept it—with a smile.”

The Golden Leopard was one such pleas-ant surprise, he recalls. “I didn’t expect it. Itwas an instant surge. The competition wasformidable. We were there just to have funand participate in the discourse. When [festi-val head] Carlo Chatrian called to tell me wehad won, I actually cried. Wasak!”

More importantly, this “harvest” of tro-phies augurs well for Philippine cinema, heexplains. “The world now knows what theFilipino can do and—I have to emphasizethis—we don’t need anybody’s imprimaturwhen it comes to our cinema praxis. Filipinocinema is unique and singular. The greatLamberto Avellana fittingly said: ‘We have

our own way of making love.’”Philippine cinema has “grown by leaps and

bounds,” he says. “Amazing. It’s dizzying. Butwe should not be complacent. Let’s keeppushing the medium to greater heights. Wecan do many more things. We need to domany more things.”

Still, he remains “very optimistic” aboutPhilippine cinema. “There shall be greaterharvests.”

And the reason he persists as a filmmaker?“Cinema is my life. Ito lang ang puwede kongibigay sa Filipino. (This is all I can give to theFilipino.)” Bayani San Diego Jr.

F ILMMAKER WILL FREDOsays the aim of every inde-pendent director should be

to “capture the heart of the Filipinoaudience and make them fully sup-port the industry.”

It is sad, Fredo says, that Filipinos wouldrather watch Hollywood films or local produc-tions by major outfits, than compelling, inde-pendently-produced films.

“We need innovative ideas and ground-breaking business models so we can sustainthe medium,” he says, adding that filmmakersshould be more business-conscious. “We pro-

duce a lot of independent films but only a fewgets shown in Manila—and usually because itis part of a film festival. What a waste!”

Proof of the growing interest in indie filmsis the increased number of local film festivals,notes Fredo. “Even smaller cities are using thefestival machinery to create interest in aspir-ing filmmakers from the regions.”

He hopes to see cities like Cebu and Davaoorganize film festivals as Quezon City has. Hechallenges private groups and big studios to“do something bold and exciting.”

As for content, Fredo encourages “a morecommercial outlook” to attract the youngergeneration. “Let’s not make the Filipino audi-ence suffer by feeding them the same things.”

Fredo’s “In Nomine Matris” bagged the best

feature film award at the 2014 InternationalFilm Festival Manhattan.

He persists in making movies despite thechallenges it poses, he says. “Why stop your-self from doing something that you are trulypassionate about? I see myself growing andbecoming better at it.” Marinel R. Cruz

SWEET VICTORY IS LIKE“icing on the cake,” saysJoseph Israel Laban, a TV

documentary show producer whowon international awards for thenarrative feature film “Nuwebe.”

After winning best actress for child starBarbara Miguel at the Harlem fest last year,“Nuwebe” went on to win the youth jury’smention of honor at the III Festival Interna-cional Lume de Cinema (Brazil), honorablemention-best director at Queens World FilmFestival (United States), and Internet awardfor best feature at the Tirana fest (Albania).

“International recognition is always a wel-come surprise,” Laban explains. “Presentingyour film in festivals abroad and interacting

with different audiences provide unique per-spectives on how your work is regarded. Itcan also open doors to other opportunities forthe film and future projects.”

He remarks: “That Filipino films are con-sistently recognized every year is a testamentto the quality of filmmaking in the countryand the burgeoning number of young talents.We must be doing something right.”

He is always “cautiously optimistic” aboutthe future. “On the surface, the growth of in-dependently produced Filipino films seemsencouraging,” he says. “But the drivers ofgrowth are the same institutions: Cine-malaya, Cinema One.” This year, Laban andhome network GMA News TV launched theCine Totoo docu film festival.

“The problem remains the same,” he says.

There is an urgent need for audience build-ing, for one. “The local market is still not de-veloped enough to make indie films viableventures without the support of institutionslike Cinemalaya and Cinema One.”

So why does he persist as a filmmaker?“Because there are stories we should tell,”

he says. Bayani San Diego Jr.

terference from capitalists.”There’s been “much growth,” artistical-

ly and content-wise, for indies, he notes.“It is sad that, although foreign festivalshave been giving them awards and recog-nition, local viewers continue to ignorethem.”

Support is imperative at this point, hesays. “The government, through agenciesdedicated to films and the propagation ofthe national language, should initiateprograms to uplift independent filmmak-ing.”

On the bright side, he concludes, “The

proliferation of young people interestedin telling their stories via cinema is a posi-tive indication of what is to come.”


JOEL LAMANGAN, ‘Kamkam (Greed)’

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‘Feels like a Golden Age’

IT ALWAYS FEELS GREAT TOwin,” says filmmaker Jun RoblesLana, whose “Barber’s Tales”

won audience award, third place, atthe Udine (Italy) Far East Film Festi-val.

He also won best director for a foreignfilm at the Third Madrid IFF for “Barber’s,”and best script for “Bwakaw” at the Py-ongyang International Film Fest in NorthKorea.

‘But will the passion last?’JASON PAUL LAXAMANA, ‘Magkakabaung (The Coffin Maker)’

‘Films have never failed me’

JUN ROBLES LANA, ‘Barber’s Tales’Lana says the past few years have been

“like a Golden Age” in local cinema, on ac-count of the numerous independently-produced films that reaped internationalacclaim. “It’s a testament to our filmmak-ers’ immense talent and daring. Theyrefuse to conform to, and be limited by, thestatus quo.”

All that needs to be done now, he notes, iscultivate a bigger audience for these “out-side-the-system” productions. “Philippinecinema is certainly not dead … making filmsis my life!” Oliver M. Pulumbarit

SIEGE LEDESMA, ‘Shift’

THE FILM “SHIFT,” ABOUTan unlikely relationship be-tween a female call center

agent and her gay male team leader,was a very personal project for writ-er-director Siege Ledesma. Themovie, she says, is her “comfortinghug” for everyone who tackled simi-lar issues.

“Shift” won the grand prix (best picture)award at the Osaka Asian Film Festival inJapan last March. “I wrote ‘Shift’ primarilyfor Filipino audiences, specifically my gen-eration,” she says. “My ‘hug’ has nowreached a lot more lost and lonely souls.”

She adds, “The gaze and voice of cinemahave been predominantly male. I’m gladthat, here in the Philippines, more womenand members of the LGBT community arecreating films and getting heard.”

Ledesma is a bit fearful of the future:

“South Korean producer Oh Jung-wan saidthat prior to 2007, his country was churn-ing out acclaimed films, most of whichbombed at the box office ... so they’re backto producing mediocre, studio-controlledcommercial movies.”

However, she persists in filmmaking be-cause, she says, “Unlike humans, it has nev-er failed me. There have been a lot of timesin my life when my only companions wereWong Kar-wai, Richard Linklater or OlivierSmolders.” Allan Policarpio

I WAS ECSTATIC BECAUSEI wasn’t expecting it,” ad-mits filmmaker Jason Paul

Laxamana.His “Magkakabaung (The Coffin

Maker)” won the Netpac prize forBest Asian Film in the 3rd Hanoi In-ternational Film Festival.

“I watched the other films and foundthem very good, with very high produc-tion values,” Laxamana recounts. “The

first one I watched was a Korean film,‘Way Back Home,’ which was shot inSouth Korea, in the Caribbean and inFrance. And there our film was, shot in aweek with a budget of less than P2 mil-lion and a tiny crew!”

Laxamana says the development oflocal indie films in recent years is eas-ily discernible: “There’s been growthin all aspects—creative and technicalcontent, number of films produced,

and even audience turnout.”However, he says, “A dark side of

my mind wonders how long this willlast. Passion is what drives filmmak-ers and producers. How fervent willthis passion be, years from now?”

His hope, at this point, is that ourindie flicks will be appreciated bymore viewers. “Outside film festivals,they still find it hard to get an audi-ence,” he says. “Independent films

should one day attract big audiencesoutside festivals and special screen-ings, which will guarantee ROI (re-turn on investment) and, hence, sus-tainability.” Oliver M. Pulumbarit


Reach out to, and develop viewers

AS A STORYTELLER, MIKHAILRed’s goal is to see the prod-uct of his imagination mate-

rialize onscreen, and create a filmso affecting the moviegoers takewith them the story, ideas andcharacters, as they leave the the-ater. “Nothing can compare to thatexperience. That, for me, is themagic of cinema,” he says.

That feeling must be twice as gratifying, es-pecially when your work is being recognizednot only in the country, but also in the interna-tional circuit. Such is the case with Red’smovie “Rekorder,” which won the special juryprize and best music award at the 31st Annon-

‘It’s about serving the oppressed’

‘An advocacy, vocation, responsibility’

Intruder as witness to the timesJEWEL MARANAN,‘Tondo, Beloved: To What Are the Poor Born’

BRILLANTE MA. MENDOZA, ‘Thy Womb’

MORE THAN A PROFES-sion, Brillante Mendozasees filmmaking as an ad-

vocacy, a vocation and a responsi-bility to tell honest and life-enrich-ing stories. “Even if such storiesare painful realities, the audienceis still uplifted with what is real,”says the filmmaker, who headedthe international jury of the VesoulInternational Festival of Asian Cin-ema in France last February.

The same festival also conferred onMendoza the Vesoul Golden Cyclo ofHonor for his exceptional body of workthat includes the film “Kinatay,” whichwon for him the best director at Cannesin 2009.

He was proclaimed a Knight in the Or-der of Arts and Letters by the French gov-ernment this year. Winning an interna-tional prize is a responsibility in itself,because with recognition comes expecta-tions, he says.

Mendoza considers awards as re-minders to strive harder; to keep up withwhat they represent.

Mendoza points out that the current suc-cess of Filipino films in the global circuit canhelp open doors to the international market.“In turn, it could generate financial gains forour local industry,” says the multiawardeddirector, who notes that the growth of indiefilms in the last five years has been promis-ing and inspiring.

For its part, Mendoza says, “the gov-ernment has to come up with policiesthat will address the many needs of inde-

pendent film producers.”The emergence of indie films is one of the

best things that happened to the industry,Mendoza says, because it created some much-needed awareness that Filipinos, too, are morethan capable of producing quality work.

“The mere awakening of the moviego-ing public that alternative films do existis a good sign. That’s enough motivationfor me ... to expand the indie market,” hesays. Allan Policarpio

CARLO OBISPO, ‘Purok 7’

PUROK 7,” ABOUT Ateenager dealing with an ab-sent OFW mother, won in

September the best full-length fea-ture award at the Lucas Children’sFilm Festival in Frankfurt, Ger-many. Director Carlo Obispo seesthe recognition as both encourage-ment and challenge.

“My entire crew worked very hard; theaward validates our dedication,” Obisposays. “It is also a challenge to do better inour next projects.”

He is thankful for the conditions that in-

variably come with indie filmmaking. “Theyprompt our unique ways of telling stories but,more importantly, they lead us to explore sto-ries within our own society that are most like-ly not told in mainstream cinema.”

Obispo continues to observe improve-ments, audience-wise, as well: “The marketis getting more familiar with the strengthsof indie films. Local festivals draw moreand more audiences [with] every edition.Although rarely, we now get to see indies incommercial cinemas. This is a good sign.”

He is committed to making films that“truly uplift,” he says, since he remains“very positive” about what lies ahead forPhilippine cinema.

“Filmmaking is about being a servant. I’dlike to be the voice of the oppressed and [ig-nored]; I want to express their angst, painand fears, for the whole world to hear.”


NERISSA PICADIZO, ‘Astray’

‘Sweet gift from the universe’

MIKHAIL RED, ‘Rekorder’

JEWEL MARANAN SEES FILM-making as “an attempt to ex-pand one’s language when

speaking and writing do not suf-fice.”

As in all creative endeavors, filmmaking isplagued by self-doubt. A filmmaker oftenasks herself: “Will I be understood? Will Iwake up the audience’s senses?”

In this light, “international recognitionworks like a marker,” she says. “It guides me,step by step, in my conversation with the au-dience. It also opens the possibility of reach-ing a wider audience.”

Maranan won special mention for “Ton-do, Beloved: To What Are the Poor Born?” inthe Director’s Guild of Japan section of theYamagata International Documentary FilmFestival last year. “I felt excited to do more. I

felt like the world has become larger. It’s awelcome call to make my next film, morethan a validation of the last one.”

Based in Brussels, Belgium, she is awareof the winning streak of Filipinos abroad—amoment of “quantitative” growth. “Itdoesn’t just put the Philippines on the map,”she points out, “it somehow positions us notonly as consumers and listeners, but as pro-ducers, barkers, reactors. It provides thecondition for us to mature culturally.”

Filipinos are now active participants inthe discourse on cinema. “We have devel-oped a level of enthusiasm in filmmakingand … we also possess enough human andsocial pain which, if we confront fearlessly,hold the depth of our cinema.”

She insists, “Cinema cannot, and shouldnot, be isolated in its circles, comforts andinstitutions. We should wrestle with the

questions, the whys and wherefores.”That is precisely why she persists in mak-

ing movies. “There are questions that I needto ask, which the traditional institutions ofknowledge are unable to tackle … We are in-creasingly isolated from the larger questionsof life, existence, civilization and history.”

As a documentarian, she sees her role insociety as unique.

“It gives me a reason to enter spaces, homes,work places, communities, situations and rela-tionships where I would otherwise be consideredanintruder,”shesays.“Itallowsmetobeawitnessto the timeswe live in.” BayaniSanDiegoJr.

W INNINGTHE BEST INDIEproducer award for “Astray”at the 2014 International

Film Festival Manhattan gave directorNerissa Picadizo a bittersweet feeling.

It was a “sweet gift from the universe,”she says, for all that she went through tomake the short film, which features AngelAquino and Althea Vega. Too bad shecouldn’t attend the awards ceremony inNew York City last month.

“I’m deeply grateful nonetheless,” saysPicadizo, “for that affirmation—and moti-vation to keep believing in one’s dreams.”

The awards that Filipinos have won in-

dicate that “our talents and skills are at parwith the filmmaking standards of theworld,” she says. “Filipino indie films aresteadily growing and maturing. Filmmak-ers are becoming more savvy, in both thecreative and business aspects.”

“Technology played a great part inthat growth,” she adds, recalling thatshe joined the industry in 1999 “whenwe were still using film stock. I saw howlaborious and expensive that processwas. Digital technology has greatlyhelped us create films easily and inde-pendently.”

Much remains to be done. “We must de-velop models of sustainability,” she says,

“so we can continue to create films withoutfalling into the black hole of bankruptcy.”

She has continued to make movies “be-cause it is my ultimate passion, and theone great love that I can’t live without.”

Marinel R. Cruz

ay International Film Festival in France lastFebruary.

Red is also extremely proud for receivingthe Excellent Asia-Pacific Young DirectorAward at the Gwangju IFF in South Korea inSeptember. The director relates that, aftereach victory, jury members usually approachhim to discuss the movie, which delves on vi-ral media, piracy and apathy.

“They were impressed with the unique por-trayal of urban Manila ... we depicted a mod-ern cityscape juxtaposed against a thriving un-derworld ... we get to see the ills that plague adeveloping third-world society,” he says.

Red’s most recent triumph came last Octo-ber at the Vancouver IFF in Canada, where hewon best new director, also for “Rekorder.”

“It was a surprise for the whole team. We

were up against bigger productions,” he says.To further invigorate the local industry, he

says, “we need to develop an audience in ourcountry; we need to support the local filmfests .”

There is a need to give importance to theartists behind the content. “This means betterownership deals in the contracts from thegrant-giving festivals, favoring the filmmakersand/or indie producers.” Allan Policarpio

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MARYO J. DE LOS REYES, ‘Bamboo Flowers’

Conquer the local audienceEDUARDO ROY Jr., ‘Quick Change’

Dreams are realized at the right timePAUL SORIANO, ‘Thelma’

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FOR FILMMAKER EDUARDORoy Jr., the great thing aboutthe success of Filipino films

in the global scene over the lastseveral years is that it has spurred adomino effect, engendering a new-found strength in aspiring direc-tors and producers to createmovies that are focused on artisticrather than commercial success.

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OTOWHEN THE THEATRICAL

run of the Film Develop-ment Council of the

Philippines’ Sineng Pambansa:Masters Edition “failed” last year,director Maryo J. de los Reyes felt“utterly bad” because not manypeople got to see the entries, in-cluding “Bamboo Flowers.”

De los Reyes tried to have his film shownin Bohol province, where it was shot andwhose people inspired him. He attempted

to get it into some festivals, to no avail.“Bamboo’s” victory as audience choice

at the first Silk Road International FilmFestival in October in Xi’an, China, revivedDe los Reyes’ spirit. There’s nothing morefulfilling for a director, he says, than seeinghis work being watched by an audience.

De los Reyes achieved international suc-cess with “Magnifico,” which got twoawards at the 2004 Berlinale: a CrystalBear as best feature film and the GrandPrix of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk.

He has always had high hopes for Philip-pine cinema, he says, and the “tremendous

growth” of indie films in the recent years isstarting to be felt in the industry. “Artists aremore open to accepting indie projects.”

He is mulling a “highly institutional-ized” agency to focus on marketing indieshere and abroad. Meanwhile, he will con-tinue making films. “More than a passion,it is my therapy,” he says. Allan Policarpio

‘Filmmaking is my therapy’

F ILM PRODUCER-DIRECTORPaul Soriano’s fearless fore-cast: Within 10 years, the

Philippines will finally get anAcademy Awards nomination, ifnot win one. “We’re getting bettereach year. Soon, this will no longerbe a dream but a reality,” says Sori-

ano, who produced the HannahEspia film “Transit,” the country’sentry in the best foreign languagefilm category of the 86th AcademyAwards.

Soriano is the director and producer of“Thelma,” which won for lead star MajaSalvador in 2012 two best actress tro-phies—the Gawad Urian and Luna Award.

“Thelma” won the Bronze Palm Awardat the Mexico International Film Festival in2012. Soriano says the honor was “hum-bling and a blessing ... [it’s] motivation tokeep telling more interesting and com-pelling stories.”

Soriano, currently head of the studentssection of the MMFF New Wave, adds,“The government should keep supportinggreat film concepts. Now is a great time forPhilippine cinema—the mood is very posi-tive.” Marinel R. Cruz

“More films are gaining recognition be-cause more Filipino directors are emergingand there are more stories waiting to beheard,” he says.

His film, “Quick Change,” won the CriticJury’s Prize at the Vesoul International FilmFestival of Asian Cinema in France in Febru-ary. It also bagged the Lili Award, featurefilm-special mention at the 29th MixCopenhagen LGBT Film Festival held inDenmark in October.

Last month, it won the Netpac prize at

the Golden Horse Taipei Film Festival.“We can see that Filipino filmmakers are

getting better in telling stories,” he says.“Creativity isn’t compromised by the lack offinancial support... . We have conquered in-ternational audiences, so I’m positive thatwe can conquer the Filipino audience, too.”

Allan Policarpio


INDIE FILMMAKERS ARE INthe midst of a “revolution,” atransformative process, said doc-

umentarian Baby Ruth Villarama.“The world is looking at Filipino stories,”

Villarama points out. “It’s as if filmmakerstransform into vehicles that deliver Filipinostories to other countries.”

International recognition has put Philippinemovies on the map of world cinema, she says.

Beyond the hype, acclaim proved thatthe indies were not just “a passing trend ...that our films can leave lasting culturalmarks on the collective memory. Hopefullythese awards will help us build a perma-nent road on which we can travel to bringour films closer to the local audience.”

It’s an ever-growing indie scene. “Withthe success of indies in festivals abroad,young filmmakers are encouraged to pro-duce more films,” she says. “Each year, thecommunity is expanding.”

There was a time when indies were “con-fined to the Cultural Center of the Philip-pines and university auditoriums.”

‘A wonderful, creative insanity’

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Cultural imprints on collective memoryBABY RUTH VILLARAMA, ‘Jazz in Love’

ALVIN YAPAN, ‘Debosyon’ national feature at the ReelWorld Film Fes-tival held last April in Toronto, Canada.

Yapan, also a Palanca Award-winningwordsmith and a literature professor in Ate-neo de Manila University, likens being recog-nized abroad to a “pat on the back from acolleague, telling that you did a great job.”

“I felt affirmed and inspired to continuedirecting and producing more movies,” Ya-pan says. He persists in pursuing his craftbecause, “It’s my passion and insanity—awonderful, creative insanity.”

The international success of indie films,he says, is a reminder to the local audienceand industry stakeholders that the land-scape of television- and movie-viewing inthe Philippines is starting to change.

“It’s an opportunity only waiting to betapped by those who are brave enough,

and who have enough vision to blaze atrail,” says the director, who helmed themultiawarded “Ang Sayaw ng DalawangKaliwang Paa.”

He believes that “a coherent and reliabledistribution system” should be set up:“That way, filmmakers can keep at whatthey’re doing.”

Allan Policarpio

WRITER AND FILMMAKERAlvin Yapan observes thatindependent cinema has

been enjoying steady growth, andhas become less reliant on grantsand film festivals to producemovies. And, more than anything,he points out that independent cin-ema has proven that it can producequality work.

“Hopefully, a growing audience interestwould be able to sustain this,” says Yapan,whose film “Debosyon”—which was top-billed by Paulo Avelino and Mara Lopez—won honorable mention outstanding inter-

“Now, cineplexes are opening their doorsto us; docus are screened side by side withnarrative features,” she relates.

“Jazz in Love” won the Netpac prize atthe Salamindanaw International Film Festi-val last year.

“The award was given by jurors whofounded Netpac (Network for the Promo-tion of Asian Cinema) itself,” she recounts.“I am happy, humbled, honored and also abit pressured to keep improving. We have

to come up with better strategies so thatpeople will see docus in a new light.”

“Jazz in Love” was later shown in Busan,Hanoi, San Francisco, Paris and Bangkok,among other cinema capitals.

“As a documentarian/journalist, I see myrole as a watchdog in society; to be part of thesolution, not the problem,” she says. “I’vebeen a storyteller for 14 years; seven of thoseyears in the indie scene ... let’s see how longwe can stick around.” Bayani San Diego Jr.


THE LENSES OFour award-winningphotographershave captured thememorable scenesof the past 29 years.Not a few havestunned the worldlike the Edsa PeoplePower Revolutionin 1986, somehave been game-changers like thePinatubo eruptionin 1991. A lot ofthem are defininghistoric momentsfor the country. Allof them are searedin our memory.And all of the

29 years, we in theINQUIRER dub thewonder years. Wewonder how wemade it this far de-spite threats to oursurvival from thedictatorship of theMarcos years to theadvertising boycottduring the JosephEstrada presidency,to the almost dailybrickbats thrownour way by thelords and ladies of acapricious if notoutrageous politicallandscape.We’re still here

and with God’sgrace and mercy,we intend to stayand stand as a pillarof truth and justiceand surprises as wecontinue to tell theFilipino story to theworld.


HIS EXCELLENCYUS President Barack Obama speaks to American and Filipino troops and veterans at theArmy gym in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City where he reiterates the US “ironcladcommitment” to defend the Philippine security and sovereignty on April 29, 2014. RAFFY LERMA

HIS EMINENCEManila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, one of the four living princes of the Church in the Philippines, is designatedas member of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life by Pope Francis in April.Tagle, former Cavite bishop, is made cardinal by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on Nov. 24, 2012. RICHARD REYES

PROFILES INCOURAGE

The whistle-blowers whohave blown the lid off the

biggest corruption scandalin this country, with

explosive informationdetailing how billions in

public wealth have beenscammed by their

employer, Janet Lim-Napoles, and her cohorts

in the legislature andvarious government

agencies through bogusnongovernment

organizations thatreceived lump-sum funds

for ghost projects. Theyare (from left) Mary

Arlene Baltazar, MerlinaSuñas, Gertrudes Luy,

Benhur Luy, Marina Sulaand Simonette Briones.

ALANAH TORRALBA

PARTNERSThen Sen. Benigno Aquino III flashes the familiar “Laban” sign of the Liberal Party as hewelcomes fellow Sen. Mar Roxas (left) as his running mate in the 2010 presidential electionheld at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City, on Sept. 21, 2009. EDWIN BACASMAS

HELP ON THE WAYResidents of Cainta, Rizal province, are brought out of their flooded homes to an unrecognizable Ortigas Avenuenearby after Tropical Storm “Ondoy” pummeled Metro Manila in September 2009. EDWIN BACASMAS

INTERFAITH RALLY in Ayala on Feb. 29, 2008 EDWIN BACASMAS

HUMAN SHIELDSWhistle-blower Rodolfo

“Jun” Lozada, whotestified on anomalies

in the Arroyoadministration,

including thecontroversial NBN- ZTE

broadband deal, enjoysthe protection of nuns

from different religiouscongregations as he

makes his way to a pressconference at the La

Salle Green Hills chapelin San Juan City on

Feb. 7, 2008. RAFFY LERMA

ESCAPE FROM REMING’S WRATHFather and son in the tiny village of Tagas in Daraga—located at the foot of the majesticMayon Volcano—try to pick up the pieces of a life shattered by Typhoon “Reming” that hitAlbay province in December 2006. EDWIN BACASMAS

GOODBYE TO MY BFFOusted President Joseph Estrada, out on a temporary pass from his detention quarters, says goodbye to his friend of40 years Fernando Poe Jr. at the wake of the late actor and 2004 presidential candidate in Sto. Domingo Church,Quezon City, on Dec. 21, 2004. REM ZAMORA


CHANGEWITHIN ARM’SLENGTHThe crowds of theEdsa People PowerRevolution in 1986,including Catholicnuns and churchworkers, extend thehand of peace to asoldier on board aV-150 armoredvehicle. This shot byBoy Cabrido wonsecond prize in theAyala FoundationEdsa RevolutionPhotographyContest.


SUNSET BOULEVARDThen President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, Mike, take a stroll on a beach off theTubbattaha Reefs Natural Park in Palawan province in this April 2002 photograph. EDWIN BACASMAS

THE CBD AS BATTLEGROUNDPolice fight off on Nov. 12, 2003, the members of the Oct. 28 Movement,mostly identified as supporters of deposed President Joseph Estrada,who rallied on the streets of Makati City’s central business districtsasking for the ouster of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and ChiefJustice Hilario Davide Jr. EDWIN BACASMAS

HOMEWARDBOUNDA man, pulling hiscarabao and cart,walks home froman evacuationcenter inZambales provinceby crossing thisvast plain that wasonce a river but isnow an arid lahar-covered landscapefollowing theeruption of Mt.Pinatubo in June1991. EDWIN BACASMAS

PEOPLE’SCRY

Thousands massup at the Edsa

Shrine to demandthe resignation ofPresident Joseph

Estrada inNovember 2000on allegations ofplunder. Estrada

left Malacañang inJanuary 2001.

JOAN BONDOC

COUNTLESSBODY COUNTThe bodies of floodvictims of the greatfloods in Ormoc, Leyteprovince, in November1991 are piled up intrucks before they areburied in mass graves.Around 8,000 personsdied in this tragedybrought about bycontinuous rains thatcaused landslides fromeroded mountains,dumping huge amountsof water to the landareas below. ERNIE SARMIENTO

NOT A WINTERWONDERLAND

An eerie winter-likelandscape greets mediapeople who visited this

barangay in Botolan,Zambales province,after the monstrous

clouds of dust unleashedby Mt. Pinatubo onJune 15, 1991, after

almost 600 years of lyingdormant. BOY CABRIDO

FUTILESEARCH/RESCUERescuers look forsurvivors trappedinside the 5-starHyatt Terraces Hotelin Baguio City thatcollapsed like anaccordion. 98 guestsand hotel employeesdied in the 7.8-magnitude quake thathit on July 16, 1990.

OPEN FORBUSINESS

Notwithstanding thefloodwaters from the

continuous heavyrain and busted dikesof the Wawa River ofBulacan province in

July 1999, this barberin Polo, ValenzuelaCity, goes about his

trade while hiscustomer doesn’tseem to mind the

inconvenience.EDWIN BACASMAS

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Journalism scholars: Where are they n ow ?By Michael Lim Ubac

TWO DECADES AFTER THEINQUIRER Journalism Scholar-ship was launched by INQUIRER

board chair Marixi Rufino-Pri-eto, all of its recipients have en-gaged in varied pursuits, mak-ing their mark in their chosenprofessions.

Many of them have sinceworked for the paper.

However, more than half ofthe former scholars chose totread various career paths ei-ther as lawyers, award-winningliterary writers, TV hosts, publicrelations (PR) specialists, pro-ject assistants or even teachers.

The choice of professionsother than journalism is quitesurprising for alumni of the bestjournalism schools in the coun-try who were especially trainedto carry the journalism torchonce they finished college.

One of the scholarship pro-gram’s outstanding recipients isUniversity of the Philippines(UP) Diliman graduate EdsonTandoc Jr. (summa cum laude).

The rest of the former scholarsgraduated with honors (eithermagna cum laude or cum laude).

Five more students are cur-rently in their junior or senioryears and are expected to grad-uate in 2017. To date, a total of

72 scholars have benefited fromthe program that started in1993.

Tandoc, who worked with theINQUIRER, is now associate profes-sor at the Wee Kim Wee School ofCommunication and Informationat the Nanyang TechnologicalUniversity in Singapore. He ob-tained his doctorate in journal-ism at one of the world’s bestjournalism schools, the MissouriSchool of Journalism, the almamater of INQUIRER editor in chiefLetty Jimenez-Magsanoc.

‘Promdi’In an interview, Tandoc said

he considered it an “opportuni-ty” to be part of the INQUIRER

team—first as an intern, andthen later as a reporter.

“It allowed me to pursue whatI was passionate about, and it al-so brought me to the INQUIRER

newsroom, where I got to learnmany of what I know aboutquality journalism,” he said.

Journalist as lawyer“For a promdi (from the

province) like me, it meant a lot tobe considered for the INQUIRER

scholarship. It inspired me to studyharder and to continue to strive tobe deserving of that recognition,”said Tandoc, who hails fromTayug, Pangasinan province.

After graduating with a Bach-elor of Arts in Journalism fromUP in 2005, Michael JobertNavallo studied law. He hassince joined the Sycip, Salazar,Hernandez and Gatmaitan lawfirm.

Asked if being an INQUIRER

scholar meant having a badgeof honor of sorts, the lawyersaid:

“Yes, of course. PDI (Philip-pine Daily Inquirer), as an insti-tution, is highly-regarded, andeven during when I applied fora job at a law firm, my being aPDI scholar came up.”

But what prompted him tobecome a lawyer instead ofworking as a reporter?

“I really wanted to be a lawyerwhen I was a child, before I ven-tured into journalism. When I wasin journalism school, I thoroughlyenjoyed and loved the professionand had planned to practice as ajournalist, except that I passed theLaw Aptitude Exam of the UP Col-lege of Law. I also realized, whiledoing my thesis on mining, that Icould benefit from a good under-standing of the law, whether ornot I end up a lawyer or a journal-ist,” said Navallo.

Wow factorTo this day, Monika Tarra

Quismundo is proud that she

was an INQUIRER scholar.“Of course! It’s like a ‘wow’

factor if you’re a PDI scholar, atleast in the world of journalismschools,” she said.

Quismundo is one of thescholars who joined the profes-sion right after graduation. Shehas been with the INQUIRER since2003 and is now covering thejudiciary, which includes theSupreme Court, Court of Ap-peals and the Office of the Solic-itor General.

“I would like to make the bestof being a reporter everyday,staying true to that ‘fire-in-the-

belly’ feeling that drives a jour-nalist to ask questions (and askagain if necessary), to uncoverwhat or who wants to stay hid-den, to seek out stories that in-spire, ultimately shining a lighton what readers deserve toknow, may that be good or bad,”said Quismundo.

Quismundo, Tandoc andlawyer Angeli Alagcan werebatchmates (UP, Batch 2001-2003).

GenerosityStarted in 1993, the scholar-

ship program is the brainchild

of the big-hearted Marixi, theINQUIRER board chair, Magsanoc,Eugenia Apostol, the foundingchair, and the late publisher,Isagani Yambot.

It was conceived principallyto help talented students obtaindegrees in mass communica-tion or journalism. The pro-gram helps build a pool of grad-uates from which the INQUIRER

could recruit reporters, re-searchers and editorial produc-tion assistants (EPAs).

The program was ably shep-herded by Sandy Prieto-Ro-

PDI JOURNALISM / 2

CURRENT SCHOLARS UNTIL 2017 Philippine Daily Inquirer publisher Raul Pangalangan and INQUIRERpresident and CEO Sandy Prieto-Romualdez (far right) with the INQUIRER scholars (from left) KrixiaSubingsubing, Jamela Ariella Braganza, Matthew Reysio-Cruz and Jenifer Cabildo during the contractsigning of the scholars at the INQUIRER’s head office. (Not in photo is Fazniyara Lukman.) ALEXIS CORPUZ


mualdez when she became thepresident and chief executiveofficer (CEO) of the INQUIRER inMay 1998.

One-woman secretariatThe INQUIRER CEO is assisted

by Cita Goyagoy, the one-wom-an secretariat that processes allscholarship applications, in-cluding the all-important dutyof preparing checks payable toschools and individual studentssince the program’s inception.

“The scholarship program is atestament to the generosity ofthe Prieto family. They reallywant to help deserving and out-standing students hone theirjournalistic talents, so that theycould be the next leaders in theindustry,” said Goyagoy.

Indeed, for 21 years the pro-gram has generously providedfinancial support to a total of 72journalism students from theUP College of Mass Communi-cation (59 scholars), Depart-ment of Media Studies andCommunication of the Univer-sity of Santo Tomas Faculty ofArts and Letters (5), Depart-ment of Communication of theAteneo de Manila University(3), and the journalism pro-grams of UP Los Baños (2), Uni-versity of the East (2) and Ate-neo de Davao (1).

Students were selected aftera rigorous process that includedtaking writing and psychologi-cal-personality tests and goingthrough a panel interview.

The INQUIRER pays the tuitionand other enrollment fees of thescholars, plus a monthly stipendof P3,000 and a semestral bookand school supplies allowanceof P1,500.

The grant is for a period oftwo years beginning from thethird (junior) year duringwhich the scholars are requiredto maintain a semestral averageof 1.75 (87 percent or cumlaude standing).

Career pathsOf the 72 scholars, less than

half are employed by the INQUIR-ER in various capacities—edi-tors, reporters, EPAs and re-searchers.

Ruel De Vera, an Ateneo deManila University graduatewho belonged to the first batch(1993-1995) of scholars, is as-sociate editor at Sunday INQUIR-ER Magazine and one of thisyear’s “20-year service”awardees. He teaches journal-ism at his alma mater and is theauthor and editor of 11 books.

Norman Bordadora (1993-1995), the very first scholarfrom UP, has worked with theINQUIRER as a reporter for 19years before he was pirated thisyear by GMA 7 to become its on-line editor. The INQUIRER isproud to have trained andprimed him for work that wouldearn him bigger bucks as hiskids are about to go to college.

Lourd de Veyra (UST, Batch1994-1995) is the bandleaderand vocalist of the “RadioactiveSago Project.” A three-timePalanca awardee, he works ascopy editor and writer for sever-al monthly magazines and is aradio-TV host. He hosts severalTV5 shows.

Also a proud promdi fromMasbate province, (yours tru-ly), Michael Lim Ubac (UP,Batch 1996-1997) worked asreporter for 17 years before hebecame desk editor last April.He sits at the Day Desk, the IN-QUIRER newsroom’s nerve centerheaded by editor Juliet Labog-Javellana.

Ubac took a one-year sabbati-cal leave in 2011 and pursuedgraduate studies for Master ofLiberal Arts degree (concentra-

tion: International Relations) atHarvard University.

After working as reporters forabout seven years, PhilipTubeza and Blanche Rivera-Fer-nandez (UP, Batch 1997-1999)resigned and landed jobs at theHong Kong News. Tubeza re-tains his ties with the INQUIRER

as its Hong Kong correspon-dent.

Rivera-Fernandez, for herpart, worked as editor forMabuhay Magazine and Affini-ty Express. She now owns andserves as managing editor ofPage Sixteen Publications.

Agnes Donato also worked asreporter but has since moved toAustralia.

Abigail Ho, a former reporter,is a corporate and regulatory af-fairs executive at British Ameri-can Tobacco (Philippines) Ltd.She had previously worked forSeaOil Phils.

Jamie Rose Alarcon (UP,Batch 2002-2004), a formerEPA and researcher, is now alecturer at Kalayaan College,corporate business trainer of iTiConsulting Inc. and writer ofWedding Essentials and Wed-ding Essentials Destinationmagazines.

Mel Lawrence de Guzman(UP, Batch 2003-2005), a re-search assistant, now works forSmart Communications.

De Guzman’s batchmates at UPwere Navallo, Cyril Bonabenteand Angeli Kate Pedroso.

Bonabente briefly worked forthe INQUIRER before moving toBusiness World. She now worksfor Smart Communications as asupervisor of its public affairssection.

The literary giftedPedroso rose from the ranks

as researcher, editorial assis-tant for the Metro section and

currently, INQUIRER researchsection head.

Eliza Victoria (UP, 2005-2007), a former research assis-tant, is a two-time Palancaawardee (poetry), and grandprize winner (short story) of thePhilippine Free Press LiteraryAwards. She writes science fic-tion, fantasy, horror andcrime/mystery. Some of herworks are “Dwellers” (2014),“Project 17” (2013), “A Bottle ofStorm Clouds” (2012) and theself-published collection, “Un-seen Moon” (2013).

Jerald Uy (UP, Batch 2005-2007), former writer and seg-ment producer of GMA 7’s“News on Q,” is now public rela-tions writer for Fuentes ManilaPublicity Network. He is acomics enthusiast.

Emman Von Cena (UP, 2004-2006), former EPA, is now withNestle Phils.

Former researcher AldaFranz Quodala (UP, Batch 2005-2007) has also left the INQUIRER.

Anna Patricia de Leon (UP,Batch 2004-2006) used to writefor GMA 7 online. She nowworks for a business paper inSingapore. De Leon brieflyworked as EPA for the INQUIRER.

Charlene Tordesillas (UP,Batch 2002-2004) workedbriefly as EPA of the Lifestylesection. She had a stint at theUnited Nations World Food Pro-gramme-Philippines as its pub-lic information head.

Rachel Angeli Miranda, for-mer EPA, is now attending UPLaw.

Diverse awesome concernsSome scholars took on vari-

ous jobs with vastly diverse con-cerns:

Jo Javan Cerda (PhilStar),Jessica Anne Hermosa (associ-ate director, Markets and ClientService of SGV & Co.), ReubenJoel Mercado (migrated toHawaii), Joan Andrea Toledo(technical assistant, Depart-ment of Education), ShellyFaune Dimaculangan (Accen-ture), Joba Botana (Mega-world), Bernadette Joy Lopez(senior communications ana-lyst, Social Security System),Arline Adeva (PR director atJollibee Foods Corp.), JohnMark Tuazon (PR officer, SmartCommunications), Hans JoshuaDantes (Project Assistant 1,Philippine Nuclear Research In-stitute-Department of Scienceand Technology), Karen LouMesina (writer, Singapore Busi-ness Review), Jessica GabrielleThea Santiago, (assistant com-munications officer, Jesuit Con-ference of Asia-Pacific), JoannaNicole Batac (2.0 Magazine),Sunshine Yu (Cebu Pacific Air),Diane Claire Jiao (University ofMelbourne), Mark Isaiah David(Epson Phils.), and FrederickTomacder (volunteer coun-selor).

Other former scholars contin-ue to serve as the paper’sworkhorses: Reporters Quis-mundo, Jerome Aning, LeilaSalaverria, Dewey Joseph Yap,Julie Anne Aurelio, Ma. ErikaSauler (now online editor forINQUIRER.net), Kristine FelisseMangunay; and EPAs PenelopeEndozo, Cora Ana KareninaEvangelista, Sara Isabelle Pacia(who has recently become a se-nior digital producer of INQUIR-ER.net), Mariejo Mariss Ramosand Dexter Cabalza.

‘Dream job’Quismundo said it was

through the INQUIRER scholar-ship that she eventually landedher “dream job.” Some 11years later, she said she was “aproud bearer of the most rec-ognized and respected press ID

in the country.”De Vera recalled that he was

the first one to join the INQUIRER,but had entertained thoughts ofquitting after he was assignedto cover the police beat.

“I was overwhelmed, terri-fied and tried to quit after twodays. But our publisher, the lateIsagani Yambot, encouraged meto stay, so I did,” he said.

After one year, he got the po-sition he really wanted—staffwriter at Sunday INQUIRER Mag-azine.

Looking back, he’s happy thatYambot, who died in 2012,talked him out of quitting.

“The INQUIRER has opened ev-ery door for me. It’s really theworkplace that heavily influ-enced me. It’s an honor and aprivilege to be able to work for acompany that you can believe inand be proud of. I’ve learned somuch from everybody I’ve metat the INQUIRER,” he said.

The former scholars haveideas about the impact that theywould want to make in the IN-QUIRER.

Forefront of new mediaPacia wants to be at the fore-

front of the INQUIRER’s move to-ward embracing new mediaand technologies.

“In my time here so far, I’dlike to believe that I’ve been vo-cal on how the INQUIRER canadapt to the changing mediasurroundings, sharing in 2012my thesis on news curation withINQUIRER.net so they may applyit to the website,” she said.

As a member of the INQUIRER

research team, Pedroso justwants to help the paper churnout quality journalistic pieces.She wants “journalism withmeaning, journalism with con-text, journalism that is accu-rate, informative and easy tograsp.”

They have different ideaswhen asked how, in the digitalage, the INQUIRER should trans-form itself without losing itsidentity, core values andstrengths.

Quismundo believes the IN-QUIRER has made significantheadway in the new media andvarious platforms.

‘Not innovative’“It has been at the forefront

of efforts to marry the tradition-al with the new, easing the com-pany into a digital-first (not-so-distant) future. I would say theINQUIRER has been the most in-novative print brand in terms ofits successful transition to mul-timedia. And all the while, it has

remained true to its mission oftelling the Filipino story,whether on paper, on screen oron air,” she said.

Pacia believes the INQUIRER

produces “some of the best, ifnot the best, content amongmedia organizations in thecountry.”

“The digital age should not,and cannot, change that. We arestill among the most-trustedsources of accurate news; weneed only to master how we canbest reach our audience, whostill want to listen to us. Aware-ness of and training on thesenew mediums of storytellingwill be key,” she said.

Pedroso sees the INQUIRER

that is available at all “touchpoints” (print, Web, mobile)without sacrificing contentquality.

Answer important questions“I think the digital age is an

age marked with a deluge of in-formation, both accurate andunreliable, and I think the IN-QUIRER is in a good position toput together the facts, their con-text, the Big Picture and what itall means. To answer the impor-tant questions amid all the digi-tal noise: What’s the Truth?How does everything come to-gether? So what?” she said.

Tandoc thinks the INQUIRER

should not be afraid to inno-vate, “and should realize thatinnovation does not meanchanging the journalistic idealsthat have made it the trustednews organization that it hasbecome.”

The INQUIRER should “investin, and embrace, new tech-nologies that allow new formsof telling the important sto-ries it has to tell, but also real-ize that technologiesshouldn’t shape our journal-ism, but that our journalismcan use these technologies toreach more people by provid-ing faster platforms for dis-semination, new ways of in-teraction with our people, andnovel formats of telling ourstories. Technologies alonewill not save journalism.”

He said the company shouldalso need to “invest in thepeople” who will use thosetechnologies, making surethey are equipped with the re-quired skills, as well as withthe right motivations—“tocontinue doing journalismthat is honest, accurate, andethical, the very same thingsthat my INQUIRER scholarshipand my INQUIRER stay hadtaught me before.”

PDI journalism scholars: Our pride, joy; where are they now?From page 1

STANDING TALL Lawyer Michael Jobert Navallo in Paris. CONTRIBUTEDPHOTO

THOSE WERE THE DAYS Leila Salaverria, Sunshine Yu and AbigailHo set foot in the INQUIRER’s iconic stairs in 1999.

SMILES SAY IT ALL The young INQUIRER president Sandy Prieto (not yet) Romualdez (center) with(from left) scholars Anissa Apolinario, Gladys Pinky Tolete, Katrina Zuño and Mark Isaiah David signs onthe dotted line. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

HIGHER LEARNING Mike Ubac at the Tercentenary Theater inHarvard in 2011. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

COLLEGE TIES THAT BIND Edson Tandoc Jr. and Tarra Quismundotake a selfie in front of the Nanyang Technological University inSingapore where Tandoc, the former reporter, is now a professor.

CO

NTR

IBU

TED

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CHECKING THEM OUT President Sandy Prieto-Romualdez andthe late publisher Isagani Yambot share a light moment with scholarsJerald Uy, Eliza Victoria and Erika Sauler in 2005. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO


Metro’s mercymission for thepoor and ailing

By Santiago R. Alcantara

THEY ARE APPEALS FROMthe ailing and the desperate, whichhave found answers through theINQUIRER’S Metro section.

Their calls for help reach thedesk in a stream of letters, most-ly handwritten by the patientsthemselves or by their lovedones, requesting financial assis-tance for surgeries, medications,therapies and other medical ser-vices whose cost goes beyondthe reach of the poor.

Based on these letters, thesection regularly comes outwith brief stories about the pa-tients’ medical history and per-sonal circumstances, and howpotential donors can get intouch with them and send help.

The senders are not just fromMetro Manila. Some are pa-tients from the provinces whohave sought treatment in thecapital, confined in crowdedpublic hospitals or “adopted” bycharity foundations.

The initiative started in theMetro page in 2006 when an IN-QUIRER employee requested ashort write-up on behalf of aneighbor in need. The simplenarration of the patient’spredicament was enough tomove readers and donationssoon started pouring into thebank account stated in the story.A substantial amount wasraised.

20 letters a monthThese early inspiring ges-

tures have since encouragedmore aid-seekers. Today, thiswriter, who is tasked to vet theletters and the attached medicalrecords and call their sendersfor further verification, receivesan average of 20 letters amonth.

The majority of them con-cerned patients being treated orin a queue for major proceduresat government hospitals like thePhilippine Children’s MedicalCenter (PCMC) in Quezon Cityand Philippine General Hospital(PGH) in Manila.

Published for the past eightyears are their stories of strug-

gle against leukemia, kidneyproblems, biliary atresia, tu-mors, congenital heart disease,breast cancer, cerebral palsy,epilepsy, autism, Langerhan’scell histiocytosis, stroke andHodgkin’s lymphoma, amongothers.

The Metro desk would laterlearn how their appeals drewpositive results from donors,most of whom chose to remainanonymous.

Donor calls from sea“Thank you very much for the

help,” said 43-year-old Rosalin-da Rosales, whose 12-year-olddaughter Dana Angela is under-going chemotherapy at thePCMC due to leukemia. Thiswas after Rosales received a re-ply from a certain Mr. Campo, aseafarer who even called herthree times while onboard hisship after reading about Dana’scondition.

The girl’s three-yearchemotherapy procedure re-quired them to raise P226,000.“Mr. Campo said he was con-tributing P26,000, giving thebiggest donation among thedonors who responded,” Ros-ales told the INQUIRER.

Another letter-sender, Zenai-da Cabornay, said she got thebiggest surprise of her life whenEd Morales called and asked herto proceed to the Batasang Pam-bansa complex in Quezon City.

“I didn’t know that it was theoffice of [OFW party list] Rep.Roy Señeres,” said Cabornay,mother of Renerio, a tuberculo-sis sufferer. “They gave us aguarantee letter worthP25,000.”

‘We feel their pain’“When we read the stories of

such patients, we feel theirpain. It’s a lifetime of medica-tion. Where will they get fundsto sustain their treatments? Itold my staff: ‘As long as wehave funds, let’s help them,”’said Señeres, the former ambas-sador to the United Arab Emi-rates who in the 1990s helpedsave abused domestic helper

LETTERS OF GRATITUDE from Juan Mercado of Bacoor City who sought help for his prostate cancer. EDWIN BACASMAS

JAMIE CARTAS of SantaRosa, Laguna province,dedicated to the INQUIRERher recent win in herschool’s editorial writingcontest. Hergrandmother’s appeal forfinancial assistanceconcerning Jamie’s heartcondition appeared in theMetro section in 2008,2010 and September thisyear. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

METRO’S/ 4


Metro’s mercy mission for the poor and ailing

72Number of Journalism students

who received the Inquirer JournalismScholarship since it started in 1993.

125,000Circulation of Inquirer Libre

when it was first issued in 2001.

5Number of consecutive years

the Junior Inquirer won the Unicef-PPIOutstanding Children’s Newspaper/Section

award. Because of its feat in 2006,the Junior Inquirer was elevated

to the Awards’ Hall of Fame.

55 cm x 32 cmThe present dimensions

of the Inquirer newspaper,slimmer by 2 centimeters in width

compared to when it was issued in 1985until its redesigning in January 2002

through Operation Big.

02.13.87Date the Philippine Daily Inquirer

Employees Union (PDIEU) was organized.It signed its first three-year collectivebargaining agreement (CBA) with the

management on July 10, 1987.

1995Year when Inquirer’s corporate

headquarters and editorial offices movedto its current address in Chino Roces Street

corner Yague and Mascardo Streets in Makati.

07.06.96Date when Guyito makes its first appearance

as the mascot of the Junior Inquirer.

Oct. 1, 1997Date when Inquirer first went online through

the Inquirer.net.

02.02.98Date when Inquirer’s Cebu

Daily News rolled out its first issue.A comprehensive, community-orientednewspaper, it is the first to introduce

to the Philippines a global trend in newspaperscalled the compact format.

2004Year when Inquirer launched

the Guyito Wild Hunt,a contest for readers to search for the

Inquirer’s mascot on a special coupon hiddenin the pages of the newspaper every day.The first Guyito Wild Hunt promo yielded

more than a million raffle entries nationwide.

05.05.07Date when the Inquirer launched a program

called “Inquirer Read-Along"with the advocacy of promoting the love

of reading to children.

11.28 and 29. 11Dates when the Inquirer’s

Read-Along program held it’s first-everRead-Along Festival at the GT-Toyota AsianCultural Center inside the University of the

Philippines campus in Diliman, Quezon City

Sarah Balabagan from the deathpenalty in UAE.

Morales, a consultant to Señeres,added: “I told the staff that we musthelp them and give whatever we canright now and don’t make them comeback [for follow-ups]. For all we know,the money they used to get [toBatasan] was borrowed from theirneighbors.”

Merle Sacil, whose 40-year-oldnephew Christopher Bataller is bat-tling leukemia and whose letter ap-

peared in Metro last month, also re-ceived some good news from Señeres’office, which pledged to shoulder oneof his chemotherapy cycles.

Jamie’s journeyBut depending on their need, some

letters of appeal get published morethan once. This was the case of JamieAnne Cartas who was only 4 years oldwhen she underwent an operation atthe Philippine Heart Center for con-genital heart disease, but required con-tinued financial assistance. Her storyfirst came out in the INQUIRER in March

2008, in November 2010, and again inSeptember this year.

Jamie’s grandmother Josefina, whotook care of her after she was practicallyabandoned by her parents, said the childwas earlier given a 50/50 chance of sur-vival by the doctors. She is now due for asecond heart operation, a P800,000 pro-cedure, which doctors said she shouldhave by October next year.

Now aged 11 and despite her condi-tion, Jamie grew up to become a con-sistent honor pupil at Malitlit Elemen-tary School in Santa Rosa City, Lagunaprovince.

When she recently won an editorialwriting contest in her school, “we dedi-cated that victory to the INQUIRER,”Josefina said.

No more catheter, urine bagProstate cancer patient Juan Merca-

do, a 75-year-old former school teach-er in Molino, Bacoor City, expressed hisgratitude to the INQUIRER in March2013 by addressing a letter to “thehonorable officials of the PhilippineDaily Inquirer,” from the board chair tothe editor in chief.

His thank-you note, which later saw

print in the paper’s Letters section,read: “I am expressing my heartfeltgratitude to all of you. I am perfectlyfine now. I no longer walk with acatheter and urine bag attached to mybody after a successful operation.”

Until recently, the patients’ appealsappeared in the Metro section in a for-mat similar to those of regular news re-ports. But as suggested by the editor inchief two months ago, they were givena special space called “Intensive CareCorner,” giving them more promi-nence—and a bigger chance to touchreaders’ hearts.

INQUIRERINNUMBERS

From page 3


How we’ve grown, and are still growingBy Juliet L. JavellanaChief, Day Desk

IN THE BEGINNING, THEREwas the Philippine Daily Inquirer,which turned out to be the coun-try’s leading and most influentialnewspaper today.

Today, the INQUIRER Group of Companiesis a multimedia organization composed ofnine companies, 10 platforms and 21 ti-tles—all dedicated to telling the Filipinostory.

Companies:1. PDI2. INQUIRER.net. The news website of the

INQUIRER Group supplements selected con-tent from the paper with its pioneeringbreaking news service and interactive fea-tures and special sites. It is complementedby INQUIRER Mobile, the group’s breakingnews smartphone app. From being a mirrorimage of the newspaper during its launch in1997, it is now the No. 1 news website in thecountry for breaking news with 7.4 millionunique visits a month.

3. Inquirer Publications Inc. aims to de-velop community journalism and providequality newspapers to different audiencesfrom A to E. It publishes one nationaltabloid, Bandera, and one regional paper,Cebu Daily News.

4. Print Town Group is the largest pri-vately owned newspaper and commercialprinter in the Philippines. It offers an exten-sive line of advanced heatset, sheetfed andcoldset web press services supported by ourprinting expertise.

FEP Print Corp. was primarily estab-lished in 1993 to serve the daily require-ments of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. In1996, Alliance Media Printing Inc. wasformed as an expansion platform for print-ing other newspaper titles such as theAsian Wall Street Journal, InternationalHerald Tribune, Cebu Daily News and Ban-dera. Today, the PTG Newspaper PrintingDivision manages four press sites with24/7 operations and highly trained man-power in strategic locations in Makati Cityand the provinces of Laguna, Cebu andDavao to meet on-time delivery commit-ments nationwide.

5. Megamobile is a mobile and digitalapplications provider focused on the cre-ation of new and compelling digital ser-vices to mobile communities. Establishedin 2005 as a mobile content provider, itexpanded to web and mobile applicationdevelopments, digital advertising anddigital publishing. It helps drive the digi-tal initiatives of the INQUIRER and its part-ners.

6. Hinge Inquirer Publications (HIP)is the magazine arm of the INQUIRER Groupspecializing in lifestyle and niche con-sumer magazines and free communitypublications. Currently, HIP freezine titlesinclude Red Magazine, Forbes In Touch,Dasmariñas Village Gazette, Southern Liv-ing, Northern Living, Turista, MultisportPhilippines, Makati Leads and Soul BGC.Sold commercially in newsstands is F&BWorld magazine, the only trade publica-tion which serves as guide to the foodser-vice industry.

Also, HIP has an active custom publish-ing unit which has serviced the followingclients to create recent projects such as:SM ShopMag, Chefs on Parade Cof-feeTable Book, UFS-Around the World in80 Plates cookbook, GAP Gazette, AvidaLiving newsletter, Canon Frames Catalogand INQUIRER Supplement, Samsung B2BCatalog, AdCongress Planner, MatimcoWood Living, GNC Live Well, PlantersbankSME Magazine, Sofitel brochure, AlveoCityWalk GuidesPond’s flyers, etc.

Hinge Inquirer Publications creates someof the most dynamic and innovative titles inthe magazine industry today, from fashionto sports, cosmetics to video games, food totravel.

7. Radyo Inquirer dzIQ 990 AM. Oper-ated by the Trans-Radio BroadcastingCorp., shares the INQUIRER’s zeal for bal-anced news and fearless views and its vastnews-gathering network to bring together“the reach and immediacy of radio and thecredibility of the newspaper.” Popular notonly among drivers and passengers of pub-lic utility vehicles, dzIQ is also heard nowin homes, public establishments and work-places with up-to-the-minute news andrelevant information.

8. Inquirer Catalyst Media providesinfotainment on the go. The ICM BusChannel features news and weather up-dates from the INQUIRER.net website, se-lected music videos from YouTube andshows for “fun, light, friendly and mod-ern programming” packaged just for busriders. A pioneering digital innovation

set up in 2012, the ICM Bus Channel canbe viewed on 185 air-conditioned busesplying the Metro Manila and Luzonroutes.

9. DAG Xpress Courier Inc. was set upin 2008 for delivery and courier servicesfor publications, subscriptions, billingstatements and promotional materialssuch as flyers and catalogs. It has morethan 5,000 delivery points in Metro Mani-

9 companies, 10 platforms, 21 titles telling the Filipino story

HOW WE’VE / 3

la, Tagaytay City and the rest of Caviteprovince.

Platforms:1. Print2. Online3. Mobile4. Radio5. Digital outdoor advertising6. e-Paper/INQUIRER Plus

7. Social8. Events9. Direct-to-consumer distribution10. Education

Titles1. PDI2. Libre3. JI


Learning-Bench partnership:A series of very fortunate events

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BENCH, THE INQUIRERserializes an original work of fiction in the Learning section everyschool year to promote love of reading, foster news literacy, linkclassroom learning to the real world and prepare the youth for ac-tive citizenship.

Called the Bench-IIE Serial Reading Program, the series hasreached approximately 40,000 students in Metro Manila,Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Olongapo, Baguio, Laoag,Cavite, Laguna, Naga and Legazpi.

To date, Bench has donated about 200,000 copies of theINQUIRER for eight serialized stories and sponsored workshops for150 teachers.

PRINT version of a wholesome “teleserye” to lure the young into the wonderful world of newspapersMORE FUN WITH THE INQUIRER Kids having fun with the newspaper’s cast of insect charactersin one series

THE INQUIRER team visits a school.

TEACHERS present their group lesson plans during a preseries workshop, a requirement to be able to teach the Learning series.

PARTNER SCHOOL San Beda College in Alabang

“TULOY SA DON BOSCO,” a school that caters to street children

STUDENTartwork

SERIES sponsor Bench uses the students’ artworks andthank-you notes (left) in its display window (above). YOUNG newspaper readers become

readers for life. IN BATAAN, a language lesson in sequencing using the serialized story

HOW TO USE THE NEWSPAPER Teachers attend the workshop onusing the newspaper in the classroom.

PARTNER teachers pose for souvenir photo withwriter Cyan Abad Jugo and artist Steph Bravo.

ORAL reading this year’s story in Malabon

LARGE class in Laguna uses the student activity guide included in every chapter. CLASS ACT The INQUIRER visit culminates in a class photo at this partner school in Bulacan.


4. IGM5. SIM6. Look7. Cocoon8. Baby9. Bandera10. CDN11. Red12. Scout13. Northern Living14. Southern Living15. Cebu Living16. Multisport17. Forbes18. Dasma19, Makati Leads20. Soul BGC21. F&B WorldLibre is the country’s most-read free

newspaper distributed in all Metro trainstations (MRT, LRT and PNR). With its logo“The best things in life are Libre,” it dishesout news and features in a fun, irreverentand quirky style perfect for the highly mo-bile lifestyle of a variety of readers—the notless than 800,000 daily train commuters.

Bandera is the No. 1 national tabloid inthe Visayas region and Mindanao and is al-so among the top tabloids nationwide(based on Nielsen Media Index 2012, 4thquarter). It combines fair and fearless newscoverage with a dose of entertainment andthe latest happenings in show biz as well aslivelihood tips.

CDN or Cebu Daily News is Cebu’s onlyindependent newspaper and the biggest re-gional daily in the Visayas, providing fear-less, relevant and hard-hitting news andviews.

Inquirer Plus Digital Newsstand is theINQUIRER Group’s premium digital productfor INQUIRER subscribers, both online and of-fline. INQUIRER Plus gives INQUIRER sub-scribers an enhanced replica of the printedpaper on their Apple iOS, Google Androidand Windows 8.1 tablets and smartphones.

Helping bring our award-winning printand online content to a social-media madaudience are the INQUIRER’s Facebook andTwitter presence as well as our official ac-counts on the mobile chat apps Kakao Talk,Line, Viber and WeChat. The INQUIRER alsocontinues to send SMS alerts, a service ithelped pioneer.

From page 1

How we’ve grown . . .

Oops!April 3, 1986. Fr. Romano found alive

(banner) (The good father has yet to befound.)

May 28, 1992. Carlo is expecting a boy,pages 1 and 12 (self explanatory)

April 24, 1999. This one’s for real: Kris,Robin to wed Oct. 11 pages 1 and 7 (Neverhappened even as a reality show.)

Sept. 4, 1998.Kidney specialistnew health chief(banner), no byline,with a report fromJerry Esplanada,Page 1 (Ona becameDOH chief 16 yearslater.)

Oct. 31, 1998.‘WHO ME, DEAD?’Erap pal a victim ofHalloween jokePage 1 (This cameout a day after thepublication of anobit on Ang’s deathin the ClassifiedAds.)

Feb. 14, 2005.Wrong caption andwrong correction tothe correction: Thecaption for the PageA1 story read: “Dr.Antonio Lahoz, onwedding day withbride Benita: Bayo-neted to death inthe plaza ruins ofthe Sto. Domingo Church in Intramuros.”

The following day, Feb. 15, the newspa-per’s Correction box bore the following re-marks: “In yesterday’s issue, the caption ofa front-page photo ... mistakenly identifiedthe couple as Dr. Antonio Lahoz and his firstwife, Benita. In the photo were Dr. ManuelLahoz and his second wife, Monica Laquin-danum.”

The correction to the correction turnedout to be wrong. Thus, onFeb. 16, this correction came out: “... theCorrection box misstated that MonicaLaquindanum—the woman inthe photo with Dr. ManuelLahoz—was his secondwife. Laquindanum wasLahoz’s first wife. Lahoz’ssecond wife was BenitaLorenzo—who was mis-takenly identified as thewoman in the caption ofthe same photo in theFeb. 14 issue.” Publicapology (We give up!)

June 17, 2002. Publicapology for Page A1 story,“Erap eyes FPJ for 2004/‘Ang Panday’ to battle ‘AngPandak’?” (referring to Presi-dent Gloria Macapagal-Ar-royo)

Feb. 17, 2007. An articlein the Super section—“Mybrother is not a pig!”—at-tributed the statement mistak-enly to Mimilanie (akaMelanie) Marquez. The famous line was ut-tered by Nora Aunor in the film “Minsa’yIsang Gamu-Gamo.” Marquez’s infamousline, on the other hand, was, “Don’t judgemy brother (actor Joey Marquez). He’s nota book.”

Feb. 8, 2010. A front-page story—“Pingsomewhere in Asia, says NBI”—misstatedthat the arrest order for Sen. Panfilo Lacsonwas 18 pages long. The arrest order was on-

ly one page long.Feb. 4, 2010.An In the Know article on

Page A8—“Who is Joc-joc?”—misstatedthat former Agriculture Undersecretary Jo-celyn Bolante was 58 years old in 1978.

Bolante is current-ly 58 years old.

Feb. 14, 2010. Afront-page sto-ry—“More Pinoyson charm offensivein Chinatown”—misstated thatdragon and liondance troupes thatperformed inManila to celebrateChinese New Yearreceived ampao, aChinese bakeryproduct. The per-formers receivedang pao, red en-velopes containinggift money.

Jan. 25, 2011. Afront-page sto-ry—“P-Noy the Ratneeds Miss Piggy,says seer”—mis-stated that the yearwas the Year of thePig. That year wasthe Year of theRabbit.

Jan. 26, 2011: The front-page bannerstory—“Edsa bus bombing: 4 dead”—mis-takenly identified Susanna Flores as amongthe seven passengers brought to Ospital ngMakati. Flores is a member of Makati CityPublic Safety Administration who helpedbring the victims to Ospital ng Makati.

Feb. 11, 2011. A story on Page A12—“Rob-les: More powerful person behindRabusa”—misstated the first name of a for-mer chief of staff who supposedly receivedlarger sums of money according to RetiredCommodore Rex Robles. He is Roy—not

Frank—Cimatu. (Frank is ourNorthern Luzon correspon-

dent.)March 16, 2012. A

front-page captionmisstated that Mt. Picode Loro was also called

Parrot’s Peak. That shouldhave read, “Parrot’s Beak”—notPeak.

Aug. 6, 2013. A front-pagestory—“Dimaporo arrested byNBI in hospital”—misstatedthe other term for a heart at-tack. The term is myocardialinfarction—not myocardialinfraction.

Aug. 17, 2013. In earli-er editions of this issue, afront-page story—“CAfreezes Napoles’ bank ac-counts”—misstated theabbreviation of the Courtof Appeals as COA.

Feb. 9, 2014. A front-page story—“Unlike-ly hero: Polio victim saved 10 lives”—erro-neously stated the age of a housewife. Fe de laCruz is 52—not 5—years old.

Jan. 3, 2014. An article on PageA17—“Tacloban starts burying 272 bodiesleft lying on the ground”—misstated thatforensic expert Dr. Raquel Fortun super-vised the burial. Fortun has denied involve-ment in the event.

WHAT WERE WE THINKING? The INQUIRER wasconned into thinking and publishing this lampooncover of President Aquino as Time cover.

We made mistakes.We say so sorry. Wetry again. We fall butwe always get up.

XQ

Here’s something to get yououtside this holiday season

By Kenneth M. del Rosario

If you’re looking for ideas on how tomake your Christmas celebration thisyear different from last, here’s one: Gooutdoors and feel the cool Christmasair this time of the year.

Why not? Wouldn’t it be exciting todo outdoor cooking set up in the back-yard for Noche Buena? Or hold aChristmas Party at the top of the moun-tain? These aren’t ideas that peoplewould consider “traditional,” but that’swhat makes them extra special.

This holiday season (or for any sea-son for that matter), Recreational Out-door eXchange (R.O.X.) wants you toenjoy the outdoors. It makes sense-af-ter all, there are activities that can onlybe done outside the comforts of thefour corners of a room.

R.O.X. is the largest outdoor sportsand recreation superstore in the coun-try today. It houses the tools of tradefor the outdoor enthusiast, both new-bie’s and veterans, and subsequentlyprovides outdoor experience to sustainconsciousness of people on issues per-taining to environment.

Imagine holding a get-together in

your backyard for all your loved onesone fine afternoon. The kids are run-ning around while food is being roast-ed. Everyone is excited to open theirrespective gifts under a (preferably re-al) Christmas tree.

At night, set up a tent where you cando camping with the kids. Put them tosleep with stories of Christmases past,when you were their age. Play a littlegame, why don’t you.

That’s the beauty of celebrating out-doors-everybody can do it. But to makethings a little bit more exciting, R.O.X.carries a wide variety of outdoor gearsand equipments to cater for all youroutdoor activities. There’s The NorthFace, Eddie Bauer, Columbia, Sa-lomon, O’Neill, Nalgene, Fox, Hurley,Osprey, Spy, Stance, Travelon, Back-Joy, Slendertone, Timbuk2 and Sea ToSummit. These are just some few of theoutdoor brands that are available inthe store to make your outdoor experi-ence more fun and memorable.

So whether you’re out fishing orsimply having a picnic at the nearbypark, a visit to R.O.X. is in order for a

more fun and hassle-free celebration.If you’d like to try an outdoor Christ-

mas celebration but couldn’t come upwith a clever idea, going to an R.O.X.store will surely help. You’ll find all theright reasons to go outside.

If anything else, there are loads ofgift ideas to be had for your friend wholoves recreational activities outdoors.

R.O.X. today has six locations, withthree more set to open next year. ThisChristmas, the best possible gift youcan give your loved ones may be help-ing them discover their love of the out-doors.

Visit R.O.X. at the following loca-tions: Bonifacio High Street, BonifacioGlobal City Taguig, R.O.X. Ayala Cebu,R.O.X. Marquee Mall Pampanga,R.O.X. Camp John Hay Baguio, R.O.X.Ayala Centrio Mall Cagayan De Oro,R.O.X. The District Ayala Mall Ba-colod.

Follow R.O.X.’s social media ac-counts: R.O.X. Philippines on Facebook;@ROX_Philippines on Twitter and In-stagram. Email [email protected] more info.


It’s the empowering, wonderful worldof an ‘omniplatform’ news org

By Raul PangalanganPublisher

I JOINED THE INQUIRERfamily in 2004 when I became acolumnist, and soon discoveredthe global reach of the INQUIR-ER’s readership. I would getthoughtful comments fromabroad, and not just from Fil-ipinos but foreigners as well. Ialso felt the bite and wit of read-ers’ online responses (alas, in-cluding the nastiness of theanonymous commenters.)

But it was only when I be-came publisher in 2012 that Isaw the painstaking work thatwent into every issue, andshared with the rest of the IN-QUIRER staff the exhilaration ofwatching the news take shape.

One evening in early 2013,our editor in chief LettyJimenez-Magsanoc told me thatour multiawarded investigativereporter, Nancy Carvajal, wouldtalk to me about sensitive infor-mation she discovered at theNational Bureau of Investiga-tion. Little did I know that Nan-cy was just about to introduceme to the whistle-blowers ofwhat would become the

Napoles exposé. I couldn’t haveimagined that the evening’sconversation would result in aninvestigative report that wouldrock Philippine politics to thecore, and lead to the indictmentand arrest of three senators.

Page 1

On the other hand, that re-port gave me the first libel caseagainst me as publisher. Somemight think that I, as a lawyer,would be used to seeing myname on legal documents, but Ihasten to say: Never on Page 1!

Sure, I can sign a pleading ormotion on the second to the lastpage, but seeing my name in thecaption on Page 1 felt very, verydifferent. After a while, though, Iwas no longer too distressedwhen I hear of yet another libelcase. Once, after a 12-hour flight,I disembarked from the plane tohear that we had just been sued,and I simply sat down in the air-port lounge to compose thenewspaper’s response.

As publisher, it has also be-come my lot to read pained let-ters from persons complainingabout the INQUIRER’s reportsabout them. I recall a handwrit-

ty queens who visit the INQUIRER

office. Not just a few, I tell you,but just about every beauty con-test in this neck of the woods.

They actually arrive in big air-conditioned buses, sashay upthe winding steps of the INQUIR-ER building. The “candidates”show up at my door, and wepose for obligatory photographsthat, Letty tells me, Gani insist-ed was the most onerous of hisburdens as publisher.

Let’s just say that the experi-ence has been ... very education-al. Stiffly posing while the pho-tographers juggle several cam-eras and try different angles, I domanage some conversation withmy visitors. “Where’s Lithuania?When did Croatia become inde-pendent?” A song from the 1970sreadily comes to mind. “Don’tknow much about history ... Don’tknow much about geography ...”

But when one thinks of all thegrand possibilities of an omni-platform news organizationthat will empower every Fil-ipino to choose and choosewisely, then it’s the closing linesof Sam Cooke that I prefer toborrow: “... What a wonderfulworld this will be.”

traditional print medium to themyriad of new ways by whichpeople talk to one another, andhear and spread the news.

‘Educational’ dutyThe one thing I hadn’t expect-

ed among my publisher’s dutiesis one that, really, I just inheritedfrom my predecessor, IsaganiYambot: I welcome all the beau-

ten note from a respected, if con-troversial, political leader wholamented the newpaper’s “sus-tained campaign of vilification,”and me phoning him, not know-ing how he would react, to tellhim we would publish his side. Ireceived similar—and count-less—phone calls from congress-men in the course of one of ourexposés, and I assured the

callers that the INQUIRER wouldpublish their responses.

I have also learned a new vo-cabulary. The INQUIRER is “omni-platform”: print, web, socialmedia, mobile, radio andevents—and most dominantand pioneering in several ofthem. The INQUIRER editors andstaff are ready in a big way forthe worldwide shift from the

BURDENSOME CHORE So says publisher Raul Pangalangan of having to meet and tour-guide beautiesaround the INQUIRER office.

ARM

INAD

INA


Assignment: The Asia News NetworkBy Corrie Salientes-NarismaBusiness News Editor

OUR WORLD IS DEFINITELYbigger than what many of us Fil-ipinos may think. The Aseancommunity is a reality we can-not ignore.

This realization hit me onmy first few days on the job atthe Bangkok-based Asia NewsNetwork (ANN), an alliance of22 Asian media organizationsthat includes the PhilippineDaily Inquirer and the leadingnewspapers in nine othermembers of the Association ofSouth East Asian Nations(Asean).

The six-month assignment atthe ANN required me to moni-tor, understand, edit and, some-times, rewrite all sorts of newscoming out of the online ver-sions of the ANN member news-papers daily, from 8 in themorning to 5 in the afternoonevery day.

I was assigned five newspa-pers, three of which wereAsean newspapers—the IN-QUIRER, The Jakarta Post andViet Nam News. Although oth-er editors took care of the oth-er member newspapers, Icouldn’t help but also regular-ly monitor at least the topnews coming out of the likes ofThailand’s The Nation,Malaysia’s The Star and TheStraits Times of Singapore.

The ANN editors pick the sto-ries they deem interesting, rel-evant and informative to its au-dience in and out of Asia anduse them on the ANN website,from which member news or-ganizations can get the latestnews about countries in Asia;dispatch most of them to theGerman News Agency for dis-tribution to its clients, whilethe biggest stories and featuresof the week land on the ANN’sweekly online magazine,AsiaNews.

Pages exclusive to AseanThe more I got exposed to

major developments such as thepresidential elections in In-donesia, the coup d’etat in Thai-land and the sea disputes in-volving the Philippines andVietnam against China and day-to-day events in the countries Iwas “covering,” the more I wasconvinced that Asean newspa-pers needed to do more to makeuse of their extensive reach toget the people in the region un-derstand, embrace and livewhat their leaders call Asean in-tegration.

Newspapers such as The Na-tion have allocated pages ex-clusively for the Asean, carry-ing all sorts of news aboutmember countries. But the oth-ers have not gone beyond re-porting Asean summits andother top-level meetings andthe resulting agreements fromthose gatherings, without real-ly getting into the bottom of allthese developments: Whatthey mean to and what the im-pact will be on the people in theregion.

It can also be of help tomake the people of the Aseanregion more familiar with in-dividual member countriesand their people by, perhaps,coming out with more storiesabout culture, traditions andplaces on top of the hard stuff

on the so-called Asean inte-gration and the resultingAsean Economic Community(AEC).

The people should be madeaware of both the opportunitiesand challenges that regional in-tegration, which starts nextyear, is going to present.

Unhampered flow of infoAs the governments of the

Asean push for the free flow ofgoods and services and the freemovement of people within theregion, so should there be anunhampered flow of informa-tion and news about each andevery member country.

News organizations in everyAsean member country and theANN can be instrumental inmaking these possible.

The ANN is already makingpreparations for the start of theintegration of the region’seconomies into the AEC at theend of 2015. The AEC envisionsto turn the Asean into a highlycompetitive economic region.Through it, the region will be-come a single market and pro-duction base that will carry the“Asean” brand.

While there will be a lot ofopportunities from the integra-tion, so will there be a myriad ofproblems that will face theAsean and its people.

The ANN’s role will be toclosely monitor and report re-gional developments so theproper authorities and the peo-ple can make the necessary ad-justments and strategies to real-ize the goals of the AEC.

The ANN has been doing edi-torial collaboration on criticalregional issues such as the on-going territorial disputes, cli-mate change and the creation ofthe AEC.

Business cooperationThrough the years, the ANN

has evolved from mere sharingof editorial content and photosto business cooperation.

In a historic move, four news-papers in the region have joinedforces to give readers storiesfrom each country on a singleplatform. Readers will getnews, written with local and re-gional perspective, from thePhilippines, Malaysia, Indone-sia and Thailand under one e-paper subscription. Under this,subscribers of any of these pa-pers will get the three others forfree.

The e-paper aims to reach outto 450 million out of the 600million people living in theAsean.

With all these platformsavailable, it is now the job ofeach and every newspaper inthe Asean to come up with theinformation relevant to the at-tainment of the goals of theAEC. After all, the ANN is de-pendent on what stories itsmember newspapers are pro-ducing.

As the Asean gets integratedand becomes one solid regionalgroup, anything that happens,big or small, in any of its mem-ber countries can directly affectFilipinos, food on the table, jobsand other aspects of our lives.Our world has really grown big-ger than what it was before. Weshould embrace it. With a re-port from Adlai Noel O. Velas-co

29th Anniversary Supplement StaffEditor Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc

Assistant Editors Volt Contreras • Emmie Velarde

Art Lynett VillaribaErnie Sambo • Elizalde Pusung • Jerito de la CruzSteph Bravo •Belen Belesario • Albert Rodriguez

Copy Editors Ester Dipasupil, Michael Lim Ubac

Editorial Production AssistantsMary Ann Ayos-Perido • Tere Cruz-Tenorio • Kirstin Bernabe

Cake Evangelista • Vanessa Hidalgo • Jun Veloira

IT SupportJim Lorenzo • Louie Bacani

Copy MonitorsEdward Llantada • Allan Mortel

3TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2014 PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

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What readers sayBy Elena PerniaReader’s Advocate

THE PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRERis the paper of choice of more than a millionFilipinos, making it the country’s No. 1newspaper in terms of readership. On a dai-ly basis, there are almost two INQUIRER read-ers for every reader of either the ManilaBulletin or Philippine Star (see newsin-fo.inquirer.net/648396/pdi-beats-com-bined-readership-of-2-rivals).

For several of these INQUIRER readers, theirdaily newspaper experience is incomplete ifthey do not send feedback. And because mod-ern technologies have made communicationspeedier and easier, the INQUIRER receives dailythousands of comments through various

means. I receive feedback predominantlythrough e-mail messages, phone calls, SMStexts and social media, but also quite com-monly through fax, the postal system andface-to-face encounters.

Who are these INQUIRER readers sendingtheir feedback and what have they said? Letme share some examples.

There are feedback senders who de-scribe the INQUIRER in heartwarming su-perlatives. In one case, the PDI is her “ul-timate news source” that “has been prettyhelpful for me in training young writers ineditorial and feature writing and cartoon-ing.” Another wrote “to express pleasureand appreciation” with changes in theINQUIRER.net website, saying that its newlayout “exudes an excellent virtual ap-

peal” and that he is positively“dazed” and “stunned” not just bythe website features, “but moreimportantly [by] its content [thatis] reflective of its admiredtagline, Balanced News, FearlessViews.”

All age groupsReaders across all age groups con-

tribute quick feedback as well aslonger commentaries. A septuagenar-ian plus four took time to send an e-mail to say “my favorite newspaper isstill very much the PDI” and then pro-ceeded to give his hard-hitting opin-ion, which he hoped would see print.An equally opinionated 90-year-old isa regular (almost daily) e-mail writer.Among the younger set who sendcontributions, they proclaim joy andfulfillment in being published inYoung Blood. As one said, “getting tocontribute there [and be published]has been one of my greatest dreamsfor as long as my writing self can re-member.”

Sometimes, but not often enough,there are those who send congratu-latory messages and words of en-couragement. For instance, a readerwrote that continued coverage of aparticular issue “will go a long wayin urging national leaders and policymakers … to take a stand … that tru-ly benefits all.” There are words of“bravo” for columnists and reporterswho “cannot be more precise” intheir writings.

There are also those who praiseour news coverage but advise cau-tion. A reader wrote this regardinga particular feature story: “It iswell written and informative, yes,but what concerns me is the man-ner in which it was written. I un-derstand that it was a way ofcatching attention … but don’tyou think it was a little too much?”Another avid reader chided thepaper for errors in a caption of afront-page photo: “Two thingswrong with the nonsentence andit passed muster? Please, be morecareful next time.”

CriticsA significant number of feedback

can be labeled critical. Readers and

news sources who send such feedbackquestion the accuracy and balance ofparticular stories and general newscoverage. They raise arguments likethe “headline being a misrepresenta-tion of the fact,” the “claims [made inthe article being] unwarranted, thereporter having “ventured into thepractice of sensationalism,” and the“published [details] giving a wrongimpression from the original one.”Among the harshest complaint Ihave ever received said: “eitheryour writers don’t know theirmath, don’t know their logic,don’t care to get their factsright, or just want to sensa-tionalize their story.”

Very commonly, thesecritical readers askthat, “in the inter-est of truth andfairness,” the is-sues they raise inthe complaint bepublished as letter tothe editor, the correc-tion or apology be made, orthat the “reporter [be] ad-vised of the [need for] correc-tion.” Even among these whocomplain, there is an ac-knowledgement that the IN-QUIRER is “an otherwise greatnewspaper.”

DisappointmentsA regular reader of the IN-

QUIRER, who is himself a rank-ing official of the national govern-ment and therefore a highly placednews source, lamentably expressedthe sentiment that journalists, attimes, fall short in accuracy and veri-fication. He gave me the book byAlain de Botton, “The News: A User’sManual,” which he asked to beshared with the PDI editors. De Bot-ton’s book, which has been de-scribed as “a manifesto for what we(the consumers of the news media)should want and demand from newsorganizations,” was probably hisway of communicating his disap-pointments with certain news cover-age of the PDI.

A regular reader sent this textmessage to me just last week: “I’vebeen monitoring and really noticed

a vast improvement in PDI news re-porting.” Coming from her, the com-ment was especially pleasing be-cause a few months back, when wehad first met, it was to complainabout the “deteriorating quality andgrowing imbalance in the reportingand treatment of news by PDI.”

Invitation to readersThe INQUIRER values its engage-

ment with readers, and invites itsreaders to send feedback—whetherthese are complaints or words of ap-preciation via mail (PDI, Chino RocesAvenue corner Yague and Mascardostreets, Makati City), fax (8974793and 8974794), e-mail ([email protected] and [email protected]), Twitter(@NenyP) and Facebook.

PERNIA: Readers give praisebut advise caution.

The Chamber ofReal Estate and Builders’

Associations, Inc.

Congratulates thePhilippine Daily Inquirer

as it celebratesits 29th year!

Music and laughter in Casino FilipinoCelebrity Shows this December

Casino Filipino (CF) guests and patrons canexpect unbridled laughter and unparalleledmusical shows from some of the country's mostpopular artists this December.

The "Krismas Na! Krismas Na!" celebrityshows in Casino Filipino branches and satellitesbegan at CF Tagaytay on December 4 withpopular TV host/comedian Jose Manaloentertaining guests with his unique brand ofhumor. The "Eat…Bulaga!" mainstay will alsoperform in Ronquillo Satellite (December 10),and CF Olongapo (December 12).

"Maraming beses na akong nakapag-performpara sa Casino Filipino kaya't kabisadung-kabisado ko na ang kiliti ng mga manonood. Maymga bago akong gimik na inihanda sa mgadarating kong shows," Jose excitedly said.

Also lined up to provide casino guests with top-rate entertainment this December are Bossa NovaQueen Sitti Navarro, Acoustic Pop Prince NyoyVolante and Comedy Queen Ai Ai delas Alas.

Sitti and Nyoy will regale their audience withtheir signature relaxing music at CF Pavilion(December 17), Malabon Satellite (December27) and CF Tagaytay (December 30).

Ai Ai delas Alas, meanwhile, vows to bring thehouse down with her comedic wit and musical flairas she performs at CF Angeles on December 27.

The three celebrities are no strangers to theCasino Filipino stage and have performed toSRO crowds during their previous CF shows.

Sitti is one of the most in-demand performersin the different CF venues. "I'm very excited toreturn to what I consider as my second home.The countless occasions that I've performed forCasino Filipino were so memorable. It just feelsgreat that I get to entertain people who areappreciative of my music," she said.

Nyoy, on the other hand, has also made his markamong casino guests with his unique rendition oftimeless love songs. "I always love performing forthe Casino Filipino audience. They are very warm. Iam sure Sitti and I will have a great time during ourshows. I hope our fans and people who love hearingour music will watch our shows," he added.

Meanwhile, despite her hectic showbizschedule, Ai Ai managed to squeeze in a gig forCF guests who wish to see the popularcomedienne perform once again.

Ai Ai is excited to hold a special concert forher fans in Casino Filipino. "Isang show lang akosa Casino Filipino ngayong December peronasisiguro kong masisiyahan nang husto angmga taong walang sawang nanonood attumatangkilik sa atin," she enthused.

Bong Quintana, PAGCOR's Assistant VicePresident for Bingo and Entertainment, said theshows they prepared for December would givecasino guests more reasons to celebrate amerrier Yuletide season.

"The special Casino Filipino celebrity showswe lined up this December will surely bring joyand excitement to our guests. We have invitedsome of the country's top artists to perform forour casino patrons because they deservenothing but the best, especially during thisChristmas season," Quintana mused.

For more information on "Krismas Na!Krismas Na!" special celebrity shows and otherentertainment offerings of Casino Filipino,please call the Entertainment and BingoDepartment at 708-2046 or 526-0337 local 2401to 2404. You may also visit and 'like' us onFacebook (www.facebook.com/casinofilipino;www.facebook.com/pagcorartists) or follow uson Twitter (www.twitter.com/casinofilipino).

pdi celebrates 29th anniversary

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