Q:Ma’am, please state your name and your job description, or where you’re working right now.
A:My name is Carmencita H. Acosta, I’m copy editor of What’s On & Expat. A weekly newspaper.

Q:Can you please describe in layman’s terms what you do as copy editor for What’s On & Expat?
A:Well, as copy editor, my main job is to see to it that the newspaper comes out without any typographical errors and no grammatical errors, but aside from being copy editor, I do a lot of interviewing, reporting and writing.

Q:So how did you begin as a writer?
A:I’m 62 years old now, and I graduated from the University of Sto. Tomas in 1962. But I took up philosophy, not journalism. I learned journalism form my mother, who was an editor of the Tagalog section of the Philippines Free Press, and my grandfather who was an editor of a Spanish newspaper in the Philippines. So, I just love to write. After graduation, before finding a job, or while I was looking for a job, I began writing. They were mostly historical articles, I kept sending them to the Philippines Free Press, a magazine which exists until now. And thanks God, all my articles were published by the Philippines Free Press. I was so happy and I was encouraged to keep on writing. Eventually, I became a columnist of the old Manila Bulletin. That was in 1963. I had a historical column entitled “Andres Bonifacio”. And then I wrote for the Manila Chronicle now defunct, mostly on history; then, I branched out to culture and other topics.

Q:So you can say that you are not necessarily supposed to be in the office? So can you describe at least the office you saw most often in the publication you work for?
A:Well, during my time, there were no computers (laughs). Maybe in the States, there were computers, but in the 1960s, we had to use the typewriter. And well, yes,.of course all the offices were air-conditioned. I had a desk in the defunct Tribune, not the present Tribune. It was the defunct Tribune, then published by the Estrada-Cuenca tandem. I had a desk there. I was religion editor. And yes, the office was air-conditioned, it was comfortable, there was camaraderie among the reporters, and the writers, and even the photographers.

Q:So going back to reporters as you said, any memorable editors and co-workers?
A:The very first associate editor with whom I had to deal with was an American, Richard Kennewick (spell check). He was associate editor of the Philippines Free Press. And I would even say he was the one who indirectly encouraged me because he always published the articles I submitted to him.

Q:How about co-workers, ma’am?
A:Co-workers… well … when I worked in the defunct Tribune, among my more famous co-workers was Jullie Yap-Daza. She was editor then of lifestyle. And there was Domini Torrevillas-Sutarez (spell check) also a section editor. And may I also mention, he passed away recently… Joe Burgos… Jose Burgos. Because during the martial law years, when there were only a few newspapers to write for, almost all the newspapers were shut down, but there was We Forum, published by the late Joe Burgos. I was a contributor there. But I was regularly writing, and many of my stories came out in the front pages. So, during those martial law years, while many writers had no venue for freedom of expression, at least there was Joe Burgos’ We Forum. And I would say that Joe Burgos was one of the great journalists of our time.

Q:So during the Martial Law as you said, how did Joe Burgos go about his… I mean there was press, media crackdown. How was he able to publish and edit articles that could have been subversive? Did he face any libel charges?
A:Oh yes. It was the only newspaper that was publishing articles that criticized the policies of the Marcos administration. The newspaper We Forum of Burgos was not criticizing people. I was one of the writers, so I know. We were not criticizing personally the people in the administration. We were criticizing the policies. So the personalities were not dealt with but the policies, the decisions made, the situation in the country, the economic conditions, and of course, since during those years, as everybody knows, there was no press freedom. So the administration did not like it. But somehow, it must have been the hand of God, the critical articles kept on being published. That’s why it was a very popular newspaper. It was read by so many people. And eventually, as you all know, one day, the authorities swooped down on the We Forum newspaper offices in Quezon City and the staff were jailed. Because I was a contributor, my name was not in the editorial box. I did not have the honor of being jailed. But Burgos and his associate editors and many of the staff were jailed. And that was, as they said, a blow to press freedom.

Q:Did you face any libel charges yourself?
A:Ah, myself? No, it was the We Forum that had to bear the brunt of the charges. I would also like to mention at this point that when We Forum stopped publishing, there was another courageous newspaper, which is already forgotten now. The name of that newspaper was… The Guardian. When We Forum was stopped, The Guardian kept on. It was published by the former associate editor of Joe Burgos, Marcelo Soriano. Somehow, before We Forum was closed… Marcelo Soriano, Marcelo Soriano left We Forum to start his own, The Guardian. So that when We Forum was no longer publishing, it was the Guardian which kept on publishing. And I had the honor of being also a contributor. In fact, I had a column there, in The Guardian. And The Guardian kept on its critical stance against the policies of the dictatorship. But now, The Guardian is hardly mentioned, it is already forgotten. Marcelo Soriano was the guy who published The Guardian.

Q:So after the Martial Law years, ma’am, where did you find yourself working?
A:I was teaching English, Spanish & other subjects in several universities. I’d like to mention the defunct Daily Express, edited by Enrique Romualdez, Pocholo Romualdez, who is now editor of the present Malaya newspaper. I was religion writer in the Daily Express. And my first contact with the Daily Express was its publication of my book. I wrote the biography of Rufino Cardinal Santos. I wrote it because he was the first cardinal of the Philippines. And I thought Cardinal Santos would be good historical subject. So I presented the manuscript to the Daily Express and it was published. And it came out in about, I think, 20 installments. It was a complete book, published shortly after the death of Rufino Cardinal Santos. In the mid-1990s I was a staff member of EFE, Spain’s International Wire News Agency. I was news translator from Spanish to English in EFE’s Manila bureau. I worked in the evening shift.

Q:Ma’am, how about the… during the EDSA II revolution, where did you find yourself into?
A:EDSAII? Ah, wait a minute, I am a bit confused. That was ah…

Q:The ouster of Erap.
A:Yes, the ouster of President Joseph Estrada. What year was that? 19---

Q:2001.
A:Ah, 2001… I was not connected with any paper then. I was at that time, was polishing up my Spanish and working here at the National Archives, extracting historical documents in Spanish. I was busy with the Spanish documents so I was not writing at that time.

Q:So the period between 1970s and year 2001, what did you do?
A:Oh, I was ah… I became contributing editor of a defunct magazine, Celebrity magazine, with offices in Quezon City. I was contributing editor there. And I wrote many historical articles on figures not only of Filipinos but international figures. I had also the experience of working in foreign media, EFE, Spain’s International News Agency in the mid-1990s

Q:So for about 30 years, nag-celebrity magazine po kayo?
A:No, Celebrity was shut down. I taught in several universities like Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, Lyceum, Arellano University, Philippine Christian University. So all the time, I had 2 jobs. During those times, I was contributing articles and teaching. Well I would like to mention also one of the most memorable events in my life as a journalist was when I won in the year 2000, the Journalism Award, given by the Instituto Cervantes. The Instituto Cervantes is the cultural arm of the Spanish embassy. And I was given the first prize Journalism Award for my article on the Spanish language hich was published in the Manila Bulletin. It was the first award I received in journalism and I was so happy.

Q:So what exactly was that article about?
A:Oh. You students might not agree, but I was saying that it would be good if Filipino students learned Spanish. Because you see, a comprehensive account of Philippine history has not yet been written. Why? In this building, we are at the National Archives at the Luneta, in this building there are about 20 million documents in Spanish, all about Philippine history. From the 15th century up to the American regime. We are now talking of Spanish documents which comprise 3 centuries of Spanish rule in the Philippines. All these bundles, these are the places, the rooms where the bundles are kept, they had not yet been seen by historians. And even if historians come, researchers come, to open the bundles, because they are always accessible to the public, the documents are all in Spanish, and old Spanish at that. So I was thinking Filipinos should learn Spanish.

Q:So as to be able to understand…
A:At least, history majors… so that our history can be written, because as of now, our history is based on what was written by the Spanish friars, and they wrote from the, what we call, europocentric (spell check) viewpoint, not from the Filipino or the real viewpoint. So, that was the article about. I was lamenting the fact that so very few Filipinos speak Spanish now. My work is cataloging, abstracting, the Spanish documents. We are only about 6 catalogers.

Q:For about a million documents?
A:Yes. And 2 of them are Spaniards. They’re working upstairs. One is form Guatemala. So there are… how many of us… 3 Filipinos. So how can our history be written?

Q:So ma’am, how about feedback from readers of your articles? Any memorable…
A:Oh yes. I remember, at We Forum for example the last issue, it was memorable because it was the very last issue before the authorities swooped down. A UP professor wrote, but he chose to remain anonymous, perhaps because of the times then, martial law. He was commending me for my articles which were written from a Christian viewpoint. Because I am a born-again Christian and as I said, I believe in criticizing policies, not people. Never name-calling. And I was being commended for that. And now where I’m working at present, What’s On & Expat, which is published by Mr. Murray Hertz (spell check) of Las Vegas, there were 2 letters to the editor which made me happy. One commended me for my article on the European Union. And another for my article on the traffic situation in Manila (laughs).

Q:Ma’am, can you give a graphic description of how What’s On & Expat look like, the office?
A:Ah, you mean the office? Well, since we are a weekly paper, we are just a few there. There’s Francesca Ortigas, the associate editor, there is your cousin Raymund; Anna Lacson and Aileen Techico. So how many writers… 5 writers and we have the classified and advertising, so it is not a big office. It is air-con, and we have computers, But we writers, we are often outside because we have to interview a lot of people.

Q:That is another study of my professor. He’d like to know more about how you pass your articles before the information technology era as compared to now.
A:Ah… then and now? Well as I said, before we were using the typewriter.

Q:And the manner by which you pass your articles? Do you bring them personally or you just e-mail?
A:Yes, we bring it personally, the script itself, and the editor makes corrections, manual corrections and then it is printed. There were printers then, the big machines.

Q:At port area…
A:And then the first proof will come out, and then we correct it. But now, we encode it immediately in the computer and then we make the corrections in the computer. When we submit it now to the printer, it is camera-ready.

Q:How about your article pass-on to the editor, do you bring it personally or e-mail na lang?
A:Well in my case now, I am working in the office of What’s On & Expat. Wednesday is our deadline and I am there…

Q:Ma’am, going back to how We Forum was shut down, can you give a description what actually happened?
A:Actually, I was not present on that day, but what I know, what happened was, it was a regular working day, and then the authorities came. It must have been the military. It was graphically described in the newspapers. The staff were arrested, the paper was shut down and Burgos and company were hauled off to jail. It made headlines in all the newspapers. And of course, everybody was sad that that should happen. It only focused the fact that there was no press freedom at all.

Q:So we were taught for a fact that there were soldiers within the newspaper’s office.
A:During the arrest.

Q:There were soldiers within your office, ma’am?
A:As I said, I was not present, but I believe so. It was always of course the military that arrested the people.

Q:Ma’am, how about memorable experiences, more recent experiences?
A:Well, at What’s On & Expat, when I learned that Queen Sophia of Spain was going to visit the Philippines, I immediately called the Cooperacion Española (spell check) and asked for accreditation to cover her visit. So there I was, with the foreign photographers, rushing with my small camera, and I thank God I was able to take a good picture of Queen Sophia. That was the VIP that I covered so I would say that it is memorable.

Q:Ma’am, do you have any suggestions for would be journalists?
A:I see… well, in journalism we must be… always be accurate. There is no alternative for accuracy. And accuracy can be only achieved if we get all the facts. If we are writing on an issue, we have to get all sides of the issue, and we must not have our own personal agenda. That is different from a column. A column is where the writer writes all his opinions, but for a reporter, for a news writer, feature writer, his own opinion should go in the background. He should just state facts. Get all the facts. And as a born-again Christian, again I would say, never criticize a person. You may criticize what he did, but not the person, because nobody’s perfect. Nobody is perfect. So we criticize the decision, especially if they affect the whole nation or affect a segment of society, and our purpose of criticizing is so that the necessary changes can be made because media is very powerful. Imagine if the media were always to present the things that should be done, our officials always read the newspapers. They’re always interested. So there is the power of the media and it is the responsibility of the media people to be truthful, honest and also merciful.

Q:Ma’am, would you say that formal educational background in journalism is necessary to become a successful journalist?
A:I don’t think so. In my case, I didn’t have a formal background in journalism. I think what is important to have in journalism are the qualities of perseverance, a desire to know the truth, and industry. Masipag. Because lazy bones should not attempt to be journalists. Because so often it happens that to get all the sides of a story, you have to go places and of course, sometimes you get tired. You say, “Oh I won’t get that side anymore. I’ll just write what I have.” Also, a good journalist should be innovative. Be creative. If he was not able to interview the highest authority of an institution because of the secretary who blocks his way, he should know ways of how to get to that person.

Q:Ma’am, how about salaries, then and now? Is it profitable to become a journalist?
A:Well, as they say… somebody once told me, in writing there is immortality but no money. Immortality, because your name is always there and your articles will always be archived and kept in the library. There is immortality in journalism. There is even fame. But money… be a businessman if you want to… you start your own business if you want to have a lot of money (laughs). But of course there are a few who are wealthy but it is rare… in the Philippines. I don’t know in other nations.

Q:That would be all. Thank you. (additional)
A:My most memorable interview… well, alright, you were asking me about my most memorable interview. Alright, perhaps it is memorable because it took place in Malacañang. There was a media advisory so I went to Malacañang. It had to do with the visit of an American lady official who went to Mindanao to see the situation there. So there we were, waiting for the American ambassador. He was not yet there, so instead of just wasting time, reading and looking at the wall, I saw an American there. I said, “This looks like an embassy man. I hope he is approachable.” It was my first time to interview an American official. So I approached him and oh, he gave me all the data I needed. He turned out to be Frank Jenista (spell check). For many years, Frank Jenista was the press-attache of the American embassy, but he recently retired. Now it is Karen Kelly. I say memorable because first, it was in Malacañang. It was my first time to interview an American official and I was happy because he was so cooperative, he gave me all the data I needed. He was not unapproachable.

Q:Okay, thank you.