LIM & TEE. Can you please describe the circumstances leading to your present position as the editor-in-chief of the Philippine Star?
BELMONTE. The Circumstances. Okay. Back in July '86 I was one of the incorporators of the Philippine Star The original owners were a breakaway group from the Inquirer. In 1985, the owner of the then "Mr. & Ms.", I think she's still the owner, and my mom got together to put up a newspaper. And they called it "Philippine Daily Inquirer" and it became a hit, we all know it by history, and back in March, because of growing pains, they started having arguments. And in short, it is one case where success became worse for a partnership than failure. So they parted ways and my mom and some of the people who were part of the Inquirer back then left and eventually put up the Philippine Star. And back then, back in '85, I was for our part of it, for our end of it, I, unofficially, was the one helping my mom out in the production, printing the Inquirer back then. Because officially, she (mom) was the one who was the partner. So I learned a lot of my skills there and then when The Star was put up in '86 I was one of the incorporators, and stayed mostly in the financial and management side of it. Not really editorial, although I had gone to college in UP and took journalism, so it was really my line. And she died in 1994, and when she did, in '96, I took over helping out in the editorial, I moved out of the finance positions to help in editorial which was more of my line and helped the editor-in-chief then from '96 all the way 'till '99, until the person retired. Then I took over January 2000. But I had been actually helping to do the job since '96. S o I had about four years of training and then I finally took over so officially this is my, what? By the end of the year, this is my first year officially.

Q. Sir, what was it like being Mrs. Betty Go-Belmonte's son. Did she influence you in some way? I think your grandfather was Fukien Times Publisher?
A. Okay. So, I went through all that and you know my history already. Yeah, my grandfather actually came from China. He's an only child , he was a stow away. He stowed away on a ship and came to the Philippines. And he started out working as a janitor in a printing press, in a newspaper and worked himself up from janitor to publisher of the Fukien Times. Which back then before World War II was the number one Chinese community newspaper. And since the editorial of the newspaper was very, very anti-Japanese, when the Japanese took over, he was one of the wanted men. Most of his friends had been captured and beheaded. So he fled to the - lived in the jungles and my mom was eight years old at that time, during the war. And after the war, he revived his newspaper again. It was still the same , the paper for the community, and because he was the publisher na, di ba? So, medyo he's standing in the society in that community group. And my mom naman was his assistant through out as the editor. And it was his son, my mom's brother, who started newspapers called the Daily Star and The Pilipino Star during the late 60's. One was an English tabloid, one was a tagalog tabloid which when was closed during martial law, was copied. Format, layout, exactly the same, by the government. And that's what became the design of the people and the People's Tonight. During the martial law years and up to this time, it's an exact copy of the newspapers of my uncle. He fled to Canada when martial law was declared . He's now the second highest official in the Toronto Star, a newspaper naman there in Toronto, Canada. He's now a big-shot there. During martial law, my mom took over his business here. The printing press was around anyway, so she began doing printing jobs, printing books, printing textbooks. And when I was in college, I was assigned to help her naman. It's just passing down. I was the one naman hanging around here, helping her and learning the business, and then that's how it was like working for her. So, until my time came din, tapos yun nga.

Q. Were you ever a reporter or a cub reporter?
A. Oh yeah. No. Most owners or most people who end up nga in my position usually should start as reporters or cub reporter. Professionally, I never became one, because I'm one of the lucky guys, I'm the son of the owner. Luckily, I got trained when I was in school. My professor was Louie Beltran, the famous Louie Beltran, who also hated my guts back then. So I was a rebellious student and he hated my guts back then, and then he went on to become our columnist in the Philippine Star when I was the treasurer. So, I was like, signing his checks na. So, the situation changed. But then, if I'm ever thankful to him it's because he trained me when I was in school. And our publisher is Max Soliven, who's teaching me also. I had a lot of good teachers.

Q. Aside from Louie Beltran and Max Soliven, who were the other people that you worked with whom were memorable? And in what way were they memorable?
A. What made them memorable? Back in '85 when my mom and her partner, Mrs. Apostol, who is now the publisher of Pinoy Times, the famous Pinoy Times, that was her partner in Inquirer. When they were putting up the Inquirer, I was actually recruited into the Cory (for President) Campaign. They had a group called the Cory Media Bureau, and originally, it had five members. I was one of the five originals. That also, sort of , trained me in media, the media world, how to do journalism and that sort of thing. And the people I worked with were Teddy Boy Locsin, there were many of them. Others, the ones I remember are Billy Esposo, who's now a member of the group that's supporting Chavit Singson. I worked with them back then in '85. They're the same EDSA group, so they're alive again. All of them gave, contributed to making me what I am, what I'm not, kung kulang pa.

Q. Sir, what about your best memories?
A. Well, I'm too early to have best memories. It's not even really a year yet but one of the things I would not forget would be back in '83 or '84 when we were running our printing press pa. And it was right after the assassination of Ninoy and we were putting out a publication which was not a newspaper but a magazine. And that was how my mom and Cory became good friends, through her interviewing her, Cory, during that time in the magazine. And there was a time when the military raided our office. I was here, we were only an outfit of 60 employees then, compared to about 600 na now. We were a small outfit then, printing an opposition-type, publication. And in order to, I thought, harass us, they brought 30. 30 soldiers came and raided our office and produced a Xerox of a warrant of arrest for a John Doe who's supposed to be an NPA hiding in our office, that's the excuse. But what they did was, talagang ano, it's to terrorize lang. They let everybody lie down on their stomach, on the ground, kicking employees right and left, ransacking here and there, looking for the guy, the NPA guy. So, and there, so I saw how my mom could possibly be brave and foolhardy at the same time. Because instead of being afraid, she got more galit e. She was mad at them for kicking and you know, maltreating the employees, they're shouting at them. And I was standing beside her, galit siya. So I was standing beside her and then she's saying, she's warning them, "Be alert! Be alert! They're going to plant something! They're going to...make sure they don't, ano, complete evidence, mga gano'n. So imbes na matakot, maslalo lang, she got mad. And that, I remember that. That was back in '84, '83 or '84. I was still right out of college at that time. And I was there also.

Q. Sir, what was it like being your mother's son?
A. That's very hard, it's very hard. It's also very hard to be my father's son. I have to go out of my way to show that the newspaper is neutral, impartial, and fair to everyone. Because my father happens to be the chief of the prosecution panel in the impeachment case. So, on that score, I have to show that the newspaper remains a newspaper with credibility. It is not a mouthpiece of the opposition, it is fair to whoever. And although it's critical, rather than supportive it is more critical because the readers of a broadsheet (Class AB), are of that mindset e. So it's because we like to give the readers what they like to read and educate them at the same time, we cannot possibly put content which they don't like to read. And that's the reason why. Because most are the calls for resignation, ouster, all come from the broadsheet reading public, di ba? The middle class, which are the ones who read the broadsheet. So that's why, our content is catered to our audience. And it's not catered to any political leanings. It's harder for a person like me. That's why people say, maybe, how come in this particular issue we're not say, as hard hitting as the Inquirer? I said, how can we be as hard hitting as the Inquirer? People would say I'm the, porke the son of the prosecutor, he's editor-in-chief, he's gonna use the newspaper to hit back. So it's a little harder for someone like me. I have to really go out of my way to be fair, to show that there's no relation. And that's being the son of my father. The son of my mother naman is another thing on its own. Because she stood for many causes and fought hard for them. And people remember her for so many things and so I'm constantly under a shadow of two people who I will probably never come close to as far as fame is concerned. It's not easy, but somebody's gotta do it.

Q. Sir, can you please describe the newspaper during its early years in terms of location.
A. Oh, back in '84. Back in '84, this area was mostly for port services and yet it's really funny that most newspapers were here. Because back in the 60s, this used to be newspaper belt. Most of the newspapers were located here. And sometime during the 70s or 80s, it was really zoned to become a port area. So, they expected more cargo-type businesses to locate here - import, export. But they could not get rid of the newspaper buildings on this row because of the long-term leases that a lot of them have. We still have 18 years of lease in these areas. So, even though people would like to change this into an exclusively shipping business zone, they can't take us, the newspapers out. For a while, we were warehouses lang. We were several warehouses put together. That's why there's no fourth floor or fifth floor, not even a medium rise. In our building, it's all flat lang, it's all press and you're lucky to come in at the time when our office now looks like an office because we renovated it back in '96. But in '95, if you come here, you'd still think you were in a warehouse. And since we came to Star, we moved here, and this is the original printing plant of the Inquirer also, when they moved out naman. During their anniversaries, they would also reminisce about their years from when they used to stay here. Of course, but they would call us, "when we used to live in the barracks, or the warehouse, or the dilapidated printing plant. That's how they make fun of us". So, that's how they describe their history and you cannot really blame them, because that's exactly what we were - a dilapidated bodega, and fortunately we have been able to upgrade also. But that's how it looked back then.

Q. Sir, how about the facilities?
A. Presses are top of the line now. We started with really, really old 1960s presses when we started printing the Star. That's why it's only coming out in black and white and we had the yellow color much later, and we didn't become fully colored until '95. But we were the first newspaper to come out in full color. But today, we have upgraded all of them. In fact, we give nightmares to our insurers because like one alone, the latest one we put in, cost us about a hundred million, and that's only one line. We have about maybe ten lines and when you insure that, maybe it's a billion or something. If ever we burn down, which I hope will never happen you know, well I don't wanna give ideas to our critics. But then, it that thing ever happens, the first to cry will be us, the second to cry will be the one who insured us. It will take us the minimum of a year to recover if that kind of accident will ever happen. Kaya safety is the number one rule here e. So there's no smoking, nothing that could lead to any accidents. It would be the end of us.

Q. Who were the memorable people you worked with back then?
A. Back then? Well, a lot of the people I worked with back then who are still alive today, because I think other people might have gone also. Most of them are still around, but most of them are not in the management level. People who started out type setting for us are still type-setting for us. Most of the editors now who sit down and edit used to be reporters. So everybody's moving up. The person who used to be the janitor, who used to be helper is now one of the photographers. We always try to make it possible to everyone who joins us to somehow evolve, grow, grow with the company. It shouldn't be me who's the only one growing while everyone stays the same. Everybody should also move up, somehow. A lot of the big names also get pirated, Larry Sipin, who's now a columnist for the Standard, used to be with us, we were the one who made him a big name, and Louie Beltran. They actually left e. They started out with us for a while and they moved to others. Not necessarily for more recognition, but more for higher salaries.

Q. Sir, how are you with working hours and holidays?
A. For myself? There's no holiday. The only holiday is holy week, good Friday with everybody here because there's no paper the next day. Generally speaking, there are no holidays. Those editors who want to take vacations just make ipon their vacation leaves, then apply it on one period - Christmas or what. When they used it up na, they come to work. I, myself, come to work, I have no holidays also. I try to make it ipon and save it for Christmas, but it's hard to leave. Although I have a second in command to take over when I'm not around to make decisions, in the end it's better if I'm around to make decision.

Q. Sir, how about your history?
A. History. Yeah, I was making kwento about my history in college, di ba? Because given the history, during the Martial law years when I was studying in college, my father wanted me to take up Business Administration. Because he said, you can do any business if you take up Business Administration. Then on my first try at Accounting, maybe I should tell you what grade I got. But then it was enough to convince me that numbers was not my line, mathematics was not my line. And I found that I was a better writer that I was at calculating figures. And so, it never occurred to me that we would ever have a newspaper again. It never occurred to me that we will ever come back because martial law years e. Who wants to work naman in a newspaper that's, all newspapers for government, they have no choice. There's no freedom, di ba? So, we couldn't really look forward to a career in journalism back then. But I guess, my mom naman wanted me to learn the printing business. She was now printing all sorts of things, books, magazines, especially for other people. She wanted me to learn it and pick it up. So when I was in second year, she made me report, to learn the printing business, as a business. That's what they believed I was taking back then. But then after my first year, I realized I wasn't going to be a business graduate. So I took advantage of the fact that since she was making me come to work part time, after classes, that gave me a salary of P1,500 a month. I started to make ipon the money that I was earning, coming here in the afternoon and then I secretly shifted my course. I applied for a different course and made arrangements for my grades to be mailed to a different address, so they would not even know what was happening, because they were so busy. She was so busy doing her thing, and my father was busy doing his thing. And since I earned money naman working here, I paid my own way in college, so they would not see any receipts, they would not see any grades until I was graduating na. So one mole in the UP leaked it to my dad na, "hey, you're son's graduating journalism", and he was shocked. And he said, "I thought he's taking business". And every time, during the 4 years that I'm studying in UP, and he asks me, "how are you doing?", and I'd say, "oh, okay! Accounting's hard for me, but I'm managing". I'm managing to go somewhere else, that's what I'm managing, and that's what I did. And he was very upset when he found out when I graduated, and then things have a way of working themselves out. I graduated, and whoa! They need a guy in the Cory Media Bureau. They're going to launch the Cory campaign team. They need people trained in the propaganda or writing news releases - press releases for them and that. So I joined it na! And then my mom and her partner putting up a newspaper na, the Inquirer na. So I'm also trained in that. So, I never expected that to happen, but it turned out to be the right decision after all. And looking back, funny how things somehow fit, you know? Things you don't expect happen and it turns out to be the right decision after all. So that's why I'm here , doing this thing. My brother naman took up Hotel and Restaurant Management and was working in the Mandarin. My mom pirated him because he wanted to work in a hotel in China, they put up in China, my mom said, "I don't want my children away from me!" So, my mom pirated him and he started out as one of the managers in the personnel side naman. Now he's the president of the company. But then, I could never do his job. I never took Business Administration, how could I do his job, di ba? I'm merely a journalist e, so if you put me in this room and make me decide news, it's so easy for me. And having worked with my mom also for so long, watching over her shoulders when she made her decisions, editorial decisions. And now he's the one running the company naman, he also picked it up naman working here on that end of it. So, yeah, we didn't have to work our way to the top, we're lucky e. That's how it happened.

Q. Sir, how are you with deadlines?
A. Deadlines? Well, deadlines are something that have to be strictly enforced. So far, I have not been able to strictly enforce it as well as I want. And we make do by buying faster presses, faster equipment, which will compensate for the human error of taking a longer time to write and taking a longer time to decide news. But eventually, once we master the deadline part of it, plus the fast equipment we have, we should be a real mean fighting machine. Right now, we're really not yet up to there. In spite of everything, in spite of our having come this far, having relative success, we still have some ways to go.