ESCANO. Where did you start writing?
DOLOR. Where?

Q. What newspaper?
A. Manila Times. This was in 1986 87. I, I actually, the first thing I ever wrote which was published ah I wrote a feature story katuwaan lang ah, and I sent it to the old Manila Times, yung, the one owned by Roces ah, sa Sunday Times Magazine to be precise and I didn't think they were gonna to use it. I just sent it for the heck of it and they used it. And then after that I sent another one and they used it again and then I sent a third one, they used it again and after that, after three consecutive you know ah pieces na na-published I decided to pay them a visit. Sabi ko can write for you regularly and they made me a columnist.

Q. Columnist kaagad, or
A. Ahh yes, but for the ya once a week yung column ko 'non sa Sunday Times Magazine and then I also wrote the regular feature stories.

Q. Kelan po ulit kayo nag yung nag start na mag, mag bigay ng story sa Manila Times?
A. Sa, ahh '86 or '87. I think it was ah '86 ya ah middle of '86.

Q. Tungkol saan po yung sinusulat ninyo?
A. Saan? okay my very first story, ya I remember now. It was 1986 diba we have a new government Cory took over. Ah Edsa revolution diba?

Q. After Edsa revolution.
A. Yes, I think I wrote that in August. If before the Edsa revolution there was the snap elections, diba? About three weeks before Edsa. Yung snap elections na 'yon like any elections, there were election paraphernalia diba? So me and some of my friends my cousins and friends kala namin we could make a lot of money. You know mga t-shirts and print ah t-shirts for the candidates and we were making projections like million ang kikitain namin. And then we went to the candidates, we have our suppliers but nothing happened eh. So my first story was how I almost became a millionaire because of the elections. Patawa sya eh it was ano it was very light and 'yon the mood was you know very lighthearted and they liked it. So yung succeeding stories ko were just about anything na you know, observations na on life looking at it from the you know, humorous point of view.

Q. So parang yung nagsulat kayo after na ng Edsa revolution?
A. Yes.

Q. Wala na ba 'non yung mga kino-control ng government?
A. Wala, wala because yun nga. After the Aquino administration came in, there was press freedom. So ya a lot of newspapers came out including this one (Manila Standard) and all of them were looking for writers I supposed because you know before yung time ni Marcos there were only three newspapers diba? Iilan lang yan. And then we suddenly have ten newspapers, all of them were you know, where do you get the manpower for the new papers? You have to get it from fresh blood, new people. Yung mga reporters nga eh ahh a lot of them were just straight out of college. So we find it pretty nice.

Q. Yung Manila Times po, saan po dati sya naka locate?
A. That was in Quezon City.

Q. Tapos ngayon?
A. Hindi. After, after Quezon City, binili 'yan ni Gokongwei and transferred to Edsa uhh sa may Pioneer and then Gokongwei sold it then it's now here in Kalaw.

Q. Kasi po diba yung mga newspaper parang halos lahat nandito ( Port Area).
A. Nandito yan Port Area.

Q. 'Bat po kaya nandito sila?
A. It's more practical because newspapers use a lot of paper so galing sa pier yan. So just like I'm saying. And then the papers have to be distributed nationwide everyday. So from here either by ship or by airport. We'll print it here by early morning mga one or two in the morning ang dyaryong gagawin namin ngayon will be ready but it has to be in the newsstands by six in the morning. In Davao, Cebu, everywhere. So mabilis ang ano eh time setting ng report.

Q. Nagpi print kayo ng madaling-araw?
A. Yes. Actually towards midnight nag-aano kami.

Q. So nandito rin kayo kahit madaling araw?
A. Ako? Hindi may production people kami. Editorial ends by about 9:30.

Q. Gabi parin.
A. Mmm gabi parin. We start late naman eh. Usually 2 2:30 nandito na 'ko I leave about 9:30.

Q. Yung nasa Manila Times po kayo, diba nag susulat kayo? Yung office nyo po, ano po sya, conducive po ba sya for writing?
A. No, I I did not go to the office I kept, I just fax my ano my stories.

Q. Ah from ahhh
A. I became a regular newspaperman the year after when I joined the Business World.

Q. Pero nung, nung nasa Business World kayo san, saan kayo nagsusulat dyan din sa office?
A. Mm. Dun sa office. Ah maganda ang office ng Business World. We started out in the Ortigas area uhh on the 4th floor of the Diamond Motors Building and then after a couple of years we put up our own building. Ah maganda yung building ng ano ng Business World. It's good for working. Maganda yung atmosphere nya.

Q. Umm yung equipments nyo po pag nagpi print kayo, kat ah katulad din po yung dati yung mga letterpress?
A. Hindi na uso yon everything is computerized now. Ah in some cases the editors the one who to place out but here it's different we have our layout artist. Ah we use computers. Usually Macintosh kahit mga PC but Macintosh is faster ah you have your stories naka typeset ine-edit don and then you make salpak the, the page na nasa computer and then that go straight to the press. Actually print production eh. Yung gumagawa ng film. Hindi na letterpress actually ano na sya

Q. Film na sya
A. Oo. And that can go straight to the printing press. It all happens here in this building.

Q. Ah okay. Umm, ah yung ah bale yung office nyo po yung pagkaka-arrange po okay naman po hindi yung kunyari pupunta sa editor malayo
A. Hindi ang ano kasi ang most newspapers will have what this call the central desk yun ang pinaka importante, that's the heart of a newspaper. It's always in the middle and everything else - on the outside yung mga lifestyle, sports, basta yung central desk is what controls the newspaper. Editor in Chief, managing editor, news editor, associate editor, lahat yon nasa central desk.

Q. Ano pong ginagawa ng managing editor?
A. Managing editor, as the name suggests, I manage the editorial department. That means not just the editorial content but yung day to day, yung mga hiring people, making sure that you know, they do their jobs. Ah ya it's half management of people and half editorial. As an editor, I edit the page one stories.

Q. Kayo rin sino po yung bale may nagpu-proof read.
A. Ah merong proof reading section. Apat sila, so anything that after us it passes to the proof reading, yung final baka yung mga comma out of place.

Q. Yung mga grammar po, sino po
A. Ah grammar - editor. Yung mga punctuations pang proof reading yon.

Q. Sir yung mga Colleagues nyo po. Yung nag kakaron ba ng time na merong nung nagsusulat pa po kayo yung kunyari nag kakainggitan na yung story ko sa kin lang or merong kumukuha ng iba?
A. Ah hindi kasi normally a reporter covers a certain beat. Ikaw lang ang may hawak ng beat na yon. For example you covered the department of finance, there are no reporters for the same paper. Ang kalaban mo yung ibang dyario. Like here, Malacaqang is the number one beat no we have one Malacaqang reporter. And then every paper has one Malacaqang reporter. Pagalingan na yon.

Q. Bale saan po kumukuha ng source yung mga reporter?
A. Dun mismo sa beat. The main political beats like senate, house of representative, out of the line agencies yung mga Department of Tourism, mga department of lahat ng departments. Public works. Yon, yon ang source nila. Normally they'll have a press office so yon ang nagre-release ng mga news but that's very ano eh very sketchy yon ano. To get more news, you have to talk to the sources. You talk to the department-secretary or the under-secretary or the associate-secretary, you talk to anyone related to the beat.

Q. Yung if you don't mind. Yung salary po, okay naman po sya doon sa
A. Are you talking about me or everyone else?

Q. Kayo po.
A. I'm okay with my salary. I can survive. I won't be rich but I won't starve either.

Q. Is it yung ah yung dati po sa Manila Times?
A. Hindi, sa Business World medyo mataas.

Q. Kahit po dati pa yon?
A. Oo. By industry standard, Business World is the highest along with the Inquirer. Yan ang magkakatabi. So the rest are ano, a little bit lower. So by industry standard mas ano, within the standard.

Q. Yung mga deadlines nyo po, are you strict about it?
A. That's absolute yes. We have deadlines for submission of summaries, deadlines for the submission of the stories. If you don't hit the deadline, we will close the paper without your story and we will blame you for missing the story.

Q. Merong blank, pwede pong magkaroon ng blank column sa
A. Hindi because there's always a story you can put in eh. Yung mga replacements. But yung mga the very, very good reporters they submit their stories on time, yung mga professionals. Importante sa kanila yung deadline eh.

Q. Ang deadline nyo ba kunyari within the day?
A. Six pm. Everything has to be in by six pm. That gives us an extra of one or two hours to close the page basically.

Q. Do you remember yung first project nyo?
A. Hindi.

Q. Yung memorable na project nyo?
A. No, because when I tried the Business World I became a tourism reporter. In fact ya, puro travel eh but after a while a got sick of it eh. Sa unang tingin ang sarap eh diba? Every weekend you go to the various resorts but pare-pareho eh all of the resorts look the same. The food is the same, the amenities are the same nakakasawa. So after three months lang ata ayoko na nito.

Q. What lessons have you learned from the start of your career na from Manila Times, what have you learned?
A. I learned a lot from Business World not so much in Times because sa Times I did not interact with the editors I just sent my pieces every week. Sa Business World because I was working there five days a week, I report for work, magaling yung editor in chief non eh. He won the Magsaysay awards this year, Raul Locsin. He's fantastic. He'll teach you but he'll tell you what he expects and if you make a mistake, he'll teach you. Mali ka dito, this is what you should have done, ganon. And that sticks to you eh. So as the months and the years passed, all of those lessons will just you know, it will become part of your work ethic or work habit.

Q. Sir yung kunyari may column kayo, usually anong topic?
A. Anything that I feel like writing.

Q. Hindi po sinasabi ng kunyari ng editor?
A. Hindi. No. Like here I do the editorial here (Manila Standard) no one tells me, I tell myself.

Q. Bale ang pinaka best na editor nyo po yung nasa Business World kayo?
A. The best editor in the Philippines alive is probably Raul Locsin. Yung patay na si Chino Roces. He's a legend eh. I think Raul Locsin will become a legend just like Chino Roces.

Q. Why do you think so?
A. Well, Chino Roces knew how to use the power of the press he never abused it eh but he knew he had a powerful position and he could do a lot of things. He could help you know worthy causes, if he felt something of importance palalakihin nya yan until he won. Raul Locsin naman is a complete professional journalist. Everything that journalism is all about alam nya eh and he teaches that eh. The good thing about him is he'll teach everyone under him and those people when they leave like yun nga clerk diba? a lot of people had left they go to the other papers and they bring that professionalism with me, with them. So a lot of the best business editors now in the newspapers came from Business World trained by Raul Locsin.

Q. Pag hindi ka naka submit?
A. Wala you're blamed for not submitting your story. As far as we are concerned you did not submit your story it is a big story and you missed it, patay ka. We'll give you a memo, we'll give you a warning and if you do that very often, sorry nalang.

Q. Pwede kayong ma-fire?
A. Yes. Hindi lang pwede, dapat. Because you can get great writer but if you don't have a sense of deadline you'll never get great reporter, eh di mag writer ka nalang sa mga magazine diba. You don't have to create a deadline, dito daily eh.

Q. Ano po bang pag kakaiba ng newspaper diba may magazine din po for newspaper?
A. There are newsmagazines like press, magazine graphic. World wide - Time, Newsweek weekly ang labas nila so they have more time to produce good story dito talaga daily yan eh you know. All reporters report six days a week may one day off sila there's a replacement.

Q. Meron na bang time na sa government meron kayong kahit na bawal na kailangan nyong isulat so sinulat nyo pa rin?
A. Not so much, oh ya actually yes. Sa business world I did that a lot. We got into trouble of course. There were selections of lawsuits. Dito (Manila Standard) ang dami naming lawsuits eh. Yung mga people kasi if you write something bad and they feel alluded to the person will just sue you kahit walang kaso paminsan pang inis lang they'll do it. In the last what, six months I suppose we had ten lawsuits. Yung iba talagang nagsasayang, they'll go to court and then may usapan yan yung iba naman threat lang but nonstop yan eh because they have to write the news and a lot of them are bad news. For example sa Pasay, magulo don diba? May recall election may accusations - the vice mayor against the mayor and they have to report that because that's news. Now if yung nga, if the vice mayor says something nasty about the mayor, the mayor will threaten to sue us. May mga pinagsasabi sya eh but we have to print it eh diba?

Q. Do you think yung deadline nyo po reasonable po yon?
A. Yes. We did not invent deadlines for the sake of inventing them. We have schedules. We have to finish the paper so the printing press will run it on time so that we can deliver to the airport on time may oras na hinahabol lahat eh. So if one portion falters, sira lahat. Parang domino yan eh.

Q. What if po yung news
A. Yung breaking news when something happens late? We have provisions for that. We have a night editor. This night editor has the authority to remove a story and put in bigger story it happens siguro once or twice a week. Biggest example was the John F. Kennedy when his was missing, we have to change page one. The night editor changed it. Yung malaking story. On page one you have about seven stories. Usually one would be yung pwedeng tangalin yung mga pa cute story ba. So tatangalin mo yung malaki put it back in that place and put your new story on top. That simple.

Q. Meron ba kayong naging unforgettable friend or colleagues?
A. I've been here for less than a year. In Business World I have stayed for about nine or ten years, ya. A lot of my friends then are still my friends now. We still go out occasionally. May pinagsamahan eh iba yon eh. We start out as a young reporter, you move to editor and some move on to other things yung mga umasenso na let's say managing editor ka na or meron ka nang sariling kompanya, oh let's go out, let's go out like every quarter at least. So my colleagues before who are doing well, we keep in touch.

Q. Meron po ba kayong na cover na funny stories?
A. At the start ya because yung column ko non was basically a humorous piece eh yung ang instruction non sa akin eh nung editor in chief. Gusto nya maraming patawa. It was a light struck everywhere yung mga kalokohan ng mga Pilipino I'd write about that.

Q. Paano kayo kumukuha non, nag-oobserve lang kayo?
A. Ya. Anywhere you go you just keep your eyes open. Uy maganda yung story na yon ah I just note it down somewhere at kung talagang if it sticks, you go back to it. Anywhere between now, you're going back to La Salle or something?

Q. Home.
A. Ah you're going home. Pansinin mo whether you ride in a taxi, a jeep, a bus, a car just look around you there's so many stories positive.

Q. Nung Edsa revolution po, where were you?
A. I was in a private center; I was working for a company called the Pacific Plans. I was a regional manager so I was not involved in any newspaper at all. Yung sa ano, when I was in Business World yung mga coup attempts yon I covered that. Like one time yung Ortigas area was closed it took over in Unimart and we were just one block away. I couldn't enter sinara nila eh I had to go around, you know around the camp. Another time Edsa was closed yung isa, one of my good friends nga eh there were shots taken eh in his direction akala nga nya sya ang binabaril eh he survived naman but ya we have to cover that. We had to go to the spot where there were soldiers facing soldiers yung nagkaroon ng stand off. Nandoon yung photographer, nandoon yung reporter some of us just watched. Yung take over ng Manila Hotel, I was there I passed by. Ano bang nangyayari dyan? Of course we were being pushed back but we can visually see what's happening. Uy tinake over pala nila. That was an exciting time yung series of coup

Q. Syempre nag-sulat din kayo about that.
A. Yes. When that happens, a lot of reporters will come to you and you just invite them to write a story because you have someone covering camp Aguinaldo, camp Crame, TNT, yung large departments, Malacaqang so lahat yon, all of them send in reports. We have to make it a cohesive role eh yun ang trabaho ng editor.

Q. Sir that's about it.
A. Ah okay.

Q. Sir thank you very much.
A. Thank you.