BARCELON & HENSON. What were the circumstances leading to your employment in the newspaper?
GO. Right from the start? Basically I followed my idol si Kerima Polotan-Tuvera, she was the ano, she had a newspaper then way back in nineteen…in the early 1980's during the time of Marcos. Evening Post. I made several applications to which I was all accepted. Bank and sa DFA, but I got an acceptance from the newspaper of Kerima Polotan-Tuvera, so I decided to go with her because she was my idol. Stonehenge awardee siya e. I wanted to meet the person behind the name that I used to read sa literary class ko.

Q. Could you describe those early years?
A. Those early years…well it was repressive at that time kasi Marcos era 'yon e. There were only what, four publications. Evening Post was a broadsheet, but it was more of broadsheet tabloid kind of paper. As opposed to the other dailies then which was Daily Express, Times Journal, Bulletin of course and…no…yeah, yeah, 'yon muna ang…that were really the top papers. Malaya and Inquirer came a little bit later, so at that time the husband of Mrs. Tuvera was the Executive Secretary of President Marcos. So basically the news then was…I guess it…well because pro-administration ang Evening Post e. So…hindi naman…it wasn't exciting because besides it was a learning process pa lang e…so learning process…that's how I would describe first my early years. But…in terms of excitement I think wala pa because at that time very controlled pa ang press.

Q. Could you describe the physical location of the Evening Post and its physical facilities.
A. Evening Post was located in the Port Area, in a really old warehouse before. Unlike ngayon…'yong area na 'yan ng Port Area which is very…very congested na, before very few people went there, it was really…it was really warehouse facility. Ang printing process pa noon ay 'yong gumagamit pa noong tingga. I can't remember how they call this tingga that they'd have to form the letters and then print it. 'Yon talagang medyo primitive pa ang process at that time, even you're deadlines had to be so much earlier because…because it was a painstaking process just to be able (to) print it (on) the paper. And then everything was typewriter. Computers, it was just being introduced…it was just at the stage of being introduced for the newspaper business. So very…ano pa, very…not naman primitive, pero it was at that stage na messy pa ang newspaper printing.

Q. During that time was that already state-of-the-art?
A. No, no that wasn't state-of-the-art. That's why nga…at least Evening Post and in fact I think it was Evening Post that was that I'm not sure what the process is right now. Pero it was one of the last that was actually to convert into computerization. To the layout by computers, it was one of the last to convert.

Q. Who were your colleagues at that time and your editors, and publishers
A. Well at that time…that's why nowadays people don't know who Kerima Polotan-Tuvera is, unless you're a…you study literature in college and you get to read some of her articles. But at that time sinong colleagues ko who would be a…well my colleague then in Evening Post which were still cub reporters was Chit Estella who is now the…what's this the editor of Pinoy Times. The number one opposition ngayon na tabloid. I guess you don't know any of them anymore sina Cesar Amigo he was…he was a former film director who became the editor of the Evening Post, also sino ba doon, sila…most of them are already dead, Stoots Fernandez. Who is the father of Butch Fernandez of Malaya, covers Malacanang. Stoots Fernadez also used to cover Malacanang…they're almost…they're almost all dead…sorry. Kasi I was a cub reporter then, so talagang 'yong mga pinakamatanda dati na mga reporters which I'm sure nobody remembers anymore.

Q. What do you remember most being a cub reporter, when you were still a cub reporter.
A. The tyranny of the desk. Cub reporters…by any profession naman e, you were always ano, terrorized by your editors. They treat you as a..as a..not naman…not…next, a little bit better than a slave. But you were subject to their whims, their caprice. 'Yong lahat ng…everything they can think of to ask you to do, they will ask you to do. They'll send you of on some wild goose chase, they'll make you stay late…without consideration cause at that time; even up to now the newspaper business is one of the…I think least professional professions e. You…even your pay structure, everything there is no…there is no professionalism in the same way that if you would go to let's say a bank or a multinational or a good company like say Ayala; you're just subject to the whim of your editor, so sometimes he'll shout at you, he'll tear up your copy and throw it at your face…that, at that time ha…cause I think today sometimes it's (still) being performed but more so before; talagang diyos ang editor.

Q. Who was your most memorable editor and why
A. Who was my most memorable editor, actually…

Q. Most influential?
A. Well most influential is Kerima, because she was…I think that was the training I got from her. She was very strict with grammar, syntax. Very stylistic si Mrs. Tuvera. Unlike now, I'd believe even some editors right now…and if you read it…if you're a strict…what's this. If you were really to follow strictly 'yong rules on writing ang dami ngayon editors and even reporters who don't really know how to write. It's just that siguro with the changing times people themselves aren't anymore so strict with the form and style and evrything like that. Na maski na wrong grammar, maski na composition is wrong, everything. It could pass on as news, as long as the meat is there. So 'yong form and style wala na. So si Mrs. Tuvera at that time was very strict about that and then she'd have a…she'd have this big board we called the boner board. Tapos kung ang iyong article or story had a lot of mistakes or anything like that. She'd put it up there in that board and she'd criticize you to hell, so everybody would see your mistakes and you'd get embarrassed. So ganoon.

Q. What was your first beat as a journalist
A. My first beat. Actually, I started out as a desk person, I started out as a desk person, a desk woman at that time. Ako ang tagakuha ng story from the…over the phone kasi before wala pang fax. All stories were phoned in and you would as a desk woman I'd take the stories and would type it out and I'd give it to the editor. And then eventually, actually I started nga wrong way in e. I started editor…desk woman tapos editor of the parang lifestyle section, before I went back into really writing and covering a beat. And when I did go back to covering a beat it was business, private sector, BOI, Board of Investments pala, Trade and Industry, ganoon.

Q. Of all the beats what was your most important one, of the things you've done before.
A. Actually, supposed to be my most important beat was supposed to be Malacanang but I hated it, I only stayed there for one week because I was previously covering the business aspect DTI and then Central Bank hen I was re-assigned to cover…mali 'no…I was assigned to cover Senate for one year and I was shifted again to Malacanang. Malacanang is supposed to be…in a newspaper; in a national desk it was supposed to be the top beat already. Except I hated Malacanang because I had been so used to talking to businessmen who'd tell you the truth and I hated the politicians who kept on changing their stories. And aside from that Malacanang at that time had a very bad press corps, well not very bad. They were called the brat pack; tapos they'd practice nakawan ng istorya. Where you write your story tapos nanakawin sa 'yo, and then somebody will print it in his paper and come out with it as his, ganoon so medyo na-shock ako noon and I hated Malacanang beat for that, and I didn't like running around after the President. Kasi in business may structure e; you have regular press conferences and everything as opposed to Malacanang na you had to wait out in the gazebo and ambush, ganoon. So that's why I went back to banking which in I have stayed in for how many years.

Q. What lessons did you learn from those kinds of beats.
A. Well, different beats have different styles. They have different methods of going about their story. In the private sector you rely on contacts. Even in the baking…any business beat you rely on contacts, on sources, so-called sources. And then you have regular coverage, of course like if you're Central Bank then you regularly cover the Central Bank governor, the Finance Secretary, Budget, and then you have your business organizations. Of course who ever leads the business organization that is a normal…what's this…source of news. When I covered the Senate, of course it's a political beat. Anything and everything they say, whether it's propaganda, it's a political lie, even if it's the truth if it's a diplomatic thing everything is news because the Senate is a very…one of the most important beats also. Sa Malacanang naman, of course the presidency, you re always hanging around for any announcements from Malacanang because it concerns the whole country.

Q. (Who were the) other journalists that you worked with
A. Who were the other journalists I worked with. Sila Bobbit Tiglao, when Bobbit Tiglao was still…Bobbit Tiglao is now a columnist of Inquirer, but he was also with far Eastern Economic Review, si Conrad Banal columnist din ng Inquirer. Several of my colleagues are now abroad in Hong Kong, Singapore. Cause I have been covering basically the banking beat, it isn't so much the reporters that make it memorable but the people who head the institution, like at that time si Jobo. I'd say Jobo was a character, Governor Jose B. Fernandez, was a character who was very much maligned but as history now will tell; at that time he was the best man for the job to lead the country. I covered Jaime Ongpin. So I can not tell you colleagues ko; I don't think so that there was none to me that was memorable or who made history for me, nothing. But it was more the people that I covered, like si Jaime Ongpin, that who eventually committed suicide na he didn't seem like(s) such a person who would take his own life. What would be memorable there was knowing the person and…cause people who were part…I guess part of our history but not the reporters themselves. At least I haven't…I'd well, ah kaya nga lang huwag na 'yong…well sa…in their younger days sina Korina…naku baka ma-libel pa ko ni Korina, si Ces Drilon. Huwag na lang 'yong kay Korina.

Q. What do you remember most about Jobo or Jaime Ongpin
A. They were principled men. I'm saying like si Jobo was the typical, I guess he was the last of his era. He was the typical Castillan, well he wasn't a don, but if you were just a simple businessman, yes he is a don. In a typical Spanish mestizo na very authoritative, somebody you'd really have to respect, na perhaps you might have hated him also because he was very rigid. Seemingly rigid in his way, he was principled. Perhaps sometimes his views weren't populace, but he knew what he was doing. And his policies at that time may have seemed harsh, because that mid-1980's, Jobo was then asked by President Marcos to head the Central Bank when the Philippines was having a debt crisis, and interest rates at that time also had to go up. The whole banking system, the whole financial system was at crisis at that time, and Jobo had to take on a lot of decisions which were very unpopular and a lot of people hated him for what he did. For several bank closures, for putting up interest rates that reached forty, forty five percent, ganoon. And yet he was…he withstood all of the criticism just to be able to control the economy, the monetary system at that time. And yet people were very critical of him.

Q. What was one of your best memories as a young reporter
A. As a young reporter, what was my memories of a young reporter. Of being asked to stay late. Cause at that time dalaga pa ko, and I told you that the printing process was primitive, so I had one editor ho wanted me to stay in the office; doon sa port area sa warehouse na 'yon na really dingy, dark, yucky place and wanted me to oversee 'yong printing of the page. Dalaga pa ko noon e, at four o'clock as soon as the sun sets I'm gone, I'd go home, I'd stay indoors. So he wanted me to stay and look after the paper, and I said "no". Because sabi ko…supposed to be reporters have no time and everything, but for me that time I put my foot down on staying out late. I guess I belonged to another era. That was the one thing I hated about reporting or being a newspaper woman was having to stay late in an area which is questionable.

Q. What kind of significant events did you cover
A. Well, actually kasi it's mostly sa banking, sa debt crisis. Actually I was at the end of the debt crisis already, I started covering Central Bank 1983, then I left to cover the Senate, then I came back, so I saw the term of Jobo, and then the transition from Marcos to President Aquino. The transition from President Aquino to Ramos, Ramos to Estrada, ganoon. Banking wise, several bank closures, Manila Bank closure, Banco Filipino, Piso Bank, Pacific Bank. Mostly business oriented ang memorable sa 'kin e, mostly bank closures.

Q. During that time, during the Martial Law time, what were some of the events that you remember.
A. Actually, I didn't cover Martial Law kasi Martial Law was 1970's, after Martial Law ako. Martial Law dalaga pa naman ako noon.

Q. Mga during Edsa po.
A. Edsa. Edsa, actually I was just starting out e. So…and besides as I told you when I was starting out with the newspaper t was, Marcos time ending the era to Aquino. At that time I was not a reporter yet I was a desk woman and what I could remember since I told…since as I told you; the Evening Post the first paper that I worked for was close to the Marcos administration, so it was…news then was very controlled. Cause from Malacanang like mga…all the sources were emanating from Malacanang and all the ones who were covering were old senior reporters, and I mean they were seniors like as in mga fifties, sixties. There were no young reporters in Malacanang during the time of Marcos, because at that time very controlled ang news reporting from Malacanang, they would have a press office and the office of the Press Secretary which is now known a the Office of the Press Secretary, would just crank out the news and fed it to the senior reporters and the senior reporters would report it back to the office. So in that sense very controlled ang reports from Malacanang. Because of that publication, we or which eventually later became Malaya was able to find a niche because they were able to go into independent news reporting which was not controlled by Malacanang. Kasi Malacanang nga press releases 'yon which the senior reporters would just rewrite and all of the newspapers had the same story. So parang in a way cartelized din, pero it was strictly controlled by the Malacanang; and if there was anything, any whiff of news that was against the government at that time, at least for my paper killed talaga 'yon, talagang you know it wasn't gonna get any attention. So in that sense, for me it wasn't exciting because I knew that everything was controlled, basically controlled.

Q. Could you please enumerate the newspapers that you worked with
A. So, Evening Post and then I transferred to another crony paper which was Times Journal, which was owned then by the brother of Mrs. Marcos, Mr…. Ambassador Romualdez, and then which was eventually taken over by the government after the departure of Mr. Marcos and his family. And then Star na.