LOTA. For the record po, could you please state your name and your present employment?
LOGARTA. I'm Louie Logarta and I am with the Philippine, no, I'm with the Daily Tribune.

Q. Um, Why did you become a newspaper journalist po?
A. Why did I become a, why did I become a newspaper journalist? Because I like to!

Q. As I heard po and from, from the biodata, you were po an MBA graduate?
A. Yeah, so?

Q. So parang po, you just, it was po your love it wasn't because of the…
A. I like writing.

Q. Any members po of the family, ah, who are in the same business?
A. My Dad used to be in the paper, in the papers, my mom, ah, I had a sister, she's still is in, she's in Singapore right now. She's a member of the Sraits Times, or one of the magazines there.

Q. Ah sir, naaalala niyo po ba yung, could you remember the first newspaper you worked for?
A. Yes.

Q. What was that newspaper?
A. The Manila Chronicle before Martial Law.

Q. Um, What was your position po during that time?
A. I was a reporter, a police reporter.

Q. And, ah, sir do you remember po any, any memorable, ah, beats or…?
A. Ah, I think you're getting, ah, mixed up with your questions.

Q. I mean memorable events during ah, you covered po during that time? A. Memorable events? Ah, the…killing of four people at the Hotel Intercontinental. Ah, that was about, I think it was about August in 1972. Ah, this was a very big event at that time, that I got my first banner or headline story in the Manila Chronicle.

Q. During po, ah that time, where was the Manila Chronicle located? A. Ah, it was, at that time it was already, it had relocated itself to, um, Pasig, near the Meralco. Since it was one of the firms owned by the Lopez's.

Q. Okay, and after po the Manila Chronicle, you went to which newspaper? A. Um, after 14, 13 or 14 years I went to the Inquirer.

Q. Um, any memorable events po during that time? A. During what time?

Q. During your time at the Inquirer? A. The revolution, I covered the Revolution in its entirety.

Q. Okay. After po the Inquirer? A. After the Inquirer?

Q. Yes, opo. Which newspaper po did you work for? A. The Manila Standard.

Q. Any memorable events, sir, at that time or any memorable editors? A. Memorable editors? Ah, nah, not much. But I covered Congress, that's what I considered my work. I covered the first congress after Martial Law, the Mitra congress.

Q. Ah, sir, do you remember po the first time computers were introduced? A. Yes, in newspapering? Yes, at the Inquirer.

Q. At the Inquirer? At that time po did you have any ease with using the computers or until now po parang you'd rather use the typewriter po? A. There are times that I'd rather use the typewriter especially if it's a really, really, really important story because I'm fearful of the brownouts. And a, I'm going to have a shit of a time reconstructing what I've written in case of a brownout.

Q. Ngayon po, do you use like a digital camera or do you e-mail na lang po your stories to your editor? A. Ah, fax is more like it.

Q. You fax na lang po your stories. Um, sir all throughout your journalism career, what was your attitude toward deadlines? A. Keeping it, keeping them.

Q. You were, I mean, all throughout, you were able to keep your deadlines? A. I had to. I had to live within certain rules also as in society. If you broke deadlines, ah, you didn't keep deadlines often enough, you'd be out of a job.

Q. Sir, do you have any "memorable memories" when you were still… A. Memorable memories, that's a new term, I like that.

Q. (laughing) I'm sorry, best memories when you were a young reporter. A. A young reporter… memories… ah… I don't know how you can, I don't know how to qualify that.

Q. Um, memorable, uh, like if ever you were shouted at by this person who is now famous or something. A. Ah, Doronila. He is with the Inquirer right now. He was fond of shouting.

Q. Okay. Um… A. Don't get nervous by the way, I'm the one who's supposed to get nervous here. Now, you're losing your composure. (laughing)

Q. (laughing) Do you remember po yung working conditions during, uh, especially during the Manila Chronicle and Inquirer, during… A. Yeah, that's the Inquirer.

Q. Uh do you remember po your salaries or… A. It's very, very low at that time. 240 bucks a month, ah…

Q. Would you say po it was enough to… A. No it was not enough, because at that time I had 2 kids already. Ah, one was ah, one was 1 year old and the other was about ten months.

Q. Um… Were you… A. No,no,no two months, ten months sorry, one year old and two months at that time.

Q. Sir were you obliged to work during, during holidays, or… A. I'd yeah, I were, we were, we had deadlines… ah in news, in newspapering, no, no I'm sorry. If you were a reporter, you only have one day off a week. Ah, no matter what, no matter what. Ah, if your day off didn't fall on, let's say, Christmas Day, you have to work on Christmas Day.

Q. Even sir, when you get a higher position? A. Ah, no, no, no, no. If you have a higher position, you could, you can command, ah, the days off that, the day off that you want. Like uh, like supposing if I had my, If I were in my position today and uh, I had a birthday, I would say I'm not going to work on my birthday.

Q. Sir could you describe like ngayon lang pong ganitong position na po kayo. Yung typical day niyo po kung ilang hours po kayo nagtatrabaho? A. Today?

Q. Opo. Yung typical… A. Um, a typical workday would last, maybe about ah, six hours.

Q. Six hours po. A. No, but ah, depends if it's a typical work day yung, because there are times that you have to go after certain people after office hours, so that would extend the evenings and that would not be covered by overtime.

Q. Sir, with your family, wala namang naging problems with your work? A. There were a lot of problems, that's why I'm separated, (laughing) because my wife really couldn't understand, ah, the nuisances or the problems of a newsman. I just demanded time and ah, which I really couldn't provide according to her norms.

Q. Sir, ngayon po you're an NPC Director po, how would you describe your work as a Director? A. My work as a Director is pro bono. I don't receive any salary here. In fact, I spent a lot just getting to be, just getting to be elected. We serve at, ah, we serve here without any per diems even. Our only perks here as, are rather, our only perks are… ah, what do you call this, ah… freebies! Free lunches, free dinners, the liquor that we consume, the beer that we consume, we have to pay because that's the policy of the Press Club, the National Press Club.

Q. Sir like you said earlier, you're with the Philippine Tribune right now… A. The Daily tribune.

Q. The Daily Tribune. Um, as I recall, it's a new newspaper? A. Yes. February 2000.

Q. Opo. Were you involved when it started? A. Yes.

Q. Were you one of the pioneers? A. Yes, I was one of the pioneers. **TAPE STOPPED FOR 40 SECS**

Q. (Cub Reporter) A. Alam mo yang cub reporter at that time (similar) to an initiation actually. Kasi I saw this one, I was hoping you'd ask this one. Alam mo, before Martial Law, there were about five or six papers running at that time. Wala pa yang mga tabloids na yan. Now, there are about fifty or forty publications, tabloids and broadsheets. Before Martial Law, kakaunti lang yan eh, wala pang 10. There weren't even ten newspapers at that time, before Martial Law. So, in order to get accepted into the fraternity of journalists, you had to pass through the irony as I did. When I was a cub reporter for the Inquirer, ah, for the Inquirer, for the Manila Chronicle at that time in 1971, they would, ah, order me around. They'd ask me to buy, to buy ah, their cigarettes, fetch their girlfriends, well, but of course there would be, I would have the service, service vehicle at my disposal. Like they'd want ah, they'd want ah this kind of food bought from the Manila Hotel or The Manila Hilton at that time, or the Sheraton at ah, along Roxas Blvd. Yung may Tempura, Tempura Misono. That's the Sheraton before. They tell me, o Louie, you, pumunta ka nga dun bumili ka nun. Yung may mga utang sa kanila, o kunin mo, singilin mo si kuwan, si Colonel gan'to, may pangako sa'min yan. They would tell me that and I'd have to do it because I wanted to, to perform well and I wanted to be included into the, the community of reporters at that time. In other words, I would ah, I, I had to go through, I had to go through the gauntlet so to speak.

Q. Sir pero now, would you say you have the "privilege" of ordering other field reporters? A. No. No, no it's not that way anymore. Uh, we have to, I have to change it. I never shouted at my, the people, ah, who were supposed to go out with me. No, no, no. Kasi, you have to change also, eh. Like, I suppose, they'd, ah… mumurahin din ako ng mga yan pagka… if I, if I gave them shit right now. They'd get back at me, I don't want that to happen. So I have to liberal-minded. That's all, ano pa? Memorable editors? Ah eto si Beltran.

Q. Louie Beltran? A. Yes. He was my, my… (editor)

Q. What newspaper po? A. Inquirer. I was one of the pioneers of Inquirer. I was one of the pioneers of Inquirer, the Philippine Post in 1999 February, it isn't here anymore and then the Tribune in February 2000.

Q. Sir bakit nag-close yung Philippine Post? A. Because of the stupid owner!

Q. Who was the owner sir? A. A, anung pangalan nito… Benny V.

Q. Sir how long lang sha nag-operate? A. Ah, January until November.

Q. Of the same year? A. No, a year and ten months. Eleven? Almost two years. A year and ten months. Yeah. A year and ten months.

Q. Sir ngayon po with the Daily Tribune, would you say po na, it's, you're okay with the whole newspaper, you think it's going well? A. Yes. I think it's going well but I'm not saying I'm okay. (laughing)It's going well.

Q. The editor's Olivares… A. Yes, Ninez Olivares. She was formally with the Inquirer, and then with the Post, and then the Tribune.

Q. (Unforgettable colleagues) A. Unforgettable colleagues, marami ito eh. Dong Puno.

Q. Dong Puno po? Which newspaper po? A. You don't know Dong Puno?

Q. Kilala ko po. Pero saang newspaper po… A. No, colleague. Because when I say colleague, I mean colleague in profession.

Q. Okay. Not in…
A. (In addition to his previous answer) Larry Sipit.

Q. Meron po ba kayong MBA classmate tapos po nakasama niyo po sa journalism?
A. MBA classmate? (Shakes head).

Q. Wala po. High School classmate?
A. So far, I do not have any record, so far. Pero meron eh, I've come across one or two. Merong one or two pero nakalimutan ko na yung pangalan.

Q. Pero, would you say po na you went into journalism partly because of the influence of your family?
A. No, because I had to work, and that was the only job available at that time. I had to support two kids and I was studying, so I didn't want to be too much of a burden to my Dad, and my Mom. My Dad was really, my Dad, he was a bitch, and he was a man, at that time. He was a pressure, he was giving me a lot of pressure so I could say, O ano, I have my own thing.

Q. Your mom po does she still work with a newspaper?
A. She's ah, she went out with The Post last month so she's in between jobs so to speak right now. But she's into public relations, which is somewhat akin to newspapering although you don't have a page to… she used to handle entertainment, no, no, the lifestyle section of the Philippine Post. Before that, she was the lifestyle editor of the Inquirer for, for over 13 years or 14 years. Right now she's a, like I said, she's in between jobs. Not jobless, but…

Q. You mentioned po your sister lives in Singapore right now, but before that po…
A. She was here with the, she was with The Journal, Times Journal at that time, which was under, ah Cocoy Romualdez. Then she was here with the Bulletin, and one of the magazines here, then she went to Singapore. She was offered a job there. Now she's with Travel Asia or something (Travel News Asia), It is a trade magazine in Singapore. Kasi in Singapore, if you're with the newspaper, you work for the government period. Kasi yung States Times, yung States Times, that is government-owned. Now States Times has so many subsidiaries, and her magazine is one of its subsidiaries, she's been there for, what, I think ten years already.

Q. Sir, your children, any of them inclined into journalism?
A. Right now? (Shakes head)

Q. Would you want them to work in the business?
A. No, no I don't think so. Because, you know, success is relative eh, diba? Ako I'm happy eh, I'm happy I was ah, right now, I'm really happy that, ah, I didn't, ah, because, ah I didn't want to accept deadlines eh. When you had to wake up at this time. Because I had a hell of a time before when I was working with, ah, after Martial Law, I was working with a bank. It was a bit traumatic for me. I had to get up at 6 o'clock in the morning, and then take a bath…

Q. Nine to five job? Desk job?
A. It was eight to four job. Eight to four thirty at that time. Eight to Four. You have to punch in your card in the clock and at four-thirty, four o-clock, out ka. Then I go to school in Ateneo, bigay ng assignment. I took an MBA precisely because I was bored here. I wanted to do something else. Pero, I got my MBA, I still didn't like it… anyway… when the opportunity to join the Inquirer, the organization stage came along, I grabbed it. I said, let's check it out. I mean, I'm okay, I put them through school (pointing at his son). You ask Nino, he's one of the, well just ask him. Wala akong kakulangan, sa tingin ko. His sisters… I don't think I'm lacking. Maybe the formal idea of a family, I think that's what's lacking, pero, I'm still around. (laughing)

Q. (Physical conditions, facilities)
A. Yung physical facilities, ito hindi mo tinanong. Alam mo yung facilities namin talaga dito, yon o, yung nandun sa baba. That's where I worked out of, yung mezzanine floor. Three or four typewriters, kasi yung trabaho namin…

Q. Anung newspaper po ito?
A. Chronicle, kasi the start eh, early years. I'd report, what, siguro mga lunchtime dito sa Western Police District, sa U.N., check out the logbooks. Tapos komo cub reporter ako, my typical day at that time would last minimum of twelve hours. Yeah. You know, sasabihin sakin ng senior, o Louie, koveran mo ito, dito ka, dito ka. Kunyari, umabot na siguro ng four or five o'clock in the morning. Sir pwede na ba umuwi, can you go home. Bakit anung oras ka ba nandito? Sir nung gantong oras pa eh. Sige umuwi ka na, they'd give you money, mag-taxi ka na. They'd give you at that time, five bucks, taxi na yon! Papunta nang project 4 yon.

Q. Anong year po yon?
A. 1971. Ventilation? Walang kwenta.

Q. Wala pang aircon?
A. Hindi. Di pa mashadong maganda, it was electric fan, big fans.

Q. Marami po ba kayong mga dangerous assignments?
A. The revolution was the, the EDSA was the most dangerous because there was the threat of bombardment.