AGUJA. How did you start? What was your first job as a journalist?
MAPILE. My first job was with the Daily Mirror. When I graduated I joined the Daily Mirror as a copyman. A copyman is a fellow or copywriter assisting the editor. The reporters send their news stories and the editor assigns these to the copymen around him. The copyman's job is to correct the news copy.

Q. Do you ever work in other newspapers?
A. I am The Crazy Man now editor-in-chief of the Philippine Direct News, a newspaper for Overseas Filipino Workers. I also write for the Weekly Mirror and other local magazines. I am also Circulation Director for Asia-Pacific of McGraw Hill Publishing Company.

Q. Prior you joining the Manila Bulletin, did you ever work in other newspapers?
A. Yes.

Q. What are these newspapers?
A. I wrote for the Weekly Graphic and then the Daily Mirror; and with PNS at that time --- Philippine News Service.

Q. Were you a staff writer?
A. Yes.

Q. Has the Manila Bulletin always been in Intramuros?
A. Yes.

Q. It hasn't changed address?
A. No.

Q. What about the physical facilities of the Manila Bulletin? Can you describe the building and the offices?
A. Terrific! We are now computerized. We were taught the basics of information technology and we are able to work faster.

Q. Tell me something about the people you work with.
A. We get along fine because we speak the same language.

Q. Who is the publisher and the editor?
A. The publisher is Emilio Yap and the editor-in-chief is Ben Rodriguez.

Q. How many hours do you work?
A. The hours a newspaperman works depend on the availability of the story. There are times when you waste the whole day and you don't get a story. But there are times, like now even on a Sunday, you have to work because there's this special event going on which is the Asean Summit meeting here in Manila.

Q. Were you ever a cub reporter?
A. Yes. I was a cub reporter for Tesoro de Guzman and who was reporting Business and Finance for the Daily Mirror.

Q. What was it like to be a cub reporter?
A. You learn a lot. Of course, you are the runner boy of what the reporter wants you to do, but you learn a lot.

Q. What about your first beat? What was that beat?
A. My first beat is the Police. It is usually the starting beat for reporters because you'll get very good news.

Q. Do you have any significant memories of the 1986 EDSA Revolution?
A. Yes I was a part of it.

Q. What were your experiences?
A. You want me to tell you about it?

Q. Yes.
A. Well, that was the craziest revolution I've ever seen. There is no other revolution in this planet that is like that. Because even the enemies are friends and the friends are enemies. You see here while we were at EDSA inside Camp Aguinaldo….there was this announcement that they picked up on radio that Malacanang will send a fleet of helicopters to attack the camp. The loudspeakers were urging the demonstrators to leave because the President has sent instructions to Villamor Air Base to send helicopters. But you see nobody moved. Nobody cared. The demonstrators just stood there and waited for the fleet. And when the helicopters arrived, there was no attack whatsoever. Instead, the helicopters landed and the commander got off the helicopter and the leader of the revolution, FVR himself, went over to him, and met him. They shook hands. What kind of a revolution is this? And even when the opposing factors like the government troops and the Camp Aguinaldo soldiers were confronting each other at the gate, they lobbed tear gas and everybody ducked to the ground until the tear gas was dissipated. And you know who was out there distributing sandwiches and softdrinks? The nuns! They were distributing sandwiches and softdrinks to both factions! What kind of a crazy revolution is this? Well I remember I wrote stories about that. It's unique that's why maybe it's being followed worldwide. We started this scheme of voicing our opinion to the government by demonstrating. It is now being duplicated worldwide.

Q. Do you have any memorable editors?
A. Yes. D.H. Soriano and Consorcio Borji editor in the Weekly Graphic and Weekly Nation.

Q. Why is that?
A. Well, because they are hardworkers. They stay up all night reading all the copies. It is not an easy job because you read good copies and lousy copies and, if necessary, convert lousy copy to good copy.

Q. How were your editors when it came to accuracy?
A. Very accurate. They were English professors.

Q. How about when they came to ethics?
A. Ethics is a relative term. Ethics will reflect the opinion of various factors/ various sector. Nobody has the right to say I am justified and you are not. For you see, in ethics, you can get away with practically everything and justify it for that. But in the final analysis, it is your responsibility to God that should justify the ethics that you pursue.

Q. What were their attitude toward deadlines?
A. Like it is the end of the world. Because to a newspaper man, a deadline is the end time for everything. After that, you can do whatever you please. You can do what you want. But everything that you do must be geared towards the finish line which is deadline time. You have got to submit that story before deadline.

Q. How did they communicate this attitude to their reporters?
A. By simply turning away your story after the deadline. There is usually a small basket beside the editor and of course, there is an incoming box. Before deadline time, let's say 5 or 6 pm depends. Before 6 o'clock you put your stories in the inbox. After 6 o'clock if you put that story in the inbox, all the papers in that inbox goes to the wastebasket.