SMITH & VALLARTA. Please state your name and current profession.
MARINAS. My name is Romy Marinas. I'm a journalist. I'm the news editor of the Daily Tribune.

Q. Can you please tell us how you went into The Daily Tribune?
A. I was with another paper last year. It's called The Philippine Post but it shut down unfortunately and then Mrs. Olivarez was planning to put up a paper of her own so that paper came to be known as the Tribune. So we're just about a year old. We're going to be exactly one year next year, February 4.

Q. Can you please give us a brief time line like saan po kayo nag-start na newspaper and how you got into writing.
A. I began in 1986. Actually, before, I used to be in a lot of NGOs, are you familiar with NGOs? [Uh huh...] and then I decided to go mainstream so-called. My first job was with We Forum. You were too you then... that was 1986 and then I joined Malaya and then from Malaya I went to The Manila Times. And then I took a break from The Manila Times in 1990 to 1994 and then I went back to newspapering in 1995 and then I worked for a while with Business Star and then there was a business paper. It was called Money Asia but it was published only for about three years then it closed shop and then that was when I joined The Philippine Post and now here. So that's a total of about how many years, uhh... '86 ...uhh... 10 years.

Q. So you've been working sa newspaper industry for 10 years already?
A. Umm... that looks like it.

Q. So how did you get into writing? Was it an accident lang or na-influence kayo ng family niyo? Or talagang ambition niyo yon, to be a writer?
A. I was actually taking up Chemical Engineering at the Mapua Institute of Technology. But well, I guess I was not a good... well, science student, that was in my third year. When I was in my 4th year, I took this editorial exam given by the college... It was called the Builder. So luckily I made it and then... uhh... but I didn't jump into journalism right away after college. I worked with NFA... I worked with NFA, that's the National Food Authority and then I worked with a mining company and then after, I worked with that mining company and a multinational firm in 1980. That was when I... uhh... a few years after I worked with that mining firm I went into writing.

Q. So dahil sa editorial exams you just decided to ano... Okay, so what was the first newspaper you worked with again?
A. We Forum. That was the... that was one fighter of a paper I suppose, that was 1983 yung, that tabloid. It's called a tabloid. It's not your usual na broadsheet. So it was published then by Mr. Jose, Joe Burgos... [Joe Burgos] oo and then... how old were you then...?

Q. So sir, how many years did you stay there?
A. I think that's 6 years... that's...

Q. 6 year tapos...?
A. That's the longest I stayed in a newspaper company.

Q. Can you describe to us yung newspaper na 'yon in terms of, yung physical location, yung facilities, yung re... re...
A. We Forum?

Q. Kung yung ginagamit niyo po ba typewriter...?
A. Yes, back in 1986, we were still using typewriters. I was still a reporter then. We were also using ball type encoding machines. It's by IBM. Anyway, if functions like a typewriter so if you want to change the type of the thing you want to get printed, you take out the ball and then you put in another ball. Say you want points, you want Universe, Helvetica, whatever, so that's it, there were no fax machines then, only typewriters. And we had to write our stories right in the newsroom, unlike now, the reporters or correspondents can just fax their stories.

Q. Sino ho yung mga nakatrabaho niyo doon na significant people? Meron ho ba?
A. Sikat you mean? What was the word you used? Ahh... significant...

Q. Yung like, yung ngayon-
A. The friends I've made, they are all significant di ba...?

Q. Hindi, like for example, like sino yon... si Joe Burgos...?
A. Joe Burgos, yeah, he's still around, he writes for, well, he used to write for another big newspaper.

Q. He's popular di ba...?
A. Yes I suppose so. He has won so many awards. He has been imprisoned by the Marcos administration.

Q. So noong 1986, what were you writing about noon time na yon?
A. Mostly human rights stuff. So under Mr. Burgos we were allowed to write about human rights, so called foreign domination of the economy and after the EDSA thing... Feb. '86 I still was writing about human rights and I was also interviewing actors, singers...

Q. So sir, noong '86 naabutan niyo ho ba yung EDSA Revolution?
A. Ummm... Feb. 1986 I was a correspondent of a Japanese newspaper so I was freelancing and shortly after Feb. 1986 that was the time I joined the tabloid We Forum.

Q. So before noong We Forum meron nang isa pa, I mean, may iba pa?
A. No.

Q. Ano yung Japanese...?
A. When EDSA erupted there were a lot of foreign magazines, newspapers who came in here so they were looking for a lot of stringers, reporters, photographs, and I happened to know a friend who happened to know somebody. So... I, well, it was okay, I mean, the job, the job was there so I took it then of course when the fever over EDSA died down so these foreign magazines and newspapers had to go home meaning yung mga Pinoy na naiwan, they looked for jobs, so that's what I did, I looked for a job and I found one in We Forum.

Q. Can you tell us about yung pagiging "cub reporter" niyo? Yung kunwari, first time.
A. The practice of having "cub reporters," well, that as before my time, 1986, at least 1986 wala nang "cub reporters," oo, we just called them correspondents and then if they deliver, thus okay, they can be recommended to be reporters. There are many grades of reporters, may junior reporters, may senior reporters. So... in the newsroom, may deskman, may junior deskman or if you want to be politically correct about it, desk persons, whatever.

Q. After yung We Forum ano yung newspaper na nilipatan niyo after?
A. The Manila Times, ah, no Malaya, Malaya was also owned by Mr. Burgos but now he doesn't own it anymore... supposedly sister publications silang dalawa.

Q. Why did you transfer from We Forum to Malaya?
A. Ummm... why did I transfer... Malaya, it's a broadsheet ah, yung diyaryo talaga yung itsura. It put up a magazine, a Sunday magazine called, also Sunday so I like writing features better than news... of course balita din naman yung features but then you can editorialize a little so that's what prompted me to join Malaya. At the same time I was also working for the broadsheet itself apart from the magazine.

Q. Anong year ho iyon when you transferred to Malaya?
A. ... 1987 I suppose.

Q. Ah 1 year lang yung...
A. We Forum to Malaya. I stayed with We Forum for 1 year only.

Q. So basically pareho lang yung sinusulat niyo sa stories sa We Forum and Malaya? Yung news?
A. No, not exactly kasi when I was with the broadsheet, Malaya, I was not writing about, well so-called celebrities, actors, comedians, politicians. So sa Sunday Magazine, it was only about 24 pages. I think I had more [leeway] to write about people, yon.

Q. So, sinong mga people, meron bang significant people that you wrote about?
A. Yeah, I've written about Mitch Valdez, Nonoy Zuniga, Willie Nepumoceno, they're still around, Nanette Inventor. On the other hand I was also writing about the NPA.

Q. Ano ho nangyari doon?
A. Which ones? The actors or NPA?

Q. NPA.
A. They were mostly exclusive interviews because they were not yet out in the open then, '87 ano, although Cory Aquino was the president. It didn't mean that every communist could go out and just be interviewed by anybody. So I think I had my contacts so I've interviewed a member of the Alex Boncayao Brigade. I don't know if you're familiar with those groups, NPA, ABB...

Q. (Did you have any memorable colleagues?)
A. I only had 2 (enemies), not on the personal level, on the job level. The first one was a guy who was an executive editor and then he scribbled something on this paper. It was... unprofessionally worded. He was calling my attention when in fact that... technically that's still okay. But journalists are supposed to be humble, blah blah blah. But he got mad at me when he should've gotten angry with my editor. I was still a reporter then. I had no say on any word that comes out and gets published. That's the rule. The editor decides on everything, spelling, caption, so I guess that's also memorable. He was also a memorable editor. But we made up a few years after, we made up...The second (enemy) I had, also on the professional level, my editor-in-chief at The (Manila) Standard. She still is the editor-in-chief of the Standard. Anyway, it's in the past. I resented, in fact, I contested her practically demoting me. I was city editor of the Standard. She was assigning me to a beat. I said no, of course politely, I said no, you can't do this, but then when she insisted. That was in 1996 I think, 1996 or... So she insisted , I refused, I took her to court and I won but it's on appeal. Legally it's called... if you're interested, well, it's called constructive illegal dismissal.

Q. So Sir yun lang?
A. In that sense, she is, she was also memorable and the Standard is and as memorable so...

Q. Meron pa? Wala na?
A. All the rest are my friends.

Q. Ano ho yung mga best memories niyo as a young reporter?
A. Sa lahat na, in general na? When I get provincial assignments because that's... I think that's the only time a journalist really can relax a bit although you're still working so I enjoyed covering those...

Q. Sir, like where?
A. Sagada, uhh, Sadanga, have you been there? Sadanga, it's in Mt. Province. Anyway, I don't know. I have to ask you, do you know Macli-ing Dulag? You don't have any idea? Okay, he's this guy who was opposing umm... the construction of a dam in Mt. Province.

Q. Ah, so yun yung kinover...?
A. No, no, no, not that one, when he died na... Actually I didn't see him at all when he was still alive. And then these activists in Baguio... conducting yearly a memorial tribute something to this guy. So di ba, I was working with a lot of NGOs so I get to be invited to those provincial assignments. Of course, I like it. I didn't like the walking, malayo yung lalakaran doon eh. So yun ang, that's the part I like.

Q. So what were your memories as a reporter of Martial Law, EDSA Revolution tsaka coup attempts?
A. Ano yung last one?

Q. Coup attempts.
A. Ah, coup attempts... that was 19... Cory 'yon ano, ah yeah, I was still with Reforum then. I was at Camp Aguinaldo when Gringo, yun I think the most serious of the coup attempt against Cory, when the HQ was torched. I think, it was still on fire when I went there, yeah.

Q. Yun ho ba yung sa Tagaytay?
A. No, dito sa Quezon City, Camp Aguinaldo.

Q. Can you tell us a bit more kung anong nangyari doon?
A. Well, there was firing, there was a fire. We were taking cover, but then you still had to write the story. My good fortune then was that I was writing for We Forum which was a tabloid. The articles are written in magazine style, features, so, if I was covering it today, for example, I didn't have to do the story tonight, I can do it tomorrow and then give it to my editor so it gets published 3 days after, ganon.

Q. So, hindi siya daily?
A. When I joined We Forum it was twice a week, then it became thrice a week and then it became daily, ganon, so yung mga ganung detalye, mahirap tandaan.

Q. So, sir, about yung The Daily Tribune, ano yung tingin ninyo sa working conditions?
A. I like it, I enjoy it. This is on a personal level. If I don't feel comfortable waking up then, I think that's the time anybody should think of another job maybe, that's how I measure.. what did you say? Satisfaction? Working conditions? When you speak of working conditions you also I think, refer to being satisfied, well, if I don't have to drag myself out of bed then working conditions must be (not) okay.

Q. Sir, kumusta yung mga deadlines? Hectic ba...?
A. The usual, if you're talking about the newsroom, we call that area the central desk. It's made up of Mrs. Olivares, the editor-in-chief and publisher, the news editors, city editor, and the deskmen, deskpersons, and publisher, the newseditors, ...editor, and the deskmen, deskpersons, whatever, the deskmen, we have only four, they're supposed to be here by two. We don't have timecards, the editors, ako, as newseditor, I'm supposed to be here by 2:30 so you were lucky, I was late for only 5 mins. So 'yun.

Q. So, sir, can you tell us paano pag holidays? Ano nangyayari?
A. The newspaper business is like showbusiness.

Q. Hindi natutulog. Parang ganon?
A. Figuratively. Of course, literally natutulog din kami tapos holidays, no, me, in my 10 years in the business I think the longest holiday I had was4-5 or 4 day holiday, holy week. The most, on the average would be 2 days, Good Friday, Black Saturday, pasok na kami, in all the papers I have worked with.

Q. Sir, you don't have to answer kung ayaw niyo. Yung salary ok lang?
A. Ok? Not ok? It's okay, of course, I won't tell you how much. You're going to ask the other newspapers about it?

Q. So how about sa other newspapers na you've worked before? Was the salary, umm, was it okay? Was it below?
A. I can't really say kasi I have had no access to any study on the Philippine media dealing with salaries. We know more or less how much other people are getting now, for example, I can tell you with the bigger papers they get more, I don't know if that's an answer of not but personally if you ask me it's okay, even in the Philippine Post, in Malaya kasi relative kami sa central desk, we don't have timecards, tapos, once we're done with the paper, once we have put it to bed at about 9, but our ideal time for us is 8:30, meaning it's done already from the layout people to the ...people, pababa na yun sa baba... the salaries personally it's okay. Are we competitive? I think we are. Given my idea of how much reporters are getting at the other papers. Of course, they're not telling me na we're getting this but we know, in the same manner that La Salle, halimbawa, O this guy's from Ateneo ba't lumipat dito, parang ganon, everybody knows about it pero you don't have to ask him, ba't ka lumipat dito? Sinipa ka siguro ng Ateneo. Eh, La Salle di naman magtatanggap ng sipa. That's the analogy I can make.