Siy: For the record sir, can you please state your name and your current employment?

Roque: Yeah, I’m the acting editor of Tempo. My name is Robert Roque, Jr. (phone rings, Mr. Roque pauses.)

Rodriguez: Okay. Sir, can you describe the circumstances that led you to your current employment in Tempo?

A: Well, I was in fourth year college way back in ’83. We were almost near graduation when one of our professors, the entertainment editor of Tempo, Nestor Cuartero, asked me to join Tempo. So I joined Tempo March of 1983 prior to graduation so I worked here as a regular correspondent—news correspondent. It’s not a regular reporter but just a correspondent. So from ’83 to ’86 I was a correspondent here until in ’86 I got promoted to regular staff and then in ’87 or ’88, I was assigned to do a desk job while in the morning I was allowed to work on the beat. And then in ’89 I was asked to write a column and then I was later on promoted to associate editor. Then, I forgot when our editor passed away. When he passed on, I was appointed as acting editor up to this time.

Q: So sir, at that time, so you’re working with Tempo na? As in the whole… all of your journalism experience?

A: Yes.

Q: Ano po’ng hitsura ng Tempo… ng office po at that time? Like, ganito na po ba siya noon?

A: No. Actually, we have the central desk. [The] central desk was placed here (points to his right). Dito, pahaba. So all of the editors are here at the desk. The deskmen, the page editors sit over here. But lately this was built for the editor (points to a small room with wooden walls to his right) as his office but when I took over, I did not get this office. Sabi ko, kahit sino pwede na lang. You know, gawing private resting place or parang sort of a storage or something.

Q: You said a while ago, sir, that when you started you were a regular correspondent.

A: Yes.

Q: Does that mean that you never experienced being a cub reporter?

A: No. Well, for two weeks. It’s like, sort of [a] practicum but you know when you say you’re a cub reporter you’re just an assistant of a reporter. You’re sort of a legman that you simply supply him the information and he’s the one to write. But during my time as a cub reporter, I was also made to write my own stories.

Q: Ah, you were a cub reporter but your articles were named…

A: Yes. I got the bylines and/or the taglines.

Q: So sir, during that time, sir, ‘nung nag-start po kayo for Tempo, sino po ‘yung publisher ‘nung time na ‘yun, ‘yung editors and colleagues niyo po?

A: Well, the publisher is still up to now Napoleon Rama. The editor, when I came in, was Reca Trinidad who is now with Inquirer. Then [he/she] was replaced by Augusto Sta. Ana but he passed away so I took over.

Q: So at that time, sir, magkano po ’yung starting salary niyo po at that time?

A: Well, as a correspondent we were paid per column inch of a story so it depends on the length of the story and your production for that day. So at that time I think it was inside page six pesos per column inch and eight pesos per column inch sa front page. Then after a few years, it was increased to eight pesos sa inside and then ten sa front. And then after that I became [a] regular staff so kahit na anong konti o maraming sulat, I get basic salary and allowances, etcetera. But at that time, I think they changed the rate to, parang, [one] hundred pesos per story. Ganun eh, parang fixed na ‘yun then sa front page yata, I don’t know [maybe] one fifty or two hundred.

Q: Hindi na po per column inch ‘yun?

A: No. Hindi na.

Q: Per story na talaga?

A: Yes. So regardless of the length. There are times kasi, alam mo naman siyempre, correspondent so kailangan nilang mas malaki [ang] income so hinahabaan nila ‘yung story so it’s more difficult to edit a longer story than the shorter one. So para ma-encourage din ‘yung mga correspondents to make it short and simple, ‘yun ang nangyari. Siguro ginawa nilang one hundred, ganun. So whether it’s three paragraphs or ten paragraphs, you’d still get the same amount, ‘di ba?

Q: Sir, about your first beat. Kasi po kanina may na-mention po kayo na you had your first beat earlier in your experience. Ano po ‘yung beat ninyo ‘nun?

A: My first beat was Pasay City. I covered Pasay City and then Parañaque-Las Piñas, sinama na rin. So that means, ‘pag sinabing entire cities ‘yun – Pasay, Parañaque, Las Piñas, you cover not only the police, you also cover the prosecutor’s office, [the] city hall and everything that’s in there or rather that’s in those cities.

Q: So ano po ‘yung mismong first assignment niyo doon sa beat na ‘yun? Kung ano po ‘yung pinaka first activity na ginawa niyo?

A: [The] first activity was covering an electrocution of a… I forgot. [I think] of a construction worker ‘yata.

Q: May mga important lessons po ba kayong na-learn from that first assignment niyong ‘yun?

A: Oh, yes because I felt so incompetent. Because you know I wrote my story for two hours. I was able to write seven paragraphs but I wrote it for two hours and then it didn’t come out the following day. [It] came out after three days and it was even rewritten. So it was a lesson. And from then on, every time my story comes out, I make it a point to check the newspaper and see what has been changed in my story so that I would know kung ano ‘yung mga mistakes ko so I won’t do those mistakes again or commit those mistakes again.

Q: In that first beat, did you work with anyone or were you alone on that assignment?

A: I was alone, yes and of course, I was with other reporters from other newspapers. Of course, they were guiding me somehow. [Rachel]

Q: So sir, do you have any memorable editors during that time? [Claudine]

Q: [Any memorable] experiences with your editors or certain editors?

A: Yeah. Well, like Manny Piñol. Manny Piñol was our deskman who is now the governor of North Cotabato. He is now the governor of North Cotabato but he was kind of strict. ‘Pag ka medyo hindi maganda ang pagkakasulat ‘nung ‘storya, tatawagin ka tapos lalamukusin ‘yung papel mo [tapos] ‘tatapon. Another guy’s Rusty Otico. He’s a really good desk editor. He’s only a high school graduate but he writes very well. He’s perfect in grammar and syntax. Napakabait pa. Instead of him calling you, siya pa [ang] lalapit sa desk mo tapos “Pakitingnan mo nga ‘to.” Ganyan. “Tingin mo ba tama ito?” Ganyan, ganyan. And he was very soft spoken. That guy is really a character.

Q: Were they particular with deadlines sir? How strict were they?

A: Of course, ever since we are very strict with deadlines but we changed deadlines. Before, our deadline was four pm but the absolute deadline for us is eight pm now. I mean [that was the] deadline for editors but for reporters, it’s five pm. Meron pa, sometimes for the late breakers, [the time is] six [to] seven o’ clock. Basta kailangan by eight pm, kailangan on the way na ‘yung [material]. Na-layout na ‘yan, ‘yung page na-proof read na and it’s already on its way to the camera section.

Q: Through the years, paano po nag-change ‘yung pag-submit niyo ng articles? From phone ba? How did it develop into [how it is now]?

A: Well, before we used to use typewriters, of course. Then edit ‘yan through kamay lang then the copy boy, like Mario here (points to his right), sends all the copies or brings all the copies to the typesetters. Then sila ang magta-type ‘nun then doon na sa layout. Bibigay ‘yung copy ng editor ‘yung layout page niya [or] dummy sheet. Tapos po-proof read ‘yun then that’s the time na dadalhin sa camera, [for] plate-making, etcetera. But in the advent of new technology, we learn how to use computer systems, hindi pa PC. ATE system pa noon. Ibang format. But later on we shifted to PC then we’re now using the Adobe Pagemaker and including the printing. One whole page na ‘yan so there are no more typesetters. We call them paginators who do the pages. So we do not normally use dummy sheets anymore because we can do the layouts visually with the paginators.

Q: Sir, do you have any memorable colleagues when you were working?

A: Memorable what?

Q: Colleagues.

A: Colleagues?

Q: Yeah, colleagues.

A: Here in Tempo or outside Tempo? I mean from other newspapers?

Q: Sir, both.

A: Okay. Well, when I was a police reporter, I was then, you know, assigned to Manila, the Western Police District. They said that, you know, if you’re assigned to the Western Police District, it’s a prime beat for police reporters. It means that you’re among the top reporters of the police beat, so, when I got there, I saw them just playing cards, sometimes when they’re drunk, you know…they have guns, they collect empty bottles inside the press club or press office then they shoot the bottles, you know…that’s how they do it, but, of course, I’m part of it, it’s part of growing up, those were memorable times. So kahit madaling-araw, you know…when we’re drunk, after a few rounds of beer, we play cards inside the press office. There were times that, you know…during [a] coverage of a story, for example, on a Sunday, most of us were wearing white pants and white rubber shoes because it’s a Sunday, we never thought that there would be too much activity but when somebody got killed, you know…so we went to the scene, there was [a] lot of blood, so what we did, you know, was to joke around, like pushing each other or one another, baka malagyan yung rubber shoes ng dugo, ganun. Because being a police reporter later on, you feel anesthetize already, you don’t have feelings for the victims, because for the reporters, police report is just a daily routine seeing people dead, so I’m really happy right now that, you know...that was a long time ago, that now, I feel pity when I see blood, you know…I blush…I feel ‘no, but when I was a reporter, I never felt scared, afraid, you know, I can go to the morgue all by myself and take shots, take pictures of dead people, but now I’m scared, so I’m happy [that] I’m normal again.

Q: Besides policemen, did you have anyone that you were required to interview that you would consider a memorable informant?

A: Well, yes, aside from the police beat that I covered Department of Tourism, Foreign Affairs, Office of the Vice President, NBI ‘no. Well, my privilege of interviewing one-on-one was memorable occasion, that was the interview with Doy Laurel who was vice president. I think that ‘yun lang siguro ang masasabi kong memorable aside from the police, but I spent most of my time in the police beat because Tempo is a tabloid so it’s not a broadsheet, so for Tempo, the highest beat would be the police beat, baligtad eh. Ang broadsheet, highest beat is Malacañang of course, the palace. So baligtad, so we give more stress dun sa mga police, crime, violence, ganyan ang stories ‘no, not like the Bulletin, it’s more of politics and economics.

Q: What made you interview Mr. Doy Laurel? I mean being a police-centered newspaper?

A: Well, because I have to go up eh, there’s no way, kasi I have to be left in police beat because there are new ones, fresh, new breed of reporters, the budding ones. So, we have to move on, move up rather, so I’m on my way up there. So iba na ‘yung sa Malacañang, iba na ‘yung kuwan…but I was already in the desk, so mas less hectic ang schedule ‘pag if you cover tourism, foreign affairs, there’s not much activity ‘no, like Office of the Vice President, so you can concentrate on desk work, [at] the same time you can take you know, some shots at the other beats that are not really that busy, like NBI or the police or the City Halls or the Prosecutors Office.

Q: Sir, so do you have any memories as a reporter of ano...like ‘yung Martial Law po, ‘yung latter part ng Martial Law, may na-cover po ba kayo about that ‘nung time na iyon?

A: Kasi, I started here in ’83, so actually, we were called “Martial Law Babies” because we were brought up as children knowing Marcos only as the president, and even in college, you know, we already exercised self-limitation, even the way we write, we talk, parang medyo…

Q: May censorship?

A: Hindi naman sa suppress, parang may self-censorship in a way, but we also learn that in school ‘no, sometimes kasi mahirap pagka sobrang freedom eh, you tend to abuse it eh, so mas maganda ‘yung you can control yourself. You know that you have that power, but you don’t abuse that power. That’s the point, ‘di ba. Kaya nga sabi nila, “Power corrupts, ‘di ba…absolute power corrupts absolutely.” So ‘yun ang dapat ang ingatan. Particularly at that time when the media was muzzled, nakatakip talaga yung bibig ng media, then suddenly came the Edsa Revolution, bigla kang nakatikim ng freedom, it’s like you know, being submerged in water for two minutes, and you’re gasping, you really want to go up for air ‘di ba, then bigla kang aangat nang ganun, parang talagang when you gasp for air, talagang halos punuin mo yung lungs mo ng air, so that’s how it felt during the Edsa Revolution, you tend to abuse that, the breathing, instead of breathing normally ‘di ba, you really gasp for a lot of air because kapos na kapos ka, so that’s being abusive. So you have to breathe normally, so that’s what I learned. [Claudine]

Q: So as a journalist sir, how did you as a journalist under the Martial Law moved towards that freedom? And what were the changes? How was the transition? [Rachel]

Q: Adjustments. [Claudine]

Q: How did you adjust?

A: Well, of course, being media man, I was very happy, like my other colleagues, you know…we could write almost anything under the sun, but as we went along, we found ourselves tending to abuse that freedom, that’s why a lot of tabloids sprouted in the market, mushroomed…they mushroomed rather even the broadsheets, they mushroomed after the revolution, unlike before, there were only less than 10 newspapers, biglang naging 20, 30 and others were publishing cheesecakes, you know, bold pictures with sex stories. [It] really hurts the moral fiber of society, and of course it affected our circulation, because we could not follow that kind of trend because of course, we have to strictly follow the role of media just to inform, educate, entertain and to shape public opinion and by doing that, you know, by publishing dirty pictures, the sex stories, it only hurts the moral fiber of society. And what happens, ‘yun nga, dumadagdag ang rape, as statistics showed, ‘di ba. Because of that, you know, this and that crime went up, ganyan, so that’s really a hard lesson to learn.

Q: Sir, so right now, ano na po ang status ng Tempo ngayon?

A: Saan? Sa…‘ayun it’s doing well, but we’re not doing great like as before, we’re still earning of course, definitely earning but it’s not as much as before.

Q: Sir, so as associate editor right now of Tempo, masasabi niyo po bang fulfilled na kayo sa job niyo as the editor?

A: Well, actually my dream was just to become a columnist, I never dreamt of being an editor. Actually, because I love writing, but being an editor, you know, it’s like, you’re not the violinist or the bassist or the drummer, but you’re the conductor, so you just wave your hand and then pictures are taken, you wave the other hand and stories are written, and then you harmonize everything, ‘di ba. It’s like an orchestra, you harmonize everything, you try to order everybody to do their job right so that, you know, you harmonize everything into one whole issue of the newspaper for that day. So, I love to be the player than to be the conductor. It’s fun being the player.

Q: And so, sir lastly, ‘di ba po dahil po sa experiences niyo before as a journalist and sa media po, ano pong advices ang maibibigay niyo for us? Like us, we’re studying Communications Arts, for us na future media practitioners po?

A: For print or for broadcast or for whatever field?

Q: For whatever po.

A: Well, keep the faith. I mean, even if you’re bad, even if you’re good, you still have to play the role of somebody who is holy. You have to act like as if you’re an angel even if you’re not. It’s a holier than thou attitude, because media is being looked up to by people as vanguard of truth, so you have to portray that role, even if you hate telling the truth, you have to tell the truth, if truth hurts, so you have to let it hurt, and campus journalism is different from the real world of journalism. Campus journalism is actually ideal, the ideal type of journalism, but the real world, there are so many temptations, so many forms of harassment that you would encounter, so you have to be steadfast. ‘Yun lang ang importante. You have to keep the faith, because if that faith is gone, wala na...wala nang journalism na ipagmamalaki.