LAGMAN & MISA. Good morning Ms. Jenny Santiago. How did you get your first job?
SANTIAGO. I was in third year law proper when I was lured into joining the journalism profession. It was our summer break and I was visiting a friend at the Philippine Daily Express. It was one of the major dailies during Martial law. And my former mentor there, Pocholo Romualdez who is the editor, asked me if I wanted to join the Express. He thought I was there to apply, but I was actually visiting a friend. I said OK, since it's our summer break I'll give it a try. After two months of a summer job, I decided to stick it out.

Q. So during those years, what were the newspapers like?
A. In what terms?

Q. The locations? Where were the newspapers located?
A. That was in the early 80's, Martial law days. And there were only three major newspapers. These are the Daily Express, Times Journal and the Bulletin Today, now the Manila Bulletin. Two of these newspapers are located in Port Area. The other Bulletin, until now, is located in Intramuros.

Q. So when you were working at the Daily Express, what was the building like? The offices, the printing, the office equipment, lighting and ventilation? What were the conditions?
A. Like the 2 other major dailies, the Express has its own building, and with complete facilities. That means it has its own printing press, since it's being run by the Romualdezes. And our editor was the nephew of the former first lady Imelda Marcos, as expected it has one of the best facilities. But at that time, that's in the early 80's, there were no fax machines, no computers and e-mail yet. So what we used then were typewriters. And of course, we sometimes file our stories through the telephone. As of today, I think the typewriters are now obsolete. So most newspapers now have computers.

Q. What about the people? The publisher, the editors, your colleagues? Describe them.
A. I would say that during that time we had the best editors, the best writers. Considering that there were only three major dailies and it was very competitive then to enter the print media. Particularly, you have to be one of the best among the lot of the applicants. At first you have to undergo several screenings like interviews, written exams. And if you pas the screening stage, you have to undergo some training and be a correspondent or contributor for quite some time. In some cases, you just stay as a correspondent forever. Hindi ka na mapo-promote to reporter-if you don't prove yourself.

Q. Can you name any of those publishers or editors who' famous now, who you've worked with in the Daily Express before.
A. Until now Pocholo Romualdez, editor of the Philippine Daily Express before is still active in the business. He's now executive editor of Malaya. Most of his contemporaries are now retired…but my contemporaries are now mostly occupying managerial positions. Like in Express, my colleagues there were Jun Engracia, now news editor of the Inquirer. Joy delos Reyes, now the editor of Malaya. Yvonne Chua, is now the training director of the PCIJ, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Although these people I'll be mentioning were not my colleagues in the Express, they were my contemporaries. These were the ones with whom I've covered the different beats. These are Malou Mangahas, formerly the Manila Times editor, is now also active at the PCIJ. Same as Sheila Coronel. Who else? Maritess Vitug, one of the award-winning journalists. And many others.

Q. What about the working conditions at the time? How many hours do you work? Salaries, holidays, deadlines?
A. Working conditions.There's no difference actually. Because before as compared to today's working conditions. The requirements of the job require us to work more than 8 hours a day. Sometimes there are days when there are no big events going on. We just have to look for new stories all the time. But we don't observe holidays. Usually we observe 6-day workweeks. Meaning we have to work 6 days a week and there's only 1 day off. And that is not necessarily on a Sunday. So even sometimes on Christmas, on New Year, All Saints day, we still have to report for work. Now as to the salary, we're one of the lowest paid among the professionals. Even during that time, I remember in the early 80's, the starting salary wasn't even P1,000 it's around P900 only. That was in the early 80's now the starting salary is only about 10,000, 8,000 to 10,000.

Q. What about deadlines?
A. Deadlines. We have at that time, we have to go to the office to write our stories. And meet the 7PM deadline. Because by 9PM it's ready for printing. Unlike before now it's easier. You can just send your stories through fax or e-mail. And so you can even if you get the story as late as 7PM, you beat the deadline. At that time you have to go back to the office and type your stories. So, in terms of deadline, we have to be there earlier, around 4.

Q. Were you ever a cub reporter?
A. A cub reporter as I understand it is someone who covers the police beat. And that is supposed to be his first job, first experience in writing for the newspaper. I've never been a cub reporter in that sense because when I joined the Philippine Daily Express, I was one of the few female reporters who were lucky enough to be employed. Because it was a male-dominated industry. And so since there were only a few of us female reporters, that is, we were assigned to the so-called "dead beats". Dead beats, but not police beats. In my case I was covering the health, social services and science beats. These are beats that you don't expect to be able to come up on a day to day basis, with hard news. So, in sometimes, I have to write features, some feature stories about those beats.

Q. So regarding those beats, what were the important lessons you learned while doing those beats?
A. These beats, these so-called dead beats, that's a misnomer. For a good reporter, there's no such thing as a dead beat. If you're a good reporter for sure you can come up with a story for the day. Because at that time, you were supposed to come up with at least a story for a day, kahit na attendance story lang. The attendance story is not really worth publishing. But just for the purpose of checking your attendance, you come up with an attendance story. So I learned, if you dig and dig for facts and for a good story, even if you're assigned to minor beats-these are minor beats compared to Malacañang, Senate, Congress-still you come up with interesting stories and sometimes even exposes.

Q. Who were the other people in the beats?
A. At that time, the other health reporters. Chuchay Fernandez now the managing editor of Today newspaper. Boots Rous, retired-the so-called dean of the health beat. Because when we were in our early 20s he was already "retirable". He was already about 60 and Marcia Rodriguez for Bulletin, she's now with the ADB. Chit Estella, the managing editor of the Pinoy Times, she was covering for the Evening Post.

Q. So your editor at the Philippine Daily Express, Pocholo Romualdez, how was he with deadlines?
A. Deadlines? As I said earlier he was one of the best editors that we had during those days, and even now he's on of the best, I could say. He's a disciplinarian and so you have to be able to meet the deadline and at the same time be able to come up with a good-quality story.

Q. Any memorable editors?
A. Of course, I could say Pocholo. Pocholo Romualdez because I consider him my mentor. He was the editor who trained some of the best journalists we now have. And these journalists are the ones running the newspaper desks today. Like as I said, Joy delos Reyes, Jun Engracia, and so many others pa…Yvonne Chua.

Q. How were they when it came to accuracy, ethics, grammar aspects of news writing?
A. As I said earlier, before you're able to enter the print media, at that time you have to be one of the best. And so, necessarily, the editors they were among the best. Not because they were related to the Marcoses but also because of their skill and talent. Like Pocholo Romualdez of the Daily Express, he's a UP graduate, AB-English graduate. And before Martial law he was news editor of the Manila Times. And so going back to your question, when it came to grammar and accuracy, talagang they're among the best. But regarding ethics, that's a different question. That's a different issue because at that time ethic, journalism ethics was not so much given emphasis. As you know those were the Martial law days and even ethics, I suppose, in a way was influenced by government policies.

Q. Any memorable colleagues and what made them memorable?
A. Memorable colleagues. I could say that the people I mentioned earlier, like my editors and co-reporters, Yvonne Chua, Chuchay Fernandez, Joy delos Reyes, Jun Engracia. They were among; they are still among the best journalists. And when you work with these people, you tend to be cautious always of your strengths and weaknesses. You want always to be at par with these people who are very highly skilled. And so there's no room for mediocrity. You have to be on tip-top shape when it comes to practicing the profession.

Q. What were your best memories as a young reporter?
A. Naku ang dami. Even when I was covering minor beats, that was the health, social services and science beats, I was able to come up with exposes. Like I infiltrated a big fake drug syndicate. And came up with an expose regarding their activities. This expose became the subject of a congressional inquiry at that time. And then I was able to come up with exclusive interviews, stories with leftist leaders like Tony Zumel. This was during the martial law. And at the time it's so hard to get an exclusive story with the Left because they're always in hiding. And of course very memorable yung coverage of dispersal operations of rallies during martial law. I remember there was a time, that was also during martial law, when a group of Samar priests walked out of their jobs because of the arrest of their colleagues. Father Kangleon, that was in Samar, considered as one of the places here where there are lots of communist rebels. And so at that time there was the so-called persecution of the Catholic Church. And these priests were suspected of being if not communists, communist supporters. So I was already working with Tempo, the tabloid of Manila Bulletin. I went to Samar with Yvonne Chua of the Express and we were able to get an exclusive interview with Father Kangleon while he was in detention in one of the military camps in Samar. But to do that, I pretended to be the cousin of Kangleon whom I haven't met before. And so before we were allowed to interview, Yvonne, myself, and we were accompanied by one of Kangleon's colleagues, a Samar priest. We were first interviewed by the military officer in charge of Kangleon. While I was being questioned about my background, the priest who accompanied us was really obviously shaking. We were offered coffee. Talagang nagra-rattle yung kanyang coffee cup. Nanginginig siya while taking his coffee. Ako naman, okey lang. Sabi ko, of course I didn't say we're from media. I said, "I'm an Ateneo law student and my cousin, I understand is detained here." So that was how I was able to get an interview with Kangleon.

Q. Any other unforgettable memories?
A. Marami nga. Imagine covering mass actions and violent dispersal operations during martial law. Almost on a daily basis pa. That was shortly before the EDSA revolution. Those were among the memorable coverages.

Q. What were the significant events that you've covered before, like the Martial law?
A. Martial law. The Ninoy rallies, the mass actions, the protest actions against Marcos, against the Marcos administration. That was during the martial law. And fact-finding missions to the provinces during Cory Aquino's time. Although I was covering the Malacañang beat, I was also covering the fact-finding missions. And these missions for instance to Marag Valley, Kalinga Apayao which was a no-man's land. Meaning to say the government has no responsibility for your safety when you enter the Valley. Bahala ka na. If you're caught in a crossfire, that's your risk. That was during Cory's time. Because there was a time when there was a resurgence of the Communist insurgency, rebels and other rebel groups. So there were fact-finding missions to these so-called critical areas.

Q. What about the EDSA revolution.
A. EDSA revolution, unfortunately, I wasn't able to cover that time because I was already employed with the Bulletin Today, now the Manila Bulletin. I was a union officer and that time we were on strike because of low wages.

Q. What about the coup?
A. The same thing. That was the period when we were still on strike because our labor case dragged on for two years. So even though I was still in the payroll of the Bulletin, I was not allowed to work. I was just being paid to be a full time labor leader.

Q. Okay. That's all. Thank You.