PALARCA. you’ve been a journalist your whole life. You’ve achieved so much already and have established a name for yourself. With such a fulfilled background, sir, what can you say is journalism for you?
VILLA. Well, it has done me well over the years…more than 45 years. In fact, that’s how we earn our living. Anybody who cannot earn a living out of it must get out of it. You know… and when the heat is so much and you could not withstand it, get out of the kitchen.

Q. So probably, sir, journalism po has made a very big impact in your life?
A. Yes, it has. In fact, subsequently in little parts of my life I branched out to other things but again here I saw to it that it never conflict with journalism, my work.

Q. Ok. So now sir, let’s do some reminiscing po, about the past. Was journalism your first choice of a career?
A. Yes, it can be a career, it can. Well, so long as you know what you need and what you want. There are two different thing
A. what you need and what you want. Sometimes you need only so much but you want so much also. That’s where people deviate a little from the path of righteousness. Journalism truths as we may call it.

Q. Sir, who and what influenced you to become a journalist?
A. Well, I was a… well I do not know who influenced me now. I started as a correspondent. I was writing… well, I do not know who really influenced me. But I could remember the days when I was a mere correspondent of the Bulletin. That’s where I started in 1951. And… well, because probably there got to be a better representative and I was…I applied and that’s all there is to it. And that was the last time I applied for a job.

Q. It was also the first time you applied for a job?
A. Yah…

Q. So basically…
A. Mr. Wilkins was then the editor and he approved it.

Q. So basically, sir, po the reason why you applied for the job was you were up for the challenge, you wanted to change…
A. Yah…

Q. …coz there were no better writers, you wanted to make a difference and stuff?
A. Yah. That’s it. I know that one has to make a difference and I offered myself as an example. You know, when I came to Manila, there were a lot of veteran writers already. They were readers also. In order to offset their lead over me, what…I asked myself, “what do they read?” So I kept on reading and reading and reading and reading and reading. For ten years, I was reading one book a day. For ten years.

Q. One book a day??
A. Yes. That’s why you should be a speed-reader at the same time you should understand the words, and the play of words. Oh, I do remember those days when Jane Austin was a writer, Edna Ferber and then ah…Oh, we did a lot of research work and reading. In fact, there were all sorts of books, open books to us. They were very costly back then. If a poor guy who doesn’t have a book beside him, whether he is….When you’re in the bus, you know, it took from Quiapo to the rest of Manila, ten centavos only! You could make a ride and it’s not as ah... And while riding, you read your book. And when you are doing nothing, you read a book. Like ah… Oh, example of this is probably that differentiates the journalist of the past and the present. Yah, go ahead…

Q. Sir, what was your first foray into the field of journalism?
A. Oh, I do remember the first scoop rather. That was the raid of Tarlac. I was then vacationing in Tarlac when the Huks raided Tarlac-Tarlac. I called up Manila just to inform the Bulletin that Tarlac was being raided. And thereafter, it was cut. The line was cut! That was it. We had a lot later on. The Bueno Hill controversy, the Luisita strike, the killings in Nueva Ecijia. Just imagine, these were big stories at that time. The protest of Lugay who was then the mayor…who was fighting for the governorship of Tarlac. Well because we have big names also. Law practitioners. On one side, you have the Dioknos…Diokno father and son and, you had big names. In other side, you have Taning Fernandez, you have Nick Roxas, and the rest of the gang. The whole Liberal Party and Nacionalista Party. Bigwigs were there. Yah?

Q. Sir, you said earlier that you worked for the Manila Bulletin, diba?
A. Yes.

Q. Sir, can you describe this newspaper?
A. Well, at that time, it wasn’t Florentino Torres. The Bulletin was then owned by the Americans. Well, the Bulletin had a yellow page or a pink page, shipping page that was ran by Mr. Navarro. That’s where I applied first. 1951. And then…well, of course, I was assigned in all provinces North of Manila. North of Manila! Just imagine, 11 provinces, I think. All provinces North of Manila (laughs). That’s why I had to start in the morning and then be somewhere else in the afternoon. At lunchtime, I was through with my studies, at 11 o’ clock. And, I would ride to San Fernando, Pampanga where it was headquarters of the first military. And, fly probably to Pangasinan or drive to Nueva Ecijia, whatever it is. It was a very lively thing. Yah?

Q. Sir, where was Manila Bulletin located before, was it also in Intramuros?
A. Oh, Florentino Torres, in Manila. That was the old Bulletin building, before it moved to Shurdut building. And later on, it had its own building. Shurdut building is now occupied by the Department of Labor. In Intramuros, I was still with the Bulletin when it moved to Intramuros. Guys like Bing Torres, the rest of them…is entirely new crop of Bulletin men. Before, I had such things as… I knew guys like Ben Rodriguez. They were with the Bulletin. Amante Paredes, and then the rest. Amante Bigornia rather, and his brother Jess Bigornia who as I understand Jess died about 2, 3 years ago. He was with the Bulletin in 1939. From 1939 until his death he was with the Bulletin.

Q. Sir, in times before, may you please describe the facilities of the Manila Bulletin, the printing equipment?
A. Oh, well the Bulletin had a roller press already at that time. Although kinakahon pa namin yung mga old types where type was type set hot lead, stenotype. Unlike now, they have computers. It was stenotype. And then I moved to The Chronicle. It was also boxed, the old method hot lead. Of course, we had rotogravure but…That was the first rotogravure in the Philippines, was owned by the Chronicle. Also, we had Bulletin…there were only four or five newspapers at that time: Manila Times, Chronicle, Herald, Bulletin. These were the morning papers. And then you have the afternoon papers. You have Daily Mirror Evening News. Of course, you had the Spanish and Tagalog newspapers also. And, Chinese newspapers. Fukkien Times was Chinese, and so was Chinese Commercial News. And then you had Taliba, Balita, Taliba of the Manila Times and Mabuhay of the Herald, and then you had Horizonte of the Herald in Spanish. And then you had also another, I think one of the Manila Times, it had a Spanish La Vanguardia.

Q. Sir, naturally, we have to start at the bottom before inching our way up. Sir, were you ever a cub reporter?
A. No, not that in the sense of cub reporting. I was homed as a Correspondent. They really trained a lot of correspondents. Because I was assigned North of Manila, so, I was considered a correspondent. And then when we came to Manila, that’s when I joined the Chronicle and resigned from the Bulletin, you know. And then later on, joined CBN, which was Chronicle Broadcasting Network. We were the ones who founded that. Come to think about it, CBN was the founding institution. We founded it. ABS…you know what ABS is all about? It’s the only television station at that time, channel 3, owned by Judge Quirino. We negotiated all its purchases so its CBN, ABS-CBN now. Alto Broadcasting Network. It used to be known as Alto Broadcasting Network. It’s still. In fact, Don Eugenio Lopez who owned the Chronicle was a rich man. He loved his boys. His loyalty from publisher to editor down to the last employee of the Chronicle. The same thing also in the Bulletin. The same thing I suppose also in the Herald and in the Manila Times.

Q. So, sir, you were one of the few lucky ones who never had to go through initiations and all the utos-utosan of a cub reporter?
A. Ah! No, no, no. No. In fact, later on when I was a senior reporter of the Manila Chronicle, oh, cub reporters and new reporters could not even sit in our table (laughs). There were Renato Constantino and the rest of them, like Louie Mauricio… we were some kind of an exclusive club. Nobody declared it, but they just looked up to you. I do remember very well when we had a Press Club and we would sit in one circle table, all the senior reporters like Ben Peñaranda… And then the rest of the reporters, they cannot even talk! Yah?

Q. Sir, naturally, you had beats. Can you tell me something about your very first beat?
A. Well, a police beat.

Q. So, what was it about?
A. Well, I do remember police beat…many many things happened in polices. At that time, police beat was not as sophisticated as it is now. With telephones, you’ve got to ring the telephones. And then, you don’t have the telephones, you’ve got to be there. Unlike now, I suppose you can pass the buck to the next guy or you go there and you…that’s it. In our time, you know, we have got to be there ourselves. And, communications are not as good as they are today. Fast communications.

Q. Sir, what was the most valuable lesson that you learned from this beat, from your first beat?
A. Well, magtiyaga ka! I do remember very well that Iking Santos….he was then…”go back! You go back”, he would tell us just to check on the address, if there’s such thing as address because people have a way of faking their addresses. You better locate this guy. You find that address. He would not just simply take your word for it. You go check it. Yah?

Q. So basically, kailangan matiyaga ka talaga?
A. Oo, talagang matiyaga ka! Magta-tiyaga ka talaga! Hindi kmaukha ngayon, you take for granted… Ah no! Puntahan mo! Tingnan mo kung may bahay na ganon na numero. Kung nakatira doon ay ganon at ganon! Kung sinu-sino na lang tinuturo nilang mga bahay! Mga criminals! Oh, patay ka! It makes you, well, imaginative at the same time. You know, I used to…we used to have jeeps around…jeep…police jeep owned by the Chronicle. Ernesto Vitug was my photographer, the father of Romeo Vitug now Movieland. He used to be my photographer and so was Amado Bonus, and quite a number of them…Ben Cruz…many…Joe Gabor was also a photographer. Well, there is an always assigned…there were always to one writer, one photographer always were assigned to a beat.

Q. Siyempre, sir, diba on this beat, meron din kayong mga kalaban, and all?
A. Oh yes!

Q. Yung competition po, was it really tough that time?
A. Oh, very tough. Walang PRO noon! Kaya nga magtiyaga ka, mag masipag ka. Walang PRO eh. Walang darating na lang basta, “ano bang istorya ngayon?” Wala yan! Maghanap ka ng istorya mo! Araw-araw yan! And that’s why pinag-aaralan mo kung sino ang…who is the oppositor o sinong kalaban mo. Dalawa ang tinitingnan mo parati. Yung cause, kasangga mo ang desk mo. Yung ka-compete mo at saka yung beat mo mismo ang binabantayan mo. Kaya nga pag natulog kami, natutulog kami telepono nasa tabi namin. Telepono namin. It’s either mauuna yung desk mo makalaman pa. Sometimes, the police. Alam mo at that time mabilis din yung mga editors eh. Naririnig din nila kung saan-saan, kung saan-saan nanggagaling ang mga impormasyon nila. They lead you to it. Walang keeping of secrets among editors and yung reporters. Wala yan. Kaya nga mag prangko ka sa editor mo, who doesn’t violate also the rule of information. Kaya nga masaya kami noon. Pero maski kalaban mong taga Herald, taga Bulletin, taga Manila Times, kalaban mo sila pag nagcocover kayo ng beat. Pero maya-maya ng konti, nagkakasama din kami sa Press Club. Nag-iinuman kami doon. Well, after deadline, magkakaibigan na naman kayo. Before deadline, magkalaban kayo. After deadline, nakasulat ka na ng istorya mo, ayos ka na. Araw-araw yan na nangyayari. Walang PRO noon. Dadalawa lang ang PRO. Isa sa Malacañang, isa sa Defense Department. The rest, walang PRO. Walang PRO-PRO noon. At saka, hindi namin pinaniniwalaan yung sinasabi ng PRO. Pangpadagdag lang yan. Kung walang-wala na, napiga na siguro ang istorya, pigang-piga na ang sources, ayon, PRO. Baka makatulong sila.

Q. Eh di, sir, parang kanya-kanyang diskarte na lang ho to be able to get the story?
A. Oo, talaga. Contact at saka diskarte. Kaya naman nasa bahay ka na bago matutulog nagtatawag ka pa. At saka nagdidikta ka pa doon sa desk mo.

Q. Mmm. Sir, as a reporter, naturally, you have worked with several editors. How was your relationship with your editor?
A. Well, as I was saying, you tell you editor and the editor is worthy. The word is worth that nothing will happen to it. In fact, when I was covering the U.P. for instance, I was asked by the editor…eh columnist namin taga-U.P. rin. Nag-aaway pa sila. Pero, no way did they influence my quality of writing. And, these two editors were quarreling, and yet they never influenced me. Told me what to write and how to write, no. They live the quarters and the secrecy that I might tell them something else…I might tell the editors something else, but that’s it. It ends there.

Q. Any memorable editors?
A. Well, I’ve been through many editors. Si Ernie del Rosario, si Rod Reyes, si…kasama namin yan! Pero when he was promoted… si Doronilla. Kasa-kasama din namin sa beat yan. Sports editor si Rod. Basta we never looked at people noon. Basta naka-posisyon ka na, we respected hierarchy. Maski sino pa yang nandidiyan. Why? Because your loyalty to you editor cannot be more than your loyalty to your newspaper because talagang ganon ang make ng diyaryo eh.

Q. Sir, how were the editors when it came to accuracy, ethics, and grammar?
A. Well, ethics and grammar. Oh, ethics. Masyadong mahigpit sila noon. Ethics. You know that Raul who is now the Business World… si Raul. You know that he got his ethics from the Chronicle. Ibabalik mo at ibabalik yung eh, yung ahhh…That’s a rule still at the Business World now. Ibabalik mo kung binigyan ka naman ano-anong gifts or whatever. Ibabalik mo sa nagbigay. Ma-ethics yan. You know that you relieve a reporter because your word has died already. Nanghihingi siya sa beat niya. Ah, hindi pe-pwede yan. You are either fired or relived of your beat. Fired! Walang ibesti-imbestigasyon na malalim. Basta naprove ka, fired ka. Well, ethics, uh, ethics, ano bang ethics sinasabing ethics and…well, I do remember very strict sila sa ethics. Grammar. Yes, kokonti lang ang errors ng mga grammar riyan sa mga desk namin eh. I do remember for instance maski susulat ka ng istorya, babguhin mo yan. Kung ganito yan, susulatin mo. Tinuturuan ka parati. At saka noon, hindi lang yung istorya mo, istorya din nila, mga iba, binabasa mo. Ngayon, eh, istorya mo ba binabasa mo pa? Ngayon eh hindi naman. To read their names only. Hindi naman structure ng istorya ang binabasa nila. Basta naka byline sila, ok sila. Ah noon, I do remember na maguhaw na ang mundo yata bago ka magkaroon ng byline. Hindi byline ng byline, byline ng byline. Ah no. There was a time na nagsasawa na rin ako sa kaka-byline. Nung nasa Chronicle ako, front page, inside page, meron pa kong column sa back page…o maria! Nagsasawa ka na rin sa byline. Eh kung mapupuno mo itong bahay, kung lahat lahat ng binyline ko, lahat lahat na tinape ko eh di sinakop ko na yung buong bahay hanggang diyan! This is a big bodega sana. Pero hindi! We don’t keep records of what we wrote yesterday or the other day or last week. No. Marami pa yan.

Q. Sir, what was the editor’s attitude towards deadlines?
A. Ah, yes. We maintain deadlines. Pag sinabing 7:30, 7:30 yan. Pasok yan, istorya mo. Eh mga a las sais y medya pa lang, 7 o’ clock pa lang, 7:30 ang deadline, a las siete pa lang pinapasyal ka na ng editor mo. Naglalakad na ng ganyan. Managing editor, and editor news editor, nagpapasyal-pasyal na ng ganyan. Pinag-titingnan na how you are writing at kung anong progress ng istorya mo. At that time, babalik ka pa sa Chronicle to write your stories. Eh ngayon hindi. Ifa-fax mo na lang, diba? At that time pa, come to think about ethics, ano? and the editors. At that time, two to three beats ang isang periodista. Ngayon eh, dalawa na yata sila sa beat eh, diba? Dalawa na sila. You’re supposed to know…When I covered the defense, for instance, of Foreign Affairs, I read about the beat, about stories, in depth, lahat-lahat yan. Sa Chronicle, sa defense beat, for instance, you know, the first 200 na colonels memoryado ko pa kung saan sila nag-graduate. 201 file nila halos ma-memorya mo na. Not only that, yung mga battles noong pang unang panahon pinag-aaralan namin. Hindi kamukha ngayon na…oh! Hindi ka patanga-tanga! Like for instance, when I covered the foreign affairs beat, mga deals pa! Eh, paris ngayon, pinagtatanong ko nga ngayon, ano bang umpisa ng first world war? Ano bang second world war? Saan sila nag-umpisa? Papano bang…papanong play noon? Eh, *barker stage and all implications of the…implications lang pinag-aaralan namin. Bakit ganon? Bakit ganon? How do I…how do they affect present living? And, hindi nga bumabanat ng palso noon. Meron din very daring pero by large, maraming ayaw mag dare. Yah?

Q. Sir, what are your best memories as a reporter?
A. Best memories? Pare-pareho na siguro yan kay one seminar, one conference, looks like another conference. Henry Kissinger, met him, Margaret Thatcher abroad also, George Bush. Yan, na-enkwentro ko abroad. Chang Kai Shek, Deng Shao Peng, yan abroad I met them and attended their press conferences. Si…ano pangalan non? Larry King…well that’s it. One conference looks like another conference, so long as you prepare yourself for it. Hindi ka lang recipient but there got to be a dialogue.

Q. Sir, you were part of many significant events in our history. Most notably probably of which is the Martial Law Period. What…
A. Oh, yes. Martial Law. I was then the acting president of the National Press Club and you know, that’s why namulubi kami dahil sa meron konti mga perodista jobless lahat sila. Maya-maya ng konti nanghihingi ng at that time, dalawampu, limang piso. Araw-araw yan hanggang na-restore ang Martial Law. Ayoko na sanang mag kandidato for president. It was the late Joe Crisol who forced me. Sabi niya to give a semblance daw na legitimate yung Press Club. “Ganon ba?”, sabi ko. In fact, I was at the luau in Roxas Boulevard. Colonel Curaming goes to me, “Manong” sabi niya, “ikaw ang nagpasok sa’kin sa military.” He was over-aged at that time already. As a second lieutenant, he was 36 years old. 35 lang cut off period. “Ikaw nag pasok sa’kin sa PC” sabi niya, “pirmahan mo na lang ito.” Midnight noon ang pagfa-file ng kandidatura. Eh, quarter to 12 di pa ko napapi-pirma. “Manong” sabi niya, “I will lose my job.” “Well, is that so? You will lose your job? Come here”, sabi ko sa kanya. “Sandali lang.” You know, he comes from Tarlac, I also come from Tarlac, your father comes from Tarlac. He comes from Camil…Camiling. So, sabi ko, “sige!” And I was also asked by telephone. “Pirmahan mo na” sabi niya, “magkandidato ka na.” You know that I ran for secretary only for the board. Secretary lang ako. Ayoko ng mas mataas na secretary ng board because the president and the secretary they got to be hand in hand. Or else, if you don’t want to be president, be a secretary. And, that’s it. Kung sino, figure head lang yan. Actually, secretary ang malakas. Yan ang gumagawa ng payroll, lahat yan! Resolutions, secretary! Inaaprubahan lang ng presidente. So, that was it. So, I finally made a decision. 1 to 12…one minute before 12 o’clock I ran again. Sabi ko, nasubu na ako. Now you can rest. Assured that I will run. There I was being hounded to run. Eh kung hindi lang si Joe Crisol kaibigan ko at saka si Camil, eh ako nagpasok sa kanya sa PC. Sabi ko, “kung hindi lang ikaw Camil, hindi na ako tatakbo diyan. “ At saka Joe nasa telepono. Sabi ko, “hindi sana ako tatakbo diyan.” Well, during that time, Martial Law, the Chronicle was out. Then, we put up a newspaper. I was then the first one to get a permit which was issued by Kit Tatad and Joe Crisol who were then approving newspapers. Yung sa Newsweek, Metropolitan Newsweek sa Caloocan, kami nagtayo non, Orville Mauricio…namatay na yon. Sabi niya sa akin, “Sol,” sabi niya “you work on the permit of this.” Sabi ko sa kanya, “business, ikaw.“ Larry Zabala kasama namin. Si Larry nasa States na ngayon. He retired daw. Sabi ko sa kanya, “I’ll get a permit.“ And then later on, Sports News. Nagtayo na naman kami ni Celing Dizon. They were very faithful friends. Kung masasabi ko…ah, Kiko de Leon was with us in Sports News. And Gene Puyat was the first chairman of the board. Presidente namin si Celing Dizon. Nagmi-meet pa kami. And then, well, in Sports, sabi ni Celing sa akin, “kung gawin natin daily ito.” “O sige. Bahala ka, eh ikaw presidente. Basta, columnist lang ako at saka si Kiko naman de Leon, columnist din.” Ernie Singson was also with us, of the Bulletin ‘no? Nakita ko sa Ernie kamakailan lang nung namatay si Joe Aspiras. Nagsalita rin siya. Ano pang gusto mo malaman nung Martial Law?

Q. Sir, diba po nung Martial Law sobrang higpit po? Was it really hard to get a permit para magtayo ng newspaper?
A. Hindi naman gaano. Siguro minarkahan lang ni Marcos. Ayaw nyang Roces eh. Mga Roces ayaw niya. Mga Lopez ayaw niya. Herald was closed, Chronicle was closed, Manila Times was closed. They opened a new one. The Bulletin came later on. Express…Daily Express was there, was open. And, Journal was open. Siguro mga personal biases lang nila kung sinong naka-pabor sa kanila. Pero, I do remember wina-warningan pa nga ako eh dahil tira ako ng tira noon eh. I was hitting Marcos like hell. I was speaking, as NPC President. “Manong” sabi nya sa akin, “wag ka masyadong tira ng tira.” Sila Chino Roces at saka si Maning Almario sabi nila, “naka-reserve na yung kama mo doon sa Camp Crame.” Tira ako ng tira. Sabi sa akin ni Marcos, because I was acting president at that time of the Press Club. “Sol,” sabi niya…sinabi ni Marcos, “kung wala kang posisyon, we create one for you.” Eh, sabi ko naman, cinounter-over ko naman, “75% ng jobless journalists will be absolved already. Don’t ask me, I might ask you.” Well, it never arrived to the point that I had to ask him. I could have found some moderations, not to turn down…to turn down Marcos and Imelda and the rest of them. Why? Because we…mga periodista nakatingin lahat-lahat sayo for leadership pagkatapos you let them down? No, no, no, no. No way. No way. No way I will let them down. No way. Maski pa gugutumin siguro ako. Sinabi ko pa kay Marcos ito, “pamilya ko simple lang. Kaya ko magdildil ng asin.” You know that kung magdildil ka nag asin that’s the lowest form of human being that you can be. Pero, payuykuhin ka? Hindi. And Marcos was decent enough na hindi niya ako pinayuko. Aalsa ako.

Q. Sir, about the censorship. How did you deal with it?
A. Censorship! Mga censors naman hindi naman gaanong censorship so long as you know how to write a story. Mga censors naman, kaibigan din namin mga censors eh. Mga sa military, pinasok din namin sila. Pinagpapasok namin sila. Well, censors, papano naman se-censor? A las dos, a las tres na ang deadline mo. Eh hindi naman sila pwede mag 24 hours. Eh ngayon, hindi naman sila pwede mag 24 hours sa diyaryo. Na…nasa play of words. Censorship…wala pa naman censors that I know of. Wala namang censorship na sine-censor ka talaga. May guidelines. So long as you are within the guidelines, pwede ka naman mag loko eh. Pwede ka naman mag laro ng language mo. The power of words. Yan. The fact that national security. Sabi ko, ‘di kasi, you don’t have to talk about national security. Talk about something else, which is the nature of… Nalalaman naman ng nagbabasa eh. They can read between the lines kung anong pinapasok mo, diba? Kamukha namin, hindi naman kaaway si Marcos. Of course, we felt very strongly about the closure of newspapers. To us, freedom of the press was indivisible, was indivisible. Freedom itself is indivisible. Hindi pwe-pwede yung halfway ka, halfway ka roon. Ah, no, no ,no ,no. No way. No way. Hanggang ngayon paninindigan ko yan.

Q. Sir, how about po during the EDSA revoulution?
A. EDSA! Oh, come to think about it. My brother, my younger brother was an ambassador at that time. You know that he was among those 7 ambassadors who joined the EDSA revolution. My kids were working. They were… I allowed them. In fact, EDSA revolution, it was my brother who was in Bangkok later on, coup. EDSA revolution. Kaibigan ko yung mga yan. Sabi ko, EDSA revolution! Sumama kami. Sabi ko, wala naman masama ito eh. Pang-bayan ito eh. Hindi pwe-pwede yung halfway ka. You’ve got to make a definition where you stand, whether you are for or against things. You’ve GOT to make a definition! Hindi pwe-pwede yung one way or the other. Magpapa-guessing-guessing ka? Ah, no way! Siguro natatakot sila, mga iba, siguro mga iba, maglantad. Bakit ka matatakot? Naninindigan ka lang naman eh, diba? And yet, many people were very close friends of mine. Marcos himself, we were in the think tank. The first presidency of Marcos, kami nila Paeng Salas, Ernie Granada. Ang Vice President niya nung una si Lopez, Nanding Lopez. Boss namin, eh inassign na ako doon eh.

Q. So basically, Sir, you had an advantage kasi malapit ka sa kanila?
A. Yah. Sabi nga sa akin eh, nung when I was acting president when Martial Law was declared, sabi nakaready na daw ang kama ko sa Camp Crame. You know that I was still delivering speeches hitting Marcos like hell in Zambales. And then, I was supposed to deliver a speech pa on the day he declared Martial Law. Then in the evening, I was the acting president that time of the Press Club. In the evening, tinawag ko si Tony Zumel. “Tony,” sabi ko, “masama yata itong ginagawa ni Marcos, baka may Martial Law ngayong gabi.” Ernie Maceda was up there sa fourth floor namin. The Ambivalent Crowd was singing and the senate boys were there, and Ninoy was at the Hilton. Sabi ko kay Ernie, “ay! Hindi pwe-pwede yan!” Sabi pa ni Ernie Maceda, he was the senator at that time, “hindi pwe-pwede yan!” ang sabi ko kay Tony Zumel, “o Tony, dineclare na daw ang Martial Law ni Marcos.” Sabi niya, “Mr. President, can I order a brandy on you?” “Sure!” [end of tape] … Lahat-lahat yan mga yan, kaibigan ko yan eh. Tony Zumel, Satur Ocampo, we were in the same board of the National Press Club. Satur Ocampo, Julie Yap Daza, kasami rin namin yan. Maraming nagagawa ang Press Club noon at that time. You know, it was during my time that I offered the fourth floor to protesters. Yan, sila Roger Arienda, lahat-lahat yan, sila they occupied the fourth floor. Why? Because nagdedemonstrate lang naman mga bata eh. Bakit mo paptayin sila? So, sabi ko, they have freedom. Bigyan natin sila ng freedom. So, they appropriated the fourth floor of the Press Club. Misis ko nga, 13 years ako officer sa Press Club siguro twice lang, three times lang naka panik sa Press Club in 13 years. Ganon din sa opisina ko sa Makati, twice lang, three times.

Q. Sir, what can you say about the journalism of today?
A. Ah, journsalism of today. Nakakalungkot kung minsan mababalitaan mong may reporter or may columnist na ganon na susul…Nakakalungkot. During our time, maigi pa you be in jail rather. Kaya pinagtatalunan prinsipyo hindi yung envelopmental journalism. Hindi. I do not know. At that time, wala kang naririnig na envelopmental journalism, whatever that is. Wala kaming nakikita nyan. Walang PRO nga noon. Sinasabi ko nga, walang PRO. Dadalawa lang. Malacañang lang at saka Defense Department ang may PRO. Kaya nga nobody to influence you. At saka at that time, secretaries, first name-calling. Walang sir-sir noon. Basta secretaries lang, Mr. Secretary. Pero to call him sir is another thing. You know Mister is a very high sounding word already. Mister, Mr. so and so. Hindi sir. Mas mababa ka? No. We treat everyone in our level.

Q. Sir, with your wealth of experiences and achievements, coming from you, THE great Sol Villa, what advice can you give the young aspiring journalists?
A. Oh. Number 1: integrity. Number 2: know your profession very, very well. Number 3: siguro integrity pa rin. Number 4, integrity pa rin. Number 5, integrity pa rin, and so on and so forth. As I was saying, if you cannot live by it, get out of it. Get out. Walang…no 2 ways about, no 2 ways about…I’m very happy that there are some people who stand by their words and stand by their principles. Not only words, but principles. But I’m sorry for those who cannot stand by their words and their principles. Very, very sad sometimes to read that so and so was in a clique because of so and so because unpaid bills…oh! Why can’t you live within your means? Why? This is what I used to tell…I used to train people in journalism. Many of them I trained. Kung hindi na ninyo kaya, magbigti na lang kayo. Live intact your reputation as a principled man. Don’t you ever pull a trick on the profession.