Oral History of Emeterio Perez

Interviewers: Ana Buenviaje and Jessica Festejo

IN - Interviewers
E.P. – Emeterio Sd. Perez (Interviewee)

Q: Good afternoon po, I’m Jessica Festejo. I’m Ana Buenviaje. Basically, we’re here po to interview you about your personal background as a journalist.

A: I don’t know with some people, there are people who come over and… I don’t know, I don’t want to mention which school, eh no. They want to apply for OJT or something, and I ask “Are you willing to learn under someone who’s not even a college graduate?” I’m from UST but I never finished college. And I think there were two of them, two who gave up, she did not even start but just backed out. I won’t mention any school eh no, it’s just very unfair to them, you know because it’s a personal choice if they want to or not. I don’t know what year I was in college. I did not complete high school, I have three high schools. Ah no, I attended two schools for my high school diploma. I did not graduate from high school because the third school did not issue me a diploma because I did not have enough subjects from my fourth year, so that’s it, I don’t have a diploma. So definitely in college, I did not have a diploma because I did not finish college. I studied at UST but I never finished college.

Q: Pero nakapag-college po kayo?

A: Ah yeah. That’s why I’m telling you because if that would be discouraging, I don’t know. But as far as experience goes, I have enough experience to tell you that I am here not because of someone I know in the paper or someone I know in the management, but I deserve to be here. To tell you the truth, I struggled way back, uh, 1968. That was forty years ago, but I did not start as a journalist. I started at a lower level; we call that letterpress. That was at a time when the Manila, when the old Manila Chronicle was owned by the Lopez’s. And my sisters who were studying in college would come to my office. They only came once; they never came back. You know why? Because they saw me naked halfway up and I had all the ink on my fingers. That’s why, I was studying then, I used to raise my hand like this, with my closed fist because I did not want to show them my fingers. That’s it.

Q: Pwede po namin malaman ung whole name, date of birth…

A: Okay, my name is Emeterio Sd. Perez. Sd stands for San Diego. I’m the section editor. I think I was supposed to handle companies but I told Mrs. Fernandez that I would prefer to write but she said that I should be one of the editors. Okay, that’s it. So I was then helping in formulating the companies placed in the beginning then eventually somebody took over. I’m out of that, okay, that’s good for me. I get to focus on my column which is ‘By the Rule’ which is out on Tuesday and maybe even sa Thursday. ‘By the Rule’ is about what the corporate regulations that govern the stock market and, you know the other rules and roles that are implemented by the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commissions in polishing the accounts of the private sector. I don’t go out of my topic when I write. Although from time to time I go out, but I don’t think I have written anything that’s too personal. As a matter of fact when I write about the stock market and about integral issues, I have to disclose there whether I have invested in it because I have invested in some stocks in preparation for my retirement. I’m now sixty-one, so my stocks are still there. The other one has been suspended sa trading and, lucky for me, the other one is still going up.

Q: Pwede pong malaman ung place of birth niyo and marital status?

A: Ah, okay. I was born on March 3, 1947. I was born in Bulacan and the barangay there is Pulong Gubat which means “Island forest”, which is not a forest dahil we don’t have forest anymore. I am the son of a farmer who is a tenant of a farm of a relative, and we are still working on that farm until now.

Q: Tapos marital status po? You have children?

A: Yeah, I have a, I married when I was 50 years and 12 days; that was on March 15, 1997. So I was 50yo and 12 days. So I’ve been married for about 11 years. I don’t have children, but my family includes a dog, the name of which is Blanca, and the other one is a cat. The dog is taking care of the cat. Yes, they are together. Our dog and our cat sleep on a couch during the day. They eat and sleep there during the day. And then at night, the muning sleeps downstairs; our dog sleeps in the family room.

Q: Can we ask information po about Business Mirror?

A: Business Mirror, as you see there on the logo, it’s something different. That’s why I can relate that to how I came in. Somebody told me, I think it was Kastil Valenzuela, a Sentral Bank reporter. He told me that there’s a new paper in town, the Business Mirror, and the editor is like this, and this, and that. And I happen to have the cellphone number of Mrs. Fernandez, so I texted her and said, “Can I write for your paper?” she replied “Oh, sure.” So I came over and, well that started it. And then she asked me right away, what can you contribute? Well, I have two things in mind; one is the column ‘By the Law’ and the other is due review on the stock market which mainly contains the stature or the information on the stock listed on the Philippine stock exchange. The due review is somewhat a guide on which stock to place your money. It would caution you, where would you place your money on this stock when the information says et cetera, et cetera, et cetera? Negative, positive, everything’s there. This is something different that is why Business Mirror is something different from the rest of the paper. This is not a paper, a paper on general reading perhaps, it projects the business in general, economy, business, banking, finance and private sector... I’m more on the private sector.

Q: Ano po, paano po ung working hours niyo dito, hanggang Sunday po?

A: To be honest, we work 24 hours a day, because we think all the time. But in the office, the editors are here, let’s see, mostly at 11am or 12nn until the paper is put to bed. So when they close the pages, that’s it, everybody can go home. So 9 or 8, et cetera, ayun.

Q: Nine PM?

A: Nine PM, yes.

Q: Yon na po ung deadline niyo?

A: Yes. But once you’re a reporter, a reporter actually should work twenty-four hours a day, you’re on the beat 24 hours a day. When you miss something before the deadline, that’ the short mistake. In my case, I am on the beat, when I was a reporter, I was on the beat at 6 or 7 in the morning, and I finish my story at 1 or 12 o’clock. So betweenv1 and 4, I’m looking for my stories for the next day. I’m advancing my coverage. I don’t cover simply because I cover for today, but I cover for tomorrow. Because I have this habit of scheduling my coverage, the developments I expect to be doing… they don’t do that anymore.

Q: You think po that’s helpful?

A: Hmm… That’s another thing for a reporter, because before we don’t have fax, we don’t have email, we don’t have internet, we have to report to the office. So on your way to the office, what do you do? When I was covering for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, from Elliptical road, this is Quezon City; from there you ride the jeepneys coming from Fairview to PL. So, along the way what do you do? You read these notes. Actually, you don’t read your notes… from the press office itself; you can already visualize what stories you’re going to do. When you’re at the office and along the way, what do you do? You think of your lead. This is the best lead for this, but this is what I got, but this is the best lead for this, that’s what you’re thinking. When you’re very tired, you can’t think anymore. But when you prepare before you sit down, that would make it easier. Although, there is one writer, I forgot the name of the writer, but he’s, I think, the one at UP. Yung monumento, the naked one, yung statue… Oblation. The model for that, I don’t know, but I think he was a writer. His advice to young writers is this, “If you sit before a typewriter, be sure to tear the second page.” Why is that? Because it’s hard to write a story. What will I tell when I haven’t even finished the first page? That’s it, it’s not easy to start a story especially when you’re not prepared mentally and you should have knowledge in this, you just cannot cover the beat. I say, oh, I’ll go to the department of Agriculture and I’ll cover it. Do you know anything about rice planting? They call it rice planting, but it’s not rice planting, it’s palay planting. You don’t plant rice, you plant… rice has become so generic, but in Filipino you call it bigas and palay. You should know the topic, you should know the beat. How do today’s reporters cover the beat? They’re assigned by their editors there and they sit down and, you know, wait for the grace, but once you’re on the desk, you have to study the beat. What is in the beat? What does it do, what does this agency do? You go there and you look. And by this I cover the ICC, I covered education, health sciences, et cetera.

Q: Ano po first beat niyo?

A: First beat. Ever since… I think … health, education.

Q: Were you ever a cub reporter? Ano po un?

A: We don’t have that anymore actually. Cub reporter, that only means that you follow a reporter everywhere and you’re just a cub reporter. Or you train… this is training; you’re just a cub reporter, you are not regularly on the beat. No, there is no such thing anymore. You are either a trainee, or you’re a correspondent, that means you’re paid for what you write, or a regular reporter. And my advice to young people is, if you are not accepted as a regular reporter, you start as a correspondent. Don’t be too fast. It’s better to go slow than to go fast and fall back later on.

Q: So you didn’t start as a cub reporter po?

A: No.

Q: How did you start?

A: I started at the very, very, very, low, low, low, low, low.

Q: Letterpress po?

A: Yes. I was in the production department. They called it a cajista, the one that sets the type. If there’s a “t”,you stick in a piece of composite, et cetera. How many sentences can you do in one hour? One hour just making that? It’s called composing.

Q: Sa Business Mirror, paano na po kayo nagpi-print ngayon, hindi na po letter press?

A: No, everything’s by computer and set-off printing.

Q: Offset? Offset printing.

A: If I were you, there is a book on the technical side of printing that is available… I saw one in the BookSale of Makati Cinema Square. It’s a beautiful book on the technical side of publishing, printing. It’s nice, but I don’t have it.

Q: Did you have any memorable editors?

A: Well, you know, in fairness to them, they are good. Editors they are very good, very good. There was one editor that, when I was covering the Securities and Exchange Commission, he made me rewrite my stories three times. Three times. “Oh, you did that? Okay… rewrite it.” “Okay, rewrite it again.” “Rewrite it again.” Now, you obey. Editors are the king when they sit on the desk, remember that. You cannot complain against them. Never mind if they are stupid editors. No, you cannot complain, because your copies, you’re at the mercy of the editors. You are lucky if you get good editors who edit good copies, who produce good copies out of bad copies. Don’t expect not to be edited. Even editors allow other editors to edit them. My stories have been edited. Why? Because there are things that you do not know, there are things that you miss in a copy, even if you read your copies two or three times; there are still certain things, grammar, punctuation marks that you may have missed. That happened to me. Yesterday, I’ll tell you one thing. From ten in the morning to four o’clock, I finished just one story because I have to do the research; I had to compute for the numbers. She (editor-in-chief) did not use it today, I don’t know why. It took me more than four hours to do it, because I compute, I confirm, I verify the facts that I found, et cetera, et cetera. These are the data that are on file in my USB. I have my own files. From the moment that you cover the beat, you should have a file of what you write diba? What you have written and the raw data that went into your stories. You should have… you know, it’s very easy now because you have your USB, your external drive. I have my external drive.

Q: Any memorable colleagues naman po? Mga kasamahan niyo po. Your most memorable colleague and what made them unforgettable.

A: No, actually, I don’t know eh. You know all of them, you remember something about someone, while you were on the beat. I remember my companions relying on me while I was on the beat, “You have the stories for us?” Because I did the stories, and when they arrived, then they copy it. I benefited also from them because they have some information I don’t know. I have some information that they don’t know. So we share, but when it comes to exclusive stories, I don’t want to. There are some that I keep to myself, especially on the weekend. As much as possible, I make it a point to do an exclusive story.

Q: You said you own a farm? You’re family owns farm land?

A: Ah, no. You see, I know something about farming because we are farmers; I am the son of a farmer. And my father is a tenant of a relative, and we are still tenants of the relatives who inherited the farm. We don’t own land, that’s why we are still poor. I told my nephews and nieces that it’s about time we do something and that’s the best thing to do. Okay, you finish your college, but you don’t rely on what you know, you don’t rely on your environment. You have to save. In employment, there’s no such thing as enough salary, your salary is not enough, so the best thing is to go into business.

Q: So, if you started like that, what got you into journalism?

A: Necessity. It’s necessity because this is the only thing I know. Look, I’ll tell you one thing, I know a little bit of English. You know why, because in high school, we were not allowed to talk in Filipino.

Q: San school po?

A: I was in a seminary, studying for the priesthood. We were with Italian priests, so you don’t speak Tagalog there. My fellow students were from Iloilo, they always talk in English. Second, if, let’s say, I finished third year college at UST, what year would I have graduated? Now, if I became a journalist, no one would ask me if I have covered, “Oh, are you college level?” Of course not. Nobody’s going to ask that. But I tell them. Sometimes they ask, “Oh, are you a lawyer?” Of course not. I’m not a lawyer. “But you talk like a lawyer.” No, because I know, I just read a book. Why do I know the rules of Securities and Exchange Commissions? Because I read the book. Why do I know the rules of the SEC? Because I read the rules. My wife is the lawyer, but we never talk laws at home. We never talk about our job at home. We talk about our dog, because we don’t have kids.

Q: Ano po ung significant events that you covered? For example, ung mga binigay ng teacher namin is like Martial Law or EDSA I and II.

A: Mm-hm. Wow. I never covered any of that. I don’t know… How old were you when EDSA II happened?

Q: Eleven. [EDSA II was 2001. Perez was born in 1947.]

A: If you watched the impeachment of Joseph Estrada, I was there. I testified against Erap. That’s the most memorable event of my life. I think Mr. Dan Mariano knows about that… you ask him what his reaction was when he saw that face on TV. No, because I’m talking about it because you asked about my memorable moments so that’s the most memorable. It was, I think, January 11 2007. I was the business editor of the Tribune, which is a paper that is pro-Erap. So it is ironic because I’m working with this paper and then suddenly I receive a, one day I get a subpoena and… there was this very tall guy who came to the office and then said, “Oh, I’m looking for Mr. Perez.”, “You ask the guard”… he was asking me. He asked the guard and the guard said, “Oh, you were talking to him.” So he came back, “Sir, napagutusan lang ako. Subpoena po ‘to.” I asked, “Subpoena saan?” He answered., “Sa impeachment.” Aray. Shock. What can you do right? You have to be there. I had to be there for a week. I was supposed to be the corroborating witness of Perfecto Yasay Jr., who was then the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commissions. I was supposed to be the corroborating witness, who appeared first before the main witness because I complained. My editors were mad at me because I was always upset. Yeah, Ninez Cacho-Olivarez, the editor-in-chief and the publisher of the Tribune, castigated for my reporting, because she’s pro-Erap so you can’t blame her. There was no point in continuing my relationship with the Tribune. As a matter of fact, after I testified, my wife called my attention and said, “When are you going to resign?” My wife was never afraid that I would lose my job. Because of my principle, I testified against Erap. Erap is, you know, friendly with the Tribune. What’s the point? Imagine, Tribune didn’t even cover me. Yeah, they purposely didn’t cover. But I saw my name in Reuters, another paper, foreign. I sometimes see… you Google it. Nobody covered me. As a matter of fact, that is an experience that, more or less, you don’t expect the government to be good to you. You can’t expect GMA to be grateful to you. That’s part of the job. And when I stepped down from the witness stand, some journalists came up to me, “You’re very lucky. You are history, you are part of history.” And sabi ko naman sa kanila, “I hope I’m not history.” But, you know, that’s very risky. I received all kinds of texts before I testified; “Don’t do that,” “Don’t do that,” “You are just being used by the politicians.” I cannot back out because the subpoena was with chief justice Hilario Davide. How can you back out, you cannot do that. Had I backed out, what would happen? I would land in jail for contempt. And this was the senate. For the first time, the senate was being commissioned as an impeachment body and I am part of that. Being insulted by those people, I don’t know. Those people, the insults that I got from… I was controlling my…they ask stupid questions like, “Oh, your wife.” from Tess Aquino, “Your wife is with the SEC, was she promoted by your ano?” I answered “Oh, no, I’m sorry. My wife never got any promotion under Yasay. As a matter of fact, Yasay, the uncle of chairman Yasay, is near the house of my neice. But we, she never got any favor from chairman Yasay.”

Q: Marami po ung journalist na nag-testify against Erap o kayo lang po yung journalist?

A: I don’t know, there’s a lot. But I remember something on TV… but my mine was more of my actual experience of chairman Yasay, when the president called him up in his office. And I said, “Oh, who’s that?” he said “It’s the president.” So that’s it. And I said, “Well, I wanted to go, but I’m a journalist. Why should I go?” You know, it happens, sometimes you cannot avoid things like this. I did not even know that they would call me. I don’t know, I think one thing led to another thing. Then somebody called me up, “O, we are going to your wife.We’re going to talk to you, that’s it.” I didn’t know what the impeachment was all about, diba? I never heard about it before. So, I think it was one of the prosecutors from UP who called me up, “Somebody’s going to talk to you.” So we met somewhere in Timog. No no, Morato. There’s a coffee shop there, Starbucks, I think. So we met there. “Oh you,” Nagkikita kami minsan minsan, “You look familiar, we’ve met before” I did a take with you. “So, is it true that you were there in the office of Yasay when the president called?” he asked. Was I paid? I spent for myself. You don’t begrudge these people for not treating you well. As a matter of fact, after I testified I fled. But what profession can you get? As a matter of fact, they gave other witnesses protection, et cetera, et cetera. How bout me? I had to ride the jeep from my office to my house somewhere in Dapitan. Did you begrudge them for that? No. What I hate most is what happened after that. Kanya-kanya na eh. I wanted to go back, and they called me so I went there. “Oh, give me your bio data.” Okay, I’ll call you. After two weeks they called me, “I’m sorry we do not have place for you.” In the first place you should not have offered help. That’s adding insult to the injury. I was jobless and then you offered a job, only to disappoint me after two weeks that you don’t have a place for me. You don’t offer what you cannot give.

Q: Um. Naging ambition niyo ba ever when you were young na maging journalist? Or It never entered your mind?

A: No, it never entered my mind. As a matter of fact, I worked in the Chronicle which was then under the Lopez’s simply because I needed money for my college education while I was studying at the University of Santo Tomas. I received P6 a day, P180 a month. But that was a time that 180 Pesos, plus another half month, let’s say your salary for two months would be enough to pay for one semester, P272 for 21 units. But there are still such things as, your minimum wage cannot pay for the tuition fee of 35, 000 per semester. I became an editor when I was 40 or 50. I was managing editor when I was 52, where was that? In Entrepreneur, I was managing editor there.

Q: So, which newspaper did you start working at? Pwede pong malaman lahat ng newspaper na pinagwork-an niyo.

A: Ah okay, newspaper. The Chronicle, Manila Chronicle when Marcos was president, I think, and that was from 1968-1970 when martial law was declared. After that, no more. So that’s my first. I was a proofreader then. Why did I have to start in the proofreading department or section? Because before, in those days, they got the reporters from the proofreading section. You become very familiar with the English usage, grammar, et cetera, et cetera. So you start from there, and you read almost all the stories of the reporters. That’s why I have to go there. Because after working for two months in the production department, I was talking to one of the proofreaders in a closed room, complete with air condition. And I told myself I have to go there so that when I go to school at night there won’t be ink on my fingers, and I won’t raise my hands with a closed first. So ’68 to ’70 I was a proofreader. I think I worked ’72-’73 with a magazine called Sun Blast publication as a proofreader. So then I moved again to another magazine, I think it was a travel magazine, I was still a proofreader. And then I moved again to another, a government publication, it’s called Today, published by the National Media Production Center, I was an aspiring writer. After that, I moved to Balita. My father told me, “Yes, I know, nagdya-dyario ka. Pero hindi ako mabasa, hindi ako marunong magbasa ng Ingles.” So pumunta akong Balita para mabasa ng father ko. From Balita, I had to go freelancing because Balita doesn’t pay much. You’re only a correspondent, they pay you per column and if they cut your stories, how much do you earn? So I became freelance. I wrote for Datenews Asia, Datenews Manila, which it is indicated then, was a project of the Press Foundation of Asia. When you write for Datenews Manila, that’s for Datenews Asia. After freelance, I worked for the Inquirer and started 1986. But I worked for some government, some of the republic. Then came the Inquirer, I started 1985, December ’85, I joined up in January 1986, joined the People Power. After five years, I moved to Malaya. So, five years, from 1986 to 1991, I was with the Inquirer. So after five years I said, nothing’s going to happen to me here so I moved. That’s how you do it. Because the EDSA, they call it human resources now, would be restrictive education. I lasted three months sa Malaya and then I went freelancing again. Then I moved to Manila Times of Gokongwei in 1990s, I think ’93 to ’97. It closed in 1999, I think because of the page one story that had Erap, ang sagwa ng story, so nagsara, wala nanaman. The one that took over Manila Times was Mark Jimenez, but the people in front, acting for them was Regis Romero, the family of Legarda was the publishing editor, so I went there, so that was September 1999. And after one year, one week, I said, “Oh Mark Jimenez is going to come here as the owner, so I’m going to resign.” And on that day that I resigned, I forgot what day that was, on that day that I resigned, ung sa PCIJ, sent me an invitation to go to Thailand. And I said, “Oh, why should I get an invitation for the Manila Times? I don’t work there.” “Oh, we are not inviting Manila Times, we are inviting you.” After that, in Tribune they made me a business editor. Si Bismote, the artists’ director, they looked for me, “Oh, we need you here.” Then we have that short lived Manila Meteor, after that no more, so freelance again. I went briefly to Graphic, and then from Graphic I went to, as managing editor of Entrepreneur. And then from Entrepreneur… yan ang journalist eh. Then it took me here, so far I was thinking I retire here. As a matter of fact from regular employee, because I turned 60 last year so I’m no longer, I’m not an SSS member anymore; I’m an SSS retiree now. I’m just living on my monthly pension. And my wife is happy of course. I got my monthly and I gave it to her and we got another house. Because you know, she’s a lawyer, CPA, so she makes more money than me so we can afford. I did not even do anything. We went to another subdivision, sabi “Ma’am ito, gusto niyo to?” And she said no, we go there, we go there. Oh, that’s very far, very far. I said, “From here I can see the mall just across the street. I love it here.” My other contribution is the advance retirement that I got from my SSS. That’s what you do, you prepare. There was one other reporter, Chris Kahilig. He was one of the reporters of Manila Times until it was closed, until the Gokongwei’s lost it to Mark Jimenez. I can still remember nakuryente siya sa story niya kasi kinuryete siya ng kasama niya. He was pinsitting for another reporter in the Department of Justice, eh nakuryete siya, naloko siya. So he asked me, for help and I think I did something because I was senior. Siya pala yun… he’s making money. That’s what I can afford. We have coffee sometimes. Kaya lang siya binibigayan kasi without me, people won’t know him, because they share. Dito, pag may dumating, sabi ko kila Roger dito, may pagkain diyan? “Meron.” Pahingi naman. “Padala kay ma’am.” O, sige, tawagan mo na, kainan na. That’s it, that’s how it works here. We’re a big family. I don’t know what your plans are, you can never learn anything except from my experience. First you have to be inspired; Second, if it’s what you’re studying, it’s better. Basta I maintain my, eh nawala na eh, my professional website. But ngayon, naayos nanaman eh. All my stories I put there.

Q: We’re done na po. Thank you po.

____________________________________________________________________

Emeterio Sd. Perez was born on March 3, 1947 in Balagtas, Bulacan. His father was a farmer. He went to three different high schools -- Saint Paul Seminary, St Lawrence Academy and University of Manila -- but never got a diploma. He went on to the University of Manila, University of the East and UST but also didn't finish. At the time of the interview he was a section editor at Business Mirror.