Interviewers: Miraflor V. Celemin and Janice B. Cutanda
Cutanda: Itatanong lang po namin, first, kung paano po kayo naging journalist.
Del Mundo: How did I become a journalist? I was a student at the Far Eastern University, and I decided to join the university newspaper, which was a weekly at the time. And that paper was being put to bed at the Manila Chronicle. So I was able to see how it works, and I decided that, you know, it’s a cool job. And, I joined the United Press International, same year.
Cutanda: Ano po yun? Ano pong ginagawa dun?
Del Mundo: United Press International, at that time, was one of the major wire services, the other being the Associated Press and there’s also, at the time I joined UPI in Manila, which was then the Asian headquarters. Agence France Presse and Reuters were also good, but not in the same ballpark as AP and UPI.
Cutanda: So…ano po…
Del Mundo: I joined as a cables editor. Mainly, rewriting cable telegrams from Asia and, mainly…I worked the midnight to 8 AM shift so all of the stories coming out of Asia at that time I edit, rewrite for our clients in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and also to the US, but that copy goes to our desk in New York, which edits every story as it gets from all over the world for the US market.
Cutanda: So ano po yung first Filipino newspaper and napasukan niyo?
Del Mundo: Inquirer.
Cutanda: Inquirer po talaga?
Del Mundo: Yes.
Cutanda: Anong year po yun?
Del Mundo: Three years ago.
Cutanda: Three years ago. Yun po yung first talaga niyo na newspaper?
Del Mundo: Well, UPI is…I don’t know if you know what a wire service is all about. The wire services—like AP, Reuters, AFP and UPI—at the time, covered the world for newspapers. We also..we also serve radio and television stations. So if you want to learn real journalism, you join the wires. AP, Reuters, AFP.
Celemin: Ahhh.
Del Mundo: Its deadline’s every minute. You…
Cutanda and Celemin: Woah. *laughs*
Del Mundo: You compete with the other wire services. So…for example, if you have an editor in a newspaper in a newsroom anywhere in the world, you only pick the best stories that you can lay your hands on the first, and we use that.
Cutanda: So why did you decide to work for the Inquirer? Like you said, three years ago?
Del Mundo: As I said, I’ve never worked in a newspaper, and I decided to…when I decided to come back, I, you know, I’ll be able to teach kids like you the things that I have learned in 46 years as a journalist.
Celemin: Aaaah.
Del Mundo: So I decided na pumunta dito.
Cutanda: So…ano po…yung physical facilities po sa Inquirer, compare niyo po dun sa UPI, ano pong difference?
Del Mundo: Ah. There is no comparison.
Cutanda: *laughs* which is better?
Del Mundo: There is no comparison?
Cutanda: Why?
Celemin: Bakit? *laughs*
Del Mundo: UPI, when I was there, had a lot more stuff than the Inquirer. I mean, we have bureaus all over the world. We have professionals. We..our editors are really good. They’re Americans. We’re competing with…the wire services compete with other news agencies which have the best newspapers covering a story all over the world.
Cutanda: Pero yung mga ano dito po…yung editors and reporters, okay naman po?
Del Mundo: As I said, there is no comparison in terms of professionalism and, uh, and facilities.
Cutanda: Yung…
Del Mundo: As I said, I just came here because I thought I’d be able to teach kids like you coming over the length of how these things are done.
Cutanda: So how about the working conditions here in the Inquirer? How are you paid? How are the working hours? The salaries?
Del Mundo: Ah, the working conditions is no big deal. I mean, when you’re working at the wire services, you’re on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In a newspaper, people for the next day’s issue, unlike in the wire service, as I said, is deadlined every minute. There are different time zones all over the world. You just come here now, for example, to put together the paper in some other countries’ deadlined time. It’s like, uh…now, it’s what? 2 AM in New York, papers are just being put to bed, final deadline in San Francisco is 10 PM. You know, you’ll still be able to get a major story in there. Things like this.
Cutanda: How about the salary? The salary here?
Del Mundo: The salary is way, way…there is no comparison.
Cutanda and Celemin: *laughs*
Cutanda: Ano po yung…
Celemin: May holidays po kayo?
Del Mundo: The holidays…I mean, you’re putting up a newspaper, there is no holiday.
Celemin: Ahh. Kahit po Christmas? I mean, on call po kayo?
Del Mundo: Christmas…there is some arrangement where we divide the people going on holiday for Christmas and the other going on holiday for the New Year, so…As I said, for me, having worked in the wire services, it’s a lot different.
Cutanda: Ano po ulit yung pangalan ng service? Wire?
Del Mundo: It’s United Press International. It was based in New York. And it had bureaus all over the world.
Celemin: Ilang…as in…
Del Mundo: I was in UPI for 26 years.
Celemin: Hmmm.
Del Mundo: After that, I joined the UN. I was a press officer for 15 years. I came back three years ago, I joined the Inquirer.
Cutanda: Uhm…
Celemin: Like, 26 tapos 15 years, tapos 3 years…*laughs*
Del Mundo: Di ka pa naman pinapanganak, ano?
Celemin: Hindi pa po. *laughs* Ano po, uh, yun po sa UPI, naging cub reporter po kayo, or…?
Del Mundo: Hindi. Editor ako agad.
Cutanda: Wow.
Celemin: Derecho po agad?
Del Mundo: I was editor-in-chief of our newspaper. As I said, because…our adviser then was a wire serviceman, he was a correspondent for Agence France Presse who was…he was very professional. And he was able to inspire our news editor and our journalists to, to do the job properly, with the passion that he had when he was a correspondent for Agence France Presse.
Cutanda: Ano po name?
Del Mundo: He’s name is Alfonso Policarpio.
Cutanda: Yung name po nung press? Agence…?
Del Mundo: Agence France Presse. Presse. With E.
Cutanda: Ahh, yeah, yeah, okay.
Del Mundo: It’s a French news agency based in Paris. It’s like UPI. It has bureaus all over the world. It sends French stories through satellite
Celemin: Sir, so paano po yun, nandito kayo sa Philippines, o…?
Del Mundo: When I…when I resigned in UPI, I was bureau chief in Manila, but I was also assigned to cover Laos. My first assignment was the Indo-China war. I was in Malaysia.
Celemin: Yun po yung first beat niyo? Yung first major story? Or…?
Del Mundo: The wires only cover the major stories, so I cannot say what are the major stories…I covered wars, coups…
Cutanda: Pero yung first story po na na-cover niyo that you could remember…
Celemin: Big beat po ninyo…yung nagbigay ng break po sa inyo…
Del Mundo: My first big story was the Indo-China war when I was sent to Laos.
Cutanda: Anong year po yun?
Del Mundo: 1969.
Cutanda: Wow.
Celemin: !969.
Cutanda: Ano…may naaalala po ba kayong editors na di niya talaga makakalimutan?
Del Mundo: In UPI, a lot. Really good editors and correspondents and reporters. I worked with the best editors in the world in UPI.
Cutanda: Examples lang po ng names…
Del Mundo: Well, Helen Thomas was here, she was the dean of the White House correspondents. She used to cover the summit in 1976 of the American allies in Vietnam. Plus the major, major story that I covered…probably the assassination of Ninoy Aquino.
Cutanda and Celemin: Ooooh.
Cutanda: You covered it po talaga?
Del Mundo: I was at the airport.
Cutanda and Celemin: Woah! *laughs*
Celemin: Nakita niyo po siya?
Del Mundo: Di naman.
Cutanda: But you were there when it happened.
Del Mundo: I was there when it happened. There were three correspondents, with one correspondent who joined the plane from San Francisco, joined Ninoy on the plane. He was there when he was shot. We were at the airport—myself and another American reporter, Don Webmond. We covered…that event and the events that followed. And we received a citation of excellence from the Overseas Press Club in America. And our work was nominated for the Pulitzer.
Celemin: Woah.
Del Mundo: Galing, ano?
Cutanda: Siyempre! Galing ni sir, e. *laughs* Ano po…may memorable colleagues po kayo na…nakatrabaho po?
Del Mundo: Marami na. Marami.
Cutanda: Sa Philippines po?
Del Mundo: Sa Philippines? Pilipino? Wala.
Cutanda and Celemin: *laughs*
Cutanda: Pero doon po, iba po talaga yung level…
Celemin: Oo…
Del Mundo: Well, mainly…as I said, I worked for UPI for 26 years, and mainly, covering stories of interest overseas. Ahh…after that, I was a press officer for the UN and I traveled a lot more than I did as a reporter. I covered the war in Kosovo, the genocide in Central Africa. I was in Afghanistan, I was in Iraq.
Celemin: All over. Wow. Sir, sabi po ninyo, ano po, every minute po yung deadline, doon po sa UPI. Eh paano po yung, halimbawa, yung…boss po…yung may…mas authority po sa inyo, paano po naa-ano yung…kailangan po yung deadline yung, parang, paano po nila naproproject yun?
Del Mundo: Well, the people on the ground are the guys who call the shots. I was, for example, bureau chief in Manila at the time when Ninoy was assassinated, so…we report as we see them, and…in our editor’s decision. They’re all professionals, it’s not like, “You’re my boss and I’m here.” In a newspaper, it’s hierarchical, the..associate editor, et cetera, et cetera.
Celemin: Hindi pantay-pantay…
Del Mundo: When you’re on the ground, you’re a reporter, you write and report the way you see events happen.
Cutanda and Celemin: Mm-hmm.
Cutanda: Yung…as a young reporter po, ano po yung naaalala niyong best memories niyo? Like, ano, yung, my quirky things po ba na nangyari nung report--….nagsisimula pa lang po kayo? Like…
Del Mundo: I spent five years on the desk, uh, on the overnight shift, mainly rewriting cables from Asia, stories from Asia. And then I was sent to…I was sent overseas.
Cutanda: Anong taon po kayo nung…?
Del Mundo: I was 24.
Cutanda: Oh. Pero anong taon po nung may midnight hanggang umaga…
Del Mundo: Oh, well, I was twenty-two…from midnight to 8 AM. I was still a student then.
Cutanda: Oh.
Del Mundo: I was editing the newspaper, and I was taking up law studies.
Cutanda: Oh. Mahirap po ba yung pagbabalance?
Del Mundo: Medyo.
Cutanda: So nag-aaral po kayo. Paano po yung…
Del Mundo: Sometimes…minsan nga, galing ako sa opisina, and then I take a nap, then I study, then at night I go to school, I go home, I take a nap. Sometimes, di na ako nakakatulog, so yung papalitan ko, naka-24 hours kasi yun. Aantayin naman niya ako until I come in at work in the morning…well, of course, galit na galit yun.
Cutanda: *laughs* ano po…
Del Mundo: And that guy became the UPI leading arts editor. But there were a lot of really, really good editors and writers in the UPI. Our Asian editor was…used to be the editor of Periscope column, and he also covered a lot of wars. He covered the Korean war.
Cutanda: Sir, yung nasa FEU po kayo, anong editor po kayo? Nagsimula po kayo as editor?
Del Mundo: Hindi, I was a reporter, then I became a sports editor. And then everybody came and left, and I became editor-in-chief.
Cutanda: *laughs* edi sports editor po talaga yung first niyo?
Del Mundo: General. General reporter. As I said, we had a very, very good adviser who was teaching, who was writing for the FEU, and he was then a correspondent for the Agence France Presse. And he was our adviser. And he was able to inspire a lot of us. One of our…one of the people there became editor-in-chief of the Manila Chronicle. One became the head of a PR agency. One became the president of Magnolia.
Celemin: *laughs*
Cutanda: Ano po yung pangalan ng adviser ninyo?
Del Mundo: As I said, Alfonso Policarpio.
Celemin: Ang kulit. *laughs*
Cutanda: Sorry.
Del Mundo: You are able to pursue a career depending on the people you…in college…that are able to mentor you, diba?
Cutanda: Mm-hmm.
Del Mundo: It’s like…I have my kid who had a mentor who was in college. My eldest daughter.
Celemin: Saan po siya nag-aaral?
Del Mundo: Sa Switzerland. I worked in Switzerland for 15 years. My son was studying at the University of California, also had a mentor.
Celemin: Woah.
Del Mundo: It’s not happening here for some reason, but there are, maybe…I’m not sure...people always complain…the crop of journalists that we are putting out are not very good. Even from Ateneo and UP, and I know some of the professors teaching there. And they’re supposedly God’s gift to journalism in the Philippines. Ang yayabang ng mga iyan, you know. Mga graduates nila are still so-so.
Cutanda and Celemin: Mmm.
Celemin: So sabi niyo po, diba, na-cover niyo po ‘yung kay Ninoy. Sir, yung Martial Law po, at that time, you were not here, diba?
Del Mundo: I was here. I was sent to Hongkong to organize because we moved our Asian headquarters from Manila to Hongkong, and I decided to come back because we had a great story at that time. And I’d like to be a witness to history and be able to write the first draft, so…
Celemin: Okay.
Del Mundo: I was offered scholarships to the US, but I thought I’d stay, you know. This is…that time, it was a great story. Marcos was ailing, the opposition was divided, and…it was a great time to be here. And at last, when you’re working in the Philippines, you cover just about every story. Every year, there is a major shipwreck, there is a major typhoon, there is a major earthquake, there is a major plane crash, there’s a war in Mindanao…and you being a wire serviceman, you’re supposed to know all of these things and being able to cover the story so that you will be able to write and compete with…with the competition. Because it’s deadline every minute. Whether it’s economics, politics, sports, et cetera, you should be able to fight it out, as it were, toe-to-toe with the opposition.
Celemin: Eh paano po yung censorship at that time, noong Martial Law?
Del Mundo: When Martial Law was declared, uh…there was censorship for a few days, but it was lifted for the wire services…
Celemin: Aaah, okay.
Del Mundo: So I was able to…to write…
Celemin: Okay.
Del Mundo: …to report and write…
Celemin: So local lang po…
Del Mundo: No, the wire services were not censored.\
Celemin: Okay, so newspapers lang and other broadcasting networks.
Del Mundo: Local newspapers, radio and television stations.
Celemin: Eh how about being a witness to EDSA II? Ay, EDSA I? Right?
Cutanda: EDSA I.
Del Mundo: I was covering Cory in Cebu at that time, when she was on a civil disobedience campaign, story broke out here. I knew that airports would be shut down, so I begged the, uh, PAL officer in Cebu to let me on the last flight to Manila. I got here, and I was at Camp Aguinaldo throughout the four days that EDSA was still…I was waiting for things to happen inside Camp Aguinaldo.
Cutanda: Hindi po…yung pay po as a journalist, as you said it’s not that, you know…as in, sufficient, I mean, compared to UPI, as you said…pero bakit niyo po tinutuloy iyon? Kasi, diba, siyempre may threats iyon as a journalist, to go there and cover the war…
Del Mundo: Yes.
Cutanda: …you’re putting yourself in danger.
Del Mundo: Yes.
Cutanda: So why…?
Del Mundo: When you’re young, you don’t think about those things, but looking back, it’s unfair for the newspapers to send kids like you in the streets to cover demonstrations, et cetera, while knowing there’s a lot of risks involved there. And I was covering demonstrations, and I was lucky that…I wasn’t able…I was not hurt in any of those things. And at that time, it was very nasty. Soldiers were firing at demonstrators, and…buti it’s…knock on wood…
Cutanda: Nakakatakot po talaga to be there…?
Del Mundo: Yes. As I’ve said, it’s unfair for newspapers, because you guys don’t have…even in Inquirer, there is no insurance for reporters.
Celemin: Oh?
Cutanda: *laughs*
Del Mundo: And…even if there was, it’s not a whole lot.
Celemin: Not worth it.
Del Mundo: Not a whole lot. Pay is really lousy. That’s why…we have a lot of reporters who… this…envelopmental journalism is pervasive. Why? Because newspaper owners are not…are not paying journalists the way they should be. If you look at the base scale, if you want to do a more in-depth story, you know…you can look at the base scale in the local offices of AP, Reuters, AFP and the newspapers, and you’ll see the disparity in wages is so huge.
Celemin: So aside po sa pag-ano…sa pag-ano…sa pag-teach kids niyo po dito sa, sa Inquirer, parang…meron pa po ba kayong, uhm, ginagawa pa dito sa Inquirer, not just…
Del Mundo: I’m a desk man here essentially, but I also do these…the investigative reports. I’m the chief of the investigative team…
Cutanda: Yeah…
Del Mundo: But, there are reporters mainly covering these…I’d like to tell them that these is what I want, there are still things you need to work on. And I think that’s much more…important than, you know, teaching in a classroom, because it’s more hands on. I…I thought that I’d teach when I come back, but there’s nothing like…you know, you could be able to do so much but in a classroom…how many are really committed to becoming a good journalist? Whereas here, they’re already here, and they’re young…because most of the reporters here at the Inquirer are just fresh graduates…
Celemin: So madami pong cub reporters?
Del Mundo: Di naman sila cub. Mga reporters sila. They’re actually reporters. Some of them are really good, but we need to tell them, you know, this is how it’s done.
Celemin: Okay.
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Fernando del Mundo was born in Zamboanga on October 20, 1943. He studied economics at FEU. He devoted most of his professional life to the United Press International and the United Nations. At the time of the interview, he was a reporter, deskman and head of the investigative team for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
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Name
FERNANDO DEL MUNDO
Date of Birth
October 20, 1943
Place of Birth
Zamboanga
Ever married?
Yes
Far Eastern University AB - Economics
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