Oral History of Gibbs Cadiz

August 15, 2008
Interviewers: Clarisa Legaspi and Alven Villavicencio

Alven Villavicencio: Good afternoon, sir. Well, this is basically an interview to talk about your life as a journalist and what it was like going through how you got here and some of your experiences – your most memorable experiences as a journalist.

Clarisa Legaspi: Yeah, we have a list of questions here but thank you so much for taking time to do this interview.

Gibbs Cadiz: This is for what subject?

AV and CL: Introduction to Print.

GC: Okay.

CL: So right now we’re learning all about newspaper, the history, libel...

GC: The course is?

CL: We’re taking up communication arts.

GC: Oh okay!

CL: So, our first question is – well, we read on your blog that you graduated with a degree in philosophy.

GC: (Affirmative) Hmm..

CL: So, how did you-

GC: Was that in my blog?

AV: Yes, sir it was on your blog. Five things – (CL: Five things about you.)

GC: Ah okay!

CL: How did you end up becoming a journalist?

GC: I started in corporate communication doing corporate communications work for several companies for nine years, before I got into media. Corporate communications is much different from what you learn in newspapers. There’s the writing part in it that’s basically pushing for the agenda of the company noh? So it’s all about putting forward the best image, the best interests of the company, best stories you can have about the company which is different from doing journalistic work. But I’ve always been interested in writing. I just didn’t know how to get to journalism because I wasn’t a journalist graduate. So I stayed in corporate communication and human resources for nine years because human resources, at the time, was handling corporate communications. But, in the latter part of my corporate work I was already contributing to newspapers doing movie reviews, which is yung mga ano lang, I’d write about two or three movies, some of them na pupublish naman. That basically gave me the confidence to eventually to see if I could get into the newspapers. But, the one who really gave me the break was Katrina- Attorney Legarda, she for a while, for about four months was handling The Manila Times after it was sold from the Gokongweis’ to Regis Romero, another businessman. So, si Katrina was the editor-in-chief and then she was getting new people she wanted, new younger people to do the editorial work for the paper. Of course, a mix of both veterans and young people. I applied because I saw a blind ad basically saying would you want to write for a newspaper- no eh! It didn’t even mention kung ano – would you like to write in perspective. I sent in an essay. They called me in and then they said they “liked the essay and would I want to work for the newspaper.” I said okay. And then they said they could only offer me this much in terms of salary but I said I couldn’t accept that because at the time I was already HR manager so I had a spending curve already. So I told them that as much as I would like to start with that salary I would not be able to because that would not allow me to live in the city. So they said “what if we give you this position which is a higher position than being a reporter” and with that you know, quite a bit of addition in terms of salary. So the position was desk editor. I said fine. But I didn’t know what a desk editor actually did within the organization. They got me in, so I started as one basically one of the youngest editors of Manila Times at that time. I suppose the other editors didn’t know what to do with me but I learned the ropes from there. Just observing them. They gave me the sections that they thought I would be able to handle which was the youth page and the IT page. So and all the other you know extra jobs they could give me, I took them. And this was in 2000. The year 1999, the last four months of 1999 until 2000. When I got in to the newspaper I turned my back on HR and the rest is history.


AV: So were there any specific colleagues or editors that led to your becoming-?

GC: We- I met quite a number of editors who became good friends, some of them are here in the inquirer, so one of them, for example, John Nery, who has a blog also, and he is one of the editors of the Inquirer. I’ve been with him for quite some time now. Coz after The Manila Times we went to The Philippine Post, another newspaper that closed down. So we stayed there, again a number of months, and then John Nery went to Summit Publishing because he was gonna open Entrepreneur Magazine as Editor-in-Chief. He got me to go with him to Summit Publishing. I was the Managing Editor, he was the Editor-in-Chief, tapos we stayed there for about a year-and-a-half. So I was there for- I was working with John, and then he left, he came to Inquirer. I stayed there (Summit Publishing), for a few months and then I transferred to another company. I was doing content editorship for a website. And then I joined the Inquirer, on his recommendation. So among the editors I’ve worked with he’s really been the one that’s been there from the beginning, almost from the beginning.


CL: How long have you been with Inquirer?

GC: More than five years. From 2003. June 23, 2003. So more than five years.


AV: And ever since then you’ve been working with the lifestyle section?

GC: Yeah, my designation from the beginning has been desk editor for lifestyle. So we- so I’m here, basically almost everyday. The writers are able to not come here after three days, because they have a quota of 2 stories a week. But we don’t have that. Our work as editors is really to be here and to edit the stories. So were tied to the desk work. But of course, because we’re editors we can choose areas which we would like to focus on. In my case, In my case, I have an affinity for theatre and the arts. So that’s where I- if I do get a chance to write that’s where I usually focus on. I do theatre reviews. I also write travel, when I get to travel.


AV: So you also write (for the newspaper)?

GC: Yes yes! In fact we’re encouraged to. I think for editors, it’s also good that you are able to write on a regular basis. It’s practice.


AV: What’s the most memorable story you’ve ever written about?

GC: I’m not really sure. I’m not really awed by- I don’t consider, for example, interviewing celebrities as special. I’m not particularly awed by celebrities, not because we (media men) see them on a more frequent basis than other people. But because my mind set is really that everything is a story. This is a story that you cover for today, but the following day, you have another story to cover. So you’re not part of anything. You’re not part of that world, for instance. So, like for example, we have colleagues who cover the fashion and beauty industry. We understand that they are not part of that world. They attend the parties and all, they attend the product launching, but they are not part of that world. We just cover that world, we just cover the stories of that world, but then the following day it may be different again. I suppose, the more memorable aspect of my work would be travelling, being able to travel. Because that’s a perk that we have in lifestyle. We get invitations to travel. So most memorable for me because I like travelling, I like discovering new cultures, I like seeing new things. I- you get to do that basically for free, because some one pays for that.


CL: In journalism I understand that there is something called a beat? What was your first beat?

GC: Beats are usually assigned to reporters. Because I didn’t go through a reporting phase, I became an editor right-a-way, I didn’t have a beat noh. But if you enlarge the beat to mean the coverage of the sections that I handled, it started with the youth page, and then the IT page, and now with lifestyle it basically covers everything that lifestyle covers. From food to health, fashion and beauty, arts and culture, books, travel, so quite a lot. Everything that has to do with lifestyle.


CL: As an editor, how are you when it comes to accuracy, ethics, the grammar aspect of news writing? Are you like OC?

GC: Very! Especially in Inquirer, because we have a built in system for checks and balances. Like for example, we have a- how do I say this- parang threshold of mistakes in a year, beyond which you can not go. So we have things like those noh. We count the number of grammatical mistakes, for example, that we make in a year, and that impacts on your performance appraisal. So things like that inform, you know, the level of intensity that you put into work. But aside from that also, I’m – because I’m very particular about seeing a grammatical error in, you know what I read, for instance, or there’s a wrong fact in it, something that’s verifiable, but the reporter did not bother to check it. But we- in lifestyle we work very very close to the reporters. So, like when I’m editing something, and something doesn’t sound right, I would just call the reporter and ask her to explain. Or we ask, you know, the editorial assistant, for example, to help double check the status. We have a research department that also helps there.


CL: I wanted to ask, when you were young, like in high school and grade school did you already have a feeling that you had a knack for writing?

GC: Yes! I was Editor-in-Chief of the school paper. In elementary, high school, and college.


CL: So at that point did you already have a feeling that you’d end up in this-(career)?

GC: I wanted to! I’ve always wanted to, but I didn’t know how to get into it. Because I didn’t take up journalism. I thought in the beginning that you really- you had to be a graduate of journalism to be able to get into newspaper work. But apparently it’s not noh. The basic requirement really is you know how to write, and then when you’re in you learn the ropes. Because we have a number of editors and writers who are also not from the journalism mill noh from journalism schools. But they’re better. And unfortunately I’ve also had experience of with working with journalism graduates, even from good schools that don’t turn out to be good writers and reporters. So a degree alone in journalism is no guarantee that you’ll turn out to be a good journalist.


AV: Why did you choose to take up Psychology- (Clarisa: Philosophy) Philosophy! I’m sorry! When you already knew in the beginning that you had a knack for writing and enjoyed it?

GC: That was a different time. I was in the seminary for six years. The only available course for people applying to go into priesthood, would really be philosophy. So it’s philosophy and theology. So philosophy is something non-negotiable. So I took that for two years, and in the seminary I had to finish it. So that’s why I ended up in philosophy. But, you know, looking back, I realize that it’s a very good foundation for what I do. Philosophy is not a practical course, it has no practical application but it trains you to think, trains you to analyze, to be logical, to be rational, trains you to look at many different things to consider, you know, many different viewpoints. And you need that in the kind of- in journalism for instance, in the kind of work that I do.


CL: So how many days a week do you work and how many hours? Are there a number of-

GC: How many days? Five days. My days-off are Thursdays and Sundays. The working hours are really dependent on the number of pages. So for example, lifestyle is still prepared two days in advance. Like for example, today is Friday, we’re doing the Sunday issue. Okay, Friday is usually our heaviest day, heaviest work day so if I come in late, like I came in at four, it will probably end at eleven or twelve. Sometimes longer around one o’clock. Pag mga around December na, that can stretch to mga two to three in the morning because sobrang dami ng pages. Depende rin sa season because pag maraming ads, maraming pages ang lifestyle, because ang bagsakan ng ads is the lifestyle section right? So, usually pag Sunday, heavy day ‘yon. Pag Monday which is when we do the Wednesday issue, which is both relatively light. So we come in at let’s say four or five, mga ten or eleven tapos na. But there are days, halimbawa Tuesday, when we do the Thursday issue which is food, the section would only be siguro mga one spread lang, one section lang yan, so pag ganon we come in at four or five, mga eight o’clock tapos na. And we’re not required to work eight hours a day. We’re just required to finish the job. So in a way it balances, it evens things out because you have days where ano sobrang eight hours, lampas ng eight hours, merong mga days naman na- (nods).


CL: Do national holidays apply to you?

GC: (Shakes head) No. The only day that we don’t have work as a policy, as an office policy, would be I think Good Friday and Black Saturday because we don’t come out with issues for those days. But for the rest of the year including Christmas, and your birthday, and everything else, we have to work. But we have arrangements for days like that. Like for example, for Christmas day, we can advance. We can do advanced work so you don’t have to come on that particular day but that only means na yung mga previous days na ‘yon, ano kayo, pukpukan kayo sa trabaho.


CL: Another question here is about in terms of salary, does that depend on your output or your hours?

GC: No, if you’re an employee of the Inquirer, then you follow a standardized salary depending on levels noh? Yung, ano, yung posisyon mo. So meron nang standardized na- (Clarisa: Okay). The only people, I suppose that, you know, receive salaries based on output would be (pause) columnists, because they’re paid per column. And then contributors, but they’re not employees really of Inquirer. Like columnists, they’re not employed to the Inquirer, but they sign a contract, if they want to write a column. Pero kaming mga employado meron kami ng standardized na (nods).


CL: What do you think is the hardest thing about being a journalist?

GC: Well, first of all the, if you’re an honest journalist in the Philippines, you’ll never get rich. That’s a fact. But if you can live with that, then you’re okay. Because there are many many things you can also exchange, trade for the- like for example, I came from the corporate world. I know what it is to get a good, very good salary. But I exchanged all that, I turned my back on the corporate world because I wanted to. So I basically can say that, you know, I know what I’m saying when I say that money is not everything in terms of work. You may be receiving a lot but if it’s, you know, something that doesn’t make you feel really or happy you’re just competent in it but you know that something else can make you more happy and more fulfilled. So that’s what happened in my case. I took a steep pay cut when I transferred to media but I’m happy because this is something I always wanted to do. The hardest part really is adjusting to that and of course you know, if you’re conscientious about your work (pause) you have to be careful about your associations for instance. You cannot be seen as endorsing a particular product or you know, all those things, because as a journalist you have to be objective, especially in lifestyle because we deal with a lot of customer products, and lifestyle covers such a lot of areas. On the other hand, like in our case in lifestyle, there are- you know the salaries low but there are perks that you can enjoy. Like for example, travelling, which is not something you can do on your own on a regular basis. That is something we enjoy. I think if, if it’s something that interests you, if going out is something that interests you, you go to different countries, see a lot of new things, experience different cultures, work and then you come back and then you write about what you saw and that’s a good thing. And then of course, you know, the experience of going out every day, almost every day and learning about new things because every time you have to write something, it’s basically a new thing. You write about a particular product, you write about a particular project, a particular person. Every time that you are asked to write about something, it’s a learning experience. Basta if you are in to that, you are enjoying that then you’re okay. You can survive in the newspaper (nods).


CL: As a writer, who are some people that you admire or look up to, or people who influence you to keep doing what you do?

GC: Conrado de Quiros is one of those. He’s a columnist for the Inquirer. John Nery is one of those. Quite a lot, actually, quite a number of people who write for the Inquirer- Rina Jimenez-David, Randy David, Isagani Cruz. I also like Teodoro Locsin who used to be the congressman, but he used to be the editor of Today Newspaper. Today was for a long time my favourite newspaper. It was very cosmopolitan. Abroad there are a lot of really good writers from The New York Times for instance, from The Washington Post. So in terms of arts naman, people from The New Yorker, Anthony Lane, Hilton Als, all these people. I get to read a lot of them on the internet. So the internet is really, in effect has widened the choices when it comes to reading.


CL: I have one last question, what’s some advice or words of wisdom for students who plan to pursue a career in journalism, based on all your experiences?

GC: As I said, if you’re okay with- people think it’s quite a glamorous job, it’s not! Not even the gigs in entertainment where you get to meet all the stars and all that, it is not a glamorous job. Because you have to chase after stars, and of course you have to wait for them, and that’s not a very productive thing to do. But if you’re okay with the demands of the media, if it’s something that challenges you and doing it makes you happy, then you’re okay. So it has nothing to do with perks. In the beginning, you have to pay your dues, you have to work hard. I think it’s not only journalism eh, it’s really in everything that you do, you really have to work, you really have to put your heart into it. Ako lang, because I have a special interest in the arts, I would say that, beyond being expert in something, like for example, you wanna be a journalist, you wanna be a lawyer, you wanna be an accountant, or something. Beyond being expert in one particular thing, I think it’s always important, as a human being, and as a worker, as an employee to widen your horizon always. So read books, go out and look at works of art, attend plays, for example, watch movies. Because, you know, these have no practical value, but actually everything that you take in, all the knowledge that gets to you, there is no worthless knowledge. Everything is stuck in their (our brains), and you will end up using them somehow. Like for example, If I may give an experience, for the longest time, because I was interested in theatre, I was just watching plays noh. I was shelling out my own money. When I was working in corporate, I was not in the newspapers yet. For many many years I was watching plays, I was bankrupting myself, having to pay for all these tickets. Wala lang! Because I was enjoying it noh I never knew that one day I would get into the papers, and then would begin reviewing theatre. (Pause) suddenly I realize one day that those years and years of watching theatre would- hindi pala nasasayang noh. So, you never thought of that, when you were doing it, but in the end nagamit mo parin. So and- Like watching movies also, I’ve always been a fan of movies. I collect movies, I have a lot of DVDs and- of hard to find movies. Pinagaaralan ko in effect yung movies, hindi lang yung panonood noh. And then I got the chance also to begin reviewing movies. So hindi- suddenly it gives you an edge eh. Hindi ka lang yung ordinary na reviewer, meron kang mabibigay coz meron ka nang background. So, if there’s somebody out there who plans to go into writing for instance, as a career in journalism, I would say widen your horizon always. Read a lot. Open your mind to different things, different cultures, different view points. Because, I think that an open mind is the first thing that a journalist needs noh, to be able to do his work well.