Oral History of Lynette Ordoñez-Luna

Aug. 18, 2008
Interviewers: Maria Carissa Gonzales and Pamela Mendiola

Interviewer: Good morning po, Ms. Lynette.

Ms. Lynette Ordoñez-Luna: Hello, good morning.

Interviewer: We’re very glad po talaga and honored to have you in this interview. So, to begin with po, in terms of your dream job, was it ever your prime aspiration to become a journalist, or to have a career in journalism?

Ms. Lynette: No, not really. It came in…actually, I was teaching. Right after graduating from college I taught in a Filipino-Chinese school, in Immaculate Concepcion Academy High School, and one of the courses I taught at that time was journalism. I taught for two years, journalism was an elective in the school, and after two years, I felt that I was not growing anymore as a teacher and I felt that I was being unfair to my students because I was teaching them something that I was not really fully equipped to teach. I depended a lot on textbook journalism and uh, of course, the books, the other books that were given to me as a teacher at that time. So I requested the good nuns if I could take a leave and try to find out for myself exactly what I was teaching and that if I was still interested in going back to school, I will go back.

So, it so happened that there was an opening in Daily Express at that time, I don’t think you were born yet. So, it was one of the crony papers of Marcos at that time, but because there were only three: Manila Bulletin, Philippine Daily Express and Times Journal…Times Journal, and that was in 1984. So there was an opening at that time and I decided to apply and luckily I passed. And so I started out as a correspondent. We got paid per article, so the longer the article, the better. But it was an eye opener for me in a lot of things, for a lot of reasons. Uh, first I got exposed to real journalism, so to speak. I got to cover education. I got to cover health. I got to cover protest rallies during that time because that was the time that, you know, rallies were starting to mount against Marcos, ’84…it was two years before the first EDSA People Power. But it was not easy also in a sense that because I was working for a crony newspaper, which was under Marcos at that time, so it was kind of difficult to get your protest stories in. So there was a sort of a struggle that…then it was an experience for me in the sense that I learned how to cope and I learned how to be creative, and tried to get my stories in regardless of that protest stories were not, you know…and also I was very blessed to work with very good editors. One being an Editor-in-Chief at that time was Pocholo Romualdez and he really trained us well. And so when Marcos finally…when the Marcos government finally fell, uh of course Cory Aquino then who took over, closed down all crony newspapers. So my paper being included and one of my editors took me with him, five of us to Manila Standard in 1987.

So by then I was a junior reporter and I started covering political beats, like the Senate, Malacañang…from time to time I would be asked to cover rallies and I think, uh…I would still cover education at that time, and health. And so after 1987, I was a reporter there for about two years, and then, I took a break—’89. I was asked to set up the Communications Arm of a political party so I used my connections at that time in the newspaper. I asked some friends to help me out and after setting that up, we set it up for about a year, a friend of mine from the Manila Chronicle asked me if I could work with them.

So, I got into the Chronicle as a junior editor at that time and uhm, I started handling copy. I started copy-editing, and then afterwards I was asked to take charge of the reporters at that time so that was practically my first training as an editor. And again I had very good editors at that time to train me. I had Vergel Santos, and I also had Amando Doronila who’s now with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. And Vergel, I think, works as a consultant for ABS-CBN, I’m not very sure of that. [Vergel chairs the editorial board at BusinessWorld. -- GM] Then afterwards, after Manila Chronicle—I was there for eight years, until it closed down because of a labor dispute, so I took a long lay-off from work, did more of my personal stuff—so had a family and all that.

So, and then, 2001, another friend of mine… they were setting up Inquirer.net and asked me if I was interested with coming in as an editor. And I said yes because basically it’s a new medium, and it’s something that I would like to explore and learn from. So that’s basically it. So until now, I’m an editor of Inquirer.net. I basically handle braking news. I take the day-shift along with two other reporter, ah two other editors. We have an editor for the mid-shift. We have an editor for the night-shift. Inquire.net is basically a 24-hour online news website and our main feature is breaking news. We upload new stories as they happen, when they happen, so it’s basically a 24-hour thing for us. And being Inquirer.net, we also have content from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which we get as of 8 or 9 at night because we only not…do not cater to our readers here in the Philippines. We also have a market abroad, in the US, Europe, Middle East. So basically those are our target shooters.

Interviewer: Ma’am how was the first years of being in the print business? I mean, you worked for Manila…uh…

Ms. Lynette: I started with the Daily Express…

Interviewer: Ah, Daily Express ma’am...where was it located before?

Ms. Lynette: Ah…Intramuros, port area. Yah, because that’s where a lot of the news publications were at that time. We’re neighbors with Times Journal.

Interviewer: Ma’am what’s the difference between working in print and then in online news? I mean aside from…

Ms. Lynette: Well in print it’s much slower. Yes, because you get to write the news, having time to write the news. You have time to analyze the news. In online, no, because you’re into…you break the news as they happen. So as you see the news, you write it down, ok. And after that you submit it in to your editor, that’s what the reporters do. They phone-in their story, or they send it through their mobile phones, or their laptops. So basically, the pacing is much faster. Unlike in print wherein you have this 3:00 deadline, so even if the story happened in the morning you get to submit at 3:00. In the case of online media, that doesn’t happen—at least as far as Inquirer.net is concerned, as far as ABS-CBN.com is concerned, or GMAnews.tv. We break the news as they happen so the pacing is much, much faster.

Interviewer: So Miss the first print po you’ve ever worked for is the Daily Express…

Ms. Lynette: Yes.

Interviewer: And then…

Ms. Lynette: Second is Manila Standard and then Manila Chronicle.

Interviewer: Regards to the Daily Express, uhm, how were the people there? I mean you’re colleagues, editors…

Ms. Lynette: Oh they’re nice. They’re very helpful, as far as junior reporters or correspondents are concerned. I guess, like in any working environment, you’re not confined 100%, you know, perfect working environment. There’s no such thing. Basically how you deal with the people you are with everyday. I mean of course, you have to make adjustments. You can’t get your way all the time, but neither can they. So, somewhere along the way you reach certain compromises. It’s uhm…let’s put it this way. I was blessed with being able to work with people I enjoyed working with. In terms of personal, interpersonal relationships with the people I worked with at the Express, Manila Standard, Chronicle, and even here, it was a good…it is a good working relationship. Of course there are conflicts, there will be conflicts because if there are any egoistic people…journalists…because they see a lot of things. They get to mingle, brush shoulders with the President, senators, you know…with military men, police officials. So you know, they have this certain level of confidence that borders in egoism…egoism, whatever it is that you call it. So there will be clashes from time to time. There will be arguments from time to time, but it goes with the territory, it’s part of the job. It’s really up to you as to how you’re going to handle it, or how you’re going to take them. My… I’ve been a journalist since 1984 and I’ve always gone by my own rule that if I can dish it out, then I can take it. Simple as that phrase. I can throw criticism, then I should be able to accept criticism.

Interviewer: Who was your most memorable editor?

Ms. Lynette: (laughs). My editor might see this video and he’ll get jealous. Each of them had their own style of teaching young reporters like me at that time. With Pocholo, in Daily Express I learned the basics. This is Pocholo Romualdez, he’s the cousin of the First Lady, former First Lady Imelda Marcos. So, he taught me the basics of journalism. Uhm, the 5 Ws and 1 H. He taught me how to write in a manner that, in a way that you can be concise without…or getting your message across, without putting so many words into your article. I…one of the things that I always remember when he would edit my article would be if you can limit…if you can use five words instead of ten, if you can use one word instead of five, do it. And he said something like when you write, always bear in mind that you are writing it say for your younger brother or your younger sister who can understand what you’re writing about. So simply put he said just keep the article simple. That’s why I learned basics from him.

And well, with Doronila, Amando Doronila at that time, he was more analytical. So, because I had a background on basic journalism, so it’s time to put the level a little higher and so you get to analyze the news. You don’t take everything they say as gospel truth. You learn to ask questions. You start asking questions. You put in a little doubt to what they’re saying. Don’t believe everything they say because of course, they will not tell you everything also being a journalist. It’s up to you to find out exactly what they want to say. So you become analytical. You become critical to a certain point.

So, I guess if there were any editors who really left their mark, it was Pocholo Romualdez, Amando Doronila, and well Vergel. Vergel Santos taught me style. You have your own style of writing. You have your own way of writing, but you know, he taught me how to be more creative. You can do an economics story, a business story in a ( ? ) manner and yet come across clearly as possible, because one of the difficult things to write is business…figures, GDP, and all those economic stuff and so he taught me how to keep it simple,

Interviewer: Uhm, actually if I’m not mistaken, Vergel Santos works for BusinessWorld…

Ms. Lynette: Ah yes he does. I think, I think he does, online. He has a column.

Interviewer: Uhm, so before you became a professional journalist you taught journalism in high school…

Ms. Lynette: Oh yes, I did.

Interviewer: But when you were young, you loved writing…creative writing, any kind of writing?

Ms. Lynette: Uh, let’s put it this way, I always felt that I was inclined towards communication courses, maybe at least as early as high school. I thought I was more inclined towards courses that involved writing, drama…Math was my most…We journalists have this running joke that, you know, the reason we took up journalism was because we hated math.

Interviewer: Were there any factors that influenced you in liking writing?

Ms. Lynette: My dad.

Interviewer: Your dad…

Ms. Lynette: Yes, my dad took up journalism also in Ateneo, and he was into writing. Well with my dad kasi he never really pursued it. He ended up being in pharmaceuticals as a sales rep., district manager, and stuff. So in my case, when I got into Communication Arts, in the same school, I knew that it was what I was going to pursue after college. But on the side I also wanted to teach so I tried teaching first. And then yun na nga…I guess if you believe in you know, destiny or something like it, somehow you’re going to get led to it. So, that’s what happened, that’s what happened. So it’s a certain feeling at that time that I felt that I was being unfair to my students because I myself straight out of college started teaching a subject that I myself wasn’t completely familiar with. So after two years I felt, maybe, I have to experience it for myself.

Interviewer: You think po as this moment, you consider going back to teaching or staying here as a journalist?

Ms. Lynette: Oh yes, actually…eventually, if time will permit. I would like to go back to teaching. College, most likely, because it’s different. Now I feel I’m more confident and I have the experience to back me up to be able to impart to my students what I learned. And, you know, this feeling na you don’t feel that you’re cheating them because what you teach them, it has to be what you experienced, too. So, I would eventually like to go back to teaching. It’s there, but you know, there are certain things that I have to do first.

Interviewer: Do you remember po your very first beat? Like for example po in Daily Express, your very first…

Ms. Lynette: My first beat? Uhh, education. Ah no, no, I’m sorry, not education. Ah, Quezon City Hall. Quezon City Hall and Metro Manila Commission. It wasn’t MMDA yet, it was the Metro Manila Commission at that time…and Quezon City Hall. Those were my first beats. I got to interview Mel Mathay, he used to be the Mayor of Quezon City. And of course at that time, Imelda was governor of Metro Manila so I got to attend some of her functions. It’s a metro beat, basically. That’s how it started.

And police, I did stories for police, because one of the things that a reporter…one of the beats that a reporter usually starts with is the police, because that’s basic writing. It was a very simple writing. It’s just, uh…somebody got shot, somebody died, who are the suspects…so it’s that simple, it’s that simple. So it was not…it doesn’t require too much thinking on the part of the reporter. You just fill in the basic facts. So that’s what I got to cover first. And then later on they moved me to education, to social services beats…education, health, social welfare.

Interviewer: How was the first, your first? I mean, interviewing a police or getting into the location itself…how was it?

Ms. Lynette: Scary. You’re new, and you know, you’re doing interviews alongside veteran reporters—5-year, 10-year veteran reporters you know, and it was pretty scary at the start. But, as you go along, you gain that kind of confidence. But it was really scary at that time, maybe the first few months, the first few months. And of course you’d be afraid to ask…you’re afraid of asking stupid questions, you know, but I always tell reporters do not be afraid to ask questions no matter how stupid they may sound because you will never know what a stupid question is until you get to ask one. And the attitude there should be all of you went through the same thing. I mean even the 5-year, 10-year, 15-year veteran reporters, at one point in their careers, they’ve asked stupid questions. I always tell my reporters not to be afraid because the bigger sin would be not to ask any question at all.

Interviewer: You might regret it…

Ms. Lynette: Exactly. You know, you might regret it. So for all you know you have this question in mind that would turn out to be the biggest story the next day. So…and you missed your opportunity. So I always tell my reporters that it’s alright. If you ask stupid questions, we all have to do that, people have to do that because it can be a bit scary. I know how it feels having covered several beats. It can be pretty scary.

Interviewer: So, uhm, could you name po some parang very distinct supposedly characteristics of a journalist? I mean supposedly, for example, you have to be curious…

Ms. Lynette: Makulit (laughs). You have to be makulit. You don’t take everything that is told to you as gospel truth as I said earlier. You have a very questioning, inquisitive mind if you’re a reporter. But it doesn’t stop there. You also have to…you also have to be quick, to pick up, you know, to pick up or read between the lines of what your sources are saying. You have to be quick to spot that. And uh…you have to be a good runner (laughs). Especially when you run, you know, alongside protesters or when you…you know. Or when you have to dodge flying bottles or flying box…you have to be alert all the time. When I was a reporter, the first thing I would always look for was a way to get out. If I was covering rally, if I was covering fire, you know first thing I would always look for would be an exit. Or the nearest phone…oo because you have to know these things otherwise how are you going to get out? You won’t be able to write your story if you don’t survive that.

Interviewer: You’ll get trapped…

Ms. Lynette: Yah, that’s why you have to be alert. A reporter should always be alert.
Interviewer: Ma’am how about your first article, how was it like? I mean there’s this deadlines, editors…

Ms. Lynette: Whoah, it was scary, it was really scary because my first article I handed to Pocholo, my editor. Eh siyempre medyo mayabang ka noh kasi you did well in college, your theme, your…siyempre you handed your article and then, my maiden name at that time was Ordoñez. He called me by my family name, “Ordoñez!” … I turn it in. I was pretty confident that it‘s going to be a good article. So, finally he called me, he said “Ordoñez!” he called me like that; and when I saw my article, oh my God! The only thing unedited is a period. Everything was practically red; and that is when he started to tell me when you write an article always think that you tell your story to your younger brother or younger sister. What do you tell him or her first? So, you tell him the most important part of your story, right? And you tell it in a way that he or she understands. So, it’s the same thing with writing an article. So you should always tell your readers first exactly the story is, being your lead; and tell it in a way that anybody can understand.

Regardless whether you’re writing for your regular readers or for people who do not read the newspaper that often. So as long as it’s safe to understand the article. So I have to redo everything. It was a very humbling experience, actually. And I was humbled because by that, because the truth of the matter is, when you graduate from, I’m sure being in a university in one of the top universities you have this certain air, this attitude, right? Admit it! (Laughs) I watch the UAAP practically all the time. Admit it! There is a certain air from students who graduate from La Salle, Ateneo or UP compared to students who study in schools in the U-belt. So, it’s a very humbling experience and working as a journalist has taught me a lot because it has also taught to deal with a lot of people. Because usually in journalism you just don’t deal with people who graduated from the same school, no. when I was a reporter for the Metro Manila Commission, it was my first encounter with protesting underprivileged people from the squatters’ area. So you get to deal with them; you get to talk to them; you get to interview them. It is a very humbling experience, and it’s an eye-opener kasi when you’re in school (demonstrates a walled room) diba? You talk to your classmates, who understand you, and you understand them but when you’re outside as a journalist it’s completely different. So when I gave my first copy, ayun! Its ort of open my eye; there are some things that I have to learn and a lot of things that I learned from school I had to unlearn.

Interviewer: Since you have worked for the Daily Express, which is a crony of Marcos, how was it then? Did you cover any social political event?

Ms. Lynette: I did, I did! Actually, I even used to cry over some stories that didn’t see the light of day for the simple reason that they are anti-Marcos articles. Yeah, I did, I cried buckets trying to convince my editors, but you know. They would always tell me, “Lynette, you have to understand. You’re working for a crony newspaper, but of course, you were young, you were very idealistic, and there were certain realities that you had to deal with. Sow hat I would do then, I would pass on the story. At that time, there was already Philippine Daily Inquirer, so I would my stories to a reporter from the Inquirer just so it could get printed. But these things, its part of growing up, in a way looking back now, I think, it was also a learning experience for me, having had to work for a crony newspaper, because you’ll never appreciate, let’s say Freedom of the Press, if you haven’t really gone through what it was like to have that freedom clobbered. You’ll never appreciate it now. I appreciate writing freely because I know what its like under a controlled press. So, that was an eye-opener for me.

Interviewer: Miss, isn’t it discouraging that you cannot print what you know is true but is anti-Marcos. Wasn’t it discouraging to be a journalist?

Ms. Lynette: It’s very discouraging. And as I said, I used to cry over some stories that I wrote that weren’t printed for the simple reason that they were anti-Marcos stories. But, then again, it’s something that you would learn from; because at that time, we also had no choice. There were these three crony newspapers and the inquirer was not even, at that time, although it started enjoying readership. Malaya, also, because they were called the alternative presses but you know there was this feeling that they could be shut down any time. So were would that leave you? So, it was more of, more of, but there was really no where to go at that time; but, yun na nga, you also have to start being creative on how you can get your stories on print. Of course, I don’t encourage you giving away your stories to a rival publication; I would not encourage that but the situation then was different compared to what we have now.

So it could get discouraging, but also at that time, one thing that is going on for us is that we were aware that the end is near. And the signs were there, so I think there was more hope that things would get better because as a journalist part of your training is to read situations, to read events, more or less to analyze where all these would lead to. So at that time, the signs were there, that eventually that it’s the government that was not going last. A year after, 2 years after, at the express, true enough, the government fell. I guess, I was at that time, that I did not have to be discouraged for so long; but maybe, if there was a choice, if there was really a choice, maybe I would have transferred. I would have shifted to another newspaper.

Interviewer: So miss you would just shift newspaper pero not really leave journalism?

Ms. Lynette: Oh Yes! Of course, of course!

Interviewer: With regards with sa Marcos Era, did you ever write anything or want to write anything anti-Marcos, an articles or stories?

Ms. Lynette: oh yes! When you go to anti-Marcos rallies that is your story. The protest against Marcos and that is what you write about. One thing that I’ve learned as a journalist, and which I also tell reporters, when you write a story write it the way you see it, write it the way it happened; not the way you want it to happen or the way your perceive it should happen, no. Look at the bare facts, you know, you don’t editorialize, you don’t analyze, because it helps you in writing the story. I guess, one thing wrong with the young journalists now, at least in my experience as an editor is that we tend to put the cart before the horse, we tend to rationalize, analyze, editorialize first, before you write the story. No, it should be the other way around. Write the story first, write the bare facts, write it as it happen. You don’t need to analyze. You don’t need to editorialize. If it is an anti-Marcos rally, say so. If it is an anti-arroyo rally, say so. You don’t try to infer from the event, that is why you are a reporter. You are a reporter of facts. If you start analyzing, editorializing, then be a columnist, be an editorial writer; because in that sense you can put in your views, you can put in… but one thing though, when you learn, when you learn to report the facts, when you learn to look at data as they are, then as you go along, it could be very easy for you to analyze, it could be very easy for you to editorialize, why? Because you’ve trained yourself to look at the facts. So you base your opinions, you base your magazines, you base your editorial on facts and you can’t go wrong, you can’t go wrong with that. So, that’s one thing, here in Inquirer.net that is what I would always tell our reporters. Stick with the facts and you can’t go wrong with that. You can be threatened with libel, you can be harassed from time to time, but as long as your sure of what you’ve written, as long as you don’t invent anything of what you’ve written, then there’s no way you are going to loose.

Interviewer: Ma’am what is the most significant event that you covered?

Ms. Lynette: Plenty eh. (laughs) well, when I was in Daily Express, it was the aftermath of the Mendiola massacre, and the farmers, the thirteen farmers who were killed who were protesting Cory’s land reform, Cory Aquino’s Land reform and there was another rally after that also in Mendiola. Once my editor sent me there, I think it was my first big rally at that time, and Lorenzo Tañada, the Late Lorenzo Tañada and other political personalities at that time attended that rally. So you have Marcos cops, the Marcos’s police in one side of the fence and the protestors on the other side of the fence. So they met in the middle then nagkagulo, we were in the middle of the two sides, because we were covering, we were writing, we were interviewing and all of a sudden biglang nagkagulo. So we had to run! I was with another reporter but I lost her. There was tear gas, and my editor at that time was telling me, the editor-in-chief Pocholo at that time was looking for me. He asked the editors “Si Ordoñez nasaan?” and they said “Sir nagcover ng rally” “ha?” sabi niya “Kaya na ba nun magcover ng rally?” because he would only send me to cover just in hotels, yung mga educational fora and health fora and all that stuff which was basically tame coverage, basically press conferences; but here, an actual, we have an actual situation were anything can happen. So, takbo, takbo. That is why I learned, I rushed, we rushed, a group of journalist I think, rushed into this sari-sari store in Mendiola, kasi in Mendiola there were a lot of that eh, and we were wet because, you know, they were throwing tear gas and the rallyists were throwing water bombs. So like we were wet all over, so sabi ko dun sa tindahan “Manang, manang, pagamit naman ng telepono” wala pang cell phone nun, wala pang laptop. So I called the office and I started dictating the story because there was no time to write. So, that is where your training comes in. You have to look at the facts; you have to look at what happened. What’s with the story? There’s a rally that happened. There was a commotion, there was chaos. What happened? Water bombs flew; batons started hitting the rallyists, the protesters. How many were injured at that time? I could see the protesters, the hurt ones being carried out of the rally side and polices started whacking. It was something that got stuck in my mind after that.

Well, the other coverage that I can distinctly remember was when I was covering health, at that time we got a tip that expired milk was being sold, I would not mention the brand of the milk, was being sold to the public and that they were all stored in a warehouse, I think in Quezon City. So I phoned my editor about it and he said “okay follow up your story”. We were three or four journalists at that time and I was then writing for Manila Standard, with me was a reporter from the Chronicle and I think a reporter from Manila Bulletin and we staked out. We informed the health authorities about it and we had a stake out and I could remember like it was about twelve midnight when we entered into this warehouse because we found out were it was; and I wasn’t ready I came from a press conference that day and I was wearing a dress and I’m on this dress and all, and we climbed this window of the warehouse and we started taking pictures; and lo, and behold! There were really cartons and cartons of expired milk. And we started taking pictures. And then the following day the lawyers of the milk company, started coming in with the security and we were bodily brought out, bodily moved out from the warehouse. And you know, we started arguing. And we got the story printed. Of course, there were attempts on the milk company to pay-off some of our editors that is pretty common in some big firms. So they tried to convince our editors not to run the stories, but as I said I was blessed with good editors who felt that they owed it to the public; so our stories saw print.

Actually, those are two of the most memorable coverage. Well, when I was in the Inquirer already, my first day was the arrest of Joseph Estrada. They were kidding me at that time that it would set fire to online media because at that time that Joseph Estrada was being arrested. So, I got the story blow by blow as it happened. So far, that is the most memorable coverage I had at that time.

Interviewer: As of the moment, your stay here in the Inquirer, on-line inquirer, how was it so far?

Ms. Lynette: I enjoy it! I enjoy it very much! Well, because it is the new media, they call it the wave, the future of journalism because even in the states, New York Times, Washington Post, they have shifted a lot of their resources to on-line medium. Basically because it delivers the news faster, hopefully, although I can question that, more accurately, because they deliver the news as it happen so its not something that a reporter from print could have time enough to sit down and really think out the story. It’s not that kind of story you’re dealing with. So I find the pace much faster, it takes a lot of getting used to having to be in print for quite some time but the basics naman are there. The shift from print to on-line, the adjustment I had to make was maybe more in terms of trying to operate my computer, from the typewriter to the computer. So, I guess this is what I have to adjust to. I keep on telling the reporters that you are lucky now you have cell phone, you have a laptop, you have practically most of the gadget at your disposal. I hate to say it but I always end up saying “during my times,” we have to phone in the story, look for the nearest phones and when you get to the office we use our typewriter and sometimes if you’re not that lucky you’ll get your typewriter na medyo matigas pa sa daliri and you have these rolls of paper where you have to type in the story. Basically journalist now, are really lucky to have all kinds of gadget. In fact, our reporters are equipped with cameras and video cams so they can take up photos, videos of the coverage. I have a reporter now in Lanao he was there over this weekend and started finding stories there and he took videos and photos. So if you want to be a reporter now, you have a lot of gadgets at your disposal, you know, all those really tech-y stuff.

Interviewer: Miss, last question, would you rather be in print or on-line?

Ms. Lynette: Let’s put it this way, I don’t think it’s a question of whether I would rather be in print or on-line because the profession is growing, I mean it’s a fact that there would come a time that newspapers will cease and practically every household regardless of income would have a computer. I guess, it’s learning to grow with the profession. I think what you should ask me is that if I would to set back the clock if I would still choose to be a journalist. And the answer would be yes. It actually doesn’t matter what medium. I would write for, or send my stories for; I think the bottom line is that I think I am really meant to be a journalist, I think that is the bottom line. I would not exchange it for anything at this point, at this point.

Interviewer: Thank You!

Ms. Lynette: You’re welcome, I hope you learned something.
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Ms. Lynette Ordoñez-Luna, born on August 4, 1961, is a Communication Arts graduate of Ateneo de Manila University in 1983. At the time of the interview she was editor of "Inquirer.net."