Oral History of Rey Panaligan

August 10, 2008
Interviewers: Lee Hye Kyeong and Phoebe Rutaquio

Lee and Rutaquio (Q). For the record na po, state your name and present employment.
Panaligan (A). I’m Rey G. Panaligan. I work with Manila Bulletin and I’m a resident of Las Piñas city number 23 Gumamela Road.

Q. Why did you decide to become a newspaper journalist?
A. Well, you were not born yet. It was 1968, after high school graduation, I had nothing to eat, I
was hungry. And only thing I can do is to write, because I had some writing experiences in high school. And I was an editor in chief of our school publication in Nueva Ecija Pastora College. When my friend invited me to write for Philippines Herald, I had no salary.

Q. No ano?
A. No salary. What I had was free lunch and free dinner.

Q. Ah.
A. That’s all. In early 1968 when I joined the Evening News Channel 11, I got my salary at 12 pesos a day. I was covering the Department of Education. When I was covering Evening News Channel 11, I was moonlighting at Bulletin Today. I was writing sports. Martial law was declared in 1972, so all newspapers were closed. But then some newspapers were still open, and one of them was Bulletin Today. So I joined Bulletin today. I was again assigned to cover for the Department of Education, and later on I was transferred to the agriculture transportation beat.

Q. What’s that?
A. The Department of Agriculture. I was writing about what farmers do, total rice production in the country, everything about agriculture.

Q. For Manila Bulletin?
A. Yes. For Bulletin Today.

Q. Was it assigned by someone? Or you just chose that section?
A. Well, since I was moonlighting for Bulletin Today sports, the editor in chief of Bulletin asked me if I want to join as a correspondent. When I say a correspondent, you are paid by the stories you write and that are published and that appear. That is correspondent. I was assigned by the editor-in-chief to cover the agriculture and trade.

Q. How much po?
A. At that time, it’s 1 Peso per column inch inside pages. And you get 2 Pesos if it’s in the front page.

Q. Ah.
A. At that time, since I was earning more than a regular staff member, sometime in 1977, I was asked to join officially as a reporter. So I joined as a reporter. I was assigned to the Justice and Court beat writing the Department of Justice, Court of Appeals, Supreme Court, Sandiganbayan, Ombudsman. And I started to get my regular monthly salary. I cannot remember how much. Since then and up to now, I’m still writing about the Court of Appeasl, the second highest court of the land, and the Supreme Court for Manila Bulletin. So I think it’s for more than three decades that I’ve been writing for Manila Bulletin covering the Courts beat. You call the Courts beat.

I write about anything that happens, decisions, orders, resolutions that would come from the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. I write almost every day. I’ve been assigned to cover special events like the assassination of Benigno S. Aquino Jr. in 1973. So I travelled around the world to cover investigations that were done in different countries particularly in Japan and US. I also covered the Bataan nuclear power plant the moth ball, Philippine nuclear power plant. However, it’s not being utilized by the government now. The destructions are in Bataan. Because of that coverage, I was assigned to go to the US, Japan and Switzerland.

Q. Was there the any striking moment for you? Were there things you most remember?
A. There are many things I remember in my coverage. When I was covering the agriculture as a correspondent, I covered Luzon during typhoons and floods. Those are the things memorable, because I saw poor people clinging to their lives, trying to save their props.

Q. Nakikita nyo po?
A. Yes, I saw them clinging to their lives.

Q. Nasaan po kayo?
A. I was wading in the floods. Sometimes, I had to ride amphibian, I had to go to choppers, planes. I had to hop from one island to another in my agriculture coverage, because the secretary of agriculture wants to see rice production in Mindanao. When you are in Mindanao, he wants you to go to Visayas, then back to Luzon. So it’s literally hopping from one island to another for covering the agriculture.

Q. I see.
A. Here in my present beat, the most controversial now is investigation into alleged in property and attempts of bribery in the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals is the country’s second highest court which is next to the Supreme Court. The members of the court, the Justices for example, should be known for their integrity, publicity, honesty, etc.

Q. May na-witness po ba kayo?
A. Bribery? No, not yet. Although there were many allegations, allegations are allegations. You have to present the evident to prove it. Any other question, ladies?

Q. Sir, was there any dangerous moment, dangerous experience because of your job?
A. Yes, I had so many dangerous experiences. Let’s go back to the time when I was covering agriculture. I had to travel from Manila to Luzon provinces, and Manila to Bicol provinces. There were instances when we were flopped down by who appeared like soldiers, soldiers who wear slippers. So they were not really soldiers. They belonged to the New People’s army, the communist group.

Q. Ano pong ginagawa nyo?
A. Halimbawa, may coverage sa Bicol, I had to introduce myself, “I’m Panaligan, I work for Manila Bulletin, I’m going to Legaspi city to cover this, this and that.” I had to explain. Then they would ask me “Do you carry fire arms?” Of course I always carried fire arms. So I said “Yes.” “Oh, it’s very nice! Can I have it?” then I would tell “When I come back I’ll give it to you, but I’m going there now. Tomorrow, I’ll be back to Manila, so same time and same place, you have to wait for me.” So I changed my schedule to avoid them.

Q. Ah. I see.
A. Those are some of dangerous moments. And when I was covering agriculture and trade for Bulletin, I encountered so many libel cases. I had libel cases that were filed by ranking officers of the Armed Forces, and by provincial governors. But fortunately, all these libel cases were dismissed. When I started covering the Department of Justice, and the Courts, there were no more libel cases. Because I had to stick to what is written in the decisions and in the resolutions of Courts. Anything else?

Q. Ano po yung first section na inassign sa inyo sa Philippines Herald?
A. I was writing sports section.

Q. May reason po ba kayo kung bakit ninyo kinuha yung sports?
A. Because that’s the only area available.
Q. Ah. It was just assigned.

Q. May iba po bang reporters doon sa section?
A. Yes there are.

Q. Paano ninyo po dinidivide yung work?
A. How did I divide the work? There are free reporters, for example, one reporter would be assigned to cover basketball, probably the UAAP at that time, University Athletic Association of the Philippines. Another reporter would cover basketball, and another reporter cover football, another reporter for weight lifting. So the one is divided is depending the number of activities in these sports.

Q. 1968. So ilang months po kayo sa Philippines Herald?
A. I cannot remember very well. Probably for four or five months.

Q. Ano po yung physical facilities noon?
A. At that time, it was letterpress. Everything is manual.

Q. I see.
A. But we don’t do that. The production people do that. We just do the writing using type writers. At that time, there were no computers yet. You use manual type writers. After you write your story, you give it to the editor. And the editors will edit it, and give it to the production section. They will linotype it. When you linotype it, all the words will be printed in the lead. It’s a tedious process. Unlike what we have now, state-of-the-art, our computers. During that time in 1960s, and even 1970s, it was still manual, everything was manual, except for printing. It’s machine operated. But everything you had to type it from news gathering, up to the printing.

Q. So when did it become offset?
A. Offset? I’m not much involved in the production of the paper, because I’m a reporter, a journalist. But if I remember it correctly, late 70s or early 80s, most of the newspapers here were using the offset system of printing.

Q. So at that time, you were not using computers?
A. No, no computers yet.

Q. When did you use computers?
A. Computers. At the Bulletin, we started to use computers probably in 1991. And Bulletin now is the most modern printing press in the country. It is fully automatic, they call state-of-the-art printing. You just need a few people, push button type of printing. But in the 60s and 70s when you have to watch the machine, you had to do everything. It was so hot, but now it’s different. The printing office is in Intramuros.

Q. Yung dati po, yung sa Philippines Herald
A. In Philippine Herald, it was so hot, because of the lead. You got to melt the lead, etc.

Q. So malaki po yung builiding ninyo dati, kasi marami mga machines..?
A. Yeah, at the Philippine Herald, the newspaper was occupying about 4 floors.

Q. Ngayon po?
A. Ngayon sa amin Bulletin, we practically occupy editorial, advertising, and offices, 3 floors, and a very big building for our printing process.

Q. Ah, yeah. How were you and the people you worked with?
A. When you are a journalist, you have to be a friend of everyone, because you are a little of an architect, a little of physician, a little of an engineer, a little of lawyer, a little of everything. You are assigned to cover various fields.

Q. Cige po. Were you close po ba sa mga co-workers ninyo?
A. Yes. We are very close.

Q. Hindi po kayo individualistic?
A. No. And most of them are not. I am talking about The Bulletin. Most of them are friendly, approachable. They are all professionals.

Q. Do you have any mentor, publisher, editor you were scared of, back then?
A. Yes, in the early 70s, the late Judge Gonzalez of Manila Bulletin was the most feared of all the editors. You wrote your stories with manual copy writers and then you gave it to him. If he did not like it, he crumpled it and threw it in the waste basket without saying anything.

Q. Oh..
A. And cursing too.

Q. Sa Manila Bulletin po?
A. Yes. Judge Gonzalez. If he didn’t like your stories, he would ask “Where did you graduate? You write like this? Go back to school!”

Q. Ano pong section siya editor?
A. He was the news editor at that time.

Q. Ah, news editor.
A. Judge Gonzalez. Anyway, he’s already in heaven.

Q. How about the Herald?
A. I was not very close to the editors. Because I worked personally with a friend just to have free lunch and free dinner for four to five months.

Q. So were you able to learn something from the editors you were afraid of?
A. Oh Yes. Of course! When the editor is a bully, sometimes he curses you, sometimes he shouts at you, your tendency is do good.

Q. Right.
A. You will improve your work, so that you can avoid all of those things. When your editor crumples your manuscript, and throws it to the basket, you will think “why? What did I do? Something is wrong.” And you will improve.

Q. How long did you work in the office a day?
A. Since we are reporters, we are out of the office. When I was covering agriculture, I used to stay in the Department of Agriculture of Quezon city, while our office is in Manila. At about 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon, I had to go back to Manila to write my stories and stay there till about 7pm when everything is edited, and you ask your editor, “Boss, can I go?” Normally, newspapers are printed about from 8 in the evening until about midnight or 1 in the morning and then they are immediately distributed in various offices.

Q. Ngayon po yon?
A. Yes.

Q. Before po?
A. Before it was much earlier since everything was manual. So at 7 o’clock in the evening, I had to go to the press, and bring everything to production for printing. But now we can go as much as 9 in the evening and then we can do the remap. When you call remat, you change the contents of the first edition, you call it remat, the second edition. In Bulletin, we can do it as late as 11 in the evening, and it will still come out in the following morning.

Q. Were you able to spend your holidays properly, like Christmas, New Year, Holy Week, etc.?
A. No, not much. My family has been complaining about it. As a reporter of Bulletin, I work 24/7. Since 1983, I was not allowed to go on vacation. Since 1983... Can you imagine that?

Q. As in you are not allowed talaga?
A. Yeah, I am really not allowed. If you ask for a vacation, my editor will say, “No. You have to stay!” But you can go naman if it’s only 2 days or if there is a personal emergency. Just call. But officially you are not on vacation. However, there is vacation pay naman.

Q. Ah, may vacation pay.
A. May vacation pay, of course.

Q. Magakano po?
A. It depends. Normally you have a 15-day sick leave and 15-day vacation leave. So 1 month, diba? Then it is equivalent to your 1-month pay, plus you are working. So, for that particular month, it’s double pay for you. It really depends. It has to go through the provisions of the labor code.

Q. Were you always able to meet deadlines?
A. Yes! Deadlines are very important in a newspaper!

Q. Was there a time wherein you missed a deadline?
A. There were but there are some cases wherein the editors would allow that. I’ll give an example.

Q. Okay.
A. In the Bulletin now, you’ve got to e-mail your summary of your story by about 3 o’clock. That’s the rule.

Q. 3 o’clock? 3pm?
A. 3 in the afternoon. For the following day’s issue.

Q. Ah...
A. At 6 o’clock, all stories must be in. That’s the rule. Let’s say, it’s already 7 pm. Then suddenly at 7 pm GMA is assassinated. Are you not going to stop the press, and write a story about it? You cannot ignore that. We’ve got to accommodate that story for tomorrow’s edition. So deadlines are flexible. Flexible, depending on events and circumstances. But the normal deadline is by 3 pm, you should e-mail or phone-in your summary.

Q. Okay. What was your editor’s attitude towards deadlines?
A. Very strict. If you want your newspapers to be sold the following day, you’ve got to be the first in the streets. You know what I mean?

Q. Yeah.
A. So, you have to print it in such a manner that it can be distributed early in the morning. Otherwise, if you distribute it at 8, 9, 10 in the morning, who would buy it? Your newspaper should be out by about 4 in the morning for distribution to all outlets, so that people, when they wake up they have the newspapers.

Q. Paano po kinocommunicate ng editors ninyo yung attitude nila about deadlines? Pinapagalitan po kayo?
A. There are policies and memos issued by the editors. Like myself, I seldom go to the office. That’s because I have my laptop and my Internet connection, which are tools I can use to submit my stories. So, I don’t have to go to the office. But the deadline... What is the deadline? What is the time you have to tell the editors that this is the story that they should expect from you? At 3pm. Then, what time should you submit your story? About six. But as I have told you earlier, if a very big event happened after 6pm, you still have to write it. Otherwise, you get scolded the following day. You get scolded, or you may be fired. Can you ignore, say, GMA assassinated at 9 in the evening? It is past deadline. But you still have to accommodate it in the following day’s newspaper.

Q. How about before po sa Herald?
A. Yeah, may deadline din. All newspapers have deadlines. But during that time, 1960 to 1970s, newspaper printing and processing was manual, diba? So, we had early deadlines back then.

Q. And hindi ninyo po namimiss yung deadline?
A. No.

Q. No.
A. Because we know our deadline.

Q. Yeah. Uhm, how were the editors now when it comes to accuracy, ethics, and grammar aspects of newswriting?
A. Okay. You know, nobody’s perfect, noh? Sometimes, editors would bungle in their grammar. Or sometimes, they would be accused of, say corruption. But you know, anybody can allege that reporters or editors are corrupt. You have to prove it.

Q. Paano po naging corrupt?
A. For example, there is a criticism against a businessman. And that businessman doesn’t like that criticism to come out. So probably, you know, he can bribe reporters so they won’t publish that story.

Q. May nawitness na po ba kayong ganun?
A. Well, you hear many things like that, but I haven’t witnessed any naman. There are many allegations. But again, to allege is one thing, to prove it is another thing.

Q. Okay. Any memorable colleagues?
A. Colleagues?

Q. Yeah, that made them unforgettable or memorable.
A. Some people. Some, they can drink a case of beer, or they can drink a bottle of whiskey. That’s memorable. Or they are blabbermouths. Or they are known for cracking a lot jokes in the office. Or they are bullies.

Q. Were there people who influenced or inspired you as a journalist? What kind of things did you learn from them? What are the effects to you as a journalist now?
A. Well, I learned so much from that Judge Gonzalez. Although I did not have that experience of my manuscript being thrown into the waste basket, but I witnessed him dressing down a colleague. Kasi he failed to meet the deadline and his manuscript was written haphazardly. So from then, the way that editor treated my friend gave me a lesson that I should improve everyday.

Q. Were you ever a “cub” reporter?
A. Cub reporter is an assistant to the reporter, noh? So I had that for about four or five months in the Philippines Herald. I was “cubbing.” C-u-b-b-i-n-g.

Q. Ah, pero hindi ka talaga-
A. Hindi ako reporter.

Q. I mean, hindi ka employee talaga?
A. Hindi. I was not employed then. I was working for my friend for my free meals.

Q. How was it like? Can you share your experiences as a “cub” reporter?
A. As a “cub” reporter, since it is the first time you cover a beat, you cannot help but be a little frightened. You are new in the field. ‘What do I do? How would I write? What questions do I ask during an interview?’ These are the little things that would linger in your mind. Things like that.

Q. Ano po ba ung beat? You were mentioning this for quite a while now.
A. Beat. B-e-a-t. It is your area of news coverage. For example, now, I’m covering the Court. My beats are The Court of Appeals and Supreme Court. The Court beat – that is mine. If agriculture beat naman ibig sabihin, that guy who is in the Agriculture beat is covering the Department of Agriculture. Everything about agriculture, that is his beat. If you say naman Malacañang beat, so everything in Malacañang – The President, everywhere she goes to, every statement she utters, everything she does – that is what she or he would write about. That’s the beat. Your territory, your news territory is your beat coverage.

Q. I see. Okay. So yung first beat ninyo po yung sports?
A. Sports at that time, yes.

Q. Ano po yung kind ng sport na cinover ninyo?
A. All! Everything.

Q. Ahh everything.
A. From sipa, to basketball, to baseball... to whatever. All sports. To karate, to boxing.

Q. What were important lessons learned during your sports beat?
A. Sa sports, you have to be on time because a sports event cannot wait for you, noh? And if you were a photographer, you really have to be on time.

Q. Photographer po kayo?
A. No, no. If you are a photographer lang. So, if you are a photojournalist, you will have to be on time because they won’t repeat a certain incident for you. You cannot ask a basketball player, ‘Ei, stop! Stop shooting that ball! I’ve got to take that photo!” No, you cannot do that. So you’ve got to be there, and on time too.

Q. Eh mahilig po ba talaga kayo sa sports?
A. No. No.

Q. Pero diba kailangan po alam ninyo yung mga terms?
A. Ah, well you have to read. You have to read.

Q. Ah... so nag research-research po kayo?
A. You must read and read and read and read because sports jargon is different from a regular story, noh?

Q. Yeah.
A. Sports writing is very colourful noh? We will go to writing later on diba?

Q. We can have that now, sir.
A. Okay. You know, when you write for a story, the reader must feel. For example, you’re covering a fire. You should write in such a manner that when somebody reads it he or she would imagine as if he was there. The way you describe the fire, the damage done, when did it start, where did it start, when was it stopped by the firemen... So you should use a language to put your readers in that place where that fire occurred. You know what I mean. You’ve got to be very lucid, very vivid, in your description of the fire so that your reader can imagine in his head what had happened. He would imagine, ‘Ah, ganun pala yung fire, as big as that! So as if he was there.

Q. Okay.
A. What else?

Q. Ah okay. Was there some moments that you cannot control expressing your opinions about what happened?
A. Yes.

Q. Because you have to be objective right?
A. You really have to be objective when you’re writing for news. But when you are writing for a column, when you are a columnist, you can express your opinions. You can interpret, you can give commentaries, but not when you write a news article. In a news article, you have to be very objective. But you know, there are newspapers so that they can sell, they make it controversial.

Q. Sensational.
A. They have to sensationalize it. We at The Bulletin, we don’t do that. That is the reason why they call us a ‘community paper’. Manila Bulletin is a community paper because it does not hit anyone. They say that the stories are so subdued. But well, that’s our policy. We need not sensationalize news for us to be sold, noh? Because here at The Manila Bulletin, nag-transcend from the business aspect of newspapers. We are now doing public service. The Manila Bulletin is the most profitable newspaper in the country. We are the most profitable despite the way we treat our stories. We don’t sensationalize. We don’t hit people. We are being read and we are being bought. And our advertisers come to us, you know. So we don’t have to do that.

Q. How about back then when you were in Herald?
A. In Herald? In Herald, I was writing for sports. So in sports, again, you’ve got to be colorful in your language. And also, in sports writing, sometimes you lose your objectivity because, why? You are objective when you describe how many points this team got compared to the other team. Who won? Who lost? But when you describe the performance of an athlete, you are not very objective, because it’s how you see it, how you describe it. And when you describe something based on what you see, sometimes your feelings or opinions are involved. Eerything would have to come into play, so that’s not objectivity. When you write from a court decision, there you are very objective, because you cannot interpret court decision in any other way. You cannot veer away from what is written in the decision. You cannot use any other language. When the court says, “He’s convicted,” he’s convicted! When the court says, “He’s sentenced to death,” he’s sentenced to death, diba? But in sports naman, one sports writer could say that such basketball player did not play well. Another sports writer could say because of him the team lost. So, there will be conflicts. Okay.

Anything more?

Q. So diba Engineering po yung natapos ninyo?
A. Yeah.

Q. Naging engineer po ba kayo?
A. No. I did not take the board.

Q. Ah, so you just continued on with journalism?
A. Oo, because at that time when I was taking up Engineering at UST, I cross-enrolled at Arts and Letters. I cross-enrolled on Literature and Journalism. I also missed one unit in PE and one course in ROTC. Pero 'di bale, at that time I was already working. But nevertheless, I got my diploma.

Q. Sa Engineering?
A. Yeah, but I did not take the board exam. I cannot be called an engineer.

Q. May regrets po ba kayo?
A. No. I’m happy.

Q. You love journalism.
A. Well yes, because journalism fed my family... up to now.

Q. Ay, is this your bread and butter?
A. Yeah, this is my bread and butter.

Q. Ah...
A: Although, I have many consultancies.

Q. Consaltancy?
A. Yeah, consultancies with some friends who would like me to help in something things, noh?

Q. Um, were there some unforgettable people that you have reported on?
A. Yeah. As of a matter of fact, it happened only last year! I was covering the Chief Justice, Reynato Puno in Dumaguete City. That was August 25 of last year. And then he asked me, “Sit beside me inside the chapel of the Silliman Unversity. Sit beside me. I’m going to deliver the message in today’s service of a Christian Church.” So I sat beside him and I listened to his message very intently. And after listening, boarding the plane, and then coming back to Manila, I told myself, “I will go to church.” He changed my life.

Q. He inspired you.
A. He inspired me to join the church of my family. There are many kinds of people. People inspiring you, people discouraging you, and then there are people who are just... nonsense.

Q. Sir, final question.
A. Sure.

Q. What kind of things have you learned from your job as a journalist?
A. As a journalist, number 1, you have to be truthful. You have to be honest. Number 2, you really have to beat deadlines. You cannot say, “No! They can wait.” No. Deadlines are deadlines. Number 3, when you are writing about a subject that you know you would make one person happy and the other person very sad, you’ve got to be fully objective and very careful.

That has happened to me. At that time I was covering the Department of Justice, I used to write stories of cases that are filed before the Fiscal’s office. Anyone can file and accuse someone before the Fiscal’s office. When this story got published in The Bulletin, the head of the family, the father, whom I wrote about, called me and said, “Mr. Panaligan, because of your story, my children didn’t want to go to this school anymore. My wife stopped working. It’s all because what you wrote isn’t true.” But I had to write it because it was filed before the Department of Justice.

So then on, with that, we came up with a policy that if a case is filed before the Fiscal’s office, we do would not write stories on it. We are avoiding destruction of families and names. The newspaper is a very cruel medium, noh? Very cruel. Same with the television. So you’ve got to be very careful. Truth is the most important thing for a journalist. Because journalists, like lawyers and judges, are there to seek for truth.

Q. I see.
A. Truth.

Q. Okay. Thank you very much, sir!

Rey Panaligan was born on August 18, 1950 in Alitagtag, Batangas. He holds a degree in engineering from the University of Santo Tomas. At the time of the interview, he was a reporter for the Manila Bulletin as he has been since 1972..