WHEN four female student journalists from the West Visayas State University (WVSU) asked to interview me, I initially protested. It did not seem right that an interviewer would be interviewed.
Anyway, we eventually found ourselves talking over lunch in a restaurant.
“You write well,” Sheila massaged my ego.
“Not really,” I pretended to disagree.
“Did you finish a course in journalism?” she continued.
“Yes,” I nodded, “I finished AB-Journalism at the Manuel L. Quezon University [MLQU] in Manila in 1971. By then, I was already working as ghost writer for a daily showbiz columnist in the defunct Philippine Sun and Evening News. I was freelancing under my by-line for newspapers and magazines in Manila.”
“But of course,” Mona guessed, “your four years in college helped hone your writing skill.”
“Four and a half or a half-year longer than usual,” I corrected, “including my first year in Veterinary Medicine at UP-Iloilo. I shifted to AB-Journalism at MLQU after convincing my father that my heart was not in animals but in letters.”
Had I pushed through with my first course, I told them, I might have gone rich. Due to their scarcity, veterinarians are in demand and better-paid.
On second thought, if only to appease myself, I could have been a lousy veterinarian.
“Writing for a living,” I honestly told the four students, “has not made me rich. But it’s my writing career that has seen my only son Norbert through elementary, secondary and nursing schools.”
“So it’s okay not to get rich,” Susan, the third student, interrupted.
“I did not say that,” I quipped. “On the contrary, it takes much money to make both ends meet.””
“Sir,” this time from Alma, the fourth student, “is it really necessary to finish Journalism to land a newspaper job?”
“Not really,” I answered matter-of-factly, “You are not required to pass a board exam before gaining access to the newsroom. You don’t even have to go to college to master news writing. A good journalism book could suffice.”
They asked me if I had ever worked for government.
“No. You see, I was 22 years old when President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972,” I answered. “I detested writing propaganda for the dictatorship. I had written anti-Marcos columns in our school paper.”
Lest I discourage my interviewers, I advised them to proceed to post-graduate studies and not be content with a bachelor’s degree in any Mass Communications course. I quickly added that had I earned an MA or PhD acronym after my name, I would have taught for a living.
Nevertheless, one of the girls placated me, saying, “You were doing well in Manila. Why did you come home to Iloilo?”
“I wanted to be part of history of the Iloilo media,” I quipped. “When couple Danny and Maria Fajardo asked me to edit the then weekly Panay News in April 1981, there was no local daily. The Ilonggos would rather read the Manila dailies.”
Incidentally, some of my colleagues in the local media are now academic titans. Ricky Abaleña (sports editor of Panay News in the 1990s), having earned master’s and doctorate degrees here and abroad (USA, New Zealand), became dean of the WVSU College of Mass Communications (2007-2011). He is now full-time professor there.
Menchie Robles, who used to be with the defunct local TV network Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), is now dean of WVSU College of Communication.
Now a “doctor,” too, is our young friend Ian Catedral Espada. While working as editor of the weekly Visayan Tribune, he took up master’s and doctorate studies at WVSU. Without abandoning his newspaper job, he now teaches journalism subjects in the same school. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
