BY HERBERT VEGO
IN my early days as a professional journalist in Manila, Pete Vael of what was then the Bureau of National and Foreign Information – which was under the jurisdiction of then Information Minister Francisco “Kit” Tatad – asked me to join him there.
My immediate reaction was to refuse. The country was then under martial law. And since I had written strongly against President Ferdinand Marcos in my school paper, I could not see myself turning around and bootlicking the regime.
It was sometime in 1974, three years after I had earned my AB-Journalism course at the Manuel L. Quezon University in Manila. I was 24 years old.
Pete’s persistence, however, changed my mind. He assured me I would not have to praise Marcos to work for a government office.
Deep inside, though, I was depressed for a personal reason. I was not making enough money for my young family from freelance-writing. If I rejected the job offer, it would be like rejecting the “future.”
I reminded myself of the famous quote, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.”
I visualized myself facing Minister Tatad, answering his questions.
Armed with a recommendation from Mr. Vael, I went to Tatad’s office in Malacañang for my pre-employment interview. The receptionist, however, clarified that his boss would not be doing the interview. It would have to be his military aide, Col. Vicente Tigas. She ushered me to an adjoining office where Tigas was waiting.
A uniformed, good-looking Philippine Army official came into view. He was Tigas, so a nameplate on his desk revealed. He stood up to shake my hands. He asked only a few questions, as he seemed to know me already.
“Young man,” he intoned firmly, “We have intercepted clippings of your columns in The Quezonian, where you wrote negative opinions against President Marcos.”
He was referring to the school organ of Manuel L. Quezon University.
He asked me to see another military official at Camp Aguinaldo. Only then would Tatad approve my application for employment.
I did, only to be made to sign an affidavit to refrain from hitting the President again. Against my will I signed. I made up my mind, however, to forget about my application even if that meant missing employment security.
To soothe my sunken spirit, I turned to inspirational books, including the Bible.
Once there was a man who, desirous of leading a comfortable job, sought the advice of the late American preacher Henry Ward Beecher.
“Young man,” said Beecher, “you cannot be an editor. Do not try the law. Do not think of the ministry; neither manufacturing nor merchandising. Abhor politics. Don’t practice medicine. Don’t be a farmer or a soldier or a sailor. All these require too much study and thinking. My son, you have come into a hard, hard world. There is only one easy place in it and that is the grave.”
I had Beecher’s words in mind when I joined Panay News in its weekly infancy in 1981. It was truly a “hard world” at that time.
It has been a long time, and I have never worked for government, and I have survived./PN
