It was a week before the presidential and local elections when I joined Sun Star Pampanga in 1998. As a neophyte reporter, I was assigned to cover police stories, tagging along with Tito Dante Fabian and Tito Boy Sagad. Barely warming up and still trying to memorize the streets of Angeles City, Tatang Rollie Razon, our desk editor, instructed me to join the election coverage. It was indeed a baptism of fire for a 21-year-old recruit.
Our editor-in-chief, Jose “Joe” Pavia or simply Sir JLP to us, wanted a full coverage of all the national and local candidates in the province. Former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was running for Vice President then while her half-sister, former Vice Governor Cielo Macapagal-Salgado, was running against then Governor Lito Lapid.
The Lapid-Salgado fight was sensational because of their political history and because of the controversies at the Capitol that were elevated by Salgado before the Ombudsman.
Making sure that all the districts were covered, all the reporters and photographers were assigned into groups. The senior reporters then were Ashley Manabat, Joey Pavia, IC Calaguas, and Tito Dante. The photographers include Rey Navales, Juancho Irabon, and Tito Boy.
Tito Boy and I were assigned to cover the second district. We do not have a service vehicle or a personal car. I remember how challenging and stressful it was because we were only commuting, riding from one jeepney to another to reach every town. We started in Porac. Our last stop was Sasmuan.
Although completely exhausted, I tried my best to get the names right, as well as the precinct numbers, and to record brief interviews, following strict instructions from Tatang Rollie. After the election day, we were also required to cover the counting and canvassing of votes until the winning candidates were proclaimed. The counting was manual so we literally camp at the poll centers and canvassing centers.
Sun Star Pampanga, KTV12, and the local radio stations were the primary sources of local news in 1998. Since we were the only daily in Central Luzon, the readers either subscribe or buy copies from the newsstands to know the latest events and issues.
The local communities rely on us for information and for airing their grievances against social injustices.
Sun Star Pampanga used to have an unwritten policy to put stories about anti-child labor, violence against women, and environmental issues on the front page.
There was also a special box on the front page for donations for children needing medical help. I recall Boss IC Calaguas, who is now an Assistant Secretary of the Department of Transportation, as the person-in-charge of that section.
I am truly grateful to have been trained by the “old schools”, especially Sir JLP and Tatang Rollie.
Sir JLP was very particular about truthfulness and accuracy, details, and visuals.
I remember him prodding me to get a map of the FVR Megadike and the reinforcement projects being done by the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH). These engineering works were part of the Pinatubo Hazard Urgent Mitigation Project (PHUMP)-Phase II.
By this time, I was already promoted from covering police beat to the Capitol beat and the government agencies.
He said, “Minerva, paano maiintindihan ng mga readers ang mga projects na ito kung hindi sila familiar sa FVR Megadike? Alin ba ang East Lateral Dike? O West Lateral Dike? Humingi ka ng mapa sa DPWH.”
He was very happy when I finally got a map. He placed it on the front page along with my latest story about the megadike. We were monitoring developments on the megadike because the threat of lahar and mudflows was still a major concern in 1998 and 1999.
Sir JLP always reminded us to write follow-up stories.
He said a story does not end until it is really closed.
For crime stories, he wanted a series of follow-ups from the arrest of the suspect to filing of the case in court and up to the verdict.
One of the investigative stories we ran under JLP’s time was the expose of the payroll-padding and corrupt practices of a DepEd district supervisor in Mabalacat. She was pocketing the salaries of new teachers, claiming that they must do volunteer work before being ranked for permanent position.
Seven new teachers exposed the corrupt practice .
I wrote the series of stories in six straight months. Sir JLP was urging me to write a follow-up story every week until we uncovered more irregularities committed by the supervisor.
The story became controversial and earned the ire of the Pampanga DepEd division superintendent.
In the end, after six months of investigative reporting, the corrupt supervisor was reprimanded. She filed a “forced resignation” without separation benefits.
Since then, the releasing of salaries of teachers was removed from the district offices and was centralized at the Pampanga Division Office.
In mid-1999, if my memory serves me right, Sun Star Pampanga was adopted by the Laus Group of Companies. Before our office transferred to Tita’s Building in the City of San Fernando, Ashley Manabat became our editor. Later on, Kuya Ashley left the paper and Peter Alagos was named editor.
In September of 2004, I joined the administration of Gov. Mark Lapid as the provincial information officer.
Leaving my life as a full-time journalist was a difficult decision but I had to.
I will always treasure and keep at heart everything that I have learned from my journo days at Sun Star Pampanga. I deeply thank my former editors, Sir JLP, Tatang Rollie, Kuya Ashley, and Peter for the learnings and guidance. I am also thankful to my fellow reporters and colleagues at Sun Star Pampanga who also helped me during those starting years. Special mention to Boss IC, Joey Pavia, Marge Paraz-Santos, my current editor Rey Navales, Chris Navarro, Tito Dante, and Tito Boy. I am also indebted to Sir Jun Sula for helping us in 1999 and onwards.
I am where I am now because of my learnings and training from Sun Star Pampanga.
As one of the members of the Sun Star Pampanga family, I am very proud to say that I share a small part of the paper’s 30 years of colorful history! Happy anniversary Sun Star Pampanga! Luid!