Day 3: Making Headlines

When I was told I have to go to work on a national holiday, I felt no disappointment. There was a prevalent sense that journalists scarcely take holidays off. If you want to cover the ball coming down in Times Square, you should be prepared to miss a few New Year's eves.

So was the story on Monday, August 26, National Heroes' Day, when personalities from every angle of the limelight organized a "Million People March" at the Quirino Grandstand, attended by over 100,000 Filipinos. Imagine it. 100,000 people confined in a single park, free to express their views however they see fit.

The crowd only came in by online media and word-of-mouth. There was no political body or celebrity that nudged them to come. Streamers were discouraged in the event, there was nobody wearing political colors, and there was no single program that outlined it.

Everyone was free to do as they will. Regular Joes were allowed to speak up on megaphones in place of political prospects and representatives; some were playing rock music and some toyed with tribal instruments; there were even families taking pictures and kids carrying balloons. Bring out some floats and confetti and you have an all-out street party.

My trainer and I circled the grandstand hoping to find color. Malaya sent men to cover the rally already--one was assigned to cover this aspect, one was assigned to cover that; I don't know the specifics but I was assigned to write about color--the overall atmosphere of the event.

My trainer led me to a press conference happening at the Manila Hotel. I stayed there while she went to find former Chief Justice Renato Corona--a controversial figure who was thrown out of the Supreme Court for "corruption." It was a posh lunch with VIPs speaking up front, one of them was former Senator Kit Tatad, and another was Fr. Robert Reyes. There were other speakers that told us how we are all victims of the pork barrel. About 15 minutes later, my trainer came to collect me and we headed back to the rally.

The weather which previously dampened us with occasional drizzles became a little better. On the bright side (ironically), the sun was absent and we were free to walk around without sweating like pigs. We walked down Roxas Boulevard and saw Willie Revillame and Gloria Diaz. I thought we should have moved closer but my trainer said she didn't want us to seem like groupees because journalists are equal with celebrities.

After interviewing a few groups, we went to Chowking for take-out and made our way back to the office. We were the only people there and the internet was shut down. My trainer however managed to connect with another signal but it was restricted to official members of the press. I needed some details from the internet so I waited quite a while for her to finish up and give me my turn to use the internet.

My story also took a while to write. I finished it at 5:30, counting more than 700 words. I handed it over for my trainer to edit and usual, it significantly sized down to about 500 words. She also rephrased and restructured a lot of paragraphs giving my article a newswriting facelift, telling me it might make the banner the next day. Finally, I called it a day but my trainer stayed in the office to write other stories.

I woke up the next morning and asked my mom to buy a copy of Malaya on her way home from work (she in the graveyard shift). I read it and yes, my story did make banner.

For journalists, it's a natural thing to make cover pages but for us interns, it's the rare thing to even make it to the front page, especially in a national broadsheet. But I made it.

8/27/2013. I'll always remember that day as the day I first made headlines. I'll save that issue of Malaya. What a pat on the back.