PinoyJourn’s 2011: WordPress blogging report

Finally got one! The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for PinoyJourn.

Found this out first from Adrian Pantonial. I e-mailed WordPress asking how to get one, and voila!

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

…Some visitors came searching, mostly for chiara zambrano, trish roque, tv5 building, buod ng sona ni pnoy, and jail bars.

Click here to see the complete report.

—

You can read more details about my top blog posts in this other year-end post.

To all who’ve been part of this blog, many thanks again for a great 2011!

Sleepless, contact-less in Quiapo

 

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

“I just experienced how they gathered news back in the 1990s,” said reporter Jeff Canoy when he arrived at our technical setup in Plaza Miranda.

Jeff and his crew had followed the venerated image of the Black Nazarene when it left the Quirino Grandstand on the morning of January 9, the anniversary of its translacion or transfer to the Quiapo Church four centuries ago.

The procession was not due to arrive until around midnight, but the team pushed on to Quiapo earlier for Jeff’s top story on TV Patrol.

Jeff already went live that noon. But all day, Jeff parted with his routines: tweeting online, phoning reports, and texting regular updates to his desk editor.

All because a terror threat prompted authorities to jam cellular signals from Quirino to Quiapo.

The threat announcement was made by no less than President Aquino came the day before.

It surprised reporters who earlier heard police chief Nicanor Bartolome say after he met the President that there were no serious security threats on the celebration.

It turned out this year’s translacion still had something new despite being covered and shown on TV for so long.

With cellphones rendered useless, our ENG vans along the procession route became the only spots with a semblance of communication to Quezon City.

Our savior: the citizen’s band radio console retrofitted on each van.

PinoyJourn’s 2011: The top posts

A year of upheaval.

2011 saw calamities challenge our notions both of safety and of the status quo.

This year, the stirrings of change disturbed the common and the powerful. One issue, one event after the other made us rethink or question our policies and our perspectives.

We saw personalities resurface to accountability. Beloved figures passed on. We remembered the past, saw it repeat itself, and wondered what has changed. In the wake of it all, we got some answers yet we face more questions.

This behind-the-scenes blog tried to find untold stories beyond the did-this-did-that sidelines of news coverage. Still, the media back-stories found themselves inserted in understated mentions. And even the unique circumstances warranted their own stories.

2011 began with a fleeting succession of big stories that for lack of downtime a number of them did not get written about here.

Among them: the mysterious EDSA bus blast, the construction mishap that killed 10, and the flooding in Albay and in Jolo that sent me for the first time there.

Even as the year ended, the season did not give pause for the routine holiday watch.

2011 also expanded the audience of PinoyJournalist as it affiliated with sites like ABS-CBNnews.com and ABS-CBN’s intranet newsletter E-Frequency. One result– the first post that breached the thousand-hits mark.

I haven’t followed through on last year’s resolution for more features outside of current events or more book reviews. Chalk it up to limited writing time and audience considerations.

2012 will sure bring more stories, and I hope, more ways to tell them.

For now, here’s the rundown of 2011′s headlines as seen through the eyes of this blog:

Why we wave each New Year

Way back, I didn’t get why they had to show those live shots of greet-toting, hand-waving news personnel on the Christmas and New Year telecasts.

I thought the cameos too self-indulgent, especially when the waving became rowdy.

But when duty forces one away from home at a time most people bond with their loved ones, how could one resist the chance to be one with the celebration despite the distance?

I only got to appreciate that window on my first New Year Salubong assignment. And in the most incongruous of places.

Amid the expected influx of firecracker-caused injuries at a government hospital, count on the staff and temps to still join in the merriment even for a few minutes.

For a first time to celebrate the new year without family, I made it a point to join the virtual feeler to loved ones watching.

And so for three years…

Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center, 2010.

Again, Jose Reyes, 2011

Resorts World Manila, 2012

…it’s been “kawayan na”, with no sign of tradition ending.

The call home to turn on the TV and watch out has been a way of letting family or friends know the working person was thinking of them.

Kind of how the web cam has greatly reconnected Filipinos here and overseas. Only in this case, national television–still the big league this side of the world–heightens the experience, to wit.

It’s characteristic of a very Pinoy quirk that I forget when I think of times like these.

Once a camera pans, the immediate reaction is a smile and a wave. When it comes with a mic, the first word out is a greeting to practically everyone.

And it happens even if the scene is no party.

That’s why we’ve always had to deal with bystanders and onlookers “barging” into our live shots for 5-10 seconds of mini-fame at locations struck by crimes and deaths.

But once or twice at the end of the year, we allow the extra people and the waving, and we add ourselves in.

It’s not just us, after all, who want a shot at letting loved ones see that we’re thinking of them and that we’re doing fine.

Happy 2012, PinoyJourn readers!

—

P.S.: Still not through with 2011 though. Stay tuned for the top points of this blog and this writer’s year.

Christmas duty in CDO

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, MISAMIS ORIENTAL–Hours before midnight of December 25, some guests at a high-end local hotel dropped by the bar to mark the holiday.

For most, the night out was a long-awaited respite from the circumstances that faced them that week in this typhoon-hit city.

A combo of two was there singing a repertoire of Standard tunes, mostly English and the occasional Latin.

On the keyboard was a lanky man wearing a luau polo. A virtual all-in-one band, he alternated piano and trumpet leads to the customized beats from his synthesizer.

Dodong, the pianist, alternated and harmonized tunes with his partner Rose, who was in a party dress.

The guests were impressed and called for encores. One of them approached the duo and said he wanted to sing.

Dodong said yes. “But first, I need a volunteer to play these.” And he pointed to the unused bongo drums nearby.

The clock struck 12 as the guest belted out another song.

(Shot by Rodrigo Tapales)

Fireworks could be seen from the window overlooking the city. Various areas of CDO answered each other in colorful outbursts of light.

The guests watched, some wondering if the calendar had already turned, and some marveling that one of the cities ravaged by the Philippines’ deadliest typhoon in over 10 years found cause to celebrate.

Seated near the piano was a middle-aged woman browsing a laptop while taking sips at a cocktail and glances at the performers.

“My wife,” Dodong said later as he introduced her. “She’s my manager too.”

As they packed up the microphones and turned off the amps, Rose, the singer said, “We’ll be returning to our flooded houses.”

One of the affected CDO villages. (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Dodong resided at a higher area of CDO. But the house his children lived in was not spared from the high waters of typhoon Sendong (a.k.a. Washi).

“All my instruments there were ruined–two guitars, my keyboard, my amplifiers. Even my studio,” he said.

“I think God is reminding us with tragedies like this to remember and return to Him.”

Second-guesses at the Gloria transfer

After a month of stakeouts, the much-awaited move finally had a date: December 9.

It meant the news media could relax a little and even reassign momentarily some of the OB vans or people that have long-guarded the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City.

One station appropriated its St. Luke’s van for the “Occupy Mendiola” protests that diverted attention to the Palace doorstep days before the scheduled transfer. The van returned to find its spot intact and still reserved.

Reporters from the so-called “St. Luke’s press corps” could soon say goodbye to their joked-about Christmas party, and also to the air-conditioned waiting area complete with hot water and the occasional gratis snack courtesy of the hospital.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

But while everyone finally knew the day, no one knew the hour former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would be brought to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City, where she was ordered by court to spend her hospital arrest.

And despite the frequent ambush interviews at the media area–all carried live on ANC–no spokesperson would drop a clue.

“Probably between 12 midnight and 11:59 in the evening,” said Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, lawyer to Arroyo’s husband Mike, and now infamous for humorously answering media queries and jesting with reporters.

Remembrance: A year back at the massacre site

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

AMPATUAN, MAGUINDANAO–The morning heat stung on the faces of the throng trekking the leveled dirt road across this remote hill.

Many came by the truckloads from other towns and were likely dropped off at the dirt road’s entrance, a left turn from the national highway. There police officers filtered the vehicles that came in.

For every truck that passed through, dozens scrambled to hitchhike and save the long, hot, and arduous walk hundreds of others made.

The sight was unlikely in this area before. Few dared come here by themselves, a thing explained by the heavy security presence.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Yet we still asked as our van rolled up and down and further inward, why would many, especially locals, brave the weather and the hanging danger?

The sheer number of people and the prominence of the event somehow assured us that nothing grave would catch us.

As the shed built over the site drew near, we saw a few thatched huts scattered along rather-tended greenery. Whether anyone lived in them, we weren’t sure.

If there were, could they have witnessed the gruesome end of 58 people diverted here exactly a year before? And if they had, were they silenced forcefully, or worse, permanently?

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

We came here a year ago, when the nation’s memory centered for one day on a southern sitio named Masalay and on the worst political crime of recent history done here.

This year, journalists, locals, and families of the slain again converged on this area to remember. The place has undergone a makeover, and the country has seen game-changing events of its own.

Yet like the circumstances of the first year, those commemorating two years since the Ampatuan massacre have only seen the slow pace of justice.

The faces of war

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

IPIL, ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY–The arrival of flag-draped caskets did not seem to end.

Soldiers greeted them as they were unloaded from trucks at Zamboanga City’s Edwin Andrews Air Base.

The 19 coffins were flanked, three to four soldiers on each side, into a long row of blue and red, being readied for a march of farewell.

Their only identification was written on straps of packing tape: the surname and rank of the body they bore and the city they were headed for.

The coffins were led out to the waiting C-130 plane as a dirge filled the air.

A chaplain blessed the caskets. And as the grieving sobbed, all the soldiers at the tarmac raised a final salute.

Watch Jorge's report by clicking on the pic. (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Reporter Jorge Carino observed later on TV Patrol: “The return of a soldier in this way is probably the saddest of all homecomings.”

Whether the escorts knew their slain comrades or not, the remains remind them of an end they have all prepared for as they respond to duty’s call.

This is the face of war.

Incoming video

Our cameraman Rolly & his assistant Mike at the airstrip. (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

IPIL, ZAMBOANGA SIBUGAY–4:30 PM, two hours before TV Patrol: Our team was still on standby at our setup in the police provincial office.

Usually by that time, we’ve begun editing our report for the newscast, which for the past 3 days had made us their top story.

But the day’s story had not yet arrived.

It was still on its way, in helicopters carrying Gov. Rommel Jalosjos and his team to the Ipil runway, or on a Navy boat of policemen sailing for the local port.

With them were the first images of the central camp occupied until the previous day by groups pursued by the government after the fighting in Basilan island that left 19 soldiers dead.

Media people were discouraged from going due to the threat of being kidnapped for ransom or as shields by bandits. We were assured cameras were brought along to document the location.

I joined our reporter Ron Gagalac and his team at the 102nd infantry brigade, a short drive from the police headquarters and the airstrip.

Ron reported the night before that armed forces had finally seized the camp up north in Labatan, Payao town after days of air strikes.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

We were hoping to link up with the army photographer who was flying back, copy his shots into my laptop, and rush to our setup to go live in time for Patrol’s first gap.

5:25 p.m.: Two helicopters landed on the airstrip. The governor waved a greeting to us from the SUV that came to fetch him.

But our man, who walked to where we stood carrying a backpack, boots, and a rifle, had returned empty-handed of the shots.

Balik-gisaan sa FOCAP

Ngayon lang ulit humarap ang isang nakaupong Pangulo ng Pilipinas sa grupo ng mga peryodistang bahagi ng mga dayuhang pahayagan.

Limang taon na kasing hindi pinagbigyan ang taunan palang ginagawa ng mga naunang Presidente mula kay Ferdinand Marcos–ang makipagbalitaktakan sa Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines o FOCAP.

Kaya ang inabangan: Ano kaya ang itatanong nila at ano kaya ang isasagot niya.

“No holds barred” daw kasi ito. Kahit ano, pwedeng ibato. Gisaan, ika nga ng malanding salitang pang-headline.

Para rin kasing humarap sa mundo ang Pangulo sa pakikipagtapatan niya sa mga correspondent ng mga organisasyon gaya ng Reuters, NHK ng Japan, at Agence France-Presse.

Iba nga lang ang mga isyu sa Pilipinas na mahalaga para sa mga bayang magbabasa ng kanilang mga isinusulat.