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!

(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.

Fortunate too were the AM radio reporters, whose means to report on-site went undisrupted.

The vans had not let go of the radios even as our news-gathering teams dropped it in recent years for the ubiquitous cellphone.

Jeff on radio. At foreground, engineer Dondon. (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

The radios were still the quickest and most hassle-free way for studio and news desk to “shout” to us, especially when we were going live.

And so it was like unto the days when cellphones were still costly, scarce, and the size of toolboxes.

Reporters like Jeff and Chiara Zambrano sneaked clicks on the radios asking for their editors.

Radio frequencies long unused had crackled again to let them swap advises without blocking our constant back-and-forth with the studio.

Jeff still had another problem–how to send his TV Patrol script for editing. He usually e-mailed it. Worse, he dictated it over his cell. But with neither, would he shout it over the radio? His editor told him to look for a landline.

Editing scripts, monitoring lineups at the remote computer setup (Shots by Nino Garcia and Anjo Bagaoisan)

Good thing our computer setup for the TV Patrol anchoring had a working Internet. IT guy Rod Tapales said it was mere luck the broadband broke through the jam and stayed connected.

Jeff also found his script could be edited here too.

Chiara and her team near the Manila City Hall still had to drive to as far as Malacañang to get a signal, send her script and have it back for voicing.

It was still inconvenient. Jeff needed fresh details like the estimated number of devotees who joined.

Late night, waiting to go live. (Shots by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Before, the sources were at phone’s reach. That day, the office had to get the info for him.

Our team at the Quiapo endpoint also had no way to know where the carriage of the Nazarene already was.

Another new factor this 2012: the procession was taking longer than usual.

The rear tires of the carriage that conveyed the image had punctured early in the procession. Then one of the ropes devotees were tugging had broke.

Kapamilya, Kapuso, and off cam, Kapatid. (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Ten hours since it left the grandstand, the procession had not yet reached half of the 24 turns it was scheduled to make.

After we signed off Bandila at midnight, authorities said they foresaw the arrival at 5 a.m.–long past what anyone had experienced or anticipated.

A Pinoy netizen used an image of the Nazarene procession to point that “crowd-sourcing” was “more fun in the Philippines,” as the recently-launched tourism slogan went.

A team mate suggested: “Insomnia. More fun in the Philippines.”

Also, this. (Courtesy Jundio Salvador via Facebook)

Many in our technical team stole naps during the lull. Most of them had already been there 24 hours and accepted that it would take a little longer before they could pack up.

The manager of a store where we had another camera set up chose to stay long after they had closed.

With no option to rest were our security guards, who were added at the last minute because of the security warnings.

Yet terror threat or not, delay or not, the million devotees were determined to see the Nazarene reach its destination.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

The main gate of Quiapo church was already closed, but the Masses did not cease.

A perpetual Tagalog “Hail Mary” enveloped Plaza Miranda, interrupted by the occasional liturgical song.

In clumps, devotees had lain down, sat, or stood in the dirty concrete of the plaza. The sleepless approached peddlers selling ice cream, juice, rice cakes and coffee.

Sampaguita vendors still offered their unconsumed wares. A number tossed their towelettes to boys guarding smaller replicas of the Nazarene, and then awaited a rubbed-on blessing.

(Shots by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Slipper-clad or barefoot, many found spots to stretch out in beds of cardboard. A family occupied the front of a convenience store. Others slept alongside the litter at the impassable Quezon Boulevard.

The plaza would briefly come alive as the loudspeakers streamed the hymn to the Black Nazarene. The devotees then sang and twirled their white towels, as if in practice for the moment they were expecting.

Intermittent fireworks would wake the drowsy crowd to signal the latest street the Nazarene had reached.

(Shot by Ariel Fulgado, ABS-CBN News)

At 4 a.m., 7 more streets remained.

Officials had tried to steer the carriage straight for the church during the afternoon, but tensions rose when devotees insisted the procession follow the traditional route. Tradition was followed.

Our technical crews also roused when the Nazarene breached the entrance of Plaza Miranda past 5 a.m.

The plaza still filled to the brim as young men kept climbing the sea of people for a rub or a kiss on the image or its cross.

Top view from our van mast cam.

A point-man stood at the carriage, navigating this flood with hand signals and a whistle. The Mass had already given way to a voice on the PA directing people to make way.

It took nearly an hour just to reach the middle of the plaza.

But with three whistles and one last heave, the hundreds bearing the carriage finally managed to directly haul it straight to the church gate.

(Shot by Roger Arguelles, ABS-CBN News)

Many raced to wipe their handkerchiefs on the image at that last minute. Those who could not waved theirs as a send-off.

Two live report wraps from Francis Faulve and Jerome Lantin and my own 20-hour vigil was over.

The lateness of the the hour was likely why for my first time, I did not see the deluge of devotees swamp even the ENG vans.

Click to watch Francis Faulve reporting on the awaited arrival of the Nazarene (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Even after the procession had ended, our calls and messages could barely be sent.

For one reporter and his crew, the cost of covering was lost cellphones.

Yet as the devotees of the Black Nazarene have never stopped coming back, the camera will not likely tire of this annual flood with its images of struggle, persistence, and expectation.

(Shot by Edgar Bargaso, ABS-CBN News)

Read my first blog post on the Nazarene feast here.

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:

1. Finally, Garci’s Hello
- It was a one-shot assignment–a weekend in Mindanao and back–just to air live a Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano’s coming-out statement. But it wasn’t a tell-all as some hoped. This story gave a first look at his home and on his attempts to dodge probing questions from the persistent Manila reporters.

2. He’s back: Trailing a returning senator
- Sen. Panfilo Lacson was facing the media after an undetected hiatus and a year of file video use. Many wanted to know what he had to say, thus more than 400 hits in a day. Yet we mostly got a lot of peripherals on his exile.

3. The thing with gore and grief
- Death, more so a violent one, is a constant newsmaker. While many in media have mustered the stomach to face corpses and shoot at crime scenes, it has always been a challenge how to approach the bereaved.

4. Harapan, Rated RH
- The first televised forum on the controversial Reproductive Health bill showed that the debate has gone more personal than the opposing sides would admit. The arguments highlighted at Harapan the bill remains at an impasse in Congress.

5. Remembrance: A year back at the massacre site
- The log of my experience setting up at the site of the Maguindanao massacre in 2010 went unpublished until the second anniversary this year. By then, the site had gone through some landscaping. A story of comparison was relevant, considering that no one has still been convicted for the killings.

6. PNoy meets UP
- The President of the Philippines and a university known for activism–here’s a recipe for a clash. And true enough, a mob, shouts, and posters briefly greeted President Aquino as he spoke during the 100th graduation of the University of the Philippines. Being a UP alumnus, I also took the coverage as a chance to greet schoolmates who were graduating and rub elbows with those covering.

7. 5 years after in St. Bernard: It could happen again
- A disaster story was already on its conclusion when I arrived for the first time in Visayas. Students and teachers in St. Bernard, Leyte were still rushing to reach graduation at the evacuation center we slept in. With the recent flooding flashed reminders of the 2006 landslide that killed hundreds just a month before the anniversary.

8. Stories for Ma’am Chit
- Philippine journalism lost a luminary in one so unexpected a death. It’s the rare time when those who cover are also those who mourn. But more than the memories of those who worked with the Chit Estella-Simbulan, the seeds of her passion grow among her students, including me.

9. Weathering Pedring
- The worst storm to hit Central Luzon this year left areas under water for weeks. Amid the residents struggling to move forward were stories of courage and compassion among our news teams.

10. In flood-hit Cotabato, life goes on
- Cotabato City was in search of solutions when we covered the floods caused by built-up silt and vegetation in the local river. We saw two weddings among efforts to return back to business as the waters receded.

11. Sizing up a hostage-taking
- I missed the anniversary of my first brush near gunfire, but a remote hostage crisis down in Agusan Del Sur proved that much has changed since Rolando Mendoza hijacked a bus and nation in Manila.

And here are the runners up and some favorites:

· Fish talk over late-night cocoa
- An experiment in writing features inspired by a rare reunion moment with peers. Instructed in part by the narrative style of The New Yorker’s Lillian Ross, whose treatise I have yet to finish; and by the blind-item-like scene-setting stories by an upperclass girl back in high school. Here’s where I hope to write more.

 
· Mina’s mixed signals
- When no Manila reporters join us out of town, we work with the men and women of ABS-CBN’s regional news group. Their stories, like Julius Camba and team getting their hair tousled chasing a typhoon up north, are rarely told.

 
Anniversaries:

· 9/11: A mosaic of memories
· EDSA 25: I was there

- We find a common denominator with other people when we reminisce a big event of the past, just like our parents at the EDSA revolt and our contemporaries in 2001.

 
· The faces of war
- Conflict brings dramatic images that tug and appall. But as we saw covering the aftermath of a bloody military operation in Eastern Mindanao, battles have other facets that make us think twice of a forceful, unilateral solution.

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.

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.”

Life’s music must go on. Dodong would greet the new year at another gig in Manila.

(Shot by Jonathan Asedillo, ABS-CBN News)

That night, ABS-CBN reporter Alvin Elchico and his team visited locals quartered at one of the covered courts used as evacuation centers.

They were checking how families there were celebrating the traditional Noche Buena or Christmas dinner.

One family sat on mats around cake, brownies and hotdogs. They invited Alvin to join them. Also on the menu were fried noodles and roasted chicken.

In another center, Alvin followed a mother who brought back two plastic bags of relief goods distributed by social workers.

The goods were packed with a seasonal flavor not usually added during disaster efforts. Among the items were spaghetti, fruit salad, and cheese.

(Shot by Jonathan Asedillo)

This family passed around slices of loaf bread spread with cheese for dinner. Alvin was also offered one as he chatted with them.

Their Christmas wishes were simple–to have a new home and to have back the things they enjoyed before.

Their main reason to be thankful: that they were celebrating the season complete.

Some families, meanwhile, forwent custom and went to sleep after getting their rations.

Alvin and his team were not the only ones on duty that evening.

Over 50 volunteers, government workers and soldiers in green tops and Santa hats arrived at the covered court just before midnight.

Team Albay channeling Santa. (Shot by Jonathan Asedillo, ABS-CBN News)

With smiles and carols, the visitors gave out spaghetti and sandwiches to evacuees who seemed unbothered being roused from sleep.

The green-shirted Santas were from up north in the province of Albay, which is no stranger to calamities.

Albay governor Joey Salceda, a long-time proponent of disaster preparedness, came to celebrate Christmas with the group. Team Albay had already been in CDO a week, helping in relief and cleaning operations.

The province gave out P1 million aid to CDO and Iligan City, the other worse hit. A good turn, in thanks for another Albay received when it was first on the warpath of past storms.

Salceda said the Spanish government also enlisted their help in bringing in a filtration machine that could serve clean water to almost 45,000 residents.

Amid the carnage in Iligan City. Below, Roxanne Arevalo of RNG reports for Umagang Kay Ganda (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Along with the reporters that highlighted Sendong’s carnage to the world, technical crews of dozens also spent their Christmas away from home to prime those broadcasts for airing in Manila.

Many in the media were expecting a lull before the 2012 New Year coverage once Gloria Arroyo had moved to a government hospital.

The year of natural and controversial newsmakers was apparently not yet over.

No less than two technical teams per station were flown to Mindanao for this special coverage, which lasted daily from 5 a.m. till past the late-night newscast. At least one covered CDO and another aired from Iligan City.

As if to drive home the gravity of the tragedy, the top anchors of the TV networks also headed here, and with them more teams.

Ces Drilon anchoring TV Patrol in Iligan (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Swept away briefly were the routine holiday coverage of terminals, shopping centers, and amusement spots.

The stage of primetime news that Christmas week went to the nearly-obliterated barangays, the brimming relief operations centers, and the cramped gyms where the anchors reported from.

Cables were dragged through the mud. Monitors, mixers, and editing machines braced dust. The noise of generators penetrated the still air as broadcast lights became the sole illumination for many residents.

The crews thanked the skies that the rains which became hell for the residents did not return for a while.’

(Shots by Anjo Bagaoisan)

For the December 24 and 25 editions of TV Patrol, our CDO production team chose the plaza fronting the provincial capitol to set up for Alvin’s anchoring.

It was one of those places there spared from the flood.

Alvin’s backdrop was the white lanterns that hung from trees in the plaza. They were light bulbs enclosed by cut bottoms of translucent bottles and trailed by long strips of white plastic.

The lantern tails were now misshapen, marred by the unrelenting rains.

Still the lights were a hopeful sight to eyes wearied of destruction.

Near our setup, a number of flood-affected families took shelter in the plaza’s covered stage–a reminder that after the celebrations, the problems still had to be addressed.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

(UPDATED) The teams that handled the weekday anchoring had already left, so some of our colleagues from the local RNG station, like reporters Trini Velasco and Rod Bolivar, came to help out as production assistants and floor directors.

While the visiting teams already gave long hours, the regional teams had it worse.

They were the first media responders to the tragedy as Manila scrambled to send their own. And as the network’s main face in the region, our colleagues juggled newsgathering with helping out in the local relief center.

A number of them lost homes, belongings, and loved ones too. By then, many were already running on overdrive.

On the 25th, what the team looked forward to was the closing part of the show.

At the producer’s signal from Manila, we all hastened to the front of the camera, quickly tipping off relatives and preparing sheets written with names.

The crews sent away to cover the wrath of nature on what should have been a jolly period momentarily waved to the lens–a sign to loved ones back home on Christmas night that they were doing all right.

(Screen grabs from TV Patrol Weekend, many thanks to Shiela Reyes)

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.

So the media cast a bigger net and presumed the former President would leave before dawn, when traffic would be freer.

At ABS-CBN News, plans were set to open the morning show earlier should the transfer occur before 5 a.m. The desk ran over likely scenarios during meetings that lasted till 7 p.m. the night before.

Our news-gathering and technical crews were advised to report for work at midnight in the earliest.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Live vans and their cameras would meet the convoy as it passed either EDSA or C-5. But only if GMA were transferred by land.

There was still the possibility the Arroyo camp or the government might opt for a helicopter.

“I hope they just fly her here so we can finally have it easy,” quipped my colleague James, who with me was stationed at a van outside the Veterans entrance.

But as reporter Francis Faulve, who was to follow what left St. Luke’s, reminded: “Only a convoy would get us some good video.”

And that was the ideal output–shots following a vehicle through the metro. If we got lucky, we might snap a distant, shaky, or split-second view of the former Prez leaving or entering the hospital.

Chito Concepcion, one of our cameramen, on duty at a vantage point. (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

The timing and mode of transport were among the questions the news anchors of Umagang Kay Ganda repeatedly asked Arroyo spokespersons Topacio and Elena Bautista-Horn.

They were still at St. Luke’s the entire morning and they still gave no hint of the departure.

As UKG ended at 8 a.m., the only action our cameras could show was the thickening throng of people outside Veterans. They carried posters thanking and supporting Arroyo.

(Shots by Anjo Bagaoisan & Gomer Diaz)

One of those organizing the picket looked familiar. She was at St. Luke’s a week before with a group who wanted to pay a call to the ailing congresswoman.

The visitors emotionally told reporters there no one paid them to come. They said they came from different localities and were affiliated with no organization.

They just went to thank Arroyo, who they said helped them during her term.

What baffled the media then was the group’s claim that no one assembled them there, when they all saw someone who wasn’t facing the cameras but was pointing people to places and negotiating with St. Luke’s security.

(Top shot by Anjo Bagaoisan, lower shot by ABS-CBN's ENG 5 van)

That organizer was again at Veterans, but unlike then, the police rarely bothered the group and few asked them why they were there.

What did not figure in anyone’s plans was the rain, which dragged and worsened as the anti-Arroyo protesters also came out.

“Even the weather’s angry at Gloria!” shouted Mike, one of our engineers, after he got wet fixing our wireless camera which followed the rallyists.

The team citizens’ band radio gave our main cue if the bird had finally flown the nest.

Police and anti-Arroyo protesters (Shot by Gomer Diaz)

By 10 a.m. it crackled with our colleague from St.Luke’s: “Something’s leaving the hospital, but we’re not sure if this is it.”

We followed it anyway until it reached our spot at the Veterans North Avenue entrance. It was only a police convoy followed by a stream of media cars, with no VIP passenger.

Just a dry run–for the authorities and for us.

Mast cam shot of the decoy convoy from ABS-CBN ENG 5

But soon after, Mrs. Horn of the Arroyo camp told the St. Luke’s media that they had been ready to ride since morning. The authorities insisted they fly by chopper even with the bad weather.

Horn said they were fine riding a taxi, just not the hazardous aerial trip.

We had a live camera trained at the St. Luke’s helipad, where the police helicopter lay in wait and in the end, unused.

(Shot by Popoy Carpio, ABS-CBN News cameraman, as taken from ANC)

Popoy, our cameraman roving the exits of the hospital noticed vehicles moving near the medical arts building around 3:30 p.m.

A white mini-bus was parked outside and flanked by police escorts. Staying in place and also on air, Popoy sent live the commotion that accompanied Arroyo to the coaster and out of St. Luke’s.

Our boss Donald Martinez radioed updates on the CB as the convoy this time traversed EDSA, based on our monitoring of the MMDA traffic cameras.

Our technical bosses Raynan, Donald, and James watching the action from the newsroom (Shot by Kyle Michael Bagtas)

Four of our ENG vans were stationed outside VMMC. As with the exit, we had to second-guess where Arroyo would enter.

Two vans waited at the main entrance. Another guarded the Mindanao Avenue gate, where back in 2001, another beleaguered president crossed into hospital arrest.

Meanwhile, someone found a spot behind the Veterans compound with a view, albeit far, of Arroyo’s presidential suite.

Through a telephoto lens, a high platform, and an antenna cam courtesy of the fourth ENG van, we would show live the final stage of the transfer.

The EDSA convoy bypassed the rallyists, the riot police, and us waiting at North Avenue and went straight for the other entrance.

(Shots from ABS-CBN ENG van 6)

Yet even the extreme closeup from the van at the Veterans back-end could not give a recognizable shot of Arroyo as she alighted from the coaster.

That crucial video came from a contact who had access inside the military hospital.

The shooter stood by a window overlooking the suite’s drop-off point. In the video, one could hear hushed voices reacting as Arroyo, her husband Mike and her son Dato got out.

The “decoy” followed by “the real McCoy” was how Pasay court sheriff Rodelio Buenviaje described the transport drama that day.

The sheriff, who had to fetch Arroyo at St. Luke’s, was the first to approach the waiting press after they arrived.

At our ENG van control (Shot taken by Ferdie Corsame

“No wonder the Arroyos waited for Buenviaje,” said our other engineer Doni as the sheriff was being interviewed. “To ensure they’d have a good voyage.”

By then, the pro and anti-GMA crowds already thinned out by the rains had left.

The media tech teams there soon worked on the assembly line of live reports for the primetime newscasts. One reporter after another faced the cameras of the network next to us, from those who followed the convoy to those that guarded the protests.

As reporter Ron Gagalac went live on TV Patrol, our group watched out for another person.

At ENG 4, our other producer Jomar Dimbla and cameraman Rolly Roque re-shoot the GMA arrival exclusive for TV Patrol. (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Rep. Dato Arroyo arrived in a white van with Elena Horn. The two were in good moods as we prepared the Bicol lawmaker for his first live interview that night.

“It’s his turn to talk,” said Horn, who had been talking to the media since morning.

The younger Arroyo reran through the tug-of-war over his mother’s transport. But he muttered thanks that their camp and the authorities had reached a compromise in the end.

“We have next booking!” Horn said with a laugh once we were off the air. “I’m your manager now.”

The other stations also wanted interviews of their own and Horn continued fielding those requests on her tablet phone.

Dato Arroyo replied in Tagalog: “Does this come with a talent fee?”

We laughed along.

Arroyo goes on TV Patrol as Horn watches by. (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

A reporter asked Horn: “You’re still okay Ma’am after today?” She nodded yes.

Some of us asked to have pictures taken with Horn after the interviews.

“Why after? Let’s do it now!” she said, smiling. “You might lose your chance later.”

The banter was a light end to an almost 20-hour interval that at times, bemused and amused us who waited.

While the transfer is over, it isn’t the end of a legal and political battle that has involved all branches of government and the expectations of the country.

An ENG van still guards the Veterans gate, awaiting a former President’s Christmas and New Year.

(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.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

I cannot remember what should have been TV Patrol’s headline on November 23, 2009. Probably a dull Monday’s top police or price-hike story.

Yet the primetime news began flashing a map of Maguindanao, file video of some town center, and the stirrings of something big and brooding.

All we got then were mere descriptions from phone calls. It took the next day and shots of the carnage to materialize our dread.

Brought to light was a massacre true in word and in scale.

The litter of lifeless bodies and the buried mound of crushed vehicles found in this obscure site tugged at our consciousness, and tagged the entire province plus a few names with it.

That first anniversary morning, our team had raced to Ampatuan from Buluan where we first aired a live interview with Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu on Umagang Kay Ganda.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

His wife Genalyn and other relatives lost their lives trying to file his certificate of candidacy for the governorship.

Mangudadatu did not join the convoy, knowing threats against going to the capitol in Shariff Aguak, bailiwick of their rivals, the Ampatuan clan. Mangudadatu then thought that if the women would go, they would not be harmed.

Local and Manila-based media were invited to ride with the group as witnesses and likely, as added protection.

It turned out that all those precautions were for naught.

A year after, the governor had become the de facto spokesperson of the families that were scarred, and an image of the change and promise the killings have unwittingly affected.

Our satellite team assessing a spot for our setup. Below, the line of parked vehicles away. (Shots by Anjo Bagaoisan)

We arrived at the site minutes before 9 a.m., when the memorial ceremony was supposed to start. Policemen were barring vehicles from parking near the packed shed.

Our team hastened to secure a space for our set up beside those of TV5 and UNTV. The GMA 7 crew was stationed in an air-conditioned truck paces away.

The equipment had to be hauled down from our open truck. The ELF also had to be parked farther. Without a tent and a nearby tree, we had to make do with plastic tarp and bamboo poles as the day grew hotter.

While we from the Big 3 networks had set up here for obvious reasons, this assignment hit closer to the UNTV team. They lost a crew of theirs in the massacre–the only TV broadcaster in the list of 32 media people killed.

Our team setting up. (Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Only one among the invited ABS-CBN reporters joined the fated convoy. But the team drove back to the hotel along with another team to get a forgotten belonging. They missed the trip’s dire end.

“Ingat. Be observant,” texted our boss in Manila. And send in those live shots soon.

From our set up, the panoramic view was breathtaking. Other than a lone mosque and a rice field, it was just miles and miles of greenery. Smoke rose in far-off spots, likely from kaingins burning forests for fields.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

It wasn’t far-fetched to think of the solitude surrounding the victims as the armed men that hijacked their convoy began killing them off.

The mass of people at the site had reached a hundred as the program began. Parked vehicles and walking people had lined up the road leading back to the highway.

Only on this November 23 and those succeeding would this ground see this many souls.

Many visitors filled the shed, the only area that offered shade. But the crowding gave our cameras little wiggle room to catch the speeches that began the commemoration.

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima sat beside Governor Mangudadatu. After standing to read the statement of President Aquino, she read her own.

De Lima headed the human rights watchdog when the massacre happened and saw the carnage first-hand.

“The very stench of it… will forever be imprinted in my memory as the smell of senseless violence,” she said.

“I never imagined at that point that I would one day become secretary of justice and hence have the task of prosecuting this case.”

Click the shot to watch Jorge Cariño's TV Patrol report that day. (Shot by Gani Taoatao, ABS-CBN News)

De Lima said that they were ensuring the case was being handled properly, knowing its significance not just to the families of the victims.

“Until and unless justice has truly been done in this case, none of us can truly claim that the Filipino people have managed to reclaim their humanity,” she said.

“We have (the victims’) blood in our collective hands. If we can’t bring them to justice, then we are a failure as a government and as a nation.” Loud clapping followed.

The families then laid flowers and lighted candles under a poster bannering pictures of the slain. Some foreigners paid respects in prayer. Governor Mangudadatu approached the poster, pointed to his relatives, and to his late wife.

(Shots by Gani Taoatao and Anjo Bagaoisan)

He said his wife Genalyn got to contact him then as their convoy was being attacked.

She told him their captors were men of Ampatuan patriarch Andal Sr. led by his junior, a.k.a. Unsay. Investigation showed that Genalyn could have suffered the most painful death among the victims.

The Ampatuans have since been removed from power, with Mangudadatu in their place.

Andals Senior and Junior are already facing trial along with other suspects. They still do not admit to the crime.

But Zaldy, another Ampatuan son, has tried to have his name delisted among the accused after revealing that his brother planned the killings and that his father knew it all along.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Zaldy’s confessions have also connected the dots to alleged fraud in previous elections. It has in turn led to a Senator’s resignation and a court case against Gloria Arroyo, the President under whose watch it all happened.

More than 100 out of the 196 suspects in the massacre are still on the loose. Prosecutors fear that a conviction could take years.

Families of the victims and especially journalists have continued calling attention over the slow pace of the trial.

They say perpetrators are not quickly made to account for political killings–already a notoriety for the Philippines–it would continue to embolden future perpetrators of getting away should they silence dissent.

November 23 has been declared by media and expression advocacy groups abroad as the International Day to End Impunity.

(Shots by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Last year, Governor Mangudadatu planted a tree at the site. He wore a black T-shirt printed with two hands cupped together–the Muslim gesture for prayer.

His brother Jong, Mayor of Buluan, had on the orange shirt he wore when he scoured these hills in 2009 looking for his relatives. After the other families spoke, he told them they were invited any time to his home. He said maybe they could meet together from time to time.

As our team packed up, candle fire had already burnt the flowers and part of the grass that had grown over the former mass graves.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

Today, the simple shed of 2010 has already been surrounded by a concrete fence.

The shrine listing the names of the victims in gold letters has been improved by a more elaborate one. Streetlights have now been put up where we dared not be left to spend the night. And the ground has been tacked with lengthwise tombstones representing each victim.

The people who gather at the site are fewer than that first anniversary. Yet they might have to wait and pray a little longer for justice to be served.

Still, every countdown to November 23 is marked by the on-air rundown of the names chiseled on the memorial slabs.

Lest we forget the crimes against those 58 lives that remain unpunished.

——

Read “Return”, another log from the 2010 anniversary.

Also, see more shots of the massacre anniversary.

Memorial in 2010 and in 2011 (Shots by Roger Rubio & from the Associated Press)

(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.

What at first was a dot on a map during a breaking news report only hit home when cameras met the dead and the wounded as they arrived by chopper in Zamboanga City.

The details involved a military clash with rebels in the southern island of Basilan, reports of survivors being captured and executed, missing bodies, and a death toll that grew by the hour.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

After a week of reporting metro crime stories, the news cycle was riveted.

Our Manila team arrived in Zamboanga amid the armed forces’ investigation on what went wrong with a military exercise that apparently crossed some lines.

We found a story to tell among the soldiers who survived and were recuperating at the army hospital.

One relived Forrest Gump as he ran 3 kilometers carrying a dying officer to safety. Others did not forget a comrade-in-arms who stayed behind to cover them from gunfire.

The stories of heroism–such is also the face of war.

Reassembled at the airport, the Manila newspapers bannering these soldiers stories reach their hands.

Yet the other side to this face is the loss of parents, spouses, and children.

Not even those manning our recording facility in Manila could hide their emotion seeing our transmission of Jorge’s report of the slain soldiers’ send-off.

Rea, widow of the heroic officer Pfc. Roberto Ricafranca, was showing Jorge a photo of their 2 daughters who would grow up without their father.

“Kawawa naman, ang babata pa (What a pity, they’re still very young),” the person on-duty said over the satellite.

The pursuit for the group involved in the Basilan incident led us northward to Zamboanga Sibugay.

21-gun salute. (Shot by Allan Zulueta, ABS-CBN News)

Ron Gagalac and his team followed the burials of 2 soldiers and 2 police men who were among 7 killed in an ambush at Alicia town.

The salute of 7 guns fired 3 times met the sobs of the bereaved under the scorching sun.

Officers turned over the folded flags to the crying. A lone trumpeter blew out the mournful Taps. No one could assuage the tears or wails at the cemetery.

As they remembered their loss, the widows and mothers cried for help and for retribution.

(Shot by Rolly Roque, ABS-CBN News)

“Napakasama nila (They’re so evil),” one wife said. “Kahit may peace talks na, ano pa rin sila, nagtatraydor (They continue to betray despite the peace talks).

“Sana wala nang peace talks. Maglaban na lang dahil hindi naman sila tumutupad sa peace talks. (Let’s do away with peace talks and fight, since they don’t keep their end anyway.)“

Another said through tears: “Wag mo munang itigil, Mr. President, ang laban… Ngayon pa, kung kailan marami nang buhay na na-waste just for peace? (Do not yet end the fight, Mr. President, especially now that many lives have been wasted just for peace.)”

More than the number of those who died, it was the moving images that pricked the nation.

Click to see the sorrowful shots and sounds in Ron's TVP report. (Shot by Allan Zulueta, ABS-CBN News)

And it ignited similar calls to intensify the current ceasefire into an all-out war against those responsible, recalling the campaign of former President Estrada.

But one final face of war cautions against such a stance.

Our Sagip Kapamilya team crossed the sea to bring pots of food and moments of fun to locals living in the backyard of those branded “lawless elements” (so-called due to their breakaway status from other armed groups).

While they were the first there, the team decided to go without an on-cam reporter. The threat of people being kidnapped for use as shields still loomed.

The kids of Barangay Labatan in Payao gamely joined the relays, exercises, and breath-holding contests to claps and laughs from their neighbors.

(Shots by Allan Zulueta)

Later, the kids kept returning to the serving row for another fill of chicken porridge.

Still, the parents talked to our cameraman about hiding under their thatched homes as they saw bombers fly by.

Even without an all-out war, more than 11,000 people have already fled their homes in Zamboanga Sibugay as the military carried out selective air strikes in pursuit of these groups.

While the central camp has been seized, no one has yet been captured. Payao’s vice mayor said they feared that 300 to 400 of the group members were still scattered in their area.

The unending tension in this part of the country has brought groups like the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Moro National Liberation Front, and the Abu Sayyaf Group into the national consciousness.

(Shot by Allan Zulueta)

It has also taken many turns in its decades-long history that the players have been confused for each other and whatever progress made in talks is muddled by the latest clash or bomb blast.

It has also stoked assumptions that the crisis is endemic not just to this part of Mindanao, but the entire island–something residents have been quick to dispel.

This latest dispensation is no exception.

Telling the story from the crossfire has to acknowledge the many faces impacted by war:

The dead. The survivors. The grieving. The pursued. The displaced.

The faces may incite, they may enrage, but most of all they give a cold check of the tremendous human cost of conflict, beyond maps and stats.

And perhaps they may make the case to continue finding a peaceful resolution to this conflict.

Click to watch Ron's report on Sagip Kapamilya's mission to Labatan. (Shots by Allan Zulueta)

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.

He had turned over his camera to someone from the police bomb disposal unit who also went to Payao. They were coming back too, he said, but when he did not know.

On to Plan B. After a quick interview at the brigade, we drove away from the city to the pier.

(Shot by Anjo Bagaoisan)

We caught up with the crew of GMA 7 there, just as the final rays of sunlight were disappearing. The team stood by with their own transmission should they get any material from the arriving team.

A reporter for the local newspaper Sibugay Express was arriving with the police squad, our Zamboanga City colleagues told Ron. He told me to watch out for the man.

6:38 p.m.: A red-and-blue light drew closer as the speed boat readied to dock. Our crews welcomed the squad and soon asked the newly-arrived police provincial director Ruben Cariaga to describe the camp they came from.

It arrived as peals of thunder shook the night. (Shot by Rolly Roque)

There was only one way in, he said. It was by foot 20 to 30 minutes from the shore.

They saw deserted huts, makeshift bunkers, dug canals, and trees damaged by bombing.

At the camp, the soldiers found paraphernalia from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which previously encamped there: training certificates, jackets, daily schedules, and other papers.

The biggest find was a 50-caliber machine gun buried in what they thought was a grave.

Camp site shots by Paul Lontua, Sibugay Express, courtesy of Sibugay PNP

The police and military authorities believe the camp was used by the group of a Waning Abdulsalam as a hideout for their kidnapping operation.

While the soldiers have overrun the camp, no one from the group was caught.

Before the interview, I cast glances over the men who dismounted and greeted one who was not wearing fatigues or a police shirt. He was our man, Paul Lontua.

“I would have come back earlier, but our only ride was with Supt. Cariaga,” he said. “We had to wait for them to finish.”

Paul still needed Cariaga’s go signal to let us and the GMA-7 team copy the video from the PNP-owned HD handicam he brought.

But the video stored internally, instead of a removable card.

Paul showing us the camera. (Shot by Rolly Roque, ABS-CBN News)

Worse, after rummaging through our bags, no one had the USB cable that could make copying possible.

The PNP had the connector back at their office, our only hope. Our colleagues at GMA had to pack up.

6:50 p.m.: We raced back to the police headquarters. Paul rode along, as we asked him about the scenes he had shot. I called our team to let them know we were coming and that we would rush a live report for Patrol.

It took close to 10 minutes copying the video files. Even then, they could not be read by our video applications.

Team ABS, Team PNP and Team GMA surround my Mac with bated breath (Shot taken by Mike Solquia)

7:20 p.m.: Converting the videos to an editable format took even longer. We previewed what files were done and planned a crude edit using the photos Paul took.

The video showed many of our soldiers were already camped out there. Paul then interviewed Lt. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer, who said the military had cleared the area of bombs and land mines.

Around 11,000 people left their homes because of the offensive, but Ferrer said their bombing targeted only the areas occupied by what they called “lawless elements.”

“Eventually, we will encourage the civilians who lived here to return,” Ferrer said. “But it’s possible we will place a police detachment so that this won’t be seized again.”

(Shots by Paul Lontua, Sibugay Express, courtesy of Sibugay PNP)

7:35 p.m.: Ron got off the phone with Manila and said TV Patrol, which was ending at 7:50, could no longer accommodate our report in their lineup for lack of time.

The video we waited for nearly 3 hours aired later on Bandila, with credits to the Sibugay PNP. It was a challenge to select the best yet least-shaky cuts among the amateur-taken shots for the edit.

Ron reported Cariaga’s surmise that Abdulsalam & Co. may have escaped to as far as Lanao in the east or remain scattered here in Sibugay.

The next day, interior secretary Jesse Robredo told reporters at an evacuation center in nearby Alicia, “The game is not over.”

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.

Kung sa atin, lagay ng ating mga OFW ang kadalasang dumidikta ng ating pagsubaybay sa mga bansang banyaga, may kanya-kanya ring interes ang ibang bansa pagdating sa Pilipinas.

Iba rin ang tapang kung magtanong at mag-report ang banyagang mamamahayag.

Hindi sa dahil ibang lahi sila. Sinasabi kasing hindi basta-bastang naaapektuhan ng mga maykapangyarihan sa isang lugar ang mga dayong reporter–maging ito’y Amerikanong nasa Maynila, o Manilenyong nasa probinsya.

Kaya nga nakilala ang FOCAP sa paninindigan nila laban sa pagsusupil ng diktadurya sa malayang pagbabalita noong Martial Law.

Paunahan

Wala na ang administrasyon na huling inabot ng harapang ito, na natigil dahil sa sunud-sunod na eskandalong kinasangkutan mula sa diumano’y dayaan sa Halalan 2004.

Kaya naman unang pagkakataon ito para kay Pangulong Noynoy Aquino. Dahilan para ipakunan nang live ng ABS-CBN News Channel o ANC.

Hindi nga lang basta-bastang makapagpapadala ng live video mula sa Mandarin Oriental Hotel sa Makati, kung saan ginanap ang presscon/tanghalian.

Silip sa bubungan

Bumisita pa kami ilang araw bago ito para masilip ang paparadahan ng aming ENG van, ang laladlaran ng mga kable at pupuwestuhan ng mga kamera.

Napakabusisi ng mga hotel pagdating sa technical setup. Kailangan hindi makita at hindi makasagabal sa mga patron nito. Ipinaalam pa namin sa dayuhang engineering head nila ang mga dadalhin naming gamit at ang pinakamaayos na dadaanan nila.

Pinakamahalagang malaman sa aming advance party visit ang tututukan ng aming antenna mula sa bubungan ng hotel. Kailangang tumapat nito sa antenna na sasalo ng signal pabalik sa ABS-CBN.

Kung walang tapatan, walang live.

Mga engineer naming sina Dexter at Lester, naglalaglag ng kable mula antenna papuntang van.

Buti naman at tanaw na tanaw ang receiver tower mula roon–pinapagitnaan lang ng mga nagtataasang pader sa ika-18 na palapag.

Magsasalita ang Pangulo sa pagbukas ng forum nang alas-10. Pero bago mag alas-6, naroon na kami.

Sinabihan pa ang grupo namin na mag-slacks, mag-sapatos na itim, at mag-polo.

Suot-pormal: Cameraman naming si Kuya Rene, lightman na si Kuya Pine, at audio-video engineer na si Reyzon.

Sila rin ang grupong kasama kong napabili ng puting polo barong para sa inaugurasyon ni PNoy noong 2010. Hindi pa rin nakakalabas sa plastic niyang lalagyan ang sa akin. Pangalawa o pangatlo nang suot naman ng ilan sa kanila.

Kasabay namin at ng mga staff ng hotel na nag-aayos sa ballroom ang mga tauhan ng Radio Television Malacañang o RTVM.

Tuwing may malaki-laking speaking engagement ang Pangulo, siguradong naroon sila. Dala nila ang prompter na babasahin niya at inaabangan ang bawat niyang magiging galaw para masigurong huli at maayos ito sa camera.

May tig-isa silang nakaabang na frontal shot sa tatayuan ni PNoy habang nagtatalumpati, at sa uupuan niya habang sinasagot ang mga tanong.

Laking tulong din ang RTVM at nakakapag-hook up kami ng ibang network sa kanilang mga kuha.

Tanungan

Parang araw-arawang press con lang sa Malakanyang ang forum ng FOCAP. Isang pila ng mga miyembro lamang ang makakapagtanong sa Pangulo.

Hanggang pakikinood at paghuli ng mga reaksyon lang ang mga dayong media.

May entrance fee pa, bilang pansagot sa gastusin, pagkain, at pagpopondo ng grupo: P1,500 sa miyembro ng FOCAP, P2,000 sa panauhin.

Ang tanghaliang napuntahan ng bahagi ng entrance fee.

Seryosong pulitika ang mga unang tanong kay PNoy.

Humingi ng reaksyon ang isang taga-Japan sa napabalitang paghuhukay ng mga labi ng mga sundalong Hapon na namatay noong World War 2. May mga buto pa raw kasi ng mga Pilipino na kasama sa nahuhukay.

Kinamusta ng isang Tsinong reporter ang pag-ikot ng Pangulo sa kanilang bansa (“Besides tiring?” hirit ni PNoy). At naroon pa rin ang walang-kamatayang isyu sa Spratly Islands.

Pakay talaga ng Pangulo doon na ibandera ang pagluwal ng pamahalaan ng 72-bilyong piso bilang pampasigla ng ekonomiya. Mensahe niya raw ito sa mundo na kakayanin ng bansa ang pandaigdigang krisis.

Willard Cheng at TJ Manotoc nagbabalita noong tanghalian. (Pindutin ang mga litrato para mapanood ang mga report nila sa TV Patrol at ANC)

Pero ang mga pahayag niya tungkol sa paglibing kay dating Pangulong Marcos at sa paghahabol ng kaso kay Rep. Gloria Arroyo ang bumandera sa ulo ng mga balita kinagabihan.

Agaw-pansin din ang pagtanong ng blogger at correspondent na si Raïssa Robles kung naglaro ng video games si Aquino noong Manila hostage crisis.

Pinanindigan ni Robles na akma lang ang kanyang tanong, lalo’t isyu pa rin ito sa Hong Kong na base ng pahayagan niya. Pero halatang hindi ito ikinatuwa ng Pangulo.

Iwas-pusoy na rin si PNoy sa tanong ukol sa lagay ng kanyang love life.

Presscon ng bayan

Tatak na marahil ng administrasyong Aquino ang pagiging bukas at palausap. Simu’t simula pinakita na niya ito bilang pangunahing pagkakaiba niya sa nauna sa kanya.

Halos kada lakad niya may nakaabang setup ang RTVM kung sakaling ambush-in siya ng interview ng press corps.

Kaya hindi na rin kagulat-gulat na sa ilalim niya muling binuhay ang balitaktakan ng Pangulo sa FOCAP.

Isyu na ang paglaro umano ni PNoy ng PSP sa mga nagmartsa noong SONA 2011.

Ngunit sa dami at dalas ng pakikipag-usap ng medya kay PNoy, puna pa rin ng kolumnistang si Amando Doronila na hindi ito tanda ng maayos nilang pakikitungo sa isa’t isa.

Nariyan ang minsa’y pagkairita ng Pangulo kapag hindi niya nagugustuhan ang mga tanong.

Hanggang ngayon din, hindi pa naipapasa ang panukalang Freedom of Information Act dahil inaayos pa raw ng Palasyo ang ilang pamantayan nito.

May patutunguhan pa rin naman itong patakaran ng tuloy-tuloy na talastasan.

Si Pangulong Aquino ang unang pinuno sa Asya na haharap sa kakaibang panayam ng video sharing site na YouTube, ang World View. Nauna na rito ang mga tulad nina Barack Obama ng US at David Cameron ng UK.

Presscon itong maituturing ng sambayanan, na maaaring magpadala ng mga tanong ukol sa pagbabago ng klima, kapayapaan at seguridad, pamamahala, pag-unlad na pantao at ng ekonomiya.

Hanggang Biyernes, Oktubre 28 na lang ang pasahan ng mga tanong na sulat o bidyo sa abs-cbnnews.com/askpnoy, sa youtube.com/worldview, o sa text.

Pagbobotohan ang mga ipinasa at tatanungin ito sa Pangulo sa panayam na mapapanood nang live sa YouTube at sa ABS-CBNnews.com sa Nobyembre 4, ala-una ng hapon, oras sa Pilipinas.

Eere din ito sa ANC Nobyembre 7, alas-7 ng gabi.

Napupunan man ni PNoy ang hangad ng mas bukas na panguluhan, hindi mawawala ang mga isyu sa anumang salik ng kanyang pamumuno.

Isang hangad ng medya ang tapat na pagsagot sa mga ito.

Hindi nga lang ito paniguro na mas tatamis ang relasyon ni PNoy sa mga nagbabalita tungkol sa kanya–sitwasyong hindi na bago sa sinumang naging Pangulo.

*Lahat ng kuha ay galing sa akin.