Ex-Journalists Club: reversing roles or shifting passions, seeking new thrills
Ex-journalists club: reversing roles or shifting passions, seeking new thrills
RESEARCH: BERNADETTE A. PARCO
[First published in 2012, CJJ7.]
[Last update: February 2023]
Newsroom deadline used to be up and foremost, priority one. Allegiance was to the story and the news outlet that prints it. Having left journalism, they’ve changed time frames or schedules; they now obey dictates of the new work or avocation. Loyalty is to their new goal, the new boss. To some former journalists who’ve become publicists – from news reporter to news source — that can be discomforting, but the discipline and experiences of media work often help.
We call them “trans-journos,” not journalists who changed gender; they just changed their major occupation and, perhaps, passions or thrills. Caution: This was originally published by CJJ in 2012. Mention of “now” or “xx years ago” has 2012 as reference year. Other shifts and changes may have been made by the persons featured since Bernadette A. Parco gathered the material for CJJ.
Anna Fionah L. Bojos
Fionah said that up to her last employment in Cebu Daily News in 2002, she had worked with media for about a decade.
In 2008, she was among University of Cebu College of Law alumni who passed the bar examination. She is based in Cebu City as a junior partner of the Lepiten and Bojos Law Office.
“It had always been in the back of my mind that I would be a journalist and a lawyer,” she said. “After almost 10 years of working in media, I decided to try something new, something different that would require me to develop new skills and expand my knowledge base.”
Fionah spent four years as a reporter for Sun.Star Cebu. She then moved to the Philippine Daily Inquirer Visayas Bureau where she was a correspondent for a few months. The next two years was then spent working at the now defunct The Independent Post.
Garry A. Cabotaje
It has just been more than two years since Garry moved to another field of work, as a private secretary of a local chief executive. “It can be a good opportunity for me to learn new skills and enhance my knowledge about public administration and local governance,” he said of his decision.
Garry was statft reporter of Sun.Star Cebu for more than 16 years. His career in the media industry started with the now defunct Newstime Daily. From there he moved to The Freeman.
He also forayed into working as a stringer for a Manila-based paper, Manila Standard, and the Associated Press.
Aimee Luab-Abaricia
Aimee worked as a correspondent for The Freeman’s Sunday page after graduating from the University of the Philippines Cebu, moved to a public utility firm to work for the public relations department, then juggled work as Sun.Star Cebu copy editor and manager of the family-owned pension house.
“I liked the flexibility and the lateness of the working hours. But married life called and the call came from another city,” she said, adding that she spent nine years with a telecom company in Makati City before resigning early this year. Last April, we moved to Batangas City, where I am fulfilling my duties as wife and mother, and doing freelance writing and online work when it is available. Once again, it’s all about what I hold dear, and that’s family.
Ligaya U. Barcenas
“Media work fueled my desire to become a lawyer,” said Ligaya, who currently manages the legal office of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) Regional Office 7. “Stories have legal angles: commission of crimes, violations of statutes etc. Law is pervasive in our lives from birth to death, and after death,” she added.
A broadcast communication degree holder, she was once a production assistant for “The Probe Team,” a GMA 7 special reporter, newsreader at a radio station, a teacher and then producer for Sarimanok Network News, the precursor of ANC.
It was in 1997 that Ligaya shifted from broadcast to print media when she was hired as an editor at Sun.Star Cebu. Afrer becoming a lawyer, she stayed at PhilHealth while working as an associate at the Barcenas Law Office.
Francis Abelgas
Francis said he loved the outdoors so much that he decided to change his line of work more than 10 years ago.
He now gives diving instructions to students from different fields, including the diferently-abled.
“The ocean is my office. Isn’t that cool?” he said.
As a college student, Francis contributed stories to The Freeman magazine. He joined the newspaper after graduation and was promoted to copy editor. He moved to Sun.Star Cebu where he continued his work as copy editor.
“I went to the United States and started as an assistant editor until I became editor-in-chief for Manila Bulletin-USA,” he said of his life after Sun.Star.
Francis changed careers primarily because of his involvement in outdoor acivities, including diving. “Why (did I move)? I started to grow gills,” he said.
Aniceto Abbey B. Canturias
Abbey. 53, is Cebu based but is presently an issue interception analyst for an international research organization, business plan writer at www. guru.com and www.freelancer.com, and online editor of New York-based Rottenstein ILaw Group, a Jewish family-owned firm specializing in compensatory damage claims.
He used to work as correspondent for Agence France Presse, regional editor and day editor for The Freeman, then chief editor of The Freeman Mindanao. His last media stint was as Visayas Bureau chief of The Manila Times from 1999 to 2001.
Low pay, limited opportunities and death threats were his reasons for leaving the industry. Now self-employed, he uses his research, reporting and analytical skills to “build a consultancy service (corporate communications) from which I earn dollars while working from home.”
Jaybee Binghay
In terms of looking after the welfare of the underprivileged, victims of calamities and abuse, there is no voice or face more popularly associated with this type of work than Jaybee’s.
Jaybee has been the Department of Social Welfare and Development DSWD) 7 regional information officer for more than two decades.
Before she began manning relief center operations and advocacy Campaigns, Jaybee was a newscaster of ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol in Central Visayas. She also co-hosted the “Lingkod Bayan” TV talk show of the same station for three months.
“My natural love for teaching and my passion to help the less privileged led me to the information and social marketing work in DSWD,” she said. “My experience in media work helped me a lot to polish my media relations skills in DSWD, and now DSWD is one of the top government agencies whose trust rating is rated high.”
Myke Sarthou
For appetizers, Myke may suggest Chicken Sisig Lettuce Wraps, minced grilled chicken fllet with chopped onions, green chilies and taro chips with mango sauce. These are some of the dishes offered at an elegant formal dining Filipino-themed restaurant called Tatung’s Garden Cafe in Quezon City, according to its website.
Myke used to work with Sun.Star Publishing Inc. He was a writer and photographer for the Weekend magazine, editorial assistant for the travel section, and columnist for the Life and Leisure section for about three years.
He focused on his own company, Talentfolio, involved in advertising, production, and talent and event management before he decided to get into the food business.
I always loved to cook and entertain people thus being a chef/restaurateur was a perfect mix,” he said of setting up his restaurant. Tatung is his childhood nickname.
Nagiel Bañacia
From working as a proofreader, Nagiel rose from the ranks to become a day editor. But craving more thrill and excitement, he left the media industry. He is now co-managing a security company.
He first worked at The Freeman after graduating from San Carlos Seminary College. After six months, he was promoted to junior reporter covering the police-military beat.
He was a news correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Then he joined the pioneering reportorial staft of Cebu Daily News.
“I believed shifting career from media to government was part of my calling for public service,” he added, referring to his work at the Cebu City government in various capacities, including city information officer, city protocol officer and chief operating officer of the South Road Properties.
Roslyn D. Tambago
Chasing elusive sources, beating deadlines, being awakened at night by a beeping pager were among Roslynis experiences as a Sun.Star Cebu reporter or rwo-and-a-half years.
She describes “using just a reporter’s notebook to shield myself from flying objects (e.g. Indian pana, stones of various shapes and sizes, and balls of plastic-wrapped mud mixed with human feces) coming from a mob of protesters whose shanties had been doomed for destruction,” in an article published on Oct. 20, 2002,”A Journalist’s Journey.”
She has since pursued graduate studies and worked at the Department of Science and Technology 7 where she is currently assistant provincial director of Negros Oriental.
“A career in government service has given me lots of opportunities to pursue my interests and live a balanced life,” said Roslyn, adding that “the kind of pressure that goes with it is nor to everybody.”
Ma. Theresa Wycoco-Coloyan
Risa is currently employed at the Visayan Electric Company (Veco) human resources department.
Mcdia work for Risa started with work on a documentary while still a freshman in mass communication at the University of the Philippines Cebu.
“Towards the late 1980s, The Visayan Herald, a sister company of The Freeman Daily, was born, and was assigned there lor a few months as staff reporter,” she said.
“I was assigned the Cebu City Hall beat, military, police and the trial courts. In 1989, while co-anchoring a program at dyRB with lawyers Jesus Garcia Sr. and Loreto Durano (both Veco lawyers), they offered me a job with Veco.”
Risa is now on her 23rd year with the largest power utility company in Metro Cebu. 