Bisdaks in Manila
More persons of interest
Bisdaks in Manila
KEVIN A. LAGUNDA
(First published in 2016. CJJ11)
HAIL to the Bisdak, short for Bisayang Dako (true-blue Bisaya).
Where once they kept to their enclaves, now they sit in Manila, holding their own-in English, Tagalog and Bisaya.
Cebu is not just the birthplace of many a Bisdak journalists; it is the training ground for Bisaya people from other parts of the country as well. From this well, wordsmiths bloom.
Jun Tariman
Anchor, senior manager for regional news operations, CNN Philippines
Jun Tariman, 50, from Tabok, Mandaue City, started his career in journalism as a radio reporter with RPN/DyKC Cebu in 1987, later reporting also for the first Cebuano TV news program, “Newswatch Cebuano Edition”.
A labor dispute led him to a short stint in SunStar daily (now SunStar Cebu) in 1988 as a correspondent for Bridge Cities. In the same year, he started to work for ABS-CBN and became one of the pioneers of “TV Patrol Central Cebu” (now “TV Patrol Central Visayas”).
Tariman became news chief of the network’s station in Iligan City in 1999, then news manager for ABS-CBN Davao from 2000 to 2003.
In 2004, he rejoined ABS-CBN Cebu as its talent anchor for dyAB Cebu, handling technology and livelihood programs. He also taught mass communication subjects at University of San Jose-Recoletos for five years.
Solar News Channel (now CNN Philippines) hired him in August 2012 as its senior manager for regional news operations, a post he still holds. He is currently also the executive producer and news anchor of CNN Philippines’s Cebuano News.
He said the big challenge is how to convince the Manila people that stories from the regions deserve a space in the national broadcast.
“Being with a national network requires more depth and consistency in delivering the news from the region to the imperial capital,” he said. “It’s rewarding working here since Cebuanos like me are abled like our Manila counterparts”.
Nathalie Tomada
Assistant entertainment editor, The Philippine Star
Nathalie Tomada who is from Minglanilla, Cebu applied at The Philippine Star after learning there was an opening for a writing position. This happened after she finished her mass communication degree at Siliman University in Dumaguete City in 2001.
“My dream then was to work for a national broadsheet. Thank God, natinood man sad (it came true)”, she said.
In 2004, she returned to Cebu because The Philippine Star bought The Freeman and she bacame the paper’s entertainment editor.
Seven years later, The Philippine Star asker her to return to Manila to become assistant entertainment editor.
Richel Dorotan
Literary editor, Bisaya Magasin
Richel Dorotan worked as a reporter and news editor of a radio station in Bogo City for seven years, before he became connected with the Liwayway Publishing Company as a staff writer of its Bisaya Magasin in 2001.
In 2005, Bisaya transferred ownership to Manila Bulletin and he became its literary editor.
For the resident of Medellin, northern Cebu, the biggest challenge he encountered in Manila is the difficulty of the Cebuanos to be heard.
First of all, he said, the Bisaya people would have to learn to go with the surge of life in Manila, with the Tagalogs having a different culture from the Bisaya. But with the Bisaya able to easily adapt to any circumstance, he was able to make the adjustment in three to four months.
“Pero kay mingawon man gyod ko sa Sugbo, ang Manila magpabilin gyong langyawng dapit alang kanako,” said the Palanca awardee for Cebuano fiction. (But because I always miss Cebu, Manila will always be an alien land to me.)
Alan Luigi Ladredera Flores
Writer, CNN Philippines
Alan Luigi Flores’s journalism experience in Cebu started with his internship in radio dyAB Abante Bisaya from November 2010 until February 2011.
The 26-year-old Talisay City resident was working for a different company when he learned through his former professor, Jun Tariman, that the Solar News Channel (now CNN Philippines) was looking for a writer for Solar News Cebuano (now CNN Philippines Cebuano News). He applied in August 2013.
“I was hungry to work for the media because it is practically the reason I took up Mass Communication at the University of San Jose-Recoletos. It was what I always wanted,” he said.
Working in Manila is a challenge for Flores because of the language.
“We Cebuanos aren’t used to speaking full Tagalog, and the only time we speak Tagalog is when we encounter people from Luzon or perhaps from other non-Cebuano-speaking regions. English as our second language seems to offset that inadequency,” he said.
Flores said his mission in CNN Philippines is to show the beauty of the Cebuano language.
Edgar Godin
Associate editor, Bisaya Magasin
Bogo City’s son Edgar Godin, 45, started his journalism career as a freelance writer, contributing essays and short stories to local dailies and Bisaya Magasin.
In 1998, he received a telegram from the editor of Bisaya, after more than a year of sending his articles to the magazine. The editor asked if he was interested to work with them, and the rest is history.
They needed someone young. That is why they invited me. I was 27 then and could still boast of being a bachelor even if I already had two children, he said.
Godin was appointed literary editor in 2001. Three years later, he became associate editor. The Palanca awardee for Cebuano fiction said journalists have the opportunity to cover more events or interview more personalities in Manila than in Cebu. Struggling writers could also benefit from working in Manila, where the publication industry is wider.
“Tingali dili lang sa resources, apan mas molapad sab ang panud-ong sa usa ka journalist kon makasuwayg puyo sa Manila, said Godin. Kana bitawng giingon nga ‘dili nimo makita ang ubang detalye sa imong homeland kon dili nimo palay-an: kana, mao na.” (Not only does Manila have more resources, but living in Manila also allows one to have a better perspective of things. As they say, you get to see more details about your homeland when you view it from a distance.)
Sharifeh Barbaso Roda
Writer, CNN Philippines
Sharifeh Barbaso Roda, 23, had always wanted to be in front of a television camera, but she started as a news writer and presenter for radio dySS Super Radyo in 2015.
After nearly a year, she learned from broadcast journalist Alan Luigi Flores that CNN Philippines was looking for a writer. She got the job last April.
Roda has two hometowns, Dipolog City and La Libertad in Negros Oriental. But she started her journalism career in Cebu.
“Working in Manila as a journalist is quite dangerous, demanding, frustrating and challenging compared to Cebu. Big names are here. Not to mention the traffic and pollution in Manila-they are really a daily misery, she said.”
But Roda said working in Manila enabled her to meet a lot of interesting people and interview a wide range of people with diverse backgrounds. 