My coverage in Clark was almost wasted because the US embassy hostaged the whole thing.

For the “official” presscon, the embassy made the PH government staff ask us the questions we planned to raise. The damned embassy, however, filtered them and they — officials of both governments— only answered the most benign questions by giving us motherhood statements.

And to think I came all the way from Southern Luzon for this?! I even spent my own money for a hotel stay in QC so I won’t be groggy the entire coverage because the presscon is 175 km from home.

In my anger, I stuffed myself with sisig during lunch. Bad for my health, I know. But I was upset.

All the other reporters around me were also grumbling, saying that we could just have done a Zoom presscon if we couldn’t even ask our questions, in the way we want these to be asked. We just wasted our time, gave up sleep, and sacrificed our entire working day for this when we could’ve done something else that would have given us one or more stories instead.

The staff members of the two PH government agencies who were also former journalists understood our frustrations. They begged their officials to grant us interviews on the sidelines. They cited my case that I came all the way from Southern Luzon for nothing.

So the officials relented. The US govt official gave in.

We got stories.

Horrible coverage that left us exhausted.

On Sunday afternoon, I left my house to check in at Red Planet Cubao. I didn’t want to go on an out-of-town/Manila coverage without proper sleep.

Red Planet is very near the first apartment where my ex-husband and I lived about 25 years ago.

I am very familiar with the area. Even before Gateway Mall came into being, I was already there. I walked to Farmer’s Plaza everyday to ride the MRT going to Ayala Ave because my office (an IT company) was at LV Locsin building. Then later, I took the jeep daily going to QCity Hall (near Mercury drugstore) to get to work when I was still with a government agency along QC Circle. In the evenings when I was finishing my master’s degree, I rode the jeep in UP Diliman going to Philcoa and from there I rode another jeep bound for Cubao/Alimall.

When I became a reporter, I walked daily going to the LRT 2 Cubao Station, got off at Legarda Station, walked to Doroteo Jose LRT 1 Station. I then got off at Vito Cruz Station, took the tricycle or pedicab to reach the BSP complex. I was covering DOF and central bank then. That was the time before the elevated walkway from D. Jose Station was connected to Legarda Station. 🫠

My cheap shoes didn’t last with all the walking I did back then. I was able to buy a car when we already lived in Pasig-Cainta area because we already had a two-car garage by then.

Araneta Center has changed so much since 2001 when I first got there. But it still the same; Aurora Boulevard is still dingy, the girlie bars are still there. The constant feeling of being unsafe never left me. I became hyper-aware once I stepped back into Cubao because being stupid can cost you your cellphone or your life.