Score

Twenty years ago today, I submitted my letter to then editor-in-chief (now publisher) Juanito V. Jabat to start my print internship with The Freeman.

The letter from our adviser Prof. Flordeliz L. Abanto stated that I was to complete 120 hours of internship with the paper as a pre-requisite for graduation from the course of Bachelor of Communication Arts at UP Cebu.

It was 20 years ago when I officially became a newspaperman starting as an intern hoping to learn the trade from the practitioners.

My first assignment was to help cover the barangay elections and I was assigned to tag along with Jethro Dionisio, not the world shooting champion, but the Jethro the journalist from Davao.

It didn’t take long for our adviser to extend our internship to 200 hours, but I did not anymore mind because I enjoyed the job so much and the internship program was actually something that I enjoyed.

Fast forward to 20 years hence, I look back at what I have passed to reach this milestone of my career. I still can’t believe that it took me so long to finish my internship, hehehe…

A lot took place the past 20 years and there were many ups and a few downs, which explain why after this long, I still am with The Freeman, which has become very much a part of my life.

I’d like to thank all those who made the past 20 years meaningful in one way or another. There is still much to learn and I hope that I won’t reach the point when I would say or somebody would tell me “it’s over.”

It has been a long career and a very fruitful one in terms of growth as a person. Thank you very much to paper’s management, to my family, friends and readers from bearing me all these years.

As a columnist, I am just as good as my last piece. Although I look to the future, I’ve always learned to live my life one day at a time.

It’s been a score and I hope there would be more — more stories to write, more personalities to feature, and more events to cover.

Life as a journalist has been a lot of fun that it never felt like being around for the past 20 years.

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MILESTONES: This day is doubly special as my son, Nico Anton, who was born and raised to suit my work schedule in this newspaper, would be graduating from elementary at Don Bosco Technology Center this afternoon.

I would also like to extend belated birthday greetings to our lifestyle editor Mayen Angbetic Tan, who turned a year older last Thursday.