Goodbye 2024, hello 2025

Retirement came early in January last year, marking my exit as a business editor and my rebirth as a business columnist. A full circle in journalism from desk work when I first joined in 1981 the afternoon broadsheet newspaper Evening Post of four-time Palanca awardee Kerima Polotan-Tuvera and Juan “Johnny” Tuvera, then executive secretary of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

I basically started as a story-taker, manually typing out the stories filed by field reporters and giving the typed copy to the desk editors led by Cesar Amigo and Ramon Fernandez. I found the job numbing literally and physically as it required me to cradle the now-obsolete rotary dial phone and pound away at an old and clunky manual typewriter that used an ink ribbon that would occasionally unspool and which needed to be manually rotated, resulting in smudgy ink getting all over one’s finger and whose typebars would likewise jam and which needed to be pulled back, similarly smudging one’s fingers with ink from the typewriter ribbon.

I soon outgrew the entry-level, non-writing desk job and got transferred to the lifestyle/entertainment section, a position I initially found interesting -- getting to write lifestyle stories and features, and likewise attending entertainment events. However, it was not the kind of journalism I really wanted to pursue (although now I realize it would have been the most laidback part of my journalism career had I followed that path).

Thus, when then business section editor Butch del Castillo invited me to transfer to his department, I grabbed the opportunity that eventually allowed me to cover the trade and financial sector and where I covered former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Bienvenido Tan Sr., who gave me my first “badge of honor” as a journalist when he sued me for an article that I wrote. Thankfully, the case never progressed, but man, the first is always the scariest. The second threat of a libel suit (that was intended as a mere scare tactic) was a non-event, but it did teach me to be careful with the facts and the importance of verification. It also made me controversy-shy.

I also got to cover former trade and industry secretary Roberto “Bobby” Ongpin which eventually led to an opportunity to write a feature article for Rogue Magazine that chronicled his romantic dalliance with former Playboy centerfold and model Anna Nicole-Smith, as well as his political meeting with Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein.

With my entry into the business news field, I got the invitation to move to the then Romualdez family-owned Journal Group of Publications whose office was just a stone’s throw away from the Evening Post in the Port Area. At the now defunct daily broadsheet Manila Journal, my first business editor was Raul Valino and then Ely Lopez, now deceased and brother of fellow STAR columnist and BizNewsAsia publisher Tony Lopez. I consider Ely as my mentor, he taught me how to analyze a story, how to ask questions, develop sources and search for documents to support my stories.

It was during my stint in Manila Journal that I met and covered retired former House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte, who was then the president of the Government Service Insurance System, but little did I know then that a couple of years later I would be working for the Belmonte family-owned The STAR, initially covering the banking, finance and NEDA beat.

At the banking beat, which was then the old Central Bank, I covered former governor Jose “Jobo” Fernandez (1984-1990), and all throughout the term of the last CB governor Jose Cuisia Jr. (1990 1993). The defunct CB was dissolved due to the losses the government absorbed from rescue of domestic banks in the 1980s, causing the then central monetary authority to become insolvent.

A new banking entity was created, which was the new Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas or BSP and its first governor was Gabriel “Gabby” Singson (1993-1999). We fondly called him Lolo Gov. My last coverage as a banking reporter was the initial start of the term of BSP governor Rafael Buenaventura in 1999, but who served until 2005.

It was also during my banking days that technology began to change – from the manual typewriters to more convenient electric typewriters, then the slow introduction of computers and the dial-up internet, and the clunky cellphones.

I was rotated out of the banking beat and transferred to the Department of Trade and Industry and thus did not get to cover the term of former governor Amando Tetangco Jr. who I had covered for several years during his time with the CB’s Department of Economic Research, and through his gradual and continued rise to the top. It was during Tetangco’s term that the 501 Group, a small group of former CB and BSP reporters was formed, that continues to this day to meet with whoever is the new BSP governor. Our camaraderie with our GOAT (greatest of all time) Governor Tetangco, fortunately, continues even as he is now chairman of SM Investments.

The 501 Group is comprised of Fil Sionil, columnist of the Manila Bulletin and publisher of Bilyonaryo’s Bankero Magazine; Clarissa Batino, team leader for economy and government news for ANZ and SE Asia of Bloomberg News; Dax Lucas, CEO of Insider.ph; Stella Arnaldo, columnist of Business Mirror; Iris Gonzales, business editor of The Philippine STAR, and myself.

As a reporter, I also had the chance to cover the Department of Agriculture during the time of then secretary Arthur Yap whose assistant secretary is now BSP Deputy Governor Berna Romulo-Puyat, who also successfully headed the Department of Tourism, and who I love for being a true K-pop fan of the BTS, specifically Suga, and who is also a firm advocate of adopt-not-shop for dogs, specifically our local aspins.

When I eventually got promoted to the business editorial desk, I concentrated on editing and just wrote occasionally. In a sense it was more of a learning and management experience for me. Thus, this year was a sort of rebirth as a writer, but now with the freedom to express my own thoughts and opinion, occasional commentary, analysis of virtually anything, but with a more business orientation.

I am not even burdened with the need to break stories, but that instinct is always there and I still like the excitement of being in the middle of the news, but not having to worry about beating the deadline, and thus having the additional time to seek out more facts, and at times to verify the information and elaborate on more details.

My years as an editor has also helped me to self-edit and not burden my editors with long-winded sentences. Technology is now so advanced and convenient, with a cellphone now serving not only as a communication device, but also as a recorder that also now has the capability to transcribe the recording and send messages to whoever, wherever.

Even with a three-times a week column schedule, I now have the luxury of spending more time with my husband and indulging in my favorite K-drama and K-variety shows.

I, thus, welcome 2025 and beyond, and the opportunities and stories that I will encounter along the way and how the economy, private businesses and personalities will bring changes and face challenges, how politics will affect the entire world, and all the drama and revelations that make our world ever so interesting.