bali-balita

i'm definitely not for straight, verrry verrry hard news, and it's not for me either, but as of the moment, i have to live with it and work my ass off.

i just think heaven and hell conspired in throwing me into a beat which is really far from my inclination. mind you, i am assigned in the congress, the very politically-charged congress, which i thought would spell early suicide. in our first meeting, i told my trainer, mr. delon porcalla, that i have to run a long mile in order for me to get used with writing hard news, but now i think i'm getting the hang of it, even if it takes me eons to finish my articles everyday.

the congress finally resumed last monday, so there are no more dead minutes of waiting for press releases inside the halls of the media center. i was able to attend two press conferences that afternoon - things that are very new to me because that was my first time i mingled with other journalists from different media companies- print, radio, and television alike.

i was a bit nervous the moment i set foot at the conference hall because of politicians who looked like steroid-addicts with their faces all blown-up, they should have hired a good make-up artist to fix the problems with their faces! well, i didn't know why i felt so intimidated. most of them are leftists, so there should be no awkward feeling.

again, i saw anthony taverna, who's making his usual live over-the-phone radio announcement inside the press office. it was a bit funny. his accent and the way he speaks really fit radio broadcasts. well, i see him everyday, therefore we have the same beat. the very pretty pia arcangel was also there and just yesterday was niko baua.

the first press con i attended was that of reps. liza maza, satur ocampo, teddy casino, and rafael mariano, on the arroyo administration's desperate attempt to file trumped-up murder charges against them. the speakers went straight to the point. they said it was very timely, since they were pushing for important house bills, which would give no good for the fake president. arroyo was obviously trying to silence her critics.

the second was with house speaker nograles, abraham mitra, and the chairman of agriculture committee. yey! i met noggie! last sem i was just writing an article about his drama of conflicts with duterte, and now i was able to see him face-to-face! although i'm not so into political issues, i enjoyed it a lot.

i was very happy and excited at the same time that i managed to finish my articles quickly. now i can find reasons to stay in my assigned beat because just last week, i was planning to request for transfer, since Batasan is really far and i'm having a hard time traveling from home-OJT-and work. i just realized that being in this beat is also a blessing-in-disguise because so many things dramatically slash philippine history right inside the halls of congress-- busy beat. i couldn't ask for more!