Accidental journalist
I got into journalism by accident.
Shortly after the February 1986 People Power revolt ousted President Ferdinand Marcos and toppled his authoritarian regime, several newspapers came out, among them, the Philippine Tribune.
In March, an aunt of mine, Amada T. Valino, who happened to be president of the paper, called me at home and offered me — at that time an architecture student at the University of the Philippines — a summer job as a proofreader, knowing that I had always been interested in and had some knack for writing, ever since I was in high school.
Of course, I accepted the offer — not in the least because I was going to get paid, a little over P2,000 a month, if I remember correctly. Even in college, I was able to make some beer money doing odd drafting jobs with some of my schoolmates.
So on March 15, I went to the temporary office of the Tribune in Zeta Building on Salcedo Street in Makati and filled up the required forms. Suddenly, I had a real job — with social security and tax identification numbers.
Anyway, I liked the job so much that I even learned how to typeset, using an IBM Roadrunner in that pre-computerized age of publishing. And by the time the three months when I was supposed to at the office was over, I was hooked.
I simply dropped out of school.
I learned journalism hands-on and managed to move up from proofreader-typesetter to reporter to editor in its various levels. And later also in online media outfits.
So here are some of the memorable publications I worked in:
- Daily Globe, where I was, in succession, proofreader, police correspondent, and staff writer of the Lifestyle and Entertainment section.
- Metro Magazine, where I was an assistant editor
- Medical Observer, where I was managing editor
- Woman Today Fashion Monthly, where I was editor
- Manila Times, where I was copy editor before becoming section editor handling, in succession, Opinion, People, Metro
- FHM, where I was a copy editor
- Tumbok, where I had a daily column in Tagalog
- ABC 5, where I had a brief stint as segment producer of a weekly show called Secrets, which was hosted by actress Juliana Palermo
- GMANews.tv, where I was a website copy editor
- CNN Philippines, where I was a senior editor in its website in charge of the news sections
- TV 5, where I had a brief stint as a website copy editor during the 2016 national elections
Right now I’m a night editor at the INQUIRER.net, the online counterpart of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
You can stop reading right here. But in case you want to know more, read on.
Roots
I was born on November 17, 1961, in Manila — the political capital, economic hub, and cultural melting pot of the Philippines. It also happens to be the world’s most densely populated city, with more than 41,000 people per square kilometer.
Manila is roughly the midpoint between San Pablo in Laguna, where my father, Juanito Pulutan Magno, was born, and Gapan in Nueva Ecija, where my mother, Adelaida Reyes Tipace, was born.
My paternal grandfather, Hipolito, was from Santo Tomas in Batangas and his wife, Pacita, was from San Pablo. My maternal grandfather Cecilio was from San Miguel in Bulacan and his wife, also named Pacita, was from Gapan. Both men, as it happened, moved to their wives’ hometowns.
In short, I’m a Filipino whose ethnicity is Tagalog, part of a group with roots in the Central Luzon and the Southern Tagalog regions in Luzon.
Education
Economically, I was fortunate to have been born into a middle-class family, which gave me a good formal education — three years in private Catholic schools and the rest in public schools.
For kindergarten, when I was around five years old, I went to the Our Lady of Fatima Academy, which is now the Canossa College, in San Pablo, where I spent most of my childhood years. That accounts for my unconsciously slipping into a slight Laguna accent whenever I’m talking in Tagalog with someone from that province, including my father, of course — or even someone from the other Southern Tagalog provinces.
Anyway, I didn’t last long at Fatima because the teacher told my mother I was just too playful in the classroom. Would my mother please just let me stay at home?
So it was my mother who taught me how to read. And I learned quickly. So by the time I was six I was readily accepted as a first-grade pupil at the Hermanos Belen Elementary School, a public school just a block away from my grandfather’s house, which was at the corner of C. Brion Street and Balagtas Boulevard.
I was accepted though I was just six because I would be turning a year older anyway in just a few months.
From there, I moved on to a succession of private schools from second to fourth grade — Letran College, when we moved back to Manila; Ateneo de Davao, when my mother had to work in Davao City; and St. Anthony’s School in Paco, when we moved back to Manila.
Yes, we moved around a lot.
So, when we moved to Quezon City, in Project 2, I went to nearby Quirino Elementary School, where I finished my grade school.
Then I got into the University of the Philippines High School, where I would graduate, by which time it was already called the UP Integrated School.
In college, also at UP, I took up a two-year pre-engineering course before finally shifting to architecture.
© Alexander T. Magno
