May 22, 2013: It all boils down to this

The Fernandina Forum capped off our internship for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Former Manila Mayor and Buhay Partylist Representative Lito Atienza was one of the guest speakers.

We submitted two articles today. Here is one of the stories we wrote:

by: Jhesset Thrina Enano and Mariejo Ramos A push-over -- this is how a retired Navy commodore described President Benigno Aquino III on his stance on the ensuing dispute between the Philippines and Taiwan. In a media forum in San Juan on Wednesday, national security expert Rex Robles lamented PNoy's attitude over another foreign relations conflict, amid unresolved issues such as the 2010 hostage-taking of Hong Kong tourists and the more recent Scarborough Shoal dispute. "He's a push-over, it's obvious. Kaunting pitik mo lang, tumba na siya," he said. Robles explained that the president has been "giving too much," referring to his actions that have been "too appeasing" to neighboring countries. He also said that PNoy has been talking not "by what he believes," but by what "his advisers tell him to say." The conflict over the killed Taiwanese fisherman last week has affected the ties between Taipei and Manila.  Under the one China policy, Taiwan is only recognized as a province of mainland China and has no diplomatic relations with the Philippines. With daggers raised with other countries, Robles said that statesmanship is what is needed. "Statesmanship involved is not easy, but it can be done," he explained. He also said that "diplomacy, not arms" is the solution. With a lagging military force, Robles explained that the Philippine government should strengthen alliances with our Asian neighbors. He proposes a challenge: befriend China. "Our strategy to make United States our biggest friend and China our biggest enemy is our biggest mistake," said Robles, suggesting instead to place the former in a more average status. "We should not be afraid of China. They want to be friends with us because we are a big market," he explained.# ***

A month of legwork, establishing contacts, writing, and learning the craft of journalism that ended with a smile is surely one great experience that will not be forgotten.

I have never heard of any other internship experience that really immersed the students into the field, taught them stand alone and write without intimidation along with the ranks of veteran reporters.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer internship not only made us feel like a real journalist; it made us one. And I would forever be thankful that I had to chance to live the dream of becoming the society's watchdog this summer--because a journalist should always go out and just write.

Ma'am Peps, Jhesset, and I (EPD love!)

May 21: The Last ( Police) Story I'd Write for Internship

by Mariejo Mariss Ramos

A 12 year-old girl allegedly managed to escape from his kidnappers in Taguig City, Monday evening.

Initial reports revealed that the girl, a resident of Nagpayong, Brgy. Pinagbuhatan, Pasig City, was abducted by two unidentified men in front of their residence around 6 PM.

The victim was allegedly brought to Napindan, Taguig, where she said she found three other children held by the suspects.

When she had the chance to escape, she immediately ran away, leaving the other children behind and headed back home.

No incident of rape and violence against the child was reported to the police, but they are yet to identify the suspects' motive for abduction.

Police are also set to check the CCTV camera installed at the area and to conduct further investigation on the case.

May 16, 17: Another published story!

Note: Stories are published both online and on print. :)

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/410443/6-hurt-as-debris-fall-from-upper-floor-of-hotel-in-pasig

6 hurt as debris fall from upper floor of hotel in Pasig

By Kristine Felisse Mangunay
Philippine Daily Inquirer

5:15 pm | Thursday, May 16th, 2013

MANILA, Philippines–Six people were injured on the ground after they were hit by debris from the upper floor of a hotel in the Ortigas Business District in Pasig City Wednesday night, according to authorities.

The injured–Pauline Gaen, 24; Kenneth Gaen, 25; Michelle Fulgencio, 26; Irene May Vicentillo, 29; Michael Edward Bauson Jr., 29; and May Kristine Paisano, 20–were rushed to nearby The Medical City for treatment after they sustained bruises and lacerations.

As of Thursday, five of them have been discharged, Senior Police Officer1 Edward Maylas, case investigator, said but one remains in hospital.

Ilaine Rodriguez, property manager of Malayan Plaza Hotel, located on ADB Ave. corner Opal Road, told the police she saw “pieces of plaster” from the 34th floor of the building suddenly fall to the ground at 6:15 p.m.

Authorities, however, said it was still unclear what caused the plaster to break away.

The incident took place almost two weeks after the one-year-old Cattleya building on Kaayusan Road in Manggahan Village shook, causing around 100 of its residents to panic and run out of their units in the wee hours of May 3.

Cattleya building is around six kilometers from Malayan Plaza.

A huge crack was discovered on the ground floor of the building but authorities had ruled out that the vibrations were caused by a reported landslide at a neighboring construction site for a city housing project.

No earthquake was also recorded in Metro Manila that day. With a report from Mariejo Ramos

May 15: Like a pro

I was sent by Ma'am Peps to the NAMFREL Press Conference in Mandaluyong on its election results report.

Spotted! I'm seated next to the two reporters in white (the first one is Aries Rufo).
Photo from Namfrel's Facebook Page.

Here's the article I submitted just five minutes after the presscon (yes, the pressure was really on):

How can you guard that which you can't see?

This was the question of election stakeholders during the National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) at a press conference in Mandaluyong, Wednesday night. 

NAMFREL sees the rampant PCOS glitches as the culprit for the slow transmission of election returns for the 2013 national and local elections, citing the 30% votes yet to be canvassed 40 hours after the automated elections.

According to NAMFREL, this accounts for 24,082 ERs from various provinces.

During the 2010 elections, 80% of votes were already canvassed 12 hours after the 2010 elections.

Namfrel Chairperson Corazon dela Paz said 'technical issues' plagued different parts of the country, from delayed transmissions of election returns of defective PCOS to problems with physical transmissions of Certificates of Canvass (COC) from provinces, which will be the basis for the official results.

Reports from the election monitoring body reveal that Comelec received only 21 COC from 302 expected official COC.

Speakers said that while the automated elections lessened the conflicts of the local elections, the credibility and transparency of the technology, with faulty voting machines, still hang.

May 14: And the election coverage continues

Close to a day after the elections, proclamation of winners at Pasig City was already imminent. I went back to Pasig Sports Complex, the canvassing center, to wait for the final tally and proclamation of new Pasig officials.

Some photos during the proclamation:

Portion of an article with my tagline at the Inquirer Metro Front Page:

"In Pasig City, the wife of outgoing Mayor Bobby Eusebio, Maribel Eusebio, garnered  226,766 votes, 215,421 more than the 11,345 votes her rival, Wainwright Rivera, got. Her votes represented 85 percent of the total number of votes cast in the city.

But in the vice mayoral race, independent candidate Iyo Bernardo trounced Eusebio’s running mate, Rodrigo Asilo.

The new city council, on the other hand, will be composed of 11 councilors who ran under Eusebio’s party and Ritchie Brown, an independent."

URL: http://www.inquirer.net/philippine-election-2013/articles/409395

May 13: The Big Day

Ah, my dream. To cover the elections is definitely one of the most important and most challenging tasks for a journalist, and I'm happy to have the chance to experience the rush for my internship. I knew I'd learn a lot.

I decided to visit Rosario Elementary School first, as the Pasig mayor and his wife and mayoral candidate are expected to vote there.

We had two tasks for the coverage: do live tweets for the Inquirer and submit stories for the paper.

Note: Tweets dated May 12 were entered May 13. Twitter's time is 8 hours delayed.

Here are some of the photos I took during my observation at different schools in Pasig City.

Outgoing Pasig Mayor Bobby Eusebio with wife incoming mayor Maribel Eusebio.

After the live coverage, we had to submit stories to summarize the events of the day, and here are the articles I submitted to the desk:

by Mariejo Mariss Ramos

Day-long rainfall marked the day of elections in Pasig City, literally and otherwise, as minor flooding and PCOS glitches interrupted polls in some precincts.

In Rosario Elementary School, the PCOS machine at Precinct No. 325, where incumbent mayor Bobby Eusebio and family are expected to vote, failed to accept the first few ballots. Unscanned ballots were left by voters with the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI). Voting was temporarily stopped and resumed twenty minutes after when detected problem with CF card was resolved by a PCOS technician.

Several precincts in the same school experienced paper jam and faulty printing which delayed the start of the polls, but glitches were immediately resolved by technical experts.

Precinct #7 of Pinagbuhatan Elementary School, the second largest voting center in Pasig, also experienced voting delay due to problems with voting machine initialization. The glitch was corrected immediately.

Meanwhile, flood water blocked voting areas in Nagpayong Elementary School late in the afternoon. Nagpayong ES is the largest polling area in Pasig with almost 29, 600 voters. Rowdy and flooded precincts discouraged people to vote, while some were forced to go back to their homes and postpone voting for several hours.

With almost 355,000 registered voters in 41 clustered precincts, Pasig City voting centers are usually characterized by overcrowding and long lines. In anticipation to this, people set to vote were given priority numbers and asked to stay in designated waiting areas while their numbers are being called.

by Mariejo Mariss Ramos

While people flock in different voting precincts in Pasig even before the official poll starts for early casting of votes, some politicians decided to wait before the crowd begins to die down in their respective polling centers.

Pasig City incumbent mayor Robert “Bobby” Eusebio arrived with his wife and mayoral bet Maribel Eusebio at Rosario Elementary School Precinct 325 at 1:30 in the afternoon. Bobby was wearing a casual polo shirt in blue, while Maribel was wearing a polo in red, the two's official campaign colors. The couple arrived with their bodyguards and aide who were instructed to just wait outside the polling precinct. The BEIs allowed them to enter the precinct and cast their votes immediately, since the waiting area has no pending voters.Bobby and Maribel voted in ease and proceeded to the school's quadrangle to greet the small crowd.

Maribel told the Inquirer she anticipates high voter turn-out in Pasig, confident that Pasiguenos' vote are worth casting on her and the rest of her team.

Three hours before, former Pasig mayors Vicente and Soledad Eusebio voted together at the same precinct, and weren't asked to fall in line anymore as they are both senior citizens.

In Pinagbuhatan Elementary School, congressional candidate Orlando “Jun” Salatandre voted around 2 p.m. at Clustered Precinct #9. Only a bodyguard and a photographer accompanied Salatandre in casting his vote, as influx of voters begin to lessen at the usually overcrowded polling center.

Incumbent Congressman Roman Romulo reportedly voted with wife, Valenzuela Council Shalani Soledad-Romulo, at the Admin Hall of Valle Verde III, Pasig City.

May 12: Election Coverage Prep 2

Day 2 of my election coverage preparation plan: visit different polling precincts in Pasig City.

I never knew Pasig has 41 voting centers with 426 clustered precincts. I better not be faint-hearted tomorrow!