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!

May 10: Gathering documents for election coverage

So I was again assigned to Pasig for the election coverage. I didn't worry too much since I'm already familiar with the area, but I knew gathering pertinent documents will help me in my coverage.

I managed to acquire the official polling precincts list of COMELEC District 1 and District 2 of Pasig City. Wow, that was 122 pages!

May 9: Election Coverage Orientation

It's four days before the 2013 National and Local Elections. The Inquirer Editorial Team puts premium on the first and fearless reporting for the most important coverage of the year, that's why a full-force meeting was conducted with the editors, writers, interns, and student volunteers.

At the election coverage briefing with co-scholars and Inquirer interns.

But before the 3 pm meeting, I managed to have a little legwork and submitted a simple article for the day.

by Mariejo Mariss Ramos

The Eastern Police District (EPD) will implement maximum deployment for May 13 polls to ensure peaceful elections in its four priority cities.

Psupt. Darwin Miranda, EPD Chief of Operations, said that a total of 1046 police personnel are already set to perform election duties such as guarding the PCOS machines in different voting areas in Pasig, Marikina, Mandaluyong and San Juan.

Regional headquarters are also tapped to augment the needed number of police personnel for polling safety and anti-criminality efforts.

“Although the 2010 elections was peacefully done, we still have to be fully prepared for possibilities of violence and election sabotage on May 13,” Miranda said.

According to Miranda, the absence of election hotspots in EPD will not impede the police force to be more vigilant in areas with large voting population, such as Brgy. Pinagbuhatan in Pasig City.

A Joint Security Assistance Desk under the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police was also set up to ensure centralized communication in district monitoring come Monday.

Police officers deployed 50 meters away from the voting precincts can be alerted by the Board of Election Inspectors for instances of violence and disorder.

The Public Safety Department of local government units (LGUs), together with non-government organizations (NGOs) and barangay security force (BSF), are set to help in protecting the polling centers and ensuring the smooth flow of traffic in roads.

Miranda mentioned that the police district is now fully prepared for the midterm polls, citing their round-the-clock efforts to guard the PCOS and to make sure that these voting machines will run without glitches on election day.

“Thee EPD has zero incidence of election-related violence. We follow strict implementation of Comelec laws and city ordinances. Matagal na kaming handa.” said Miranda, with assurance that their preparations are enough for the midterm polls on Monday.

May 8, 2013: Fernandina Media Forum

Every Wednesday, the Fernandina Media Forum is being held at Club Filipino, Greenhills, San Juan.

Our first attendance to the forum was on the discussion about the COMELEC source code and the overpriced PCOS demo centers.

Speakers of the day were Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, Lito Averia of AES Watch and Wenceslao Vinzons Tan of the San Juan Civilian Volunteers.

Here are the articles we submitted:

1. First Article
by Mariejo Mariss Ramos and Jhesset Thrina Enano

A civic organization leader challenges Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez to step down from office for undermining transparency and integrity of the May 2013 polls.

Wenceslao Tan, chairman of the San Juan Civilian Volunteers, questions the P16-million budget proposed by the commission's Education and Information Department under Jimenez for 23 permanent precinct count optical scan (PCOS) demo centers in the country, saying that the budget lacks justification.

"The Comelec is willing to spend P35,000 a month for rental of one demo center venue. We offered them six locations as permanent demo centers for free, but they refused our help," Tan expressed in an interview.

He also questions the bloated allocation for trainings and seminars, which made the total budget amount to P15,798,850.

While he laments that their initiative was "snubbed" by Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes, Jr., he was more confused as to how Jimenenez's proposal was approved by the chairman in haste.

"The Comelec Spokesperson has no credibility to push for voter's education initiatives like this," Tan expressed, criticizing Jimenez's inability to vote this elections for being delisted.

In a recent interview, Tan also demands the poll body to show proof that the 23 demo centers was set up.

"We are here to help and ensure that the Comelec will be free from any kind of manipulation. If Brillantes cannot take command responsibility over Jimenez, then he, too, should design," Tan concluded.

2. Second Article

by: Jhesset Thrina Enano and Mariejo Ramos Days away from the 2013 midterm elections, an information technology security expert expressed the lack of transparency of the automated elections amid the delayed release of the source code for the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. Lito Averia of Transparent Elections and co-convenor of poll watchdog AES Watch said that the question of credibility "still hangs" after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) only released the human readable code that will run the machines on Tuesday. "If there is a problem with the program, there is no more way to correct it," said Averia, as the code review can take months to even more than a year to check. Comelec has been receiving flak for its failure to produce the code to the public, despite being mandated by Section 14 of the Automated Election Law that prompts the commission to make it "available and open to any interested political party or groups" who may do their own review. 'Too late' The source code contains the set of computer instructions that the PCOS machines would follow in counting and transmitting the total votes for candidates. Election watchdogs have called on Comelec for their review of the code. Chairman Sixto Brilliantes Jr., however, deflected the comments and instead suggested that the groups assess the 2010 review. Comelec's resistance prompted United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) senatorial candidate Richard Gordon to file a petition for mandamus with the Supreme Court last Friday to release the 2013 code. Gordon authored the law on poll automation. For Averia, however, it is already too late. "We want to have full disclosure of the source code," he said. Moreover, he lamented the "restrictive guidelines" for a possible review, where the poll body will allegedly only release a "read-only copy." In the 2010 elections, independent watchdogs and groups were prohibited from the code review. Averia also questioned the supposed modification done by the Comelec, if it were to fix the bugs from the 2010 national and 2011 Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao elections. He said that only the source code provider, Dominion Voting Systems, has the right to modify the code, in accordance with the license agreement and intellectual property rights.  An ongoing legal battle between Dominion and machine provider Smartmatic also cause delay in the release of the code. Subject to hacking? Despite the lack of review, the midterm elections will still push throughy. But the fear still remains: can the systems be hacked? While a code review can check for possible fraud and manipulation, Averia explained that the transmission of the election returns are more prone to hacking. He said that a hacker may have a "small window of opportunity" to manipulate the data in the canvassing systems, rather than in the machine itself, contrast to belief that the system is 100 percent fool-proof. The strongest solution for the public, said Averia, is vigilance. "We must remain vigilant, especially in the random manual audit," he said.

May 7, 2013: The routine is taking its toll

A slow news day means another day at the police station. Here's the story I submitted:

These are the times when violence knows no boundaries.

A 42 year-old construction worker will face double murder charges and violation of the Omnibus Election Code after reportedly killing a police officer and a barangay tanod in Pasig City, Monday morning.

Salvador Obina, a native of Jubellar, Albay, was arrested by the Pasig Police after stabbing 32 year-old BSF Rodel Castro at a construction site in Merrylane Street, Barangay Kapitolyo around 1:00 a.m. Castro was declared dead on arrival at Rizal Medical Center more than an hour after the incident.

His co-worker, Arnel De Guzman, stabbed PO2 Roel Tapalla, who was declared dead on the spot by the rescue team.

Pasig police immediately traced the two suspects and ordered them to surrender, but De Guzman attacked and assaulted responding officer SPO1 Andrew Mendres, which forced the latter to shot the suspect to death.

Obina also tried to escape but was seized and detained by the Pasig policemen.

Local investigators said the victims, who were on their way home from duty, tried to pacify the two drunken workers in a middle of a heated argument. After a commotion, the suspects suddenly attacked and stabbed the two victims.

The murder is under an on-going investigation of Pasig police.

May 6, 2013: Election Story

Today we had a legwork for the Final Testing and Sealing of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, seven days before the midterm elections.

This is what we wrote based on our observations and interviews:

By Jhesset Enano and Mariejo Ramos

Lack of poll watchers caused delay in the precinct in Marikina during the final testing and sealing (FTS) of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines on Monday.

Scheduled at 9 a.m., the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) at clustered precinct #133 at Concepcion Elementary School was able to.begin the test an hour later.

Poll watchers are encouraged in precincts to observe and ensure the transparency of the test and the elections on May 13 itself.

An observable low turnout of people other than the BEI marked the FTS in different polling precincts.

A minor glitch also.delayed the process when the machine failed to continuously print the election returns of local candidates.

Only one PCOS technician is assigned for every five clusteres precincts.

BEI Chairperson Jhoedelyn Lucero complained that their training under the Department of Science and Technology did not include technicalities, such as wiring the battery of the voting machine.

At Marikina City Hall, after a very tiring day.

May 2: Inquirer Front Page today!

Our Labor Day story landed on the front page of the Inquirer today! I wasn't able to get a copy of the broadsheet, but here's the same article posted online:

400,000 jobs up in 70 fairs nationwide

By Kristine Felisse Mangunay, Tina G. Santos
Inquirer Bureaus, Philippine Daily Inquirer

1:54 am | Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

Long lines marked the job fair organized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Public Employment and Services Office (Peso) on Wednesday at SM Megamall on Edsa in Mandaluyong City.

The event was part of some 70 job fairs held in 16 regions on May 1 for more than 400,000 jobs openings in the country and abroad.

Citing reports reaching her, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said applicants swarmed the job fairs nationwide.

At SM Megamall, hundreds of people had begun lining up to be among the first to apply for a position at 10 a.m., the time the doors of the mall were to open and the start of the job fair.

Peso head Emma Javier said the number of registered applicants at SM Megamall had reached 612 before 11 a.m. By noon, the number of registered applicants had ballooned to more than 1,000, she said. Police placed at 2,000 the number of hopeful registrants still queuing at the time.

Most of the applicants, 18 to 30 years old, looked for a job as service workers (fast-food crew or sales representatives), clerks (pharmacy assistants, call center agents and others) and as unskilled workers (janitor or messenger), Javier said.

The “smaller percentage,” she said, was distributed among the positions for skilled workers, managers, professionals and associate professionals.

“Even those with a degree prefer to apply for a service crew position because they say it’s easier to get hired,” Javier said, noting that she encountered five people as of noon who had done so.

Overwhelming number

She said the number of participants was “overwhelming.” Participants poured in by late afternoon last year, “[but] this year, they were already lined up since this morning,” she said.

The number of local job vacancies—ranging from managerial to unskilled positions—stood at 6,619 and overseas ones at 1,400, Javier said.

The vacancies, however, were contractual in nature with two-year contracts offered by six overseas potential employers, she said.

If hired, registrants could be deployed to Canada, Kuwait and other countries as head waiters and engineers, Javier said.

Fifty-five local companies, she said, offered six-month contracts.

Mark Sierra, who was seated on the stair landing when approached by the Inquirer, said the process was “pretty fast.” But he said the jobs offered were contractual. “The government should take that out already,” he said.

Hired, not hired

At the job fair in Pasay City Mall, Marlyn Alcera, 22, joined the queue at 6 a.m.

Alcera, who came with two of her friends, said at least two companies hired her on the spot. Her friends, however, were not as lucky. She said she was offered to work as sales clerk and cashier in two different companies.

“I’m very happy. I’ve long been wanting to explore other opportunities,” Alcera, who used to work as an assistant secretary at the computer school where she finished her two-year computer secretarial course.

She said she would have wanted to land a job related to her course. “But for now, this will do,” she said, adding that she badly needed a job so she could help support her family.

Alcera was among the 1,274 applicants hired on the spot on Labor Day in the job and livelihood fairs nationwide. This was apart from the 1,132 applicants who were hired on the spot in the pre-Labor Day Jobs Fair in Camp Servillano Aquino in Tarlac City on April 30.

Many vacancies unfilled

However, this number was still low considering that there were 36,765 registered applicants and there were more than 400,000 jobs available.

Over the past years, many vacancies have not been filled mainly because the job applicants lacked the required skills.

“The challenge for our workforce is to equip themselves continuously with skills that will make them move from one job to another. In a way, what is being secured is employment, not necessarily security of tenure,” Baldoz said.

Several applicants were turned down by an employer because their course was not related to the position they were applying for. One of them, a 24-year-old former promo mechandiser at a mall, said he would have wanted to use his knowledge in information technology but his application was turned down.

‘Overage’ rejected

“I was told I need to get additional training before they could hire me. My two-year course apparently is not enough to fill the job,” he said.

Another applicant, Marlon Endaya, 30, who works as a cook in a restaurant, said he was rejected by the employer because he was overage.

Like Endaya, some of the applicants were not necessarily jobless but were only looking for better-paying jobs.

Tacloban fair

In Tacloban City, close to 1,000 job-seekers from different parts of Eastern Visayas trooped to the convention center.

One of them was Irene Fevidal, 30, a domestic helper in Kuwait from August 2011 to June 2012. Fevidal is a trainee in a laundry shop receiving a P120 daily wage, which is way below the regional minimum wage of P260.

“I want a job that offers better pay than what I earn now,” Fevidal said, as she was filling out five application letters, which she would submit to employers like an IT company seeking data encoders, a hotel in need of housekeeping personnel and an office looking for administrative staff. She also submitted an application for a possible overseas work.

Cyril Ticao, assistant director for DOLE Eastern Visayas, said 34 local establishments and five recruitment agencies for overseas work took part in the regional job fair, which was looking for employees to fill 2,000 job vacancies.

DOLE Central Visayas also held job fairs in SM malls in Cebu City and Consolacion town, Cebu. RJ Leduna, SM senior public relations manager, said more than 2,000 applicants went to SM Cebu City on Wednesday morning for the job fair, where 52 local firms took part.

Northern Cebu, Davao

Leduna said at least 4,000 jobs were available at the SM Cebu City mall.

A total of 1,500 jobs were available at the job fair at SM City in Consolacion town, northern Cebu, which was participated in by 20 local companies. The Danao City-based Cebu Mitsumi Inc. reportedly wanted to hire 500 workers on the spot.

At the fair in Davao City, Fatima Feliciano was drawn toward companies hiring tellers, finance officers, human resources assistants and other jobs requiring a four-year college course.

“As long as it’s not teaching,” the 22-year-old education graduate said.

She said that she wanted to explore the world and that jobs requiring the handling of money attracted her more than teaching.

“I used to work as a substitute verifier for a bank and I enjoyed it a lot,” she said.

Joffrey Suyao, DOLE regional director, said 7,672 job applicants registered in Gmall and SM City malls in Davao and the Gaisano mall in Tagum, where a total of 244 firms posted their hiring needs.

Most of the job openings posted by 180 local firms, however, were for cyberservices, personnel services, clerks and the hospitality industries.

Marcel (not her real name), a graduate of a hotel and restaurant management course, looked for a job in the hotel sector. She said this would be her fourth job if she was hired.

She said she used to work at SM Lanang where her employment contract was terminated after her fifth month on the job. Then, she found work at the new Abreeza mall but her contract was again terminated after her fifth month, Still undaunted, she decided to apply this time for a job in the hotel sector.—With reports from Joey Gabieta and Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas; Germelina Lacorte, Inquirer Mindanao; and Jhesset Enano and Mariejo Ramos, trainees in Manila

URL: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/400783/400000-jobs-up-in-70-fairs-nationwide#ixzz2Tr0u7J9Z

May 2: Police stories on the roll

The usual day for a reporter is always about writing police/crime stories.

When I first tried it two years ago, I found this challenging. But now my J 101 and J 102 lessons really come in handy.

The two articles I submitted today:

Story 1:

A dispute over a rowdy drinking session left a man in critical condition, another wounded, after a hacking incident in Pasig.

Ronald Bopos, 22, and Jason Galanido, 21, were reportedly hacked by a samurai sword in Galanido's residence at Phase 2, Ilugin, Brgy. Pinagbuhatan around 10 PM, Wednesday. Galanido was hurt after trying to shield the samurai aimed at Gopos, who is still in danger after acquiring severe wounds.

The suspects were identified as 32 year-old Jing Hermocilla and his brother-in-law, Sixto Dorado, who were neighbors of the victims.

Local investigators reported that an argument that lead to the incident ensued when the suspects where irked by the noise of the drinking buddies.

The police are yet to identify which of the two suspects hacked Gopos, as both of them denied doing the act.

Story 2:

An old woman lost her cash worth P7,000 to alleged members of budol-budol gang in Pasig, Wednesday morning.

Emelita Loyola, resident of Parkwood Village in Maybunga, Pasig, reported to the police that she was approached by an unindentified female while waiting for a passenger jeep in Pasig Public Market.

The female convinced the victim to ride in a Toyota Innova with one male and six other females on-board, drove to her house, and instructed her to get the money.

The suspects drove Loyola back to the public market, where they gave her a black clutch bag containing “pieces of cash” and left. It was only after a few hours that the victim discovered the bag's contents were only paper.

Local police are now investigating on the incident.

May 1, 2013: Labor Day Legwork

Our task for the day was to write a story about a government-sponsored jobfair at SM Megamall.

This is the article we wrote that was initially published at Inquirer.net:

Exec admits most positions offered at job fair contractual

By Kristine Felisse Mangunay
Philippine Daily Inquirer

7:07 pm | Wednesday, May 1st, 2013

MANILA, Philippines—As labor militants individuals condemned contractual employment, among other things, in rallies across the country, other people kept themselves busy doing something else on Labor Day: They applied for mostly contractual jobs.

At the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City, for example, hundreds of people had begun lining up to be among the first to apply for a position at 10 a.m., the time the doors of the mall were to open, and the start of the job fair organized by the Department of Labor and Employment, and the city’s Public Employment and Services Office (Peso).

According to Emma Javier, Peso head, the number of registered applicants stood at 612 before 11 a.m. and ballooned to more than 1,000 by noon, with some 2,000 still waiting in line outside by police estimates.

Javier said local job vacancies, ranging from managerial to unskilled positions, numbered 6,619, and overseas ones at 1,400, “more than enough,” she said, to accommodate the expected applicants.

The vacancies, however, were contractual in nature, she admitted, with two-year contracts offered by six overseas potential employers. If hired, registrants could be deployed to Canada and Kuwait, among other places, as head waiters and engineers, she said.

Fifty-five local companies, she said, offered six-month contracts.

Most of the applicants, whose ages ranged from 18 to 30, were looking for jobs as service workers (fastfood crew, sales representatives), clerks (pharmacy assistants, call center agents) and as unskilled workers (janitor, messenger), Javier said.

A “smaller percentage,” she said, looked for jobs as skilled workers, managers, professionals and associate professionals.

“Even those with a degree prefer to apply for a service crew position because they say it’s easier to get hired,” Javier said.

She said that overall, the number of participants was “overwhelming” compared with that of last year’s job fair. According to her, participants then poured in only by late afternoon.

“But this year, they were already lined up since this morning,” she said.

Mark Sierra, who was seated on the stair landing when approached by the Inquirer, said the process was “pretty fast,” adding that the fact that the mall was air-conditioned made the wait “more bearable.”

He lamented, however, that the vacancies offered in the fair were contractual in nature.

“The government should take that out already. When hired, we should all become permanent workers,” he said.

He was quick to add, however, that applying for a contractual job was better than rallying on the streets.

“What will I do there? Instead of looking for a job, I’d be shouting? I don’t think so,” he said.

His cousin Charmlaqui Bautista agreed. “Nothing’s going to come out of rallying,” he said. With Jhesset Enano and Mariejo Ramos, student trainees

URL: http://business.inquirer.net/119719/exec-admits-most-positions-offered-at-job-fair-contractual