M E M O R I E S:Life and Time of
Pastor Rudy Bernal his Glimpses on History &
The People’s Struggle for Freedom
Chapter 18 –Mets Ruther Batuigas,
Joins Philippines Herald & Learns Little of Photo Journalism and Newspapering
It’s an opportunity that I was able to work full time with
Philippines Herald newspaper, a year after I left Iloilo City. Philippines Herald was a newspaper owned and published by Dr. Andres Soriano,
Jr., one of the prominent businessmen in the country during that time.
The Heralds circulations
reached all cities and major towns in the country.
Andres Soriano, Jr., was one the oligarchs and
powerful business elites of the time. He
controlled big business conglomerates, on the same lines as the Lopez family of Manila Chronicles, Roces family of
Manila Times together with the owners of
Philippine Evening News. These were the most powerful newspapers of the
60’s that owns and control big business
in the country.
And
in all works I got involved in, there were people, friends and near strangers
wo helped me. I realized, generally, ordinary
people are helpful. And God was helping me.
I read newspapers. It gave me ideas on what
were happening in the country daily. I
would like also to improve my English. Speaking
English was a struggle in my collage days. I want to participate in class discussions and needs more ideas and information stored in my mind
to be able to participate.
Since,
I have interest in photography,
I tried to get technics from photos in newspapers and magazines.. It’s
there that I read some works of Ruther Batuigas. He was Chief Photographer of the
Philippines Herald. He's President of
Association of Photo Journalists of the Philippines Ruther was
well known in Manila. He was a
brave, daring and enterprising Police reporter and photographer.
Ruther’s
photos and stories show some hard and painful realities of the poor’s deprived lives in Intramuros, Tondo and other slums of Metro Manila.
The Herald’s
Society pages,on the other hand,
often carry his pictures, showing high livings of the rich and influential of the city.
Ruther Batuigas has won an
International Photo
Journalist’s Award in the 60’s.
His award winning photograph, was a
shot at very close ranged of
two men fighting in the slums of Intramuros, Manila.
The pictures, shew a man with an arrow on his sling shot. Ruther captured the deadly shots effectively. The first shot shows when an
arrow was shot from the sling. The second showed when the arrow hit the
forehead of the man.
The third shot show the victim
writhing in pain, with the arrow embedded
deep on his head. The fourth, show
the victim on the lap of her woman relative. She was weeping with one hand stretched out. She
was almost praying. The caption of the
Award winning picture was beautiful, touching and a prayer.
“Dear God, Please Save Him.”
I
tried to meet Ruther. But he was always busy. Then one day, I met him at
the Herald Canteen. I went direct to him and introduced myself. I told him: “I am Rudy Benal from Iloilo. I am studying at Lyceum. A Third Year college. I worked as an Itinerant photographer.” I asked
him, if he can helped me learn
newspapering. I would like to work in
the newspaper. Ruther listened to me.
Then he asked some questions. I gave him some answers.
Ruther went
to a man seating on another table.
He talked to him. Then he
called me. He introduced me to Joe Carreon,
the Herald Police Reporter who covered
the night police beat. Ruther requested Joe
Carreon to help me learn newspaper works.
Joe
Carreon, was a UP graduate. |We are of the same age. Joe told me to join him in the police beat that evening. We
will be working from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM. That was the start. For 3 months, I was with Joe Carreon, his Cub,
learning the arts and trade
of police and crime reporting in Metro Manila.
I
thanked Joe and Ruther for their help. I
went back to my table and finished my lunch. A few minutes later, Ruther came back. He has a stab of Herald canteen meal tickets.
Ruther gave me 30 stabs of meal tickets. It has 90 meal tickets good for a month. Ruther made sure, I have food in one month while being a Cub Reporter of
the Philippines Herald.
Every
night, at 6:00 P.M., I joined Joe
Carreon in the police bit. We
rode the Herald Police car with his driver,
Joe Mendoza. The jeep had a radio, a walkie-talkie that enabled us to call the Herald office and
DYHP Radio station. Our base on daily police
coverage was the National Police Headquarters at
United Nations Avenue. During that that
time, it was headed by General Manuel Yan, Manila Police Chief.
Ruther gave mr an Application Form. I
signed it. He shot my 2 x 2 pix with his camera. A week later, he came
and gave me a Press Card - of the n Philippine Photo Journalists Association of the Philippines. It was signed by my new friend, Ruther Batuigas.
Joe
Carreon in introduced me to other police reporters. They were very helpful. They tried
ways to help me learn the arts
and technics of covering crime
s and writing crime stories. The police reporters of Manila Times, Manila
Chronicles, Manila Daily Bulletin, Philippine Evening News were all friendly and
tough police reporters. One of
them was Jose Burgos, a crusading
journalist. He later organized Malaya newspaper with his friends. Malaya stood strongly against President Marcos during martial law. He
served as publisher. Later, he gave up
his newspaper work, sold his
interest in Malaya and started
his experiments and study on natural and organic farming in an outskirts of Manila.
While
training as Cub Reporter, often at 9:00
PM we visited the 4 police district stations in
Manila. About 2:00 AM we visited police stations in Quezon City,
Caloocan City, Malabon,
Navotas and Pasay City. I saw the night lifes of
Metro Manila. Police reporters
often stayed and passed the time on Night Clubs in Malate with a
bottle of bear. Club managers were friend of Joe Carreon and other Police Reporters. One time Joe Carreon asked
me to join him at Bayview Club, one of the top night clubs along Roxas Boulevard. We went to
a round table with 5 people – two young men and 2 women and a child.
Joe Carreon introduced me to the beautiful
woman and the other guests. He also offered me bottle of bear. I drink only a bottle or two be bear. Never more. The woman is tall and slinder. Whe
shook hands. But she did not mention her name. She was Spanish. She spoke to the boy near her in Spanish. She
talked to me in English. We have some short conversation. Then, she was called on the microphone. She was
escorted to the stage. Only then, I learned she was a singer. She sang a song in English. Then, she followed it with a Spanish song. beautiful renditions of English and Spanish songs.
The audience
stood almost together as she
vowed her head and returned to our table. Pelita Corales, one of the well-known singers of the time was with us. It was the first time, I listened in person to
Pelita Corales, whose songs were often played in dances by most young people in
Iloilo during our younger days.
Doing
reportorial jobs in Manila was a hard work. I
saw the crimes reported tbythe police. I
heard many crimes that were not
reported. I saw many people killed by gunshots. Also people stabbed and killed. Hard
crimes. I often saw young girls
going to police station after
having been raped. It was an ordeal for women. Being raped was alway hard. I saw some of this girls, with bloods on their legs, limping to the Police Station. But more
and more harder for victims to fight for justice. Many crimes --petty
crimes, big crimes and celebrity crimes-- happened always in Metro Manila and remained unsolved.
One celebrity crimes was the murder of the estranged wife of Banjo Laurel, son of
Congressman and Speaker of the House Jose Laurel, Jr. We visited the crime scenes. Banjo
Laurel was studying at Lyceum when his wife was killed in her home. But the victims family has kept silent. It was hard, very hard for the victims
family to speak. The Laurels and Banjo Laurel were very powerful people in Manila.
Stories of the crime
were were written. But the perpetrators were unknown. And the search for justice was hard, long and lonely for the victim and the family. Here was shown one disparity
on people’s lives. I saw the different kind of justice system working. The justice
for the rich and powerful. And the justice for those who were ordinary, weak
and poor.
Those were trying times.
The students saw and realized the deep poverty that buried the poor in sufferings and
the affluence of the rich and powerful living in
palatial homes.
The
students specially members of Kabataang Makabayan (KM), saw the situations after they have submerged and
integrated with residence of slums. The
learned the evils of society under
the control of the elites and oligarchs.
The students started to think.
They began to
condemn the atrocities and abuses
of the rich and powerful.
They
organized and mobilized themselves and begun
to expose the evil of US imperialism, feudalism and bureucratic
capitalism as they begun to work for change.
Three
months after I started as Cub reporter with the Herald, Ruther Batuigas came He told me my
application to work with Philippines Herald was accepted. I will work as
Proof Reader. He said: “ Rudy, you have learned skills on crime and news gathering. Now, by reading news reports daily of reports from Police, Congress, Senate, Malacanan, Labor,
Health, Army, Navy, Constabulary, Air
Force and events happening around – just reading news reports on galleys, 8
hours a day, will helped
hone and sharpen your skills
on newswriting.” Then, Ruther, introduced me to Bote
Bautista, a Pampangeno and chief of the
proof reading office.
I
started working at the Proofreading disk of Philippines Herald. We were seven Proof readers daily. We
worked 8 hours a day. Four of us
starts working 1:00 P.M. until we
closed the Provincial News. Three of us start works at 2:00 -
PM until we start printing the City Edition. It was great working, just reading, reading
and reading galley proofs, 8 hours a day. Then, read the newspapers as it comes out at 2:00 PM for the provincial editions.
During
this time and the next 4 years, I saw in
Manila the start and growth of the students movements, student demonstrations and people’s
rallies. I have seen the steady growth
of the students unrest. How it
started at Lyceum, the University of the Philippines and moved fast in different directions.
It’s
expansions to different colleges and
universities in Metro Manila. The strength and forces of students movements now gathering force and galvanized for change and social
transformation. This movement was
starting to be called the First Quarter
Storms of Philippine Revolution.
One
afternoon, there was a student rally at
the Lyceum. The speakers were mostly from Lyceum. The heat of the atmosphere could be felt as
speakers after speaker hit the evils in the Philippines. The
anger of the students were seen
on their faces. .
And
there moves came fast and sudden. I saw students getting stones and rocks and
hurled it at the glass windows of Lyceum
of the Philippines. In less than an hour, the glass windows of Lyceum were mostly
shattered and broken.
The
following day, the student demonstrations followed at nearby Feati University. Then it moved on
fast and strong to most colleges and
universities in Manila. That day, most glass
windows of colleges and universities in the university belt and stores
along the roads were broken. A day after, the once beautiful glass windows
of colleges and universities were
covered with plywoods. The anger of the
students were shown that day and the
following days. It was the students anger and strength revealed for the first time in Manila.
But, I think
San Juan de Letran, Ateneo de Manila and San Bida College were
not touched by
students upheaval. Neither can I remember St. Paul’s College, Sta. Scholastica and
Assumption College and other
exclusive colleges for girls and
boys was hit by
student rallies. These exclusive schools for
the rich, and influential were not touched by the need for change.
Students
of exclusive schools have not seen
and were not touched by realities of grave poverty in the country. They enjoyed privilege and security. Then the First Vatican Council meeting came in Rome.
Little change came at the
exclusive schools. It started with some movements in the Catholic church. Some students of exclusive schools, were sent for an hour of visits
to slums in Manila. For the first time, they saw the extreme
poverty of the poor and the deprived lives of millions in Manila.
They also learned from the lectures of some
Priests, that only 4 per cent, own and
control the the lands and other vast resources
of the country. That’s the reason for the grave poverty of majority Filipinos.
On
2nd quarter of 1965, I joined
the students rally in Malacanan. The Vietnam-US war that started in 1961 has greatly
intensified. Vietcong forces had attacked
South Vietnamese and American
forces in several places. The United States was asking countries in Southeast Asia to volunteer and help fight the communists who were fighting in South Vietnam.
A
few thousands students joined the rally. months before the 1965 November elections. It was a peaceful rally held at Malacanan but
it has a strong demand. President
Diosdado Macapagal asked the student leaders to go up to the Palace for a
dialogue. There the student leaders asked
President Macapagal not to send Filipino troops to South Vietnam. The students do not see the wisdom
of US war involvement in Vietnam. They foresaw millions of Vietnamese and hundred
a thousand American and its
allies dying in the Vietnam War.
Sen.
Ferdinand Marcos, who was running for
President, in a statement the following day, said he will not send
Filipino forces to South Vietnam. Some students believed him. But after he was
elected President in November 9, 1965, Marcos forgot his campaign promise. One of his first actions
was to send Filipino soldiers, the
PHILCAG to South Vietnam under the command of Colonel Fidel Ramos.
President
Marcos first year term in Malacanang showed the growing strength of the
students, workers and peasants’ movement
that continued exposing the evils of US imperialisms, the
atrocities of feudalism and the greed of bureaucratic capitalism. These three evils were the major causes of poverty and deprived lives of Filipinos.
During
this years, Ruther Batuigas
continued to serve the people with his
pictures and newspaper reports. He touched some powerful leaders in Manila,
some got angry with him. Some advised him to go slow. But he continued in his
work, exposing evils in the bureaucracy and even among his peers in the news
and information business.
One
day, I was shocked. Ruther Batuigas was ambushed in Malate, Manila. He was brought to the hospital between
life and death. I learned he got some 30
bullets passing through his body. When I visited him, he was still unconscious. A lady
relative was watching him. I
prayed for him. I also left some amount for medicine. Many, I know
prayed for Ruther. Later, his body stabilized. Little by little he
gained strength and recovered. He
went back to work as a journalists. He continued serving the people by exposing anomalies in government
as a newspaperman and news photographer.
He
continued his jouney of service through his pictures and the written words. He
became a newspaper columnist. He continued for years in the calling. Then he became a publisher of the newspaper he
organized with his friends and partners. It was a beautiful journey for my
friend, Ruther Batuigas, who ventured to Manila from Mambusao, Capiz, years
ago, with his camera. And with
creativeness, enterprise, courage, dedication and faith reached far and touched people’s lives with his
camera and pen. He shared his
stories and pictures. He helped
brought change in
peoples lives and communities they lived.
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