Media workers may bask in the limelight and may wield tremendous amount of influence. But, as four topnotch Davao journalists tell davaotoday.com, they are not spared from poverty and the corruption and danger that it brings.
BY GRACE S. UDDIN
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY – Print and broadcast journalists may have relative popularity or notoriety because of the power of information they wield on air or on print. But that doesn’t mean they are spared from the same hardships suffered by ordinary Filipinos.
Four journalists here shared their own tales of coping with poverty and their meager income, and overcoming the call of the “envelope”, or bribery.
Carmelito Francisco, Managing Editor of the local daily Mindanao Times, had been in media for more than 13 years. He recalled that, back in 1992, when he was just starting out as a writer, he was paid per column inch. He usually earns P600 per article.
“It was just very fortunate that my boss was kind enough and would occasionally shell out, say, 100 pesos from his own pocket to help me sustain my meager income,” he said.
Francisco went from one newspaper to another, and worked for all the four established local newspapers in the city. In 2002, he finally settled for Mindanao Times, where he later became the managing editor, receiving an average pay of 15,000 pesos. He also writes for BusinessWorld, where he is paid 1.50 per word. In a month, he receives an average of 10,000 pesos from BusinessWorld.
Francisco knows he fares relatively better than other media workers in the city. One problem he sees is the level of competition among local newspapers here, which are competing for advertisers rather than quality.
Francisco says in Cebu, for example, editors receive higher pay compared to the editors in Davao City.
“This is an issue that should be addressed by the company owners. If they are competing for a good paper, the advantage will be on the reporters because they will hire the best and offer the highest salary as possible,” he said.
A broadcast journalist, Jessie Casalda, reporter and program director of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) and also a writer for Mindanao Daily Mirror, had his own share of money problems when he was still with a big TV network.
It had something to do with the “lifestyle” that he needed to maintain because people have higher expectations from employees of the TV station.
“You tend to spend more than what you earn, because you have to live up to the perception of the people, since you are working in a big network,” he said.
Economic Difficulties
Mario Maximo Solis, more popularly known as Dodong Solis to colleagues and radio listeners, is a station manager for RMN in the city and the assistant area manager for Mindanao of the network. But before reaching his current position, he went through economic difficulties as a journalist.
In 1983, Solis was still a student at the University of Mindanao (UM) when he started out as a writer for the University of Mindanao Broadcasting Network (UMBN). The family of Eugenio Torres owned both UM and the radio station UMBN. As an arrangement, Solis was paid by way of free schooling plus a 50-peso allowance, which he used as transport fare for coverages.
“That situation alone was indeed tough, much more if you were an ordinary man who went here in Davao to look for greener pastures. Before, we would just eat banana cue, drink water, and that would be enough for lunch.”
The next year, Solis was hired as a reporter of the Manila Broadcasting Company, where he was given a salary of 800 pesos a month. The employees later went on strike to ask for a 50-peso increase in their wages. The management, however, rejected their call and eventually closed the station.
Solis also worked for ABS- CBN. “They had a system where in every program, you would be paid 1,000 pesos. If you can report in another program, you would get 1,500 pesos. So, if you collect it all, you would have 20,000 pesos a month. But you would get income only for the duration of that program. What if your luck runs out and only one project is given to you? Then you will have a take home pay of only 1,500 pesos,” he said.
Solis also remembered the times when Davao was tagged as the “Nicaragua of Asia’,” because of the rampant killings; he was assigned to cover these incidents. Those times, there was also tough competition among journalists, who could earn commission from funeral parlors. Whenever a person was reported killed, journalists would immediately call his favored funeral parlor. For every body that the journalist could report in, he got 50 pesos.
“It’s our own way of striving and funeral homes do that out of pity on us. So every week they pay us,” Solis said.
In 1987, Solis said being a media worker was already very hard.
“Among other things we do to survive was to go to wakes to have free snacks. The chief of police would give us breakfast because he knew about our situation. Often times, your food would depend on where you would be going. You go out with the mayor or cover press conferences just to be able to eat and sustain your needs,” he said.
Of all the radio stations in Davao City, RMN enjoys not only the widest reach but the highest credibility. Solis credits his station and his colleagues for keeping their head above water, their ethics intact.
Solis implemented a conducive working environment for reporters when he became station manager of RMN, which is a family corporation owned by the Canoy family. RMN employees are given wages above the minimum set by the Department of Labor and Employment, he said.
Despite their strict compliance with the law, Solis admitted that the 5,000 to 6,000 pesos minimum wage is not enough to cope with the rising cost of living. “So what if you are a reporter? That doesn’t mean that you will not be affected by the high cost of living today.”
As a way of easing the burden on their employees, Solis helped them by being creative in their use of revenues and income. For instance, if the station earns 10,000 pesos from a certain event, he would remit the 7,000 pesos to the station while the remaining 3,000 pesos is shared among the employees.
Aside from this, the station hires its own people as voice talents for radio dramas. In every recording, the production cost would amount to 40,000 pesos, where 60% goes back to talent fees.
The station also provides free meals to employees. “Instead of bringing packed lunch, or going out with the politicians, you will just come back here because there’s food available,” Solis explained, adding that these lunches also strengthen the camaraderie among employees.
But RMN’s experience is, in a way, unique.
Tek Ocampo, a national correspondent of GMA-7 Manila, admitted that, although a regular employee, what he earns from his regular and main job is not sufficient. “Believe it or not, I am just earning 15,000 a month,” Tek said.
He augments this income by doing anchor jobs in the network’s radio station, RGMA, and for being a talent in the local GMA TV. He would receive between 20,000 to 30,000 a month all in all. He also shuttles between Manila and Davao, but staying mostly in Davao helps him save money. He says he’s glad that at least he has a secured job.
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