Who We Are
They'd rather answer the call of duty than stay safe
Yes, photojournalism is alive and kicking — or should we say clicking! That is, despite the fact that professional photojournalists are now being shoved aside by anyone who has a smartphone with a high-resolution camera and who just happens to be in the right place at the right time when something newsworthy (or Instagrammable) crops up.
Can photojournalism survive in the digital world? They say that the increasing popularity of smartphones (a new one is coming up all the time, with more and more advanced cameras) and “mistrust of the press” have impacted on the future of photojournalism.
But look here! “Photography will always play a role, but there are better ways of telling visual stories,” says Daniel Etter, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer, feature writer, and filmmaker.
“It's not about technique anymore but about telling stories,” declares Magnus Wennman of Scandinavia's biggest newspaper.
Most certainly, our intrepid Philippine STAR photographers have countless stories to tell — and to share. Like our essential and frontline workers serving the country in the time of COVID-19, STAR photographers put their lives on the line to deliver the day's news, hot and fresh like your favorite pizza or fried chicken.
“On top of lugging our heavy equipment, we have to wear a mask, a face shield, and sometimes a whole PPE (personal protective equipment) when we cover,” relates Geremy “Mong” Pintolo. “When the day is done, I feel short of breath and dehydrated.”
Mong adds that he always makes a checklist so he never forgets anything when he leaves for work. Of course, “sobrang dasal (praying hard)” is on top of the list.
“The thing is, photographers can't work from home,” he quips.
Mong's worst fear is bringing home the virus to his family and infecting his two precious little children, aged eight and two years old.
Russell Palma agrees that this pandemic has drastically changed the way photojournalists cover the news. “Photographers no longer jostle each other to get the best angle,” he points out. “Now, we have to keep our distance from our subjects and fellow photographers.”
“Being a photojournalist has never been this challenging,” says Krizjohn Rosales. “You have to be creative enough while staying safe and protected.”
Face to face with danger
Coming face to face with danger has been part of these photojournalists' normal routine even before the new normal. They have seen many a calamity and tragedy with their own eyes, and have captured headline-making moments with the eye of the camera. Far too often, they also find themselves flirting with the Grim Reaper.
Our man in Benguet Andy Zapata had a close brush with death when he covered the search and retrieval of bodies buried in a landslide in Itogon, Benguet at the height of Typhoon Ompong in September, 2018. An erosion occurred while the photographers were shooting. Andy, with some photographers, had to rescue a colleague who was covered with heavy mud.
I won't trade this job for anything in the world. The opportunity to document history is a privilege given only to a few and I'm proud to be one of them, to be part of the history of The Philippine STAR. – Krizjohn Rosales
Ernie Peñaredondo found himself in the line of fire while covering the Manila Peninsula siege by rebel soldiers in 2007. “We were in the hotel lobby when the police started spraying us with tear gas. We couldn't breathe anymore so we were forced to come out,” he recounts. “When we got out on the Ayala Avenue side of the hotel, soldiers had their guns aimed at us. We had to scream that we were from the media!”
Michael Varcas had his own close shave when he sneaked into a funeral car to get a scoop on a victim of extrajudicial killing.
On the other hand, Walter Bollozos, who's no stranger to the smell of death (read his Bocaue tragedy account), broke an ankle after he fell off a roof three stories high while covering a demolition in Binondo.
It's not unusual for our photojournalists to get involved in their subjects —emotionally, that is. Jesse Bustos nearly broke into tears while covering the burial of Sonya Gregorio and her son Frank of Paniqui, Tarlac, who were gunned down by a police officer. Edd Gumban was desolate after covering the aftermath of Typhoon Reming, which buried many villages in Bicol in 2006.
When you look at these photos by The Philippine STAR photographers, you can be sure they were taken not so much with the camera as with a lot of heart.
Walter Bollozos
My first biggest coverage was the Bocaue Pagoda tragedy on July 2, 1993. Still studying then, I was on my way home when I heard a flash report on the radio that the floating pagoda used in the Bocaue River Festival sank, killing more than 200 devotees. I drove back to the STAR office to get backup film and rushed to Bocaue, Bulacan.
When I got there, it was so dark and I could hear people screaming for help. I was shooting from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. I was so tired and so were the rescuers who had stopped their operations. I phoned in my story to the night editor.
Walking back to my service car, I passed by dead bodies lying on the streets — children, women, men, all drowning victims. It was unsettling and I started throwing up. When I looked around, I noticed I was the only media photographer on the scene. I went to school the next morning and got a beeped message from STAR chairman Betty Go-Belmonte. She was congratulating me for my scoop — only STAR carried the incident in its banner with my story and photo.
It's quite painful (literally speaking) to recall my coverage of the Binondo demolition, where residents would not leave but instead throw rocks at policemen who fought back with tear gas. I looked for a vantage point where I could shoot, so I climbed to the roof of a building. Unfortunately, the rocks the protesters were throwing landed on my roof —I was standing at the edge. I fell off the roof three stories high and broke my ankle.
It's never easy covering natural disasters, like the great Marikina flood at the height of killer Typhoon Mario in 2014. It's even harder now because we have to wear all sorts of protective gear. News coverage now has so many restrictions that photojournalists have to use their imagination and resourcefulness.
Now, I can only pray for God to take care of my family as I do my job in this pandemic. Covering the hard news is food for photojournalists and I know I will never lose my appetite for this job because at day's end, it will all be worth it.
Geremy “Mong” Pintolo
I had a near-death experience when I was assigned in Marawi in 2018 to cover the Bangsa Moro Basic Law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte. We were in a convoy, but some makulit photographers (me included) separated from the pack, which prompted one soldier to run after us. He warned us that we could be stepping on landmines as the place had not been cleared and a grenade had just been recovered.
Not quite risky but somewhat volatile were the heated deliberations on the Senate floor, which I used to cover. Like the verbal battle between Senators Miguel Zubiri and Antonio Trillanes. There were times when I had to be at the Senate till late evening as the deliberations would drag on and on. I just couldn't leave my beat because something might erupt that could be a possible headline story.
It can be risky covering the news, but there are perks, such as meeting VIPs like the kind-hearted Nedy Tantoco of Rustan's. For the Lifestyle section, I often cover a lot of personalities who are always nice to photographers!
My worst fears in this pandemic are losing a member of my family and losing my job because I have two little kids, aged eight and two years old, who depend on me to see them grow up.
Since the pandemic, covering the news has been a daily struggle. Aside from carrying our heavy cameras, we have to be properly geared. Before I leave the house, I have a lot of items on my checklist. On top of that list, of course, is the fervent prayer that I don't get the virus and pass it on to my family.
I will never forget the time I covered Muntinlupa when it first set up tents as swabbing areas. Families were being brought in by an ambulance. I remember one particular family, with a toddler and an infant, who was asymptomatic. While shooting, I thought about my own kids and prayed hard for this family.
Despite all the risks, it's never crossed my mind to quit because who else would do our job? Who else would bring the news in these critical times?
Ernie Peñaredondo
Off hand, I can cite two most memorable coverages. One is the fish kill in Talisay, Batangas, where the oxygen level in the water around the Taal Lake coastal towns dropped, causing the death of tons and tons of freshwater milkfish and tilapia. That happened in 2019, a year before the pandemic.
The other is the Taal Volcano eruption in January, 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic. The last time Taal Volcano erupted was 43 years ago, although this volcano had shown signs of unrest before it finally erupted on January 14, 2020. Houses were buried in ash. I was moved to see the affected residents trying to save whatever they could — their humble belongings and, most of all, their livestock, which was their only source of livelihood.
I will also never forget my coverage of the Guinsaugon mudslide in Southern Leyte in 2006. We could hardly sleep because we could smell the dead bodies around us. It was reported to be the worst landslide in Philippine history. Of the 1,800 Guinsaugon residents, there were only 53 survivors.
Jesse Bustos
Meeting VIPs and celebrities up close is one of the highs of my job as a photojournalist. On the other hand, one of the lows is covering accidents and fires, where people die, get hurt, and lose their homes.
I've covered tragic events like the shooting of Sonya Gregorio and her son Frank by senior master sergeant Jones Nuezca following an altercation in December, 2020 in Paniqui, Tarlac. I almost burst in tears seeing the grieving Gregorio family. Because of the pandemic, they could not even hug each other to share their grief and comfort each other.
My worst fear is losing my job during this pandemic. Having a job these days is a great blessing. I've learned a lot and have grown a lot on the job. No pandemic can make me abandon my job.
Edd Gumban
I have so far covered two big tragic events. One is the Hacienda Luisita massacre in Tarlac in 2004, where some farmers were killed. The other is Typhoon Reming that ravaged the Bicol region in 2006, causing loss of lives when mudflows from Mayon Volcano buried many villages.
My worst fear in this pandemic is being isolated because that will keep me from doing my job. The pandemic has certainly changed the way we cover the news. When the virus was surging last year, I had to wear full personal protective equipment (PPE). There are so many health/ safety protocols to observe now. It has affected not just my workflow but also my daily habits.
We're not seeing the end of the pandemic anytime soon. It has, In fact, become part of our lives. So I guess I just have to stick around.
Russell Palma
Before COVID-19, I was covering the news, sports, typhoons, tragedies. My most memorable coverage is the eruption of Taal Volcano before the pandemic. After the eruption, power was cut off because of the heavy rain and ashfall. It was scary driving down the slippery mountain roads because visibility was zero.
When I cover the news now, I always think of my family. I worry that I could bring home the virus and infect my family.
Covering the news is never the same again amid the pandemic. Before, photographers jostled each other to get a better angle of the picture. Now, we can only get different angles from a distance, we have to respect each other's space, wear a mask, disinfect ourselves and our equipment every time.
It's tough, but as long as there are stories that people should know about, we will be here for the long haul.
Michael Varcas
Nothing beats the feeling of being able to deliver the goods needed to give life to a story, specially if it's a big coverage. Like the high-profile murder of teenager Kian delos Santos by three police officers in relation to President Duterte's war on drugs. It was a much-publicized case and the pressure was high for us to deliver. The promulgation of the case (the officers were found guilty) was expected to be the next day's headline. Luckily, I hurdled all the challenges and was able to take photos that made the front page of The Philippine STAR the following day.
The closest I've come to death was my coverage of the shooting of 23-year-old construction worker Kim Ramos by a police officer. Ramos was a victim of extrajudicial killing related to drugs. As a group of construction workers was digging his grave, little did they know that I was able to sneak into the funeral service car and was already taking pictures when the funeral car reached the area.
The workers were really furious when they learned I was from the media and chased after me for like 200 meters. Luckily, I outran them and managed to get to the waiting area for media, where Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro was waiting. That was certainly a close call! Though it wasn't as big as other political stories, I was happy because I got the headline-making picture.
I feel good when I'm able to translate ideas into photo stories. I've done shoots on an LGBTQ wedding, a dialysis patient on a bike, Aeta children attending school in this pandemic, and a mother giving birth in a lying-in clinic.
Probably my most memorable coverage so far is the flood in Cagayan, where I bridged the 300-plus-kilometer distance between Cagayan and Manila to be able to send photos in the shortest possible time. It was my day-off, but I pitched the story to my office and insisted I must get there. I left Manila at midnight so I could be there by morning to shoot. Heading back home, I was offered a slot in a chopper, and I had to risk flying in bad weather.
The following day, all the other newspapers and social media published the same photos that were probably handed out like an official press release of the flood. I was happy and proud that STAR had exclusive photos of the flood — taken by me!
I feel that being a photojournalist is a moral duty. You're like committing a crime if you turn away from what's happening around you and not report it.
Krizjohn Rosales
Being out there to cover has never been this challenging. Photojournalists have to be brave enough and creative enough to do their job while trying to stay safe and protected enough amid the pandemic.
There was a time when looking for news was easy as there were many ways of getting it. Now, I have to be mindful of the people around me. I have to consider what will be good not just for the photo but also for the people in the photo.
This pandemic has brought me many unforgettable experiences. Like the appearance of the magnificent Supermoon, Taal Volcano eruption, typhoons, vaccinations, the installation of Cardinal Jose Advincula as Archbishop of Manila, and the death of former President Noynoy Aquino.
I won't trade this job for anything in the world. The opportunity to document history is a privilege given only to a few and I'm proud to be one of them, to be part of the history of The Philippine STAR.
Andy Zapata
I had a close brush with death when I covered the search and retrieval of bodies buried in a landslide in Barangay Ucab, Itogon, Benguet, at the height of Typhoon Ompong on Sept. 18, 2018. At least 78 people were buried in the landslide. While on the site, another erosion occurred, which led me and fellow photojournalists to scamper for safety, along with the rescuers. We all tried to save a colleague who was covered with heavy mud.
I've covered many disasters before, but this pandemic is really something else. Aside from contracting the virus, some of my fears are as follows: not having insurance for possible illness or infection, media killings, unsafe coverages, social media trolls, being tagged as biased, non-security of tenure, lack of retirement funds.
So far, my most memorable recent assignments include covering COVID-19 survivors as they were discharged from the hospital and the vaccination of Baguio centenarians in their homes.
Yes, I will keep on doing my job despite the challenges because I want people to see history through the eye of my camera.