How broadcast journalist Karmina Constantino spends her weekends

When she was just making her own mark in the industry, “rest” was not in her vocabulary. She would work even during her weekends and just give her all to everyone around her. This went on for long, until she had a brain aneurysm in 2015, which put her in a coma for three days. 

“Before the aneurysm, I was all over the place, trying to be everything to everyone and trying to do as much as I can. I didn’t take rest seriously. There weren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted to do,” she opened up to PhilSTAR L!fe. 

“I tell you, when something like that happens to you, you’re only alone with your thoughts. You have to make sure those are happy thoughts, and therefore that explains how I am now,” she said. 

Since that turning point in her life, she has made a pact with herself to keep her weekends “sacred.” While her Off Days now are admittedly the “busiest” for her, it’s the good kind that she considers her “rest” as every second of it is spent not anymore on work, but on the people who matter the most: her husband and their four kids. 

Before we ask you about your weekends, can you walk us through a typical day in your life?

My typical day begins at 5:30 in the morning. I wake up early, I try to get a workout in, and then I see to it that the kids are off to a good start to their day. They have breakfast and then I see them off. There are days during the week that I bring my youngest to school and then I go straight to radio (Teleradyo), and then straight to Dateline (ANC). But on days that I broadcast from home, for radio, I don’t get to bring them to school but I pick up my youngest from school. I do my Dateline reports, I come home, and then I’m back to being a mom again. And then, just rinse and repeat. 

It’s quite interesting how you took up film in college and didn’t want to be in the news industry at the start. How did that change for you? 

I think journalism found me first before I found journalism. I wasn’t like how the budding journalists of today are wherein they really know that this is what they want to do. I didn’t have any of those. I was just following my mom (who wanted this job for me). I was just being a dutiful daughter. 

I don’t think there’s one specific moment where I can say “Okay, this is it. I’m doing the journalist’s job and I’m loving it.” It wasn’t like that. It was just years and years, and hours upon hours of just being relentless, of asking questions and understanding issues, taking issues to heart, studying what perspective I should have, and asking all those questions. 

There wasn’t any realization. Parang all of a sudden, we just met. Journalism and Karmina met and I can’t pinpoint what day that was, what hour. I just know that up to this day, we’re in love. And I hope there won’t be a day where I’ll be tired of this, grow tired of what I’m doing because for me, it’s not really a job. I know I sound “baduy” or like a broken record for saying this, but it’s really my way of serving our country. It’s really that. 

Your work can get very demanding. When do your weekends start and end? 

Thursday palang, we have a weekend mindset na. My days off are strictly on Saturdays and Sundays. I think I’ve reached that point where I could say “I’m done. I don’t wanna work on the weekends.” There are more important things in life. 

Is not working on weekends a non-negotiable for you? 

Yes. Family first. My weekends are sacred. This pandemic has taught me and my husband that even if we’re very hands-on parents, that it’s still the quality and quantity of time that you spend with your kids and the family that really matters.

I’ve always been family-centric and I’ve wanted to have my family for as long as I can remember. I know the work that is needed to make sure that this is a family that they get to love, the kids get to have a lot of happy memories about our family. And the weekends, most of the time, is when we make those memories. We also have some during the weekdays but yung weekend talaga, it’s the busiest for me kasi nandyan na yung “What are we gonna do this weekend? What are we gonna eat?” And I get to do everything. It’s very, very busy. 

How do you spend quality time with your family?

Every time we’re together, that’s quality time for us. We love going on vacations but of course, hindi na ‘yan nagagawa because of the pandemic. We do movie nights, sometimes I like to throw in a midnight snack. I cook breakfast for them. We have meals together, we just hang out. We’re big on making memories. 

How important is rest to you? 

Very important. This realization came after I had my aneurysm in 2015. Before the aneurysm, I was like all over the place, trying to be everything to everyone and trying to do as much as I can. I didn’t take rest seriously. There weren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I wanted to do. 

I was just stressing myself out until the aneurysm came. I tell you, when something like that happens to you, you’re only alone with your thoughts. You just have to make sure that those are happy thoughts and therefore that explains how I am now. It’s all about the memories you’re making. It doesn’t have to be grand. It doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be a memory that’s worth remembering. It has to be happy. So I’m there. 

What’s your advice for those who want to be a journalist like you?

Be financially independent. This is what I learned from my parents and my grandparents. If you’re financially independent and you’re not relying on anyone for your paycheck, then you’re free to be able to ask the questions that need to be asked. You’re free to hold people to account. You’re free to speak truth to power, because you’re not beholden to anyone. No one’s paying you to do anything. 

I stand on the foundation that if this all goes away because of the questions that I ask, then I’m fine. I’m not going to hold my questions just because. So that’s one thing—be financially independent. Do not be beholden to anyone and know why you’re doing this. There shouldn’t be any other answer there but you’re doing this for the country because if there’s another answer to that, then you’re in the wrong business.