My eight-year stint as TV news reporter (ages ago!) is special to me because aside from it opened doors for me in the media industry, it also introduced me to colleagues who became my friends like Adrian Ayalin of ABS-CBN and Joseph Morong of GMA. (pero minsan napapaisip din ako kung friends ko ba talaga sila!)
I never had the chance to work with Adrian, but our newsrooms were in the same compound, the Broadcast City in Quezon City. He was news anchor/reporter for IBC-13, and I was public service host/reporter for RPN9. (so lumang panahon ito!)
I remember we would meet for dinner right after our respective programs. We would take a tricyle at the gate of Broadcast City to bring us to a nearby Katipunan avenue restaurant. (oo tricyle kami habang nakamake-up pa ha!)
Joseph, on the other hand, was a fellow police beat reporter. I was already in that beat for about two years, when GMA News assigned him to cover the same area I was covering. He was aloof during his first months in the beat, but we eventually became friends. (kailangan nya akong ifriend kasi ako ang reyna ng Manila Police District that time!)
I introduced Adrian to Joseph, and we would be together in Saturday gimmicks and out of town escapades. (feeling bagets ganyan!)
When I decided to leave the news industry and be a radio jock/TV entertainment host, Adrian took a job at the US Embassy but after several years, went back to broadcasting via ABS-CBN while Joseph opted to be a solid Kapuso. (solid daw o!)
It has been almost two decades since we all first met, but we still manage to meet every now and then. (at mag feeling close sa isa’t isa!) I am proud of what they have achieved as respected broadcast journalists. (may paggalanga ba talaga?!) Let’s wish them well as they continue to cover the news as it happens, where it happens. (lalo na ngayong panahon ng pandemya, at panahon ng mga pulitiko!)
(MR.FU hosts on 91.5 Win Radio, 9pm-12mn, Mondays to Fridays. Twitter/IG: @mrfu_mayganon. FB: mr.fu the star dj. Youtube/FB: WTFu. Patreon: www.patreon.com/wtfu website: www.channelfu.com)