April 19, 2012, Thursday: I submitted the articles to our mentor and lucky enough, he only marked two errors overall (when I think I really got more) and asked, “Ikaw ba talaga gumawa nito? Baka ang papa lang o bf ha. Sa susunod nga pagagawain ko kayo on-the-spot.” Hahaha! I was actually overwhelmed of this yet got quite annoyed, though. Maybe because I told him I do not really dedicate myself fully to Journalism and that I should have taken computer-related course. And yes, I remember my answer, “Ahhhm.. naligaw lang po,” to his question, “Ikaw ba gusto mo ba talaga maging reporter?”

As we were on our way to the Supreme Court for a tour, he caught me whispering and silently giggling about the matter to Reina and smirked away at me. I got scared, really. >.<

We have arrived at the Supreme Court and it’s quite amusing to actually have us use the elevator solely for the judges’ use. Silly, huh? He also gave us the chance to visit COJ Corona’s office. Such a privileged tour indeed it is! I just wished though that the man was there for a souvenir pic. :))

He dismissed us at around 4 p.m. and told us it’s our day off tomorrow, Friday.

April 18, 2012, Wednesday: A presscon was held with the presence of the BIR, BOC, and officials BOC Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, BOC Intelligence Group Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim and DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima. Discussion about 2 rice smuggling suspects was brought up.

It’s awe-inspiring to actually see de Lima in-person! Yet quite scary, though.

April 17, 2012, Tuesday: I got really nothing to write journal about this day as our mentor didn’t arrive at the DOJ. We just headed off to Manila Times around after lunch time to submit our MOA for OJT and went home.

April 16, 2012, Monday: My partner, Reina, who is also my blockmate, and I got at the Department of Justice at around 9 a.m. and started to brainstorm as early as we got there how do we get a story. We were told that by 1 p.m. our lead should have been submitted or else we will be marked absent in the morning; and by 4 p.m. our whole story should have been submitted or else we will be marked absent the whole day. How pressing is that, eh?

It’s already 10 a.m. and we have been to the Information Divisions as well as the press office and asked there about the presscon schedule. And yes, ’til that time we still got nothing productive. It’s already 11 a.m. and our mentor has not arrived yet. We were actually advised he usually get to DOJ at 10 p.m. And got nothing to do, we were just there sitting outside the press office, shy and clueless of what to properly do.

Out of boredom, we asked ourselves silly things like ‘how does our mentor look like, how old he is, is he handsome, maybe he’s as old as Sen. Enrile’ and the likes. We also got hopeless thinking of quitting because ma’am Tita has just sent us a text message saying that our mentor is not obliged to guide us on the actual fieldwork. Silly, isn’t it? I was actually determined there and then that I would really quit and would just wait for another OJT opportunity when the classes start.

We had our lunch first at around 12 p.m. and by the time we finished at around 1 p.m., few minutes later, our mentor has come! He’s really quite young enough for our assumption that he’s as old as Sen. Enrile, haha! He gave us a tour on the DOJ and Court of Appeals and gave us several information and tips based on his 16-year experience being a journalist/reporter.

He’s so jolly and such a jester, we thought we would really be enjoying our fieldwork with him. Before he dismissed us, we were assigned a total of six articles to be submitted on Wednesday. Our assignment includes rehashing published story in English and Filipino versions and making original stories in English and Filipino version out of a speech.

The conflict however is that we will not be able to pass the whole week a story everyday as our mentor said it would be impossible as news doesn’t come always in our beat.

April 13, 2012: Ahh, the most exciting day has come at last! We are now be able to get our beats through draw-lots! Before we got to this, Ma’am Tita again discussed some points and have us again writing what we have learned the last day. And yes of course, with the help of that “ball thing” again.

Finally, ma’am Tita got the plastic full of wrapped little papers and I thought, which of you guys would be mine? Hahaha! It really got me anxious and started to whisper to myself, “please no police beat. Please no police beat,” repeatedly. Yeah, kind of rude of me to exclude the police beat on my assumptions but we were told quite a lot of negative stuff about the people you get to encounter there, so no. :))

We hurried to the line and lucky enough, I got the Supreme Court/DOJ beat! Hahaha, my gods were with me at that time and heard my silly prayer.

On the next week was the start of our fieldwork and holding that piece of paper, it didn’t get any more exciting than that feeling right there and then!

April 12, 2012: Ma’am Tita furthered our discussion about what-to-know-most-importantly in Journalism before she sets us off to our fieldwork next week. She also announced we would be assigned on our beats tomorrow by draw-lots! I am excited!

Before she dismissed us, we were given a small activity where we should write what we have learned the last day and have it recited in the class if hit by the ball. I kind of find this “ball thing” annoying and frustrating, though. -.-

April 11, 2012: The President and CEO of the Manila Times Dante Francis M. Ang II was our mentor of the day and he explained the most substantial parts on practicing Journalism at fieldwork. I learned more about the types of how stories are being written, lead types (special ones), and a lot more. I am of great pleasure I met the most important person in the publication company for which I am currently in for OJT.

After we were given a 1 and 1/2 hour break, we just corrected our diagnostic exams and were sent home.