From the field to the palace

The former Sun.Star Davao photojournalist said that although he is still not used to wearing Barong Tagalog and suits for work in Malacañan, he looks forward to his daily grind at the Palace or chronicling the President and his work.

Toto said that there’s not much difference from his newsroom work to his current job except that he takes it a personal challenge to chronicle the President “like he’s an ordinary person” and “produce photos not just for the newsroom but also treat the images as historical pieces”.

Doing such, however, is difficult due to President Duterte’s close-in security. But he loves listening to the former Davao City mayor’s stories as he is just like listening to his father or grandfather.

“He uses metaphors to explain something and if it’s in Bisaya, you’ll get a good laugh,” the 36-year-old native of Koronadal City said, adding that the toughtalking commander-in-chief is an interesting subject to capture as he always has a story to tell.

Toto worked with Sun.Star Davao shortly after getting his diploma in Photojournalism at the Asian Center for Journalism. Veteran Tatay Rene B. Lumawag, who was then retiring from Sun. Star Davao, encouraged him to apply for his position.

When Toto resigned from Sun. Star Davao after a year, he did multimedia works with various news organizations then settled working with MindaNews.com.

He recalled the “infamous SCOREBOARD” as memorable in his short stint with Sun.Star Davao. He took it as a challenge to have his name at the “Kita Ray Naa” area of the scoreboard.

“It makes me feel like I am doing an extra mile for our readers by presenting something that the other papers missed. I find it heartwarming when people notice my photos and they share how they were moved by it. One example was when I took a photo of a toilet bowl in a sea of garbage at Isla Verde.”

He learned the value of the deadline and taking it seriously as he made sure that his photos make it on time.

The newsroom, according to him, gave him enough elbow room to explore his passion, too.

He spends most of his time in Metro Manila where he is based. Whenever he is in Davao City during his day-off, he rides his bike to the Island Garden City of Samal.

He misses eating durian and pomelo and the cheap yet fresh fruits and vegetables as these are expensive in Metro Manila.

He also misses newspaper work but is excited that newsrooms are shifting into multimedia production and into multi-media storytelling.