view thru my eyes

Meet KJWAN (counterclockwise from top right: Boogie Romero, J-hoon Balbuena, Kelly Mangahas, Marc Abaya, and Jorel Corpus) We had an interview last May and will have their story released on this Monday's issue
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Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City again came to a halt as protesters and supporters came in droves for the annual State of the Nation Address of the President.

Marching orders for us in the magazine was to just watch the SONA instead but my instinct as a photographer still came in. So, I still took pictures of the people gathered in the streets.

Traffic arrangements was similar when President Bush of the US came to Batasan. Rallyists crowded in front of Ever Gotesco Mall.

Other photographers had already gathered at the stage set by party-list group Bayan Muna in front of the mall.

Most of us took the opportunity to climb scaffoldings set behind the stage. I even met some students from UP who were making a documentary of the event. They were also scared by the feat and great lengths they were doing to get a good shot of the event.

I stayed there for over an hour and left for a meeting.

* When I came back home last night, the stretch of Commonwealth Avenue that people occupied stenched of garbage. I was covering my nose from the rotting smell. The local government did not do clean-up operations in the area after the event.

The EquitablePCI Bank Stockholders Meeting finally happened and it was a thrill.

I arrived at the place at 2pm, way ahead of the 3pm scheduled start of the meeting. But photographers and cameramen were barred from entering the building. So, we had to contend ourselves with shooting the picket outside and the platoon of secutrity guards. We could not even get pictures of any Go family member as they took an entrance at the basement of the building.

Ces Drilon of ABS-CBN arrived at around 3pm, and was wondering why we were not allowed inside the meeting. She was going back and forth of the lobby of Santiago Hall, making calls to whoever could allow us in. She was also adamant on why we allowed ourselves to be pushed out of this public meeting. One of the photographers was quick to say, "Eh, may mga baril sila( They have guns)."

At 3:35 pm, things picked up when Winston Garcia of GSIS stormed out of the building and called for other stockholders to nearby Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Other stockbrokers followed crossing to the other side of Makati Ave.

It was quite surprising to see that a ballroom had been reserved at the hotel. The SSS-GSIS-TMEQ group probably foresaw this conflict, and this time came prepared for any action. Last year, the group was surprised by the turn of events at the stockholders meeting.

By 4:30pm, the group, composing of about 54 of the stakeholders of the bank selected 15 board members, who in turn would be selected to positions. The Go family was left out as a minority shareholder, holding five board seats.

On the other side, it was said that the Go family selected 10 board members.

By 5:30 pm, the group at Mandarin held a closed-door meeting, probably to discuss their future actions.

Vilma Santos, who was awarded the Gawad Plaridel Awards last July 4, talks passionately about the problems besetting the movie industry, and hopes that the national government do its share to help in its upliftment
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Elated by the BIG crowd that welcomed him
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Cameras and cellphone all over him
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NEIL GAIMAN is here in the Philippines.

It was his second day of appearance and book signing for Filipino fans.

I had to cover his second day of visit today at Greenhills. I did not realize his BIG following here in the country. The crowd was swelling today at the branch FULLY BOOKED, a new bookstore specializing in imported books here in the country, at Greenhills.

He came in late, at around 2:30 pm, but everyone was thrilled to see him. He was still able to do a book reading, from one of his novels and answer a couple of questions.

First, would he be able to finish his book, Delirium. He answered, "Hopefully before I die", and the crowd moaned. Second, when will he be back in the country. He is hoping that talks with a Singapore stop will push through in the future, and then he'll connect that visit with that here. Last question thrown was on the realization of his projects as a movie. He said that he is hoping to have Death come soon, since the first draft is already finished.

Then, a guy comes in, probably the one in charge of Fully Booked, saying that he wants to shorten and have some discipline in the book signing for that afternoon, since the previous day signing at Rockwell Mall finished at 1:30 am, with about 3,000 people having their books signed.

I was still able to shoot around and do my shooting assignement, but I was awestruck of Neil Gaiman. And as I review my shots for today, some of them looked bad.

So, I guess, I still have another shot tomorrow with the media/writer's session and the last book signing at the Cubao branch of Fully Booked.