It is of great delight and relief that I am writing this entry at the comfort of my home and not in a police station or in a fully barricaded hotel in Makati City.
Thank heavens, thank heavens.
Today's coverage was probably the biggest, indubitably the scariest and the most dangerous I've had so far.
It was just a normal day for me (except for my additional coverage of the Armed Forces to take over Joel who's in Basilan) until the day desk editor asked me to see what Senator Antonio Trillanes' show was all about. A simple show it was not, however.
I arrived at the Manila Peninsula hotel in Makati City just in time (around lunch), luckily several minutes before the heavily armed Magdalo soldiers closed the area to the public. I approached NCR chief, Police Director Geary Barias who was having coffee at the lobby. Barias later tried to get to the second floor of the hotel where Trillanes et al have holed out but he was barred. I knew then it was going to be a long coverage.
I was able to get to the second floor through an elevator the Magdalo soldiers were stupid enough not to guard, hehe. Then the action began.
Former UP President Dodong Nemenzo, one of my favorite sources, told me he would never leave the hotel, just like Trillanes, Brig Gen Danilo Lim, and former vp Teofisto Guingona and the rest of the gang. I was determined to stay too, upon orders of the office and because covering it seemed like a calling, not just a job. To stay calm we reporters took pictures, chatted about how our moms and boyfriends were telling (even pleading)us to go home, and jokingly told each other how we appreciated spending what could be our last hours together.
Around 2:30, we heard gunshots outside the hotel and we saw the Special Action Force, an elite police unit, and the military wheeling their tanks towards where we were situated. It was then that we decided to take the hotel's table cloths. We ripped them off and made it our hankies, as we anticipated security forces to throw teargas. And they did. The next thing I knew I was trying to pour water all over my face from a glass I don't know who last used it.
Then we were crawling like soldiers in a battlefield as we tried to see the hotel lobby. We had to crawl out of fear of being shot. I finally grasp the meaning of the motto "no story is worth dying for."
Later on Trillanes conceded and promised to leave the hotel. We were relieved.
And as security forces tried to ram their tanks through the hotel entrance and as Barias called me and advised me to leave, I knew it was time to go. When the SAF ordered media to go despite the teargas fumes we had to bear on our way out, I immediately conceded.
It was then that I broke down and cried because I was not able to breath or see a thing due to the teargas smoke while I had to shout 'Media' to the SAF personnel who were pointing their long firearms. One SAF even dragged me like I was some kind of a suspect and another was kind enough to (rudely however) pour water over my face to get rid of the teargas.
Seconds after, I was finally out and it felt like the best thing on earth! Ah air! Fresh air! I then made my way out and hid behind a big pillar because the desk editor told me police would arrest reporters inside. Haha, so I now also know what it feels like to be a fugitive. I felt guilty though that some of my friends were not spared from being arrested. :(
It has been a long day, definitely another historic event. And I'm just glad I was able to cover it--and more glad that I was able to come out alive. :)
