The Many Hats I've Worn

 

Doing a documentary for the government in
Mindanao. ca.2010

As I watched my marriage crumble 13 years ago, I fell into a deep, dark hole thinking, “How I envy people who have ONE single skill they are absolutely good at and make a shitload of money with!”

Until recently, I was still stuck in that same hole, thinking that money would solve all my worries and life would be fine and dandy again but as it turns out, my life is lightyears better now than it was when I thought the same way. It’s not that I’ve gained financial freedom but rather, freedom in an esoteric sense.

Working as a First Assistant for
a major photo studio in 1993.

From where I stand, I can name a few hats I’ve worn over the years and I get to thinking if there is anyone else—friend or family—that has gone through the same evolution as I have. Modesty aside, I am quite amazed at what I’ve been able to accomplish over the last few years alone, that I might never have had I forced the issue and made peace with my estranged wife and stayed with my kids.

Backing track a few decades, I started working in 1986 as a professional photographer. I began accepting money for my services covering weddings and events. Over the years, I would rise higher in the ladder and do advertising, fashion, editorial, travel and documentary  photography.

In 1992, my boss and mentor introduced me to filmmaking and television production using the same photography skills I’ve honed. This time, I would also learn how to cut a motion picture and learn about post-production.

In 1995, I was among 16 Filipino photojournalists who underwent a Master Class in Photojournalism under the tutelage of Spanish master, Cristina Garcia-Rodero. In the same year, while learning Spanish, a classmate, the late Emmy Fernandez who was a teacher in Sta. Isabel College Manila asked me if I wanted to teach Photography in the BS Public Relations Department.

One of the many students who attended my
Photography 101 class at the Sta. Isabel College 
Manila.

In the same time frame, I met and mingled with artists and became part of the Bohemian Malate culture, shooting photos of fellow artists and playing percussion instruments like the African “Dhoumbek” hand drum, the native, “Kubing” and found objects to create “Earth Music” on drunken and drugged up weekends.

While in Malate, I met up with a film producer who would eventually become one of my best friends and “ninang” of my first born. She would introduce me to the world of live events and television where I would write scripts and coach talents during “bar raids” and other below-the-line advertising sorties.

In 1999, I worked for an NGO doing counseling work for troubled teens and couples dealing with reproductive health, HIV-AIDS, sexuality and psychological issues.

Playing "Earth Music" again with my compadre,
Christian Becker, during a reunion in 2010.

In 2001, I would become a father to my eldest daughter, Heather and shortly after, my second child Brianna. Work would be put off in favor of Daddy duties.

After a short breather, I would become full-time scriptwriter/segment producer/director/floor director for a television network. In between, I would moonlight as an actor/technical adviser/script coach for independent foreign films and History Channel Asia. There would also be short films and TV commercials along the way.

Taking a break from television, I became the chief photographer/editor-in-chief of “AirsoftXtreme” International Magazine and contributing writer/photographer for “Spiff Magazine”.

As a rappelling instructor, kids and women were
the easiest to teach.

Doing "Aussie Rappel" for the first time under the 
supervision of a buddy in the Marines.

In 2008, I went back to my love for rappelling and became an instructor at the Kampo Uno in the UP Diliman campus.

In 2011, Manila Sentinel, the “Emergency-proof lifestyle Magazine” went live with me as editor-in-chief and publisher.

Me lighting up the range and bagging the 
Championship in the Standard Division, Media 
Category. ca.2002

In 2013, I would write and direct the Philippine Navy Institutional film with cinematographer, A.B. Garcia. That would be followed by a failed attempt at another government-contract film with a similar theme.

Me as Team Leader/Director of the Joint Task Group (JTG-7)
for "Operation Shooter", code name for the filming of "Beyond the Shoreline", 
the Philippine Navy Institutional Film, 2013.

Working as a public servant in Malacanang was one of my
incredible achievements. Not bad for a high school dropout!

In 2014, I would be one of the Challenge Producers for the TV series, “The Amazing Race Philippines” where I would get the chance to rappel from the roofdeck of the SM Aura in Taguig and the Tuasan Waterfalls in Camiguin, Misamis Oriental.

The "Oceans Project" creative staff.

Not only have I spent years behind the camera, I was
pretty much in front of it as well.

Bagging our 2nd Catholic Mass Mass Media Award
(CMMA) for my show, "Public Atorni" hosted by
PAO Chief, Atty. Persida Acosta, ca. 2011

In another film project in 2015, for the Bloomberg Foundation of New York, I would serve as an interpreter and facilitator for, “The Oceans Project”, a documentary about the Philippine seas and other coastal towns and villages in the world.

In 2016, I was part of a two-man special operations team for a candidate who would become the 16^th President of the Republic and because of that, I landed a post as Presidential News Writer in Malacań Palace.

In 2017, I was transferred to the News and Information Bureau and served as a Reporter for the Philippine News Agency. I would be promoted to Supervising Producer for the television broadcast of the PNA.

And in my latest incarnation, I completed and Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) course and began serving as Treatment Officer for Seamed Ambulance Transport since May of 2019.

Stuck in a remote island in Palawan doing a
documentary of the Tagbanua.

These are but some of the things I remember doing. I know that in between, I’ve done an odd job or two. Any which way you slice it, the things I’ve done have no peso-value equivalent. I’ve been most everywhere in this great archipelago but not outside the country. It doesn’t matter much to me. I may not have the financial freedom but I have lived “free” all my life, never tied down to anything. Perhaps the greatest trade-off is that I don’t live with my children and I miss them terribly. By now, they do understand what’s going on and it is they who encourage me to live the way I want and love whoever I with so that maybe I would find that elusive thing called, happiness.

My latest incarnation: a medic pulling 
ambulance duty, during a critical care
transfer of a baby boy with duodenal
atresia.

I may not have a lot of cash in the pocket but boy, have I got a wealth of EXPERIENCE!