Prologue

I was never one to plan anything. Everything I am now--what I've seen, what I've done and everywhere I've been thus far, I hadn't really planned on. As a kid, I wanted to join the Air Force and fly fighter jets as I had a fascination for anything that had wings--rotary or fixed. In my adolescent years, I wanted to be in the Philippine Military Academy, be a soldier or something. When that failed, I set my sights on architecture because I didn't think I had what it took to be a painter. That too, never materialized so I turned to photography which was a hobby since I was 9 years old. Somehow, that went well for me but I never really had my own camera until I was 21--a secondhand Nikon 35mm.

For a couple of decades, that was to be my life and behind the camera seemed a good place to be. My first paying gig was covering a neighbor's wedding in Sta. Cruz, Laguna. I hadn't set my sights on photojournalism just yet but seeing life away from the city was interesting for me--the contrast, the barriotic lifestyle appealed to me. That was in 1986 and I got paid P500 plus I stayed a couple of days at the bride's hometown.

I thought weddings were going to make money for me but it was an oversaturated market and everyone with a brace of cameras and the balls to walk into a church was getting in on it. I shifted towards fashion photography and it seemed like a "cush gig" at the time, working with lovely models, mingling with designers and budding supermodels of the day but it was a short-lived career.

In 1989, fate had arranged for me to meet my mentor--a middle aged man whose life story might have rivalled Hemingway's but instead of Cuba, it would have been Botolan, Zambales and his hometown, Las Piñas. We struck an instant friendship, having many things in common: guns, cameras, films, ethnic jokes, and maybe, taste in women.

It was he, who would initiate me into the world of advertising and filmmaking. We would spend hours in between assignments just talking about anything. He would ignite what was to be my burning passion to be creative and to set no limits for myself and what I was capable of doing. Over the years, I would become almost like him and live a parallel life. I too, would become a director, a writer, a filmmaker and would somehow make a name for myself in the advertising, film and media industry.

I hadn't seen him since 1995 and my career now has gone way beyond what he envisioned. I myself would marvel at how far off the reservation I've gone. I never really thought I would be any of the things I've already accomplished. I never got to be a soldier but I've gone to training exercises with real military personnel. I've experienced what it was like to be a "door gunner" on a "Huey" helicopter. I've done vessel boarding ship to ship (VBSS) with real Naval Special Operations Group personnel. I've shot almost every infantryman's weapon while sharing my shooting knowledge with special forces guys.

Thirty years ago, I only dreamt of rappelling down the side of a building but in 2010, I earned the qualification to teach sport rappelling and in 2014, I walked down the side of the SM Aura Premiere from the 30th floor.

As a filmmaker, I never thought I would be in front of the camera but I shot, directed and starred in several documentary films for the History Channel. In between, photography would still be very much a part of my life and I was even given the opportunity to teach an all-girls class at the Santa Isabel College, Manila from 1995-2000. My photography and film/TV assignments would take me around the archipelago from the hills of Batanes; the sand dunes of Paoay; the barren landscape of post-Pinatubo Pampanga; majestic Mayon and the hot springs where geothermal energy is generated; idyllic Mindoro; the historic; "Leper Colony" of Culion, Palawan; Plantation Bay in  Cebu; the forest where Tarsiers thrive; the endless sugarcane fields of Bacolod; the historically-frozen, Dumaguete; gone rappelling alongside the raging waters of the Tuasan Falls in Camiguin; sampled tuna in GenSan, shopped at the Barter Market in Zamboanga and lived for a short while in Davao.

Never in my wildest imagination did I see myself working within the hallowed halls of Malacañan Palace as a writer for the Presidential News Desk (PND) nor did I dream of being one of the reporters of the highly esteemed, Philippine News Agency (PNA). To this day, I still wonder how I survived life as a director/writer/producer for the News and Public Affairs Department of TV5.

These days, I spend much of my time in the cabin of an ambulance as a treatment officer with an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) qualification. Yes, this is a significant deviation from what I was used to and to me, these are uncharted waters. I have been in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) community since 2019 and although this world is diametrically opposed to what I was used to, I may stick around some. Like I said, I never planned my life and I am one to take a road less traveled. What I am is difficult to describe and who I am is equally complicated. 

I have been so many things over the years. I live for the day and I make do with what I can get. There is no magic formula to what I set out to accomplish. As long as my passion is fueled, I will do what needs to be done and go where I need to be. I live by very simple rules and follow none of them. In a world of absolutes, I am an anomaly--an outlier.

I see no other way to live!