Does it ever cross your mind that someone might go after you, physically or otherwise, after writing news that paints people in a truer light?

I just want to set things straight as to the motives behind this profession: Journalists are not hostile people. We are professional managers of information. We don’t wake up in the morning just to draw up plans to destroy someone’s reputation.

Far from it. We chase stories—stories which we believe serve the purpose of informing the public as to the goings on in society—where evidence, documents and eyewitness accounts lead us. This means that oftentimes the job itself puts us in jeopardy against those whose shenanigans paint them in a very bad light.

Been a writer for 37 years, more than half of which I have spent as editor and journalist of national publications. Every single day, when I leave the house, I look over my shoulder. I check who’s parked outside the gate. I have trained my own family to respond well to crank calls, threats. My training forces me to watch ever so closely what is going on around me. Never did a day pass that I did not think of someone going after me for what I have written. The possibility hangs over my head like Damocles’ sword every single day.

If it were up to you, what would you have done differently in the way the Maguindanao Massacre case was handled?

That morning of November 23 was special to me and my wife Che. It was the day she received a national award from the National Book Development Board for her novel. We were in high spirits. When we reached the newsroom hours later, our editor received the call from a colleague in Maguindanao. We could not believe our ears. The massacre of more than 30 journalists staged by the Ampatuan clan was the most brutal ever recorded in the history of Philippine electoral politics.

You know, we can all rant and rage over the philosophical, logical and legal ways to address the crime. But with the way justice is handled and wielded in this country, even back then we knew this would take longer than necessary. The figures alone suggest impossibility: More than 200 suspected murderers backed up by a wealthy and powerful clan who ruled under the shadow and behest of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. How does one even begin to calculate the possibility of prosecution?

If it were up to me? Believe me, you wouldn’t want to know.