They went to Baguio one stormy weekend to produce a documentary about a national artist not knowing that they would stumble on a big story. But more than just breaking the news on TV, the team had to overcome obstacles in returning to Manila.
According to ABS-CBN Current Affairs Division’s production unit head Carmina Reyes, the Patrol ng Pilipino had interviewed National Artist Ben “BenCab” Cabrera for the show’s art episode when they received word that one of their interviewees could not make it because he was trapped down the Asin Road in Barangay Tadyangan.
“We did not take it seriously and collectively thought that we could get over whatever was blocking the road,” she said.
The team was traveling for a few minutes along Kilometer 6 of Asin Road in Tuba, Benguet when they noticed that the road was littered with trash and in a matter of minutes, they figured what happened.
A portion of the wall surrounding a dumpsite in Barangay Irisan had collapsed due to the heavy rains. The road was blocked by about 20 tons of trash.
“It was shocking. I mean, one would expect a landslide. But not trash. And the stench, well, even days after, I have no words to describe it,” said Jeff Canoy, ABS-CBN reporter who was doing the story on BenCab.
Their van stopped at the foot of the mountain of trash. And even before they could decipher how to get out of there, their journalistic instincts put them to work.
Carmina informed the ABS-CBN news desks in Manila and Baguio to alert them of the situation, while Jeff started to gather information from the residents.
Director of photography Joseph delos Reyes and cameraman Anthony Garces climbed the mountain of trash and started to roll their cameras. Researcher Cherrie Anne Ongteco started looking for amateur video from residents. News and Current Affairs head Ging Reyes called the team to check if they were safe. Carmina told her that they were filing the news and that no one was hurt and that the vehicle was fine. The ABS-CBN RNG Station had alerted local officials of the situation.
“When you work for news, reporting is automatic and instinctual. It’s like breathing or blinking,” Jeff said.
In a few minutes, Jeff went live via phone and broke the news on ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel. Carmina was sending photos from the scene using MMS, which were aired and used on ABS-CBN platforms. ABS-CBN was first to break the story and air the first images of what had happened.
“It was so difficult for MMS and e-mails to get through because of dying signals in Baguio,” Carmina said. “I had to re-route the photos via Blackberry Messenger to our PR department to send it to the news desk.”
Residents said there was a steep road that the crew could drive through but that the darkness and heavy rains could make it dangerous. BenCab and his partner Annie opened their home to the team, who continued working on scripts and sending videos to Manila using the Wi-Fi in BenCab’s home.
“None of us was trained editors or system engineers but we were able to send our videos back to Manila and do live reports from there,” said Jeff.
Very early the next day, the Patrol ng Pilipino team negotiated the steep mountainside road. They were calm but scared. They could see the ravine but were encouraged by sights of houses on the other side of the road.
“We’ve probably never prayed as much as when we were driving through thick fog, drizzle and branches that Sunday morning,” said Carmina. “We will be forever grateful to Ben and Annie for keeping the ABS-CBN team safe.”
Looking back, Carmina and Jeff said it was teamwork that helped them during the crisis situation, a corporate value that ABS-CBN adheres and inculcates among employees.
“We were trapped. We didn’t have the necessary equipment to break the news. But we knew that we had a singular goal which is to let the public know. It was an amazing display of synchronicity. So with teamwork, a dash of resourcefulness and a little bit of luck, we managed,” he said.
On their way back home, the team was still in good spirits. They played Show the Dance Choreography as Jeff played ’90s music from his iPad until another vehicle accident on NLEX slowed the traffic.
Jeff went down to inquire about the accident from traffic officers and learned that no one died. “Great! ABS-CBN, we’re coming home,”Carmina said.
Source: The Philippine Star
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