Breaking stories with Jiggy Manicad

MANILA, Philippines - The Jiggy Manicad-led Quick Response Team (QRT) on GMA News TV marks its fourth anniversary this month.

According to Jiggy, the biggest achievement of the afternoon newscast is its specialization in breaking-news coverage. What makes the program unique is that the 40-year-old broadcast journalist anchors the program and conducts interviews live on the scene of the news.

The idea for the show, Jiggy related, “came after I read an article on Bin Laden getting killed in a Navy SEALs Team 6 operation. I thought, ang galing naman nito (the operation). That was the inspiration. Usually naman kasi may pinapadala na reporters, but why not develop a newscast wherein you go to the area and you’re first on the scene. And you have a highly-specialized (production) team na kahit ano mangyari at kahit saan, pwede ka mag-break ng story. I submitted the concept. That was the start.”

In the course of doing QRT, Jiggy and his team collected accolades on top of what he previously received like the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) award in 2012. QRT won the Bronze Medal at the New York Festivals under the Best Coverage of Breaking News category for its reportage on the Zamboanga crisis. For the Yolanda coverage, Jiggy earned the Sangyaw Award from the Tacloban LGU and the Super Journalist Award from the SM Super Media Awards. The same coverage was part of a compilation of GMA News and Public Affairs reports that gave GMA its fourth Peabody Award last year. His work on QRT also yielded him multiple Outstanding Television Anchor awards from the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption. The latest recognition is his inclusion in this year’s Men Who Matter of PeopleAsia magazine.

His awards notwithstanding, Jiggy actually considers himself an accidental journalist. A son of public school teachers, he initially had no intention of entering college, let alone pursuing a journalism career. His plan was to enroll in a vocational school, become a mechanic, put up his own shop or become an OFW. Good thing a high school seatmate convinced him to fill up an UPCAT form and choose Communication Arts as a course at UP Los Baños (because it was close to his home in San Pablo, Laguna).

“So tinuloy-tuloy ko na,” until he graduated and applied at GMA’s radio arm DZBB. The job opening at that time was for a driver/production assistant. “I was willing to take on the job but backed out because I didn’t know my way around Metro Manila.”

He got employed as researcher at a news program in the rival network, then became a writer in an international development agency, before he returned to GMA to apply as writer. He was so thin that the guard mistook him as someone seeking financial assistance and directed him to the Kapwa Ko Mahal Ko office. On the way there though, he bumped into GMA News boss Jessica Soho and mustered the guts to tell her, “Ma’am, mag-a-apply ako, tapos sabi niya, halika sama ka sa newsroom. Nakasalubong ko lang siya, ganun lang. Then nag-exam ako.”

He started out manning the nightshift and without a desk. Eventually, he was tasked with field work “if and when there was no one else to assign. I was like the ‘sweeper’ of the newsroom.” Those were the days.

Nowadays, however, apart from being news producer/reporter/anchor not just on QRT, but also for 24 Oras Weekend and Reporter’s Notebook, Jiggy is giving back and paying it forward, offering free lecture series on journalism at universities.

“Yung TV kasi, yung impression sa kanya is para makagawa ka ng stand-upper, for fame or glory or fortune, so everytime may lecture series ako, I really explain to the students that you have to manage your expectations na hindi ganun ang journalism. If you’re a hardcore journalist, if papasok ka as reporter sa TV, dapat di ganun ang motivation mo. Your motivation should really be journalism, (seeking of) the truth. Being recognized by the public -— that would have to be incidental.

“Yun yung nakikita ko sa mga lectures, like isang buong klase, mga 200 students, gusto nila lahat maging TV reporter, but I have to tell them, hindi lahat makakapasok, talagang handful lang, just to manage their expectations. Sinasabi ko pu-pwede kayo sa ibang linya, PR, advertising and print. But if they really want to be TV reporters, they have to start as writers. Mas magaling yung natuto kayong magsulat muna kaysa humarap lang kayo sa camera.”

Meanwhile, The STAR asked Jiggy’s four most memorable QRT coverages, and these include his close encounter with Pope Francis that made him a subject of news reports:

Bohol’s 7.2 magnitude earthquake. “It was a learning experience in a way. It was my first time to see a road that cracked wide open. Humiwalay yung kalye, parang 10 feet ang tinaas ng isang kalye. Then you could see the structures, churches crushed to the ground. I was doing a live interview there, when another earthquake struck, an intensity five or six, then the kid I was interviewing  — -and we caught it on cam — suddenly embraced me. Na-feel ko yung takot niya. Tapos binalikan namin siya sa ibang stories for Reporters’ Notebook.”

Zamboanga siege. “It was the usual coverage, live reporting for QRT. Our live position would be by the door of the elevator. So, after talking to my team on a table nearby, I walked towards the elevator, but I remembered my mic and turned back to get it. And just as I turned around, the elevator where my live position was supposed to be, exploded. Lahat ng andun, yung Red Cross people, were injured. Naputukan ng mortar. Our service van had to be used as an ambulance.”

Pope Francis in Tacloban. “Ang kwento dun nakakatawa yun. We were on a platform and nandun lang si Pope, pag nag ano ako, ‘Pope!’ abot ko na siya. He was just within arm’s reach. So sayang naman. But then, I thought, if I’d reach out to him, because of the winds — as there was a typhoon at the time — I might fall off the platform. Pero sabi ko, try natin, try natin gawan ng paraan. The next day, it was raining hard and I saw a PSG. I asked, have you eaten yet and he said he didn’t have breakfast yet. So, I brought him breakfast and while chatting with him, I checked out the barrier and it had wheels. I thought, pwede to. When the Pope arrived, I told our technical team not to show my face in the cameras. There was a sniper in the tower, so I told the crew that if I could go near the Pope, it should be clear that we were not bringing anything (threatening) with us. So kita naman nila ang mic tapos tinaas ko na rin ang plastic (containing gifts). Akala ni Pope pinapa-bless ko so he repeatedly blessed it. I said, ‘For you,’ and he reached out to receive it. Feeling ko mapapagalitan ako ng (security) pero hindi naman. Pero ang galing nila sumimple, akala mo walang humihila sayo, pero ang grabe nilang humila sayo.”

Supertyphoon Yolanda. “Ito yung wala na, you’d wonder if your companions were dead, what could have happened to them that you might as well go to their live position. Going there, hindi siya straight na kalye. You have to climb over debris, pass through flooded areas and go through fallen electric wires. Then we found out they were alive, OK and it was the first time naka-ere ng GMA. We broke the story. That was the only time I had a debriefing after a coverage in my entire career as a journalist. We learned from Yolanda. For all (out-of-town) coverages, we should have complete supplies, coordinated by the news admin down to the people on the ground.”