Can you walk us through one of those profound moments in your career?
“We were assigned in Tacloban, Leyte when Yolanda tore into the country. You know what happened – houses were flattened, you couldn’t see any building standing, the airport was not spared. The city was in complete wreck, homes and lives lost. It was a ghost town. Since our car was washed away, we walked to wherever the rescuers could find us. We walked 30 kilometers. Finally, we found a spot where we could set up so we could air live (our equipment were soaked, we tried drying them and thankfully it worked). Atom Araullo (who was then with ABS-CBN), CNN's field reporter, and all the representatives of other networks who were sent to cover couldn’t go live; their stuff were all damaged. They were all looking to get located, so they gave us their names so we could broadcast they’re alive. (GMA was the only network to go live.)”
“One realization that came to me was that some of the most profound miracles happen in the most hopeless situations. I couldn’t forget the establishment where we checked in – it was the only structure that didn’t completely collapse. The original plan was to stay in a different hotel, but eventually we decided to change hotel. The hotel we first planned to stay at collapsed.”