Rey Panaligan: A pillar in journalism

Longtime judiciary reporter reflects on 50 years of impartial reporting and the lessons that shaped his career

The Manila Bulletin’s (MB) longtime judiciary reporter Rey G. Panaligan still remembers the words of then-MB Chairman Emilio T. Yap when he first assumed coverage of the newspaper’s justice and courts beat.

“Rey, your beat, the justice and court beat, is a very delicate beat. Be sure to write court resolutions and decisions based on authentic documents. Do not interpret personally court rulings. Quote the rulings themselves. Remember, in a court decision one who wins the case is happy, the other who loses his case is sad and sometimes angry. Be careful. Stick to what is written in the decision or resolution. Don’t be biased. Always be impartial. The way you write court decisions or resolutions would make or unmake you, and would definitely affect MB,” Chairman Yap advised him after he was first assigned to cover the beat as a correspondent in 1974.

And now, 50 years later, Panaligan still takes this advice to heart.

It is also not uncommon that legal scuttlebutt would always surface that Panaligan’s advice had been sought out by a Department of Justice official, judge, or justice.

An advice that has guided and served him well, essaying a storied career as a judiciary reporter who has covered 16 chief justices, from the late Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro to the current Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo.

He has also served as president of the Justice and Court Reporters Association (JUCRA), the group of print, radio, and television journalists covering the judiciary beat, several times.

“At JUCRA we help each other understand court decisions and resolutions. Our group is recognized in the judiciary and at the Department of Justice and its attached agencies,” Panaligan explains.

And Panaligan’s stature as a “legal eagle” is not lost among JUCRA members. He is widely acknowledged by his peers—and even some lawyers or legal experts—as having a profound knowledge of court rules and procedures, as well as landmark rulings of the Supreme Court.

It is also not uncommon that legal scuttlebutt would always surface that Panaligan’s advice had been sought out by a Department of Justice (DOJ) official, judge, or justice.

Now in his 70s, but still on top of MB’s judiciary coverage, Panaligan recalls that his has been a tough, trying life.

Born to poor parents in Alitagtag, Batangas, he helped his mother peddle fish in the streets of Lipa City and nearby towns. At the age of seven, he already knew how to plow the field and plant, and harvest rice and vegetables because his father was a farmer.

“My parents were able to send me to public school for elementary education. Regrettably, they could not afford anymore to finance my high school education. So, after second year high school, I asked my aunt, who was then a nun and member of the Franciscan Congregation, if I could be accepted as a working high school student at the then Divina Pastora School, now Divina Pastora College, in Gapan town, now a city, in Nueva Ecija,” Panaligan recalls.

At Divina Pastora School, he helped clean the convent and church daily before classes started and served as an errand boy for the kind and generous nuns. Panaligan graduated as salutatorian in high school. He would have been valedictorian if not for his lack of residence at Divina Pastora School.

An uncle’s benefits as a war veteran would allow him to go to college as a scholar at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for an engineering course. And it was while he was at the UST that an opportunity to become a journalist surfaced.

His townmate Cris Maralit, then the sports editor of the university paper Varsitarian, egged him to join the staff. He did so and was promptly accepted.

(Maralit later worked for the Manila Bulletin before pursuing a career in law enforcement, eventually retiring as a police general.)

“The allowance at the Varsitarian somehow helped my daily expenses as a student,” Panaligan looked back. It was also Maralit who opened the doors for him to pursue a journalistic career as he endorsed his “kababayan” to the then Evening News-Channel 11 to be its education reporter in 1970.

“My work forced me to give up my college education to concentrate on earning a living not only for myself, but also for my parents who had already become sickly at that time,” says Panaligan.

And it was while he was working at the Evening News that he was able to moonlight as a sports correspondent for MB, which was then the Manila Daily Bulletin. After martial law was declared in September 1972, Manila Bulletin resumed operation in November 1972, and Panaligan promptly applied to be a correspondent. He was taken in to cover the education, agriculture, trade, and transportation beats.

Two years later, the chance to go to the justice and court beat came.

“The reporter covering the beat relinquished his post. I could not remember why. I was asked to take over the post as justice and court reporter, first as correspondent in 1974, then as a regular staffer in 1976. That was the start of my career as justice and court reporter of MB,” recalls Panaligan.

And now, 50 years later, the esteemed judiciary journalist they warmly call “Kaka” still remembers the words of the person he considers his “father, guide, and benefactor.”

“The last time I had a lengthy personal talk with then Chairman Yap was in 2012 Christmas season. After giving me his traditional Christmas gift, a very generous gift every Christmas, he again told me of his reminder as a justice and court reporter,” Sir Rey remembers. “Two years later, Chairman Yap—my father, my guide, my benefactor—passed away. I assured him his reminder and advice will always guide me in working for MB.”

In turn, this is Panaligan’s message to those aspiring to follow the path he has carved out in covering the judiciary beat: “The justice and court beat has been very challenging to me. Every day, and to this day, I read hundreds of pages of court decisions and resolutions to fully understand them for a news story.”

Panaligan also reminds himself of this rule of thumb: “A single word like not would make a big difference in writing a court story. Sample: ‘Not guilty’ for those acquitted of a criminal charge and ‘guilty’ for those convicted.”

What helps him understand and write court stories is his knowledge of the laws and rules, on top of the elucidations in the court decisions and resolutions. “During those early years, I had to read meticulously the laws and court rules in the country—the Revised Penal Code, Civil Code, Rules of Court both in civil and criminal cases, etc.,” Panaligan explains. “Understanding all those were made all the more difficult because I am not a lawyer nor had taken law subjects at school. But then if one puts his mind and heart to it, he would surely understand.”