The NPC Club is our Home, Sweet Home

By Willie Jose
Ontario-Canada
October 14, 2014



Ano ang balita sa Press Club?

That’s the routine question we normally ask our fellow newsmen whenever we occasionally meet these days and this press club is the National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC); we simply call it “Our Club” because it’s more than just a press Club to us, it’s our second home.

The NPC building is in the heart of Manila, located along Magallanes Drive, beside the Jones Bridge in Intramuros.

For some of us based overseas, we have the longing always wanting to go back home to Our Club, to hear something about its various happenings, especially on the whereabouts of our former colleagues whom we’ve not seen for years.

And if we could only have our way, we’d like to visit the NPC as often as we could.

Those of us who have been   living in the US, Canada, Europe or in some Middle East countries--either actively writing still or just plainly enjoying retirement—our Club’s happy and nostalgic memories   would always be part of our lives.

For how could we ever forget our seemingly never-ending get-together every night at the Club with friends and other colleagues while sipping our favorite wine, gulping down the ice-cold San Miguel Beer to our heart’s content until the wee hours.

And of course, this watering session would not be complete without the peanuts, chicharon, canned fish and other pulutan on the table

Yes, Virginia, this was how we ordinary journalists lived our simple life then.

A few weeks ago, when newsmen Jojo Taduran, Tony Sikat and I met at the Krystal Café, located almost at the back of Mang Tony’s house in Scarborough, time simply flew as we reminisced the Club’s memories over some cups of coffee, endlessly talking about the NPC’s news updates and tidbits about our former colleagues’ life and adventures.

 Mang Tony said that his routine then before going to work at the Philippine Star, he would drop by first at the Press Club to have a lunch of rice with oxtail or kare-kare with bagoong.

But Jojo said most of the time he would prefer to have the club’s “ national food”, a combination of rice, corned beef and fried egg for lunch.

The “National food” is the easiest to prepare and most handy, so this food is the favorite of many newsmen who are always in a hurry to go back to their respective assignments and cover their beats.

Mang Tony vividly remembered the Club’s weekly Celebrity Nights where some famous and popular people in the entertainment industry would perform for free. But actually “it’s not actually free because the editors and the writers who are on hand to watch these shows would be gracious enough to write something about these celebrities in their respective papers,” Mang Tony said.

“The likes of Carmen Soriano, Pilita Corrales, Carmen Patena and Diomedes Maturan would always grace these Celebrity Nights.”Jojo said

For some journalists, Mang Tony said, having a drinking spree at the Club was not enough, so after a few rounds of drinks at the Club; they would proceed to Taboy’s 5 Litros or at the Other Office.

Since journalism is one of the most stressful jobs in the world, journalists tend to release these stress and anxiety by frequenting the Club to unwind--drinking, dining and spending the hours either playing mahjong, pekwa, tonghits or just plainly watching TV.

For my part, I recalled Bong Lim, our Club’s musician, playing the piano with some soft good old -time music; and he was so talented that he could play the piano and at the same time sing; anyone could freely ask him for an accompaniment specially when a newsman was too drunk enough to belt a song or two.

It’s the unwritten rule at the Club that whoever makes the order, pays the bill, so more often we would hear one saying” sa akin ang round a ito” (literally means I’ll foot the bill for these drinks) Of course, there are some cases, when all of us sitting around a table would give our shares in footing the bill.

In some cases, when we were really broke, we still could enjoy the night at the Club-- drinking and dining with our friends --but before we could make any order in the menu, we had to talk first with Roger, our favorite waiter, telling him beforehand that we didn’t have money to pay the bill and since we were regular habitués of the Club, a little favor like that was easily extended to us by the Club’s waiters.

Before ordering our last round of beers and pulutan, we would ask Mang Ben, the Club’s head waiter, to let us  sign the receipt, promising to pay it the following day or next week.

Even going home broke was not even a problem, we could ask Mang Prado, the taxi driver whose car was usually parked in front of the NPC building, to take us home free of charge but we had to assure him that we’d pay him the next day.

As a social club, the NPC is the right place to de-stress from work’s pressures, set aside life’s cares and reinvigorate one’s soul for the next day’s rigorous news gathering and beat’s coverage.

Before I forget it, could I possibly discuss the much- talked -about media corruption? Well, the column inches for this little article of mine are not enough   to dwell on that topic; maybe thousands of paper reams are needed to write about it-- for the meantime:

Mang Ben or Roger, “Isa pa ngang Beer”