Saturday, July 16, 2005

hello, sarge?

reporters who cover or have covered the malacanang beat have made tapped lines, bugs and "sarge" a part of their lives. we've always assumed there was a presence there - operative word: assumed. there were several instances when our conversations (using the landlines in the press working area) would be interrupted by clicks and hums. we'd always jokingly call on "sarge" and ask him to put the phone down. even when we'd make chika and someone would say something critical of the government, there'd always be a person who'd shout "sarge, di ako yon. si chorva yon." then laughter and everyone would shout out someone else's name.

sometimes, we feel that even our cellphones are tapped. recently, twice or thrice, an unidentified man would butt in my conversations. cross line? di ba nauso yun nung 6 digits pa lang ang landline natin? i asked a journalist-friend who phoned me, "malinis ba linya mo?" my friend replied, "ano ba, tina? siyempre, hindi. pati ikaw. alam natin yan."

lokohan tuloy ng ilang taga-media, bawal makipag-phone sex. baka marinig ni "sarge."

so far, no one's complaining. we've always assumed our phones are tapped. since we dont discuss anything seditious or anything that would make anyone think we were "abetting rebellion," ok lang. "sarge" would probably be bored listening to solo-cry stories of break-ups and "kuryente" love affairs, okrayans, etc. being in the media is like being a fish in an aquarium - eyes are on you all the time. the only difference is, the fish knows he's being looked at.

blogging is almost the same. a lot of people read your blogs but they don't leave any trace of their presence - no comment, no entry in your guestbook, not even a message in your chatterbox. some leave comments using false names without their url's, some leave comments without any name at all. well, that's something we bloggers have to live with. what pisses me off is when someone leaves a comment or a message in a blog using someone else's name. it happened to me a few days ago. someone tagged jove using my name and my url. duh! sana, naisip nila na naimbento na yung ip address di ba?

there were several strange things also. about my blog, comments left in my blog, etc. ang mas strange, nangyari ang mga ito matapos ko i-post ang isang entry. anong entry yun? naman... basahin nyo na lang.

4 comments:

tinapa said...

the fish is a he coz all the females died already. hehe...
as for sarge, i doubt it. he's much too busy listening in on the conversations of love-starved and heartbroken reporters to go blogging.

Anonymous said...

Hello sarge, kamusta ka na? pagod ka ba sa kakamonitor? mag-kape ka muna.

Overratedbitch said...

during my days in UP, we'd call him Major.

kakaurat, no? sana naman yung mga IDD calls ko na SOP hindi nila minomonitor. baka naman isipin nila, disguised calls lang yun. wahahaha!

mas pathetic ba ito (SOP na IDD) sa solo cry?

tinapa said...

issey, masyadong mataas ang ranggo ng major. kita mo si agent triple - este doble pala. isa siyang sarge.