From the broadsheet to the Bar: How Daily Guardian changed me for good

By Atty. Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

I remember very fondly how I got here.

It was a really quick three days.

I was a full-time law student at the University of San Agustin, transferring in the second semester after being barred from continuing at another law school in Diliman (yes, that one).

It was the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and restrictions against Chinese ships affected my family, and I applied to the media because I could work remotely, and make use of my Journalism degree.

I filed my application in February and got the notification for an interview in March.

A few hours after my interview with the Fernandez brothers, editor-in-chief Francis

I got the job after a few hours, and on my first day (March 19), which was also my birthday, the city was placed under Enhanced Community Quarantine.

I promised myself that I would only work during the pandemic, and quit this job when things get better, but my life had not been the same since then.

Because of the community quarantine restrictions, I started my career with Daily Guardian mostly from home, with almost all of my stories from March to June 2020 centering on the pandemic and its effects.

Likewise, there were no jeepneys at that time, so when I actually had to go out, and when regulations allowed me to, I had to walk daily from La Paz to City Hall, and sometimes to the office in Mandurriao.

And as time passed in those days, we all saw how there was disregard for the kind things that could have been done.

Closures and cuts among media organizations were abound, ABS-CBN lost its legislative franchise, and Rappler’s legal challenges continued despite the greatest health crisis of this generation.

That was the first challenge for me—whether or not I should stay in this business as it would become unstable.

Despite this challenge, I pressed on, and because of this, I think I became better, both as a law student and as a journalist.

Because of my job with the Daily Guardian, it became easier for me to ask questions and do extensive research, something that helped me survive law school.

Because I was a law student, it was easier for me to seek legal help, particularly in recruiting my teachers as resource persons whenever I needed expert opinion on some key issues.

Daily Guardian also opened opportunities for me, some of which I have wanted since I was a Journalism student, including fellowships with Rappler, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), the Philippine Press Institute, and so on.

I was also lucky enough to be the only Visayan journalist to join nine others from various media organizations to go to Australia on a benchmarking tour, sponsored by their embassy.

There I learned the stark contrast between the treatment of the Philippine and Australian media—that while both are subjects of attacks, the latter is more feared and respected, while the former is a subject of caution, even with legal safeguards.

I was also fortunate to be tapped for the Journalists Against Corruption network initiated by the PCIJ, where I was able to learn more about corruption, not just in the legal sense, and also how it is being done across Southeast Asia.

One of the things that I can share the most is that, being a local journo, I am always bound to cover the political beat. And since Daily Guardian was a small newsroom, it was, for me, the inevitable.

I covered City Hall and Capitol, thus I also brushed shoulders with national politicians whenever they arrived, so I definitely had my fair share of admiration, cringe, and the usual furrowing of my eyebrows when I knew that the answer was not responsive to the question.

Because of that, I also got to get insights from Manila-based reporters who came over during the 2022 elections. (That was also the time I got doxxed by a DDS vlogger, but that’s another story for another time).

If you would ask me, how do all of these relate to the headline? Well, it’s all of these experiences that have helped shape me, now that I’m also a lawyer.

Covering the political beat, you will bump into a lawyer more than twice. Many of our local politicians are also lawyers, so it’s always going to happen.

Being able to observe how they behave, especially on May 20, 2024, when I was the subject of one lawyer-politician’s ire.

It was that moment that made it clear to me how not to behave as a lawyer.

I remember being taught in law school to discourage going to court, to amicably settle issues, legal or not, without having to resort to filing cases or having to go to lawyers for advice, even.

When that happened to me, from a Bar topnotcher no less, I knew that I had my prime example of what not to do when I actually become a member of the Bar.

I think that, that experience, coupled with everything else I’ve observed from lawyer-politicians, taught me to be humble,sit down, and to do my best to be better than them, attitude-wise.

Likewise, the people from Daily Guardian were also some of the best cheerleaders in my law school journey, calling me ‘attorney’ even before graduation, letting me use the office for online classes, and even allowing me not to work, especially when the Bar exams were close.

There’s honestly a lot that I wish to say about my journey with Daily Guardian and how it helped me become a lawyer, but I think it would take me more than one self-feature to get it done.

But I am terribly sure that joining Daily Guardian was an inevitable part of my journey as a law student, and I don’t think I would be a lawyer if not for my experience here too.

You might ask, why am I still here? Because my learning and growth isn’t done yet, and being in Daily Guardian actually keeps me sane in the crazy world of lawyering nowadays.

For now, however, I’m signing off on this piece, greeting all of you as Atty. Joseph Bernard A. Marzan, senior reporter.