How Ceasar Soriano went from reporting news to directing films

As part of the pioneering batch of ABS-CBN reporters in an era when Angelo Castro Jr. and Loren Legarda were the faces of "The World Tonight", there was one policy from the former that stuck with Ceasar Soriano: “We should report the news, not be reported by the news,” the former Mindanao news bureau chief shared.

- By JANUAR JUNIOR AGUJA

Yet there were two instances where Soriano was unwillingly part of the story.

In 1993, he was kidnapped in Sulu by Abu Sayyaf, which at the time were also holding American linguist Charles Walton captive. It couldn’t have come at a worse time when former President Fidel V. Ramos was visiting the United States, trying to attract American investors to the Philippines.

"We have an American who was kidnapped, so there was a worry about how we can promote the Philippines, and with our president being in the States. That was the biggest story at the time," he shared. “Ramos sent former vice president Joseph Estrada to Sulu, then he imposed a blackout due to the sensitivity of the issue.”

Still, pressured by the demands of the newsroom where reporters had to submit three stories a day, he wanted to fulfill that quota.

“As an aggressive reporter wanting to impress my boss, I had to do something. So I went to the camp and saw Abu Sayyaf. I waited, and then they claimed me,” he continued. “I was able to witness the brutality of the Abu Sayyaf, including the beheadings.”

Extremist groups like Abu Sayyaf have contributed to widespread misconceptions about Islam and its Muslim followers, especially in the post-9/11 climate. But Soriano’s experience led him to see the group for what they really are.