The integrity of Marissa L. Flores, journalist-leader
The host’s request seemed harmless: to be included in the list of people to be endorsed for a visa from the United States Embassy. The program he hosted had won an award, and two staff members were to accept the trophy in Las Vegas.
“Huwag tayong magsisinungaling, huwag nang isama ang pangalan niya (Let’s not lie. Don’t include his name),” said Marissa L. Flores, head of GMA Network’s News and Public Affairs (NAPA). “Just inform him that we will make a separate request for him.”
Told of this, the host retracted his request. All was well. No one lost face.
This is just an example of the tact and unyielding integrity shown and sown by “MLF” (Flores’s moniker in the network) in the three and a half decades she spent as GMA’s NAPA head.
Flores began her career in GMA 7 in 1987 as a production assistant and researcher. The 1987 newsroom was small, with just seven reporters. There was a Filipino newscast at 5:30 P.M. and an English newscast at 10 P.M.
“There was no Public Affairs,” recalls Kelly Vergel de Dios, then a news writer and later, Administrative Manager. “We had special reports every now and then, which were just longer versions of news stories.”
Then came the talk shows: “Viewpoint” with Dong Puno; “Weekend with Velez” with Jose Mari Velez; and “Firing Line” with Teddy Benigno.
In 1990, Flores became Program Manager and later, head of NAPA. From then on, she oversaw the department’s growth and expansion. At one point, it had over a thousand staff working on 40 news and public affairs programs. It raked in honors: four George Foster Peabody awards and a long string of local and international awards.
Yet in these moments of glory, Flores was rarely seen. Instead, it was the producers who basked in the spotlight. Her social media pages show no selfies with politicos or personalities.
No ego
“She makes her people shine. In an industry where many have egos, she has none,” says Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, who was the first Program Manager for Public Affairs hired by Flores in 2001.
From Flores, Ongkeko-Marfil says that she learned how to manage differences between staff to keep the workplace a professional space, a lesson that benefited her when she moved on to direct movies.
“She is humble, the best boss I ever had,” she says of Flores. “I am trying, but I am not even half the person that she is.”
Kind but keen
Journalist Jay Taruc was 21 and fresh out of college when he was hired as a production assistant and researcher for “Brigada Siete” in 1994. One time on field work, he took a “detour.”
“I called to tell her that I was at the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center (TJCC) Library, researching,” Taruc recalls.
Flores replied: “What’s the landline number there? I will call you.”
Taruc was actually in a mall to watch a movie. He apologized; Flores accepted. To this day, he considers Flores “a mentor, a best friend.”
She spared no one from the rules but many NAPA staff and non-staff have benefitted from Flores’s kindness. She has taken to sending to school some of the unfortunate children featured in NAPA’s stories. Money was raised to add to some staff’s Christmas bonus. She is the first to give money when a staff is in need.
Truthtelling
Like all other newsrooms, NAPA faced complaints and criticisms. Flores never lost her cool, never raised her voice, never lost her integrity. Her marching orders were always to tell the truth.
“When it’s difficult, she carries the more difficult part. She’s hands on. She’s inspiring,” says Malou Mangahas, who once headed the News Research team.
Mangahas says Flores’s legacy will be that she guarded the truth, the facts of the stories, brought the network to popularity, and the market and the audience took notice.
Flores retires beginning this week.
(MLF values her privacy. This writer hopes to be forgiven within her lifetime).