A question of trees in Baguio

BAGUIO CITY—“Are you mad at Henry Sy?”

A student threw this very candid question at artist Karlo Marko Altomonte, whose efforts and those of his colleagues convinced a local court to extend the temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) that stopped the earth balling or transfer of 182 trees on a land owned by SM City Baguio.

The query of Shulamite Pormentira, 14, had Altomonte quickly assessing the meaning of his cause. The 39-year-old theater actor and director said, “Personally, I’m not angry at him.”

“They say if Mr. Sy [founder and head of the SM group of companies] were still in control (of the SM group), he would have stopped the tree cutting. He grew up poor. His children grew up in luxury,” Altomonte said.

Pormentira’s question was just one of 22 thrown at Altomonte, who graciously agreed to be on the hot seat of the Baguio City leg of the Art of the Interview workshop conducted by Inquirer in Education (IIE) with the help of the newspaper’s marketing section.

The workshop aimed to prepare students for the Inquirer’s My Dream Interview (MDI) contest. Five finalist teams will be chosen, two of which will represent the country to the World Association of Newspapers-Ifra (WAN-Ifra) global competition for a chance to win a trip to Madrid, Spain.

Held at the University of the Philippines Baguio, the workshop was attended by a total of 68 participants from the cities of Baguio and Dagupan and the provinces of Nueva Ecija, La Union, Bulacan and Quezon.

The actual interview with Altomonte allowed participants to practice what they learned from Inquirer contributing editor Linda Bolido on preparing for the interview and from this correspondent on what to do during the actual interview.

Humble and accommodating, Altomonte helped the students get a real feel of being interviewers.

“I’m impressed by your questions,” he told them, adding the kids had more substantial questions than some professional media people.

The students took to the microphone with confidence, peppering the interviewee with questions like why he became an artist, what was art, why he did not like to be called an environmentalist or tree defender, and what it was like being a father to five children, aged 9 to 19.

One of them managed to get him to share that he was pretty much home-schooled by his mother, theater actress Gigi Dueñas de Beaupre.

Some of Altomonte’s answers left his audience in awe.

“Loving trees is part and parcel of being a resident of Baguio. Home is not just our houses. The community is also home,” he said.

“Documenting this whole struggle is not just about 182 trees. The issue uncovered a lot of mess—how government turns its back on trees. It’s seen in what is happening to the Irisan dump, Camp John Hay, pollution, beggars and squatters,” Altomonte said in reply to another question.

After the interview, Inquirer Learning section editor Chelo Banal-Formoso gave students a heap of tips on how to write their stories based on their dream interviews.

The MDI contest is copresented by IIE and Nokia, in cooperation with Maynilad, Inquirer.net, Radyo Inquirer and WAN-Ifra. The global My Dream Interview Project is supported by Fundación Acindar of Argentina and The Interview People.