00:00 Broadcast journalist Bernadette Sembrano debuts as an author with the launch of her first book about finding hope in the face of adversity.
00:10 To share more, we have Bernadette in the studio. It looks like she is on the wrong network.
00:15 But she is here with us live on The Final Word. How are you Bernadette?
00:19 I'm so excited. Hello everyone.
00:23 Congratulations on your new book, the first ever as an author, when bad news is good news.
00:32 Yeah. It happened. I had a lot of bad news.
00:40 How many years of bad news?
00:43 20 years actually.
00:45 So the story behind that book, Rigo, it was so hard not to write about the resilience of the Filipino.
00:53 Whenever I would go through something difficult in my personal life,
00:58 my inspiration would always be the Filipinos that I met on field.
01:02 Because I've been exposed to adversity of our fellow Filipinos.
01:08 My beat was public service, doing humanitarian efforts, so I would be sent to calamity areas,
01:15 and I would be face to face with patients who were like terminally ill.
01:21 And my question is, how do they manage to smile?
01:26 I know. Despite personal challenges and struggles, for the Pinoy, life must go on.
01:32 Exactly.
01:33 Life must go on.
01:34 And I think that's what I absorbed, Rigo.
01:37 I absorbed that idealism, that faith aspect of Filipinos.
01:42 Back in the days when I was younger, I used to do investigative work.
01:47 So now, I said, maybe if it's purely police or investigative, I might be too cynical.
01:53 Right?
01:54 But because here, my beat was always the good news, I was forced to find the good news.
02:01 Because I would go out on field, say, go to Tacloban and cover Yolanda, and there I was,
02:07 my assignment was to find the good news.
02:11 So, my lens was trained in the process.
02:15 So, I went through a lot of challenges as well.
02:19 Like, okay, how do I deal with this?
02:24 And I always draw from the people that I've interviewed in the past.
02:29 I mean, apart from those interviews, you also personally, Bernadette, had your personal struggles, which you shared in the book.
02:36 Yes.
02:37 Too many to mention.
02:39 Which one do you want?
02:40 How did you overcome these struggles, especially over the past five or six years of your life?
02:48 Because I saw how do Filipinos smile? Why do they smile?
02:56 So, for example, in Bohol, I covered the earthquake in Bohol.
03:01 I said, "How do they smile?"
03:04 And yet, when I went there, the vibe was not heavy.
03:07 It was devastation, but it was hopeful altogether.
03:10 And we were behind the ruins of a church, but the people were worshipping, praying.
03:17 Right after the earthquake, they were there, like they were worshipping at night.
03:22 And then I remember messaging Cardinal Tagle, I said, "This is faith. This is faith."
03:28 I said, "To witness faith all the time."
03:31 And it's not just as a community, but even in families and individuals.
03:36 But, Bernadette, do we have to leave sometimes everything to our faith and to prayer?
03:42 Isn't that right? There's also a question on that.
03:44 We also need to help ourselves.
03:47 We also have to help ourselves and not just leave it all up to God.
03:51 That's a good point. We also discussed this in Bukid and I also witnessed, like in Bohol,
03:56 let's go to Bicol first.
03:58 You've been to a lot of places here in the Philippines.
04:01 Excuse me. Bicol is always stormy, right?
04:04 Because it's been through a storm.
04:07 They recover quickly.
04:09 And what I noticed with the Bicolanos,
04:12 I was there in an area, I forget what barangay it was.
04:17 But all the houses there, it wasn't that bad.
04:21 You know, like in Three Little Pigs, it was like it was flooded and all the houses were destroyed.
04:27 But what happened was people were building one house together as a community,
04:32 one house at a time before they built their own house.
04:35 So that's the Bayanihan spirit.
04:37 So it's there.
04:38 It really helps, despite all the frustration, the distress, the stress, all these poverty issues.
04:46 We face our problems head on and then we just smile.
04:50 And we take turns on being weak.
04:53 I remember when I covered Ondoy,
04:56 the relief workers from Ondoy were people from Visayas, from Cebu.
05:01 And when Tacloban happened, the people from Batangas were sent there.
05:05 Because of course, I was covering Sagip Kapamilya and I would see volunteers.
05:09 So here you see Filipinos who are in a difficult situation.
05:12 Yes, we are in a difficult situation, we are tired, but we were like taking turns at being weak.
05:21 So that whoever is weak, will be helped by the stronger.
05:24 And you had the front row seat.
05:26 All the time.
05:27 To all of these experiences of our fellow Filipinos.
05:30 For the past 20 years.
05:31 You don't look like you're 20 years.
05:36 How many years have you been in the industry, Bernadette?
05:38 You're really a secret.
05:39 Am I a secret?
05:40 I've been in the industry for 35 years.
05:41 I'm so honored and privileged that I finally worked with Bernadette last year
05:47 at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines presidential debate.
05:51 We worked at a previous network, but we did not cross paths.
05:55 And when they told me that my co-moderator will be Bernadette Sembrano,
05:59 I said, "Wow, finally, we're together."
06:02 I'm excited to be seated with you again.
06:06 But your book, "When Bad News is Good News, Stories to Keep Your Hope Alive,"
06:12 you have basically 16 chapters from "Faith Against All Odds," "The Gift of Surrender,"
06:17 and there's another chapter here, "Multo," "Finding Meaning," "What Makes You Smile."
06:22 Which chapter is the closest to your heart?
06:26 The last chapter.
06:27 Last chapter.
06:28 "Humor and Crisis."
06:29 Currently, I'm still there.
06:32 The last chapter was about my infertility journey.
06:38 It was very hard.
06:39 In fact, I finished the book.
06:42 It's different when you have a bookmark.
06:44 When it was uncertain if we would continue our embryo transfer,
06:50 the slides became a bit long.
06:53 So I started writing, and then I said, "Hey, where is this grace coming from?"
06:57 And at 4 or 5 a.m., I would write that there are still so many things to be thankful for.
07:03 You know, there are still so many things to be thankful for.
07:06 So I said, "Should I share this story?"
07:09 Because I vlogged about it.
07:10 I was scared.
07:11 Of course, I said, "When I started vlogging, I thought, you know, happy ending, we'll get pregnant."
07:17 But when I realized it wasn't, I said, "It was so painful to share."
07:21 And yet, I also prayed often because of Rico.
07:24 So on our anniversary, June 12, the reading there was…
07:30 What was the name of the wife?
07:31 Orange, Emilio Alejandro Dapor.
07:33 Orange.
07:34 Did Orange watch it?
07:35 Most likely.
07:36 Can I say something about her?
07:38 I'm kidding.
07:39 So anyway, the reading there said, "Share how I comforted you so that others may be comforted in their journey as well."
07:49 And quite, you know, I was surprised.
07:54 When I shared that video on YouTube, I was surprised.
07:56 Those who posted comments, they shared more about their own lives and their own journey in wanting to have a family.
08:05 Wow.
08:06 So I said, "So it was a right decision to share about that journey."
08:11 Yes, yes.
08:12 People would really like to know and be informed about everyone's life journey, whether it be positive or negative, the result.
08:22 You know, your book is complete, Bernadette.
08:26 Not just stories, there are songs.
08:30 I know, right?
08:31 And there's also a QR code if they want to listen to it on Spotify.
08:36 Yes.
08:37 Right?
08:38 This is "Yakapin ang Pasko."
08:39 You know, I just found out today that Bernadette is also writing songs.
08:45 And that is, you know, we're reporters, right?
08:48 Yes.
08:49 That's a story of Filipinos.
08:50 Because I remember the imagery there, there's a, like, a saying, "I remember being in Baganga, Davao, Baganga, Davao, Derser, or Davao del Norte.
09:02 And then I remember seeing a child."
09:04 What is this?
09:05 They were also struck by a storm, Rico.
09:07 And there was this little girl who was, who, she, she took the Christmas tree because they wanted to.
09:15 And then they built the Christmas tree even though they were not there.
09:18 I'm crying again.
09:19 You know, Bernadette, you have so many stories.
09:22 Imagine that.
09:23 And then, so when I wrote "Yakapin ang Pasko," the imagery there, the one where the Christmas tree is hung,
09:29 that's what our fellow Filipinos do.
09:31 They don't have a house anymore, their house is already torn.
09:33 And they always have a storm during Christmas.
09:36 So, they'll take the Christmas tree, they'll hang a Christmas tree even though their houses are in shambles.
09:42 Here's another song, "Be Happy."
09:44 I mean, you have several songs here in this book, complete.
09:48 And just talking to you right now, over the past 10 minutes, so many stories to share with our fellow Filipinos.
09:54 Will there be a sequel to this book?
09:57 I'm starting to write already.
09:59 There.
10:00 I told you, when you wake up at 4 or 5 to write, just write, right?
10:04 It's weird, right?
10:06 It's like when I watch you on Facebook, I said, "Wow, this woman really wakes up dark and bright and early every day."
10:15 And I'm still figuring out how to podcast because some of our followers said, "Oh, I'll do a podcast."
10:20 I still don't know how to do it, but that's hopefully something they should be looking out for in the future.
10:28 All right.
10:29 One last question before we end this interview.
10:31 When bad news is good news.
10:34 I told you, 10 minutes is fast when we're talking about happy things.
10:41 You're one of the country's most respected journalists.
10:46 What is your advice to upcoming young journalists who are in this world of social media and fake news?
10:52 Because you also cross over.
10:54 You have a vlog, you're on social media, you're on Instagram, you're on Facebook.
10:58 What is your advice to them about vlogging and fake news?
11:03 You know, the responsibility towards the truth is not just for journalists, right?
11:10 So sometimes they'd ask me, "What do you want to say to future journalists?"
11:15 "If we're the only ones who will protect the truth, then we'll lose."
11:20 Each of us, we all have that responsibility.
11:23 So I want to address the vloggers out there that we have a very big responsibility as influencers in that space that we have.
11:33 If we can be heard by our viewers, if we can be inspired by our viewers, or how careful we are with the truth that we share.
11:43 And the truth is not just about what we read in the news.
11:47 It's the truth of who you are and your authentic self.
11:51 So I feel like that's the challenge.
11:53 Is that the message you want of who you are when you post something on social media?
11:58 Report and share balanced and unbiased and fair news.
12:03 And responsibility.
12:05 Bernadette Sembrano, broadcast journalist and author.
12:10 When bad news is good news, stories to keep your hope alive.
12:14 Congratulations. Thank you very much.
12:16 Thank you, Rico. And thank you, CNN.
12:18 CNN. (laughing)
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