Please read my previous post on an article on budbud kabog in the November issue of the Mabuhay Magazine of Philippine Airlines before you continue reading this post.
I received this very prompt response from Ms. Ira Inquimboy to an email I sent her this morning and the previous post that I wrote on the same matter, and I quote:
“Dear Mr. xxxxxxxx (Marketman),
I deeply apologize for the missing acknowledgment. Starting in the October issue, I was no longer writing much for the Travel Log section. That is why I was not able to focus on that. I do admit my mistake of not carefully editing. Even though I’m not handling that anymore, the material still came from me and I should have not let that slip. I am sorry for that sir.
Please do not think that I have no plans of informing you that your article is included in the November issue. I was planning to email you in December when the checks will be released. For your photo, you will receive 800 pesos and for your blurb, 800 pesos too. That’s a total of 1,600 pesos. I will email you as soon as your check is ready so you can claim it or we can send it to you.
Moreover, you can expect us to include an erratum in the January issue, which will state that the Budbud Kabog blurb and photo in the November issue came from marketmanila.com.
Once again, I apologize sir.
Sincerely,
Ira
Jane Ira H. Inquimboy
Executive Assistant
Eastgate Publishing Corporation
704 Prestige Tower Condominium
Emerald Avenue, Ortigas Center
Pasig City 1605 Philippines
Email: irainquimboy@eastgateph.com
Tel. (632) 6334004
Fax (632) 6359221”
I truly appreciate the admission of fault, and I quickly replied with the following email and am awaiting the magazine’s response:
“Dear Ira,
Thank you for your quick response to my email and “post” on the matter. I appreciate your apology and admission of carelessness and poor editing on your part. The error is forgiven, and I look forward to the publication of the erratum in the January issue, though no one tends to read those announcements.
I would like to point out, however, that I have an earlier email from you that specifically states that your magazine pays PHP1,250 per photo and I shall base my fee for the photo you used on that email. In addition, the PHP800 for the write-up (or PHP10 a word) was never confirmed with me prior to your publishing the article, so I would like you to know that I consider it inappropriate and unacceptably low. You should have forwarded the fees and obtained my agreement in writing before going ahead (as implied in your emails) and using my written material, which you solicited from me to begin with, it was not a blind submission.
As such, I hope you and the editors of Mabuhay Magazine and or Philippine Airlines will see fit to review and adjust your fees for this article. At the moment, the PHP1,600 fee you indicate will barely buy a passenger 20 minutes in a business class seat headed to Cebu… And let me make it easier for you to do the right thing by telling you that THE ENTIRE FEE shall be immediately donated to a public school feeding program I am sponsoring this holiday season. So sit amongst yourselves and figure out a way to do the right thing…
Over 10,000+ marketmanila readers, many of whom are PAL’s precise target market, will be waiting for Mabuhay Magazine’s response, as I do. Since my immediate family’s annual expenditure on PAL plane tickets for business and pleasure probably exceeds PHP500,000+, I will probably reconsider who I give my airline business to in future. Those are the professional considerations of apparently unprofessional behavior.
I trust this matter shall be settled shortly. And again, thanks for your apology and I hope you can eventually send me the check, whatever the amount, as I have no desire to spend any more money picking it up…
Regards,
Marketman”
I am grateful for her quick response, but I do need a few more items ironed out, as stated in my email response above. And as a friendly warning to any would be writers or photographers for Mabuhay Magazine, make sure you confirm the details of your engagement with them, down to pesos and centavos, before you send them any material whatsoever. I would have expected that a magazine claiming “500,000” readers and a whole lot of commercial advertising would be a little more professional and a little less kuripot (miserly). And as I have asserted before, it’s NO WONDER AT ALL why the vast majority of articles in publications such as these sound like direct advertorials for the subject matter of the article, a big fat DUHH??!? is just so apt right now!
29 Responses
I checked “searched” her name in friendster.com, to match a face with that name..
Grabe MarketMan, I have to remind myself that in case I have to deal with you in the future, I have to be totally careful ;P
I agree with you about the change of amounts per published picture and article. P 1,250 is not that big, but the reduction to P 800 is just totally appalling..
WOW, u really are the MAN of the Hour!!!
mr. mm, maybe you should also add “don’t mess with me” among your monikers. hehe
imagine writers who depend solely on contributing articles to magazines like these and have to make do with such incommensurate fees (not to mentioned delayed)? hmm, i don’t know, seems really easy to say, “I..am..sorry.” these days. and as with the plagiarism incident, i wonder if ms. ira would really have bothered to rectify the “lapse in judgment” had you not called her attention to it.
Ssssssssssss……:p
In the land where people thake a lot of things for granted, in comes MM and then some. I’m about to write Malaya mysel for something similar to your PDI incident. Woohoo!
For somebody who works for a magazine, she really doesn’t write very well. Hehee, sorry couldnt resist…
Good work MM. It’s your assiduousness and energy which is a public asset. Keep us posted
“Greetings from Mabuhay Magazine!
We are now accepting photos of Filipino Christmas scenes for our December issue. Please send us your best photos depicting a very Filipino Christmas, something that OFWs surely miss. Kindly send your high-resolution photos (minimum of 300dpi) to irainquimboy@eastgateph.com with the title, your name and contact information. Take note too that unlike other photos which we pay our normal rate, photos for this section will be free. We hope you can share your wonderful photos to our 500,000 readers. And of course, you will be credited for your work.
Thank you.”
Ms. Ira Inquimboy wrote this, and after reading it, I felt my blood pressure rise.. THE NERVE?!! As in you’ll get nothing but recognition, yun lang??
I hope PAL(or at least their publication dept.) give what’s due you…of course it’s not about getting what they qouted earlier as compensation for photos(that would hardly cover a seat in business class)but it’s more of the principle behind it. They should ALWAYS HONOR what they commit…considering that their company is service oriented.
You’re so right about “errata”. They’re usually placed in a small corner or back page of a paper or magazine and hardly anybody notices them. But of course it is better than no correction or acknowlegement.
Do stand firm on the “fee” issue. There are still many needy children out there who would welcome your “free meals” feeding program.
I must say that the respone to your complaint was rather quick. I hope the lady learns her lesson: do not mess with MM!
i remember that the pal magazine had a write-up about our city where it says that the restaurants around our famous lake are a must-go-to, but those reataurants were demolished like at least a year earlier… tsk tsk wrong and misleading advice. poor editing… hopefully now they will be more extra careful with what they write.
good for them to respond immediately! lets hope they’ll learn their lessons from now on.
More power to MM! You did the right thing not settling for the reduced amount!
Grabe! Dizzy is right, some people do this for a living and if they don’t get paid properly, and don’t get paid on time, what will happen to the family who depends on them? If Marketman won’t stand up to this incident, this will happen again and again to other writers. For years, Marketman has been blogging without any compensation, he makes abono pa nga. We should be thankful he has the guts to fight for these “small” things.
like Blaise, did a search on her at friendster… and she has a shout out that says: Got anything interesting and worthy to be featured in Mabuhay Magazine? Message me.:) It could be the best pan de sal, an upcoming pencil designer, the quirkiest music bar, or a special restaurant. ANYTHING.:)”
…worthy daw! ha ha ha!!!
To say the least she acknowledged her omission and she gave up with chichi story. The woman knows a good source of articles and pictures to be featured in her magazines for less money or no money at all involved! She’s fully abreast once she read your post. She knows you are an articulate writer and skilled photographer just visiting your site in the comfort of her home/office! I can say the bulk of the publishing money goes to the glossy paper materials. It is a good wrapping paper though for tinapa!
One of those apologies na labas sa ilong! Kung makaalusot sa gusot..ayos lang…Hello??? Ibang klase talaga if people assume you don’t do your homework! there is patience for overlapses but to simply sneak your way to get people’s work out of the woodwork, to bask in glory for free without proper acknowledgement and compensation is just so damn low.
That’s interesting. I did a monthly column for a school newspaper one year and didn’t get credit one month, apparently the “new and jazzy” graphics covered up my name and they didn’t catch that. They wrote an erratum but it still doesn’t satisfy. I can understand free contributions as long as that’s clear beforehand (some people just want to see their name published), but this is a case where they need to make it right.
Hi guys,
I am just after a (rare here) vegie from the PI, I am hunting for some fresh; not canned Kamansi and also caimito (star apple).. but because of agriculture screening I may never find them here. But if someone gotz it let me know. Pa lease. it has been 30 years since I saw one of these things. I am not going back home.. still, home never left me.
Salamat and thank you,
Roman
as i suggested in the t-shirt article “marketmanila, no place for wimps”. good on you for at least getting a response.
PAL lost me as a customer a long time ago. i do my fair share of travelling and will only fly PAL if absolutely necessary, which thankfully, has not happened as yet.
Cecile J’s thousand camels are on the ready! Say the word and I will dispatch the fleas to Ms. Inquimboy’s you know what!
you’re right MM. the apology(and the fee) is not enough! sometimes a mea culpa just won’t suffice, as in this case. sentiments are on your side.
Way to go! Thanks for standing up for writers and aspiring writers.
that’s why i’m always in tuned here..parang tele-serye..exciting..:-) I will have to agree mr MM you really are a “jerk magnet”
MM, abangan pa rin ang susunod na kabanata, to see if they’ll pay up using the original quote or may balak talaga silang i-short ka. Sneaky! Or more aptly… sleazy? Huwag naman sana.
ha! ha! ha! nakakatuwa tlga humirit si Silly Lolo!!! =D
Gosh how sad that this has been mismanaged by Eastgate and sad that PAL’s name had to get dragged into this. Iam sure they (PAL) are quite unaware of this since the magzine is made by their publishers only then given to them for review. If they knew about this Iam sure that wouldnt stand for this especially that you and your family always use PAL. Will mention this to some people I have met that work in PAL.
Hello
I wish I could offer a contrasting view, but alas, I can only confirm Eastgate’s poor record of dealing with contributors, myself being a recent victim. Rates and agreement varied AFTER publication. BTW word count does not include ‘the’ and’ etc. Please!
don’t let them repeat those things agen! say: “you want a piece of me??” seriously. :l
Hi, MM and friends!
While I am a huge fan, and I do understand and agree with you in principle, I can’t help but feel sorry for anyone on the receiving end of that. Bit much rubbing in the 500 large spiel, don’t you think? Hope things are much better now, as that was almost a year ago. = ) Thanks for the insanely informative and wonderfully entertaining blog! Ingat!