Ala Paredes shows off some of her sketches of the first hearing day of the Maguindanao massacre in Camp Crame Tuesday. She was tasked to make the drawings as visual information for members of the media since coverage of the event was strictly regulated.

While everybody else outside the courtroom was itching to know what was happening during Tuesday’s trial of the Maguindanao massacre inside the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, 26-year-old Ala Paredes was right in the middle of the action – capturing them, in fact, in five vivid sketches.

The pretty daughter of popular APO Hiking Society member Jim Paredes was actually an accidental court sketch artist, saying she was only informed of the job at around 11 p.m. on Monday as part of the Supreme Court’s efforts to meet media requests for visual information of the hearing.

“It did not even cross my mind to say no when a friend asked me if I could be the court sketch artist,” said Paredes in an interview, referring to lawyer Doranne Lim who is working with the Supreme Court.

“I even cancelled some of my appointments for this job,” she revealed.

Lim said she immediately contacted Paredes, her friend of 10 years since college, upon learning that a sketch artist was needed for Tuesday’s historic trial.

Both Paredes and Lim discussed the idea when they met last week but the latter said it might not be possible since there was to be media coverage, with a wide screen planned outside the courtroom. But when the media coverage guideline was suddenly revised, Paredes was in.

Her famous singer-photographer father, she said, was elated upon hearing that she would be the court’s sketch artist for the massacre case that left 57 people dead, most of them journalists.

“He was very excited of me doing some public service,” said Paredes, a graduate of AB Communication at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2004.

Only a handful of reporters were accredited by both the Supreme Court and the Philippine National Police to cover the historic trial, allowing at least one journalist for every media entity.

Even simple recording devices were prohibited inside the Police Non-Commissioned Office Hall which was converted to a courtroom, and Paredes became one of the go-to court personalities especially by television cameramen and photographers who were deprived of covering the trial due to previous jurisprudence banning live media coverage.

Paredes arrived in the courtroom a few minutes after the hearing started, carrying a large notepad and escorted by a Supreme Court official.

She was barely noticed but when a cop assisted her to sit just behind Datu Unsay Andal Ampatuan Jr., even the principal suspect in the Maguindanao massacre started avoiding looking behind upon realizing what the woman behind him was up to.

“I was actually waiting for that chance when he would look behind his shoulder. He looked once and I said to myself, ‘that’s it!’” she said.

That split-second image of Ampatuan Jr. looking behind, sandwiched between security escorts, became Paredes’ first sketch.

It was followed by four more: Ampatuan and his chief legal counsel Siegfried Fortun standing in front of the sala for the arraignment; Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes on the bench; and two sketches of National Bureau of Investigation-Counter Terrorism Unit chief Ricardo Diaz on the witness stand.

Lawyer Midas Marquez, Supreme Court spokesman, lauded Paredes for a job well done, adding that they are happy that she agreed to be a guest court sketch artist.

“We provided a court sketch artist because of the requests from the media. This is done in other countries and even in some courts here so we said why not in this case (Maguindanao massacre trial)?” said Marquez.

“We’re happy that she agreed and it’s for free,” said Marquez.

He said they have yet to discuss whether to provide sketch artists for the duration of the trial.

Paredes said she’s willing to do it. Unfortunately, she is scheduled to leave for Sydney on January 13, the second hearing day.

She revealed that she is just on a Christmas vacation, having migrated to Sydney four years ago to pursue art at the Sydney Design Center. She graduated just last month.

Paredes said the court job was easy, having drawn images of different people almost everyday. And she likes it.

Drawing, she said, is her life.

“It’s always been my first love, and I’m happy that I’m putting it to good use,” she said. (Aaron Recuenco)