For former Cebu City mayor Alvin Garcia, a thing wasn’t just very good, it was “very, very good.” I’m not sure if he still has that verbal mannerism today but it was very, very evident when I covered him at City Hall when he was mayor in 1996.

Garcia’s verbal mannerism came to mind when a mass communications student asked me whether it was okay to rephrase or clean up a quote. He cited the repetition of words by an interview subject and asked if he should edit it. I told the student, no. Hell no. In the case of Garcia, for example, it adds to the color and provides nuance on his personality.

Quotes are sacrosanct. The words between quotation marks should be the exact thing that the subject said. If it is in a different language and requires a translation, the quote should stay as is with the translation provided parenthetically.

Today, it is common to read quotes such as this one in a local newspaper:

“There is no human error when it comes to AI. Its capacity to assess the situation on the field will always be the same, and it will act accordingly to the needs of the intersection,” Jongoy said in a mix of Cebuano and English.

I will bet you a Rhodia notebook that this wasn’t the exact quote. Rather than quoting Jongoy with words that aren’t his, the reporter or editor could have rephrased this into something like: Jongoy said the use of AI will do away with human error. The capacity of AI to assess the traffic situation will always be the same, he said, and the system will act accordingly on what’s best for vehicle flow at the intersection.

The Associated Press Stylebook says that quotation marks are used to “surround the exact words of a speaker or writer when reported in a story.” Exact words.

“Quotes must not be taken out of context. We do not alter quotations, even to correct grammatical errors or word usage,” the AP Stylebook said.

But read news reports and you would often find quotations attributed to speakers who “said in Cebuano” or “ said in a mix of Filipino and English.”

Heck I’ve had a story or two where the quote I used was edited to “he said in Cebuano.” I said a little Latin prayer and made the sign of the cross.

Many of the quotes used in news stories aren’t even “quotable” or worth quoting. Most are better off paraphrased or woven into the report or narrative.

But none is as horrific as misquoting someone in direct quotes. One of the country’s top business leaders was in Cebu for a global event some years back. He gave a press conference. The next day, he read the story that came out in one paper and was aghast that a direct quote attributed to him was not only inaccurate but ungrammatical.

“Did I say this, __? Did I say this?” He asked his company’s local officer.

“Maryosep,” the officer told me. And that’s a direct quote.