Category: Chit Estella

Road safety journalism award launched

Ellen

By Jake Soriano, VERA Files

Journalist and VERA Files trustee Ellen Tordesillas announced on April 12 the launch of a new award to honor the best student work on road safety issues.

Chit Estella

Chit Estella

The Chit Estella Road Safety Journalism Award, named in honor of journalist Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan, will be given next year as a special category in the Philippine Journalism Research Conference (PJRC).

PJRC is an annual event organized by the Journalism Department of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Mass Communication.

The new special award expands the current Chit Estella Memorial Awards for Journalism Research, given at the PJRC, for the best student work in journalism research, special projects, and investigative journalism.

“It will be given to the most outstanding research paper or in-depth report, multiple formats allowed, on road safety by journalism or communication students,” said Tordesillas, during the closing program of the 2016 PJRC.

“VERA Files is offering to cover the cash prize and the trophy for this award. This is in addition to the yearly support it extends to the [PJRC],” she added.

Estella-Simbulan, a professor at the UP Journalism Department and VERA Files trustee, was killed on May 13, 2011 in a road crash.

Road crashes are among the leading causes of deaths in the Philippines, said Tordesillas, quoting government figures.

“I don’t use the words ‘(road) accident’ as if yun ang tadhana ng buhay (it is due to fate), and there was nothing that could have prevented it,” explained Tordesillas.

“Road crashes are preventable. And media can help create an environment that would make our roads safe. One of that is to come out with good stories based on excellent research,” she said.

Students from the University of the Philippines and the Southern Luzon State University received this year’s Chit Estella Memorial Awards.

UP Diliman students Krixia Subingsubing and Ron Bautista receive their award for the investigative journalism category. Joining them are (from left) UP Diliman Prof. Evelyn Katigbak, UP Manila Prof. Roland Simbulan, and VERA Files’ Ellen Tordesillas. Photo courtesy of UP CMC Journalism Department

UP Diliman students Krixia Subingsubing and Ron Bautista receive their award for the investigative journalism category. Joining them are (from left) UP Diliman Prof. Evelyn Katigbak, UP Manila Prof. Roland Simbulan, and VERA Files’ Ellen Tordesillas. Photo courtesy of UP CMC Journalism Department


They are:

Amiel Jansen Demetrial of the Southern Luzon State University for “Terorista! Terorista? Ideological Construction of the Moro Muslim Identity in the Online Reports of the Mamasapano Clash and the Bangsamoro Basic Law” (journalism research category)
Regina Aquino, Jon Robin Bustamante, and Janelle Dilao of UP Diliman for “Six Feet Under” (special projects category)
Ron Bautista and Krixia Subingsubing of UP Diliman for “System Reboot: An Investigative Study on the Implementation of the eUP Project of the University of the Philippines System” (investigative journalism category)

“Chit’s lasting memory is her fierce independence,” said UP Professor Roland Simbulan, Estella-Simbulan’s husband, in his closing remarks.

He said he could trace Estella-Simbulan’s independence and courage “to her stint as student journalist of the Philippine Collegian during the Martial Law years.”

“In those days of martial rule, if you were caught working for the underground press you will not only be arrested but also tortured and even killed or become a ‘desaparecidos’ as many Filipinos experienced,” Simbulan said.

“There are still great risks in a free society, but the risks in a dictatorship are even greater, and graver. The only thing that made the Marcos dictatorship look good was the absence of a free press and the solid walls of a silenced press around it,” he said.

Road safety journalism award launched

Ellen

By Jake Soriano, VERA Files

Journalist and VERA Files trustee Ellen Tordesillas announced on April 12 the launch of a new award to honor the best student work on road safety issues.

Chit Estella

Chit Estella

The Chit Estella Road Safety Journalism Award, named in honor of journalist Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan, will be given next year as a special category in the Philippine Journalism Research Conference (PJRC).

PJRC is an annual event organized by the Journalism Department of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Mass Communication.

The new special award expands the current Chit Estella Memorial Awards for Journalism Research, given at the PJRC, for the best student work in journalism research, special projects, and investigative journalism.

“It will be given to the most outstanding research paper or in-depth report, multiple formats allowed, on road safety by journalism or communication students,” said Tordesillas, during the closing program of the 2016 PJRC.

“VERA Files is offering to cover the cash prize and the trophy for this award. This is in addition to the yearly support it extends to the [PJRC],” she added.

Estella-Simbulan, a professor at the UP Journalism Department and VERA Files trustee, was killed on May 13, 2011 in a road crash.

Road crashes are among the leading causes of deaths in the Philippines, said Tordesillas, quoting government figures.

“I don’t use the words ‘(road) accident’ as if yun ang tadhana ng buhay (it is due to fate), and there was nothing that could have prevented it,” explained Tordesillas.

“Road crashes are preventable. And media can help create an environment that would make our roads safe. One of that is to come out with good stories based on excellent research,” she said.

Students from the University of the Philippines and the Southern Luzon State University received this year’s Chit Estella Memorial Awards.

UP Diliman students Krixia Subingsubing and Ron Bautista receive their award for the investigative journalism category. Joining them are (from left) UP Diliman Prof. Evelyn Katigbak, UP Manila Prof. Roland Simbulan, and VERA Files’ Ellen Tordesillas. Photo courtesy of UP CMC Journalism Department

UP Diliman students Krixia Subingsubing and Ron Bautista receive their award for the investigative journalism category. Joining them are (from left) UP Diliman Prof. Evelyn Katigbak, UP Manila Prof. Roland Simbulan, and VERA Files’ Ellen Tordesillas. Photo courtesy of UP CMC Journalism Department


They are:

Amiel Jansen Demetrial of the Southern Luzon State University for “Terorista! Terorista? Ideological Construction of the Moro Muslim Identity in the Online Reports of the Mamasapano Clash and the Bangsamoro Basic Law” (journalism research category)
Regina Aquino, Jon Robin Bustamante, and Janelle Dilao of UP Diliman for “Six Feet Under” (special projects category)
Ron Bautista and Krixia Subingsubing of UP Diliman for “System Reboot: An Investigative Study on the Implementation of the eUP Project of the University of the Philippines System” (investigative journalism category)

“Chit’s lasting memory is her fierce independence,” said UP Professor Roland Simbulan, Estella-Simbulan’s husband, in his closing remarks.

He said he could trace Estella-Simbulan’s independence and courage “to her stint as student journalist of the Philippine Collegian during the Martial Law years.”

“In those days of martial rule, if you were caught working for the underground press you will not only be arrested but also tortured and even killed or become a ‘desaparecidos’ as many Filipinos experienced,” Simbulan said.

“There are still great risks in a free society, but the risks in a dictatorship are even greater, and graver. The only thing that made the Marcos dictatorship look good was the absence of a free press and the solid walls of a silenced press around it,” he said.

Highlighting the importance of research in journalism

Ellen Leave a comment

University of the Philippines students Darlene Cay and Vince Nonato (third and fourth from left) receive the Chit Estella Journalism Award from Roland Simbulan and VERA Files President Ellen Tordesillas (center) along with the panel of judges. PHOTO BY The Plaridel Bulldog

University of the Philippines students Darlene Cay and Vince Nonato (third and fourth from left) receive the Chit Estella Journalism Award from Roland Simbulan and VERA Files President Ellen Tordesillas (center) along with the panel of judges. PHOTO BY The Plaridel Bulldog


Congratulations to the winners in this year’s Philippine Journalism Research Conference (PJRC) held at the University of the Philippines Wednesday.

The project is commendable because, these days when many people are dismayed by the preponderance of sloppy journalis, it gives importance to research in the practice of journalism.

Aiming to highlight commendable researches of journalism students,this year’s PJRC gave the Chit Estella Memorial Awards for Journalism Research to students with the most excellent work.

UP students cornered the top three awards. UP College of Mass Communication students Iza Darlene Cay and Vince
Alvic Alexis Nonato bagged the top prize for their research on the apparent conflict of interest within the policy-making decisions of Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party after it supported Benigno Aquino III as presidential candidate in 2010.

Akbayan, the students said, joined the Liberal Party to forward its causes even if the platforms of the two parties differed on various aspects such as labor.

It found that the alliance with the Liberal Party caused the party to “compromise their ideals to give in to the policy framework of the other members of the alliance” in several instances.

The panel of judges lauded the pair for their groundbreaking work that included muckraking, unearthing and making sense of data.

Cay and Nonato were also awarded the People’s Choice Award.

The second place went to Luis Adrian Hidalgo and Antonio Jose Galaruan, also UP students, for their study on the effects of the proposed National Botanical Garden at the UP Arboretum to the lives of about 2,500 residents. The UP Arboretum is the remaining rainforest in Metro Manila.

UP students Jeanne Camille Hernandez and Mark Conrad Salvador bagged the third prize for their comparative content analysis of ABS-CBN’s CCTV Patrol and GMA-7′s Hulicam News Segments.

Elora Joselle Cangco, Encar Marie Ilao, and Bernadette Nicolas of the University of Santo Tomas were awarded a citation from the Disaster Risk Reduction Network for their study, “The Effects of Source Diversity in Perceived Credibility and Media Use of the Audience: The Typhoon Stories of Two Broadcast News Programs.”

An event that started last year by the UP’s Department of Journalism,this is the first time the university allowed other schools to participate.

A total of 50 proposals were sent in from several universities in the country. From this set, the UP Journalism Department chose 12 finalists.

The papers were presented to the panel and board of judges UP CMC Professor Danilo Arao, Central Luzon State University and Chair of the Commission on Higher Education technical panel on Journalism Professor
Ben Domingo, former CMC Dean and faculty member Georgina Encanto,Philippine Daily Inquirer Senior Desk Editor Juan V Sarmiento Jr. and VERA Files trustee Luz Rimban.

The award was named after the late Chit Estella Simbulan, a professor at the UP Journalism Department and VERA Files trustee. She died in a vehicle accident on May 13, 2011.

Her family set up the journalism awards in cooperation with VERA Files and the UP Department of Journalism.

Other finalists include: The Sabah Armed Conflict:An analysis of Peace and War Journalism by Maricar Corina Canaya of Ateneo de Zamboanga University; “Message, massage, Mass-age: The role of Facebook and
Twitter in the Million People March by Jephtae Deogracias, John Michael C. Galman, Marielle Franzes DC Hamoy and Wenry Nicole A.Venuya of Bulacan State University; Montalban’s Open Casket: An Advocacy Journalism Investigating the Selected Residents of Relocation Site Kasiglahan Village in Montalban, Rizal by Beatrice
Alanna Redil Celdran of Kalayaan College in Quezon City;

A Comparative Content Analysis on Cable News Network’s iReport Vetted News Stories by Filipino and American Citizen Journalists” by Dionisio T. Pobar III and Karina Lois T. Tendero of Malayan Colleges Laguna;
Pinoy SciJourn:Journalism as an Agent of Development of the Science and Technology Sector in the Philippines by 18 students led by Firas Abboud of the Mapua Institute of Technology;

Filipino Value Orientations Reflected in Pol Medina’s Cartoons “Pugad Baboy” as Perceived by Students and Cartoonists by Karen M. Napiloy and Jemissa C. Gapusan of Saint Mary’s University; Partisanship in
Media:A comparative Content Analysis on the Framing of News on 2013 Senatorial Candidates Between TV Patrol and 24 Oras by Stephanie Jasmine D. Maya of St. Paul University in Quezon City; and How Journalists Think Before They Write: Assessing the Psychological and Professional Dimensions of News Decisions” by Karrisa Asis and Charmaine Nuque of the University of Santo Tomas.

Domingo said he hopes that in future PJRC awards, the winners would come from other schools aside from UP.

Chit Estella Journalism awards focus on human rights reports

Ellen Leave a comment

Congratulations to the winners in the 1st Chit Estella Journalism awards.

The awardees were Elizabeth Lolarga of the Philippine Daily Inquirer for her print story, “365 political prisoners go on hunger strike” and Ina Alleco Silverio of Bulatlat.com for her online story, “Three months after Sendong, Iligan residents still far from rebuilding their lives.”

The winners of the 1st Chit Estella Journalism Awards will be known Friday (Dec 7) in an event at the UP College of Mass Communications Auditorium that will also include a Memorial Lecture.

The Chit Estella Awards honor the best journalistic report on human rights in print and online, published between October 1, 2011 and October 1, 2012. Each awardee will be given a cash prize of P10,000 and a trophy.

This year’s finalists for online media are:

-Three months after Sendong, Iligan residents still far from rebuilding their lives by Ina Alleco Silverio

-Jonas Burgos, gentle and brave by Ronalyn Olea

-Privatization of government hospitals, further marginalizing the poor in the name of profit by Anne Marxze Umil

-K + 12, worsening shortages to greet school opening by Anne Marxze Umil

-In Makati, the poor of Guatemala street know nothing about the city’s wealth by Ina Alleco Silverio

Finalists from print are:

-Kin of ‘desaparecidos’ keep up fight by Tonette Orejas

-In Sulu, human rights work starts with letting the people know by Julie Alipala

-356 political prisoners go on hunger strike by Elizabeth Lolarga

The Chit Estella Journalism Awards and Memorial Lectures are intended to keep alive Chit’s ideals of excellent and principled journalism and her human rights advocacy. Lourdes Estella-Simbulan in real life, she was known by her byline “Chit Estella.”

At the time of her death in a vehicular accident May last year, Chit was a journalism professor of the University of the Philippines-Diliman and trustee-writer of VERA Files, a group composed of veteran reporters that puts out in-depth articles and conducts training for journalists.

The awarding of the winners for the 1st Chit Estella Memorial Lecture coincides with Human Rights Day which is marked worldwide on Dec. 10.

Satur Ocampo, a veteran journalist, former political prisoner, former Bayan Muna party list president and representative in Congress, and now columnist of the Philippine Star, Ocampo will be the featured speaker in the Memorial lecture.

The winners were chosen by a board of judges composed of five representatives from the Estella/Simbulan family, VERA Files, the UP College of Mass Communications and Karapatan.

***

It is a source of deep consolation that even at an agonizingly slow place, the bill penalizing enforced or involuntary disappearance moved. It was approved by both chambers of the Philippine Congress last Oct. 16 and is now in Malacanang awaiting the signature of the President.

The bill makes a crime making a person disappear from the face of the earth which defies the natural cycle of life. A person is born, lives, and dies. He does not disappear as what happened to Jonas Burgos, Karen Empeño and Sherlyn Cadapan and many more students, farmers, and workers.

The bill defines Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance as “the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty committed by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which places such person outside the protection of the law.”

Human Right advocates are hoping that the President sign the bill, “Anti-Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance Act of 2012” into law on Monday. That would be the best Christmas gift that he could give to the families of the victims.

The President could further give substance to his much-proclaimed respect for human rights by signing the United Nations Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

It’s a shame that the Philippines under a President who comes from a family that experienced human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship, is not among 91 countries that have signed the Convention. Thirty seven of those signatory countries have ratified the Convention.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and the Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) will be holding a press conference on Monday, Dec. 10, 9:00 – 11:00 am at the Max’s Restaurant, Orosa St., cor. U.N. Ave., Ermita, Manila.