TABLOID2K6

Mayon Eruption No More

2006-09-09T00:46:00.000-07:00

Mayon was declared most dangerous this year

It's threat alarmed the whole country

But for some, safety was not their priority

There were 70,000 evacuees during the Mayon Eruption

Bayanihan: Different National organizations gathered to help the victims

Today, Mayon is quiet and the people are trying to live normal lives again

Mayon Eruption 2006 victims still need your help

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Blogging From A New Perspective

2006-08-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

Blogging as a new venue for journalists and writers is now being questioned of its value as a medium for accurate informations and journalistic accounts. As a blogger, can we consider ourselves journalists? This is just one of the many questions that have been answered by well known journalist and a respected man in the profession of Journalism and who works for Philippine Daily Inquirer, Northern Luzon.

A mini conference was held under Mr. Amer Amor of College of Arts and Communication for the Journalism 113- Online Journalism class. The conference was attended Prof. Rolando Fernandez.

According to Sir Rolly, he has been doing journalism since he was a teenager. With all the old typewriters, he was trained to do the job through the “old style”. Today, with the advent of new technology, with the computers, and with the use of various computer programs, journalism has been more easier, faster, and convenient for people like him. Time has been longer for deadlines and the newsroom has been wider with the use of e-mails and other gadgets like cellphones. Today, processes like gathering information, copy-editing, and verifying are done with the use of the computers.

Journalism is now more accessible to almost everybody considering their economic powers to have access to computers and internet.

According to Mr. Fernandez, there are estimated 1,000,000 bloggers around the country. These are the people from middle class to the upper class who have access to the “new media”, the internet. With this huge number of bloggers, no wonder, people are now really more aware of current issues in the country and even worldwide.

There are actually good institutional blog sites today like the Philippine Center for Investigative Reporting or PCIJ. PCIJ was the first in the country to offer the public readers the in depth analysis and news reporting in the issue of the Garci Tape. One of the advantages of this kind of online journalism isa that they do not have to keep information for themselves considering the fact of there is no censorship within the internet and they are independent from the mainstream media oufits who are probably hesitant in airing this kind of issues during that time, he added.

Blogging is very accessible that os why people are more open to give their reaction snad comments to those that are written in the personal blogs of journalists. Sir Rolly said that one journalist said that, she gets more comments from her readers over the internet through her personal blog compare to her readers in one of the national newspaper, the Malaya. Through the evolving technology, readers are now more exposed to the internet and they are more active in terms of their responses to what the internet and blogging provides to them.

Sir Rolly emphasizes the potential of blogging for the emerging advent of community press. He stated the his predictions on community press using blogs as their major venue to inform small communities regarding the current issues and working as their watchdog over the internet. He even gave the advantages of blogging in community press in terms of finances and distribution matters. Blogging is very accessible compare to print media and that will make it possible for the community press to be established in small communities particularly here in Cordillera, he said.

Now as bloggers, can we call ourselves journalists?

According to Sir Rolly, we should not romanticized the profession of journalism too much. It is just a name, he said. According to him as long as you are doing the same thing and upholding the principles and ethics of a true journalist, then it doesn't matter. Even the notion of news is still the same with blogging and in print media. The only important thing is that you practice the basics-Accuracy!Accuracy!Accuracy!, he added.

Though Prof. Fernandez works in print, he do not see blogging as a threat to the print media. He even emphasized blogging as a complement to print and as a supplement as well. Blogging is very promising but as far as i know, it will never kill the journalism profession in other media outfits, for there are still works and service that are needed that computers and even the internet cannot provide. That is where my value as an old journalist comes in.

Bakit “Alis Gloria!” Ang Sigaw ni Juan?

2006-08-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

Biyernes, nang aking mapanuod ang balita sa telebisyon patungkol sa mga kapwa ko UPian na nagrarally sa Malcom Square, Baguio City. Tulad ng dati, “Patalsikin si Gloria” ang sigaw ng lahat. Nakakasawa na kung tutuusin, dahil animo'y parang agaw pansin na lang silang maituturing kung iisipin natin ang problema ng oil spill sa Guimaras o kaya ang patuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng langis.

Sa artikulo ni  Julian Alejandro, sinabi nya kung bakit kailangan ng Pilipinas si Superman. At isa sa mga dahilan ay maigting na pangangailangan sa paglutas ng mga pagkawala at pagpaslang sa mga kumakalaban sa administrasyon ni Gloria. Wala na ngang ligtas sa panahong tulad ng sa atin ngayon. Kilala ang UP na isang ligtas na lugar para sa pgapapahayag ng kahit anong pagtuligsa sa pamahalaan, mga rally, at higit sa lahat ng mga estudyanteng lantarang kumakalaban sa administrasyon.

Marahil marami na talagang nagbago at kasama diyan ang mga kapangyarihan ng isang presidente at ng militar. Oo, ang ating bansa ngayon ay nasa estado ng nasa ilalim ng kapangyarihan ng nagsanib na pwersa ng Militar at ng Presidente. At kung susuriing mabuti, animo'y nasa ilalim tayo ng  pinahihinog na Martial Law.

Sinabi ni Luis Teodoro na malinaw ang pagkakatulad ng pagkasailalim sa administrasyong Marcos sa kasalukuyang kinalalagyan ng Pilipinas. Ang mga patuloy na dami ng bilang ng mga biktima ng Political Killings ay isa lamang sa napakaraming pagkakatulad ni Gloria Arroyo kay Marcos. At tulad noong 1986, ang tanging natitirang solusyon na lamang na anatitira para sa mga Pilipino ay ang pagbabago ng pamahalaan at ng sistema.

Kaakibat nito ay ang kamakailan lamang na ipinahayag ang pagkawala ng ng dalawang babaeng estudyante ng UP Diliman kasama ang isang magsasaka. Kinilala ang dalawang bilang volunteer sa isang samahan ng mga pesante.Sabay nito ay ang marahas at madugong pagresponde ng militar sa mga actibidades ng mga kabataang estudyante sa panahon ng mga mobilisasyon ng mga kabataang Tibak. "Why are the police hitting the young people? That's not right."To which we would have replied, "In this country, nothing runs right anymore."

Ang dalawang estudyante ay sina Karen Empeno at Sherlyn Cadapan. Sa kasalukuyan ay patuloy na nagpapahayag ang sangka UPian ng pagpipighati at pagalsa laban sa laganap na pagpaslang sa mga kabataan, mga estudyante, at iba pang tumutuligsa sa pamahalaan at nagpapahayag ng paglaban sa kasalukuyang administrasyon.

Ani ng isa kong kaklase, "tumawag ang nanay ko, baka daw sa susunod na headline ako na ang biktima"

Ngayon, sa aking pagtatapos ay huwag sanang matabunan ng issue ng oil spill sa Guimaras sina Karen, Sherlyn at marami pang iba.

Pagpatay sa mga estudyante, Tigilan!Pagbabago, ngayon na!

SONA: This year’s big event

2006-07-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

The event
This year’s SONA by the president was said to be even bigger than Bush’s last visit in the Philippines last October 2004. In terms of the preparation as well as the security measures that were provided for the president herself were more thorough.

The Batasan Pambansa was like a venue for a grand ball during last Monday.
It was filled with not only officials from the government but as well as personalities from different fields like sports, entertainment and even beauty pageants in their Barongs and Filipiñanas.

The guests
PGMA was escorted by selected officials from different departments, house of the senate, and house of congress. Some of the prominent escorts were Sen. Lito Lapid, Sen. Bong Revilla, and Sen. Ralph Recto.

Each year’s SONA is like a venue for the administration to get together with the officials and members of the legislative and the judiciary, the other two branches of the government.

However, this year, other than the first family, the president has also her own new set of special guests like the man from the Cordillera People’s Liberation Army Ama Balunggay with his grandson, who received a free land ownership from the government after 20 years of waiting, there was also a call center agent, whom the president had coffee with, who said that she will no longer need to leave the country to help her family, and but of course the presence of Manny Pacquiao and Precious Lara Quigaman was one of the PGMA’s way of exhibiting a globally competitive Philippines under her sovereignty.

The celebrant
PGMA wore a red Filipiñana as she delivered her “feel-good” speech in front of the whole nation. Red means passion, love as well as bravery. For we all know, that this year was a challenging year for the president herself and her whole administration. This includes the issues on the 2004 May election-- PGMA’s manipulation of the results through the “Hello Garci” tape, the past coup attempts, and the left and right ousts protests in different parts of our country even until today. Details like the color of her dress communicate a lot. In this case, the president herself explicitly exhibited her firmness and strength as the primary head of this country.

The speech
This year’s speech was said to be apolitical in nature to give way for platforms that we hope to lead us to public reformation and development. However, if you will actually analyze PGMA’s speech, it in fact aims to direct the country to an internationally competitive government that will require us to change our constitution—Cha-Cha.

The speech was filled with promises and hopeful plans for the country, plans that are well presented by a president with a doctorate degree in economics but actually falls short of feasibility facts that could have made the speech more substantial and knowledgeable.

The score
If I will rate this year’s SONA, I will give it a score of six (6). Two- for the well organized event, thanks to the organizers who forgot to inform the president herself about the programme, when to deliver her speech and for the total of 166 numbers of pauses and applauses; two- for the well made speech with all the multi media presentations and powerpoints; and another two points for the president’s “sincere” effort to reconcile with her detractors.

PGMA delivers her 6th SONA

2006-07-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

PGMA delivers her State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday, July 24, 2006 at the Batasan Pambansa. The said event was attended by the members of the two houses of the government-- the house of the senate and the house of the representatives, department heads, chief justice, administration staff, former officials like FVR, military officials, members of the church, and some special guest of the her Excellency herself such as; Quigaman and Pacquiao and many more.

This year’s SONA was centered to PGMA’s plans for the country in the near future. This includes a lot of allocation of funds in building roads, bridges, airports, and seaports, both for local and international, for tourism and economic purposes. PGMA emphasized her favor to the local government as she presented a lot of promises and platforms regarding the economic development within provinces through tourism and agriculture. She stated that she will set up “Super Regions” before her term ends and these are the Northern Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle, Metro Luzon Urban Beltway, Central Philippines, Mindanao, and the Cyber Corridor.

She also displayed her strategies for our country to be globally competitive in the near future. The plan is to Make food plentiful, reduce cost of electricity, modernize infrastructure, technological dissemination, and to reduce red tape in all agencies. Allotment of funds for advancements in Science and Technology researches were also mentioned as one of her priorities.

Moreover, PGMA asked for the opposition to join hands with her instead of stressing out themselves to oust her. She even offered reconciliation to her detractors and encourage them to dream with her for a better Philippines.

She ended her speech with a lot of praises and thanksgiving to her supporters, for the military’s loyalty to her administration, to other foreign countries like China, Japan and USA, and to the Filipino people.

Who's Bandila is that?

2006-07-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Bandila is the newest news program from ABS-CBN. It aired its pilot episode on July 3, 2006. It is the late night news program which repalced the old time news program "The Insider" anchored by Dong Puno and Ces Drilon. Compare to other late night news program of other networks, BANDILA is included at the "Primetime Bida" of Channel 2, airing it at 10:30 every weekdays.

ABS-CBN's strategy was to move Bandila from the usual late news program air time at 11:30 weekdays to its early spot. this is to keep the audience from refraining to pause their TV watching after the soap operas and the korean teleseryes. It was at the same time more convenient and accessible for both professionals and students, for it is not too early nor too late for them to watch a news program during weekdays.

ABS-CBN was indeed confident to get Korina Sanchez back on the screen after a TV Patrol. Accompanied with two of the country's celebrated news anchors, Ces Orena Drilon and Henry Omaga Diaz, Bandila is indeed a power house.

Korina Sanchez as its head anchor is located at the studio alone while Drilon and Diaz are at the newsroom. This, I suppose, is to project that Sanchez is the head news reader while the two are working closely with the staff at the newsroom. The newsroom scenarios can actually communicate a lot such as; Drilon and Omaga are actually getting the most timely news, they are actually part of "the making of the reportage" though all they have to do is read the news, and they are communicating to the audience how is it in the newsroom where every news are gathered and prepared with all the adrenalin and rush as the mood of the ambiance.

However, Bandila is projecting a new image of a news program. Other than its explicit videos and footages that actually hightens the drama of the program, its personalities, who use the Tagalog native language on their reportage, are also effective factors of connecting the said program to each Filipino audience who nevertheless loves drama and part of the "masa".

Bandila is no extraordinary news program. Just like other news programs, it presents timely news and controversies in our country and around the globe. However, one reason I commend Bandila is that unlike other news programs, both from ABS-CBN's TV Patrol World and GMA's 24 Oras, the show gives more focus on socially relevant news and issues without concerning updates from Kris Aquino's lovelife and the likes. Its news values are more on for the "masa" which actually compose the majority of the audience population.

Bandila is a new image of news program with a fresh style and strategies for its audience. It upholds the Masa's individuality and freedom of expression on their "Sa Wari Ko" portion. It serves as an open venue for the people to say their views, opinions, and critics to a certain issue.

Bandila is new, there will be a lot of time for improvement and changes for them to grow and be established as the Masa's News Program. Having Bandila as its program banner, I think it is just proper for them to serve no other than the Filipino people's needs for current events, for them to be "watchdogs" of the society, and for them to practice fair and balance news reportage.

UPB reconized 61 Organizations

2006-07-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

Last friday was declared as a “fun orgs' day” for every organization in the University of the Philippines Baguio which was held at the UP Auditorium. There was 61 organizations that have been recognized this year by the office of the director for student Affairs headed by Prof. Anavic Bagamaspas and the new Student Relation officer Mr. Nimreh Calde.

Recognized organization which was consist of academic organization from the Colleges of of Arts and Communication, Social Sciences, and Science, sororities, fraternities, confraternities, political organization, religious organization, and other organizations like Anime HQ, BREHA, etc. It was also a breakthrough for organizations that was not recognized last year and for those who are newly established this year like the organization for lesbians and gays in the campus.

It was a whole day activity for the organization led by the Student Relation Officer, Mr. Nimreh Calde. The day started when the auditorium was open for the orgs at 8 am, for them to prepare their bulletin board for the exhibit. The tree planting was also pursued even the weather was not that good. Coffee and bread were served for everybody.

Each organization has their own strategy for their bulletin boards. Others have multimedia display about their organization to attract students. It was a day for the recognized organization not only to celebrate but to invite new enthusiast as well.

It was a day without politics and rivalry between different organizations, it was a day for everybody-- a day to be celebrated in UPB.

This year is the first year for the ODSA to recognized almost all the organization that filed for recognition. Ma'am Anavic said that they did it for the students in UP Baguio to be active in their own chosen “extra curricular activities” within the campus. It was the day for them to let the UP Baguio community to know who they are and what they are. “As recognized organizations, you have to make your work and proposed activities done using the UPB facilities that we have to give back something to your fellow students, university, and your community”,she added.

Last Friday was just an opening celebration for the new organizations this school year. Now that they are recognized, its time for the 61 organization to do their part in this campus. The night ended with a message from SR Calde who challenged the organizations to perform well this year.

A Day of Unity Despite of Adversity

2006-07-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, UP Baguio community held a rally against TOFI (Tuition Fee Increase). It was attended by more or less 600 students according to the University Student Council which led the said rally together with the Alliance of Concerned Students. It was a red Friday for the students as they objected to the TOFI.

Students coming from different colleges such as College of Arts and Communications, College of Social Sciences, and College of Science gathered at the UP Baguio lobby at 11: 00 last Friday. Representatives from different political organizations were there to express their stand on the issue of tuition fee and other fee increase. Students disregard their classes at that moment and even some of the administration and members of the faculty gave their full support to the students by joining the said event.

In four years of my stay here in UP Baguio, it was just then that I witnessed a day of unity between the students, the administration and teachers in fighting for a common cause. It was a breaking of barriers between the students and the admin in their long time “love and hate relationship”.

UP Baguio is known as a community that is not so active when it comes to mass mobilization unlike UP Diliman. Others say that it because UP Baguio students are sometimes indifferent when it comes to social issues.

However, in this display of harmony in the presence of a serious issue, the UP Baguio community can be considered as a social and political relevant assembly when it comes to matters that concern the future of the next UP students, the hope of the nation- “Iskolar ng Bayan”.

Wikang Filipino sa Tabloid

2006-06-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

Tabloid, kapag narinig natin ang salitang ito, iba't-ibang konotasyon ang mabubuo. Ang Tabloid ay, 'malaswa', 'bastos', 'walang sense' at 'sensasyonal', yan ang Tabloid ngayon para sa marami sa atin o marahil ay para sa lahat.
Ngunit sa sanaysay ni G. Rolando Fernandez, isang kilala at batikan na sa larangan ng pagpeperiodiko sa ating bansa, ibang-iba ang kahulugan ng tabloid noon.
Ang tabloid daw noon ang siyang pinanggalingan ng mga balitang nasusulat sa Filipino, mga balitang may kinalaman sa lipunan at importante sa mga indibidwal.Ang mga tabloid noon ay naglalaman ng mga mkahulugang balita at karapatdapat basahin at hindi tinatratong mababang kalidad ng babasahin.
Sa panahon ngayon, mga balita na lamang na nasusulat sa wikang Filipino ang nilalaman ng mga tabloid at ito marahil ay implikasyon na ang wikang Filipino ay pang Tabloid na lamang. Tunay nga namang walang nasusulat na balitang Filipino sa mga pahayagang pangnasyonal o mga broadsheets na itinuturing na isang simbolo ng katayuan ng isang mambabasa. Ito ay sa kadahilanang hindi lahat ay nakakabasa sa ingles, hindi lahat ay nakakayanan ang paglalaan ng halagang higit sa P20.00 isang araw para lamang malaman ang mga nangyayari sa bansa at hidi lahat ay interest ang mga nilalaman ng mga broadsheet gano man ito maghain ng samu't-saring mga bagay patungkol sa ating lipunan mula sa mga headlines hanggang lifestyle section.
Simbolo ang salitang Filipino, wikang pambansa- wikang "pangmasa". Ang pang masa isinusulat sa Filipino, ang Tabloid ay nasusulat sa Filipino, ang Tabloid ay pangmasa- pang-Tabloid na lang nga ba ang wikang Filipino?
Yan ang tanong ni G. Fernandez, tanong ko at tanong ng maraming manunulat na patuloy na nagsusulong ng ating sariling wika.
Marahil ay panahon nang magsulong ang mga nasa larangan ng periodikong maglimbag ng mga broadsheet sa wikang Filipino.
Buwagin ang mga kahulugan at simbolong humahati sa taong mambabasa base sa ating stado sa buhay.