PROMOTE UNDERSTANDING OF THE MEDIA ROLE IN CIVIL SOCIETY AND ENHANCE THE JOURNALISTIC SKILLS.

On 27 March to April 2006, I attended a one week Training on Responsible & Independent Journalism,organised by SEARSOLIN in partnership with The Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC). The objectives of this training module are; to promote the understanding of the role of the media in civil society, and to enhance the investigative journalistic skills, including research and reporting sills of independent journalists as well as journalist and writers in government and NGOs so that they are better equipped to perform their professional activities, especially in reporting on corruption and development issues.

Twelve participants attended this training, they are officicers from Provincial, Town and City Government of Philippines and one is Police Senior Superintendent from Cagayan de Oro City.The main topics in this training are; Values and Ethics in Journalism, Gender Sensitivity Concepts & Practices in Journalism and also participants learn the basic IT, introduction to computers. The training was facilitated by a group of media experts from The Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC).


On the first day27 March, we participants have introduce our self and share about our work and experiences. Before lunch, while waiting for other participants coming for registration, we start sharing our views about general issues related to media work. The resource person Mr.Rene Michael Banos,Director COPC, Columnist, Gold Star Daily and Mr.Rufino Magbanua,Director COPC, Information Officer National Transmission Corp has introduce and Mr.Rufino continued to facilitate the session with the Brain Exercise. Mr.Herbie Gomez from COPC highlight about responsible and independents journalism and the module components.In the afternoon, participants has exposed to learning on basic IT and introduction to computers. Participants enjoy the exercise with computers in the library. Participants has given a asingment to complete the basic exercise in computer system.

On the second day28 March, Ms.Susan Palmes, Corporate Secretary,COPC Columnist, Sun Star conducted the session on Values and Ethics in Journalism. She start sharing about her work with TV program. She explain about the purpose of module. This module offers values clarification in relation to journalism. Its also presents the roles and functions of news media and assists participats in comprehending ethical standards for each of the clauses in the COPC Code of Ethics. Ms.Susan continued the session with the exercise, participants were asking to create a object and explain the message about the object. Participans has share about the process of making the objects. In this session, participants has long discussion, sharing views and arguement about the different and semilar within values and ethics. Participants has share about ethics and how its works and means. Susan has given to the participants a asingment to completed about what differentiate values and ethics.

On the third day29 March,Mr.Allan Mediante, former President,COPC,Editorial Consultants,Gold Star Daily facilitate the session. He start the session with asking participants what is ethics? how we apply ethics on media?. He explain the roles of news media. The media as watchdog, informer, opinion-maker and agenda-setter, self-conscious agent for social modernization and media as entertainer. In this session, participants still sharing and argue about their understanding what is ethics means. They have share some of the issues in Philippines politics, curruption and scandals. Mr.Allan give a question to the participants about methodology in investigative journalism. The question are; is any method valid to reveal wrongdoing? is deception legitimate when journalists aim to tell the truth? is any method justifiable no matter the woring conditions and the difficulties in getting information? can television reporters use hidden cameras to get story? can journalists use false identities to gain access to information?. Mr.Allan continued to facilitate the session by asking everyone about the answer of those question.Participants has share the views and come out a different opinion about the answer given.

On the fourth day:30th March:Session was cunducted by Mr.Bingo Alcordo, Board Director of COPC. He start sharing about his work with media broadcast. He said, broadcaster do advocacy work aggressivefly, many broadcaster say " if no peoples attack you today, means that you not do your work" he said. Mr.Bingo share about the situation in media broadcast today where there is personal attack by anchor man. There is something wrong with media broadcast today, he said. Mr.Bingo explain about the Code of Ethics COPC. After explaining about the code, he ask participants to share about the past two days session. I was given opportunity to share and recap the two days session. During this session, participants still sharing about the corruption issues. We share about how that code of ethics applicable to our work. Mr.Bingo briefly explain about; The Code Attribution;Rectification and the Right of Reply;Privacy;Discrimination; "We shall not engage in discrimination or stereotyping by placing undue emphasis minority groups, sexual orientation, race, colour;political conviction, cultural or ethnic origin or physical or mental disability unless the description is in the public interest." Participants has share and giving views about discrimination; Sensitivity " In situations of grief and shock, we shall act with special consideration and sensitivity for those people effected as well as for the public." At the end of this session, Mr.Bingo ask few question to the participants about their understanding and views related to code and ethics and how its effect to our environment work.

On the last day:1st March: Session was conducted by Mr.Micheal,Board Director of COPC. He start explaining about media organization and why is that important. Mr. Cedric, from Local Government Unit of Lugait, one of the participants has share about his organization and how its work. Mr.Michael continue the session with asking participants to give their opponion about the different function, purpose, goal and organization structure of the media organization. Participants has do the exercise in small group discussion. Partcipants has presented their report to the groups and some comments has made by participants related to those answer.
Our day ending with sharing on what we learn and share from this training. All the resource person from COPC has join our clossing ceremony. Ms.Susan, representing COPC Chairman give a short speech and delivered the certificate of attendence to all participants.

In the afternoon, we all participants and resource person congrutulate to our classmate, Dr.Rolando T.dela Vega,Police Senior Supp, because he graduated Phd on Management. We congrutulate him with cutting cake and sing together for him. He get supprise and happy. All participants have good relationship each other. While eating the cake every all us still busy talking each other. I spend my last value time with them talking about how and when we can meet again. Before I end this report, I would like to share this feeling with all my friends,participants of this Journalism Training, " Friends always come and go...but you are my friend who are in my heart and one of them who remind me how nice our friendship in calssroom of Searsolin. We share our views, learn new things, argue the issues, "ketawa" and enjoy food together in the silent cafeteria. Friends, we spend a week to learn and sharing together, we talk openly about gender issues, but we not quarrel, we put our serious concern and maintain our nice friendship till end of the day. This is our value of being asian peoples in carry common value, ethics and culture. I really appreciate your friendship with me, friends. God bless us to meet again. Please keep in touch in order to maintain our relationship as a big family in Searsolin. Friends, we pray for good things for friends, so, god know how and when for us to meet again. Finally friends, please forgive me, if I do or say wrong or effect you. I have a feeling, we will have chance to meet again, god willing.

COMING HOME TO SEARSOLIN

Last 19 March,2006, I arrived here for second time coming home after 10 years ago.Mum Rachel pick up me from the airport and she put me in room 30 which is my dorm 20 years ago. Searsolin building already develope and have some extension room on thfloor. Infe third ront of Searsolin already have a big shopping complex, "SM", no need to go to down town for shopping, searsoliner can enjoys a go, you got to wait for Jepney for 30 minute to go to down town, but today you got to wait for 30 minutes to cross the road infront searsolin. My main purposed coming to Searsolin this time is to attend a Journalism Workshop, part of Searsolin training module offers in partnership with The Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC). The key overall intended outcome is for those who will participate in the Training Module to be able to write and publish high quality reports to help the public make an informed and active role in public dialouge on issues/concern that affect their lives, and able to be able to hold their leaders accountable for their actions. This workshop was funded by the AusAID-funded Philippines Australia Governance Facility (PAGF).

I meet Dr.Boy, he is Director of Searsolin now and he will retire soon. He love his 2 horse very much,always ride his horse, man who are good in exercise after 63 years old. He share with me about his work and also we talk about other Searsoliners from Malaysia. I told him, Searsoliners should write a book about him before he retire. Mum Rachel facilitated my stay home here and I really enjoy it, she bring me visit her family house and enjoy the dinner at Bukidnon and she bring me for lunch and dinner at down town also. I able to visit Delmonte plantation, its big area of pineaple plantaion, located in Bukidnon, where the place of mum Rachel grew up and study in colledge. Ok my friends, till here first, I will share more about my stay home at Searsolin and experience in attending Journalism workshop in next article.

Enjoy the night with ASIN...

Asin is one of the famous group singer in Philippines. They become famous during Marcos time, where that time they campaign for Marcos through their song, and many of their song give a message about love environment. Today they still a good singer and very energetic on stage. On 23 March,2006 at Inilog Grill, Cagayan I have chance to watch their concert and its really enjoy with their nice song.

NO TO CHARTER CHANGE NOW!

On 23 March,2006, I have join Interfaith prayer on peoples power held at Cagayan de oro city .It was organised by Xavier University, Cagayan de oro. About 100 of people gathered in this event. They are christian and muslim organization leaders, members, Xavier University staffs and public around the city. This event contents a talks and prayer by christian and muslim brothers an hope for change in the present government. They said ' No to charter change now'. They also ask peoples to engage in poeples power so that we hope for change in future.

VISIT MINING AREA AT ANTAMOK

During the IP Conference, on the 14 March,2006, I have chance to visit small-scale mining area at Antamok.It is located between barangays Loacan and Ucab in Itogon. Antamok had been mined intermittently by the Ibaloy and the Kankanaey since before the Spanish arrived here in 1620.Up until recently, the Ibaloy and the Kankanaey referred to Antamok as a pancutcutan or digging site (lode mining location), as opposed to a panacupan or scooping site (placer mining location). There are about 1,100 household living in this barangays, few members of the community still engage in small-scale mining because little ore is left at those depths that are accessible to their technology. Most of the household in both barangays Loacan and Ucab now engage in a mix of livelihood activities predominated by agriculture and odd jobs in the city.

Key leaders during the press conference











Datu Maguel,IP leader, start the opening ceremony
with his traditional prayer.


IP Conferences-Baguio City:
March 12-14,2006

On March 12-14,2006, PhilDHRRA, Anthro Watch,Assisi Development Foundation, Haribon Foundation, Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA)LRC/KSK, FPE,KASAPI,PAFID and Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) has jointly organised a National Indigenous Peoples Conferences on Mining, held at La Consolacion Villa, Woodsgate Subd.,Camp 7, Baguio City, Philippines. The theme of the conference are 'Strengthen Ourselves Protect Our Land Sustain Life'. CPA is hosting this three-day days event. More han 200 indigenous peoples from over the country and support groups from national and international are participating in this conference. This gathering also serves as a forum of exchange of experiences, lessons, skills and knowledge on mining issues. According to Ms.Joan Carling,Chairperson of CPA, this conference will also be the occasion for participats to collectively express our sincere appreciation of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) position in calling for the repeal of the Mining Act of 1995."Indigeneous Peoples look foward to a stronger partnership with the Catholic church in defense of life and our rights," she said.
The contents of this three-days conference are; Day 1: Opening ceremonies; opening prayer; keynote message; community presentation, overview of conference; press conference; global situationer on mining; open forum; national situationer on mining;present political landscape;community sharing;

What key leaders say about mining problems.....
' Large-scale mining is at the heart of every threat to the security and development of indigenous cultural communities. Indigeneous peoples in the philipines suffer cultral displacement,economic marginilization and serious human rights violations due to these mining activities. Many comunities resist being pressured into development projects which destroy their cultral values, we hope this conference by indigenous peoples will further strengthen their resolve to pursue their rightsful assertion of their culture and ancestral domains. We later hope to gain everyone's support for our campaign since this is an issue that affects, not just the bearers of our traditional cultures, but all Filipinos." said Jaybee Garganera, National Coordinator of PhilDHRRA.

Ms.Joan Carling from CPA, said" indigenous peoples are treated as second class citizens. Our rights are being violated with impunity by the government in support of mining corporation's greed for profit, as well as generating more source for corruption. We will not allow ourselves to be deceived by claims of development that will never happen. We shall persist in our struggle to defend our land, the very source of our life, culture and identity. This conference will then highlight our bases of opposing large scale mining and will also draw up our action plan for more concerted and sustained protest againts the mining law and policies of the government."
Day 2: Skills share session; The objective of this skills share session are to acquire lessons from the experience, tools, methods, skills or interventions that were presented; to establish the relevance and utility of the experience, tools,methods, skills or interventions in the local context (comunity); The topics of the presentation are; legal remedies againts mining; clean small scale mining; legal cliniquing; mine workers; situation and issues; health and environment impacts of mining; community action;monitoring and documentation; food security; agriculture and mining; human rights and mining; resources valuation; alternative livelihoods; site/community visit: mined out areas of Itagon and Tuba; reflection/sharing session; solidarity night.During the workshop, participants are discussing base on this guide question; what struck you most in the presentation?why is this skills (method or tool) relevant or important to our commnity? how can we use this skills (methods/tools) to advance our advocacy?

Field visit: Participants in this gathering also visit the mine-out areas of Itogon and Tuba,Benguet. Participats has exposed the desstruction and plunder of the peoples resources by mining companies. It also an occasion to share stories and express solidarity with communities in these areas. The place which I visited is Antamok. It is located between baragays Loacan and Ucab in Itogon. Antamok had been mined intermittently by the Ibaloy and Kankanaey since before the Spanish arrived here in 1620, it is now an abandoned open pit quite obviously carved out of the slopes of several mountains. It was operated by Benguet Corporation under American management from 1903 to 1974, then under Filipino management from 1974 to 1999. During my visit to this area, only a few members of te community still engage in small-scale mining because little ore is left at those depths that are accessible to their technology. Most of the households in both barangays Loacan and Ucab now engage in a mix of livelihood actiities predominated by agriculture and odd jobs in the city.

Day 3: Communities in Action: The contents of the last day are; recap; panel presentation on alternatives; policy framework; legislative agenda;sustainable small-scale mining; action planning; conference declaration; closing program. In the action planning workshop, participants were ask with this guide question; what is our endgame scenario? what do we want to see in the short-term ,in Dec 2006? what do we envision to see in the medium term, 2007?; what are the top 3 critical actions that we need to implement in our community?; what are the roles of the regional/national support groups in the local actions and campaign?

My observation in this three-day conference; Through this three-days conferences, first thing I observe that, Phildhrra able to gathered more than 200 participants among their network members through out Philippine region by working together with small number of steering commitee, second thing , the secretariat staffs have done good job, where they are work hard in the preparation and they are understanding each other to implement their work task. Staff and leaders from network members also really prepare the excibition on mining issues. Third thing, overall about the contents and input from this workshop to the participants, this three-day conference gave deep awarness and understanding to participants about the mining issues at regional and local level,the resource person have vast experience and knowledge, participants coming from diferent background and cultures, have a common plat form to share their local current situation and problems facing by their peoples and groups, and through this conference they able to come-out the common understanding on how to overcome the issues. PhilDHRRA as a secretariat for the steering commitee, able to coordinate with media through having press conference and explore the issues and problems about mining to the public. My suggestion are, in future action Phildhrra should work more closer and having regular meeting and dialouge with local partners and IP leaders at the ground level, example Phildhrra regional office should coordinate the issues at local level with the help and assstance of local support groups and IP leaders. The out put of this conference and the declaration made should look seriuosly, especialy on how we can put in action those ideas , it is just for creating declaration? or are we seriously want to help the IP problems at local levels? or how we want to devide our work at diferent level and exploit the diferent expertise? so, all this I think Phildhrra should have plan of action in future and I believe that Phildhrra has a experience and enough resources to do that. For my own development work, this conference give me great opportunity to share and gain new exposure on mining issues. I exposed to new issues in Dhrra development work, I have chance to talk and share with IP leaders about problems and issues their facing today. The field visit to mining area at Antamok, give me more exposure and knowledge about mountain peoples daily activity. Its really give impact to me about the situation of poor peoples in the mountain strugle for their family and life.

RE-UNION FRIENDSHIP :NICE MEETING YOU MUM RACHEL!

Its really nice to meet my lecturer also she is my mentor, after ten years we not meet each other. I call her mum Rachel, she teaching me during my study at SEARSOLIN Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro City in 1986-87. We enjoy sharing our past 20 years story, that time I am 'naughty boy'. Mum Rachel said, she make me a 'case study' means, finish a case of beer after that study. She will facilitate my coming home to SEARSOLIN this coming 19 March till 1 Mei,2006 and the same time she invited me to attend Journalism Workshop at SEARSOLIN. She share with me about the new development area at SEARSOLIN. She said before at SEARSOLIN,we take 30 minutes waiting for Jeepny, but today take 30 minutes to cross the road infront of SEARSOLIN. Let me share with you all about her, she is now as Deputy Director of SEARSOLIN and aside of that she very active in the NGO sector. She is a member of the board of many agencies such as the Global Philippine Environment Partnership(GVEP), Asian NGO Coalition (ANGOC), the foundation for the Organic Products, Inc. As the Director of the Appropriate Technology Centre, she is one of the founding members of the Philippines Partnership for the Development of Human Resources in the Rural Areas (PHILDHRRA),and an affiliate member of APPROTECH-Asia. She expert in many community development model such as Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR), Community Information and Planning (CIPS), Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis (SEGA) and Assets-Based Community Driven (ABCD) approaches.
We have finish our dinner around 9.00pm, together with me JV,Oka from Phildhrra and Lany from Asiadhrra. They also enjoy meeting her for seriuos discussion about work.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on 8 March every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women. Let me share with you about the history of Women's Day, according to the sources which I search it from the net, the first IWD was held on March 19, 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and some other European countries. This date was chosen by German women because, on that date in 1848, the Prussian king, faced with an armed uprising, had promised many reforms, including an unfulfilled one of votes for women. A million leaflets calling for action on the right to vote were distributed throughout Germany before IWD in 1911. Some others sources from the net said, the first IWD was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. Among other relevant historic events, it commemorates the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire (New York 1911), where over 140 women lost their lives. Anyway, let us share about what is happening related to women's day in the year below;

>1910: 1st International Women's Conference was held in Copenhagen by the Socialist International and an 'International Women's Day' was established.

> 1911: IWD was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark,Germany and Switzerland. However, soon threafter, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed over 140 garment workers. A lack of safety measures was blamed for high death toll. Furthermore, on the eve of World War 1, women across Europe held peace rallies on 8 March 1913.

> 1917: Demonstration marking International Women's Day in Russia proved to be the first stage of the Russian Revolution, following the October Revolution, the Bolshevik feminist Alexandra Kollontai persuaded Lenin to make it an official holiday, and during the Soviet period it continued to celebrate "the heroic woman worker".

> 1929: in addition to a social and dance in Brisbane and a Sydney Domain rally, the militant women also organised an IWD rally in Sydney's Belmore Park in support of the wives and families of striking timber workers, where men were far more prominent than women in the audience.

> 1931: 1st marches in Sydney and Melbourne. About 60 women headed a march of 3-400 people with many slogans and banners demanding equal pay for equal work and other special women's demands, as well as more general issues such as resistance to wage cuts, opposition to the Arbitration courts and solidarity with the Soviet Union.

>1932: small IWD meetings were held in Brisbane,Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne, Newscastle, Sdney and Hobart where about 50 women and children led a march of about 200 through the city to the Hobart Domain. Banners at this march declared " Fight or Starve" and "Demand More Dole."

> 2005: Congress of the British Trades Union overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling for IWD to be designated a public holiday in the United Kingdom.

Today, many events are held by women's group around the world. Many governments and NGOs around the world support IWD. So, what type of activity did your organisation celebrate this year inconjuction of International Women's Day or what kind of celebration you organise in your office, among friends and most important what you say and gift to your mum, wife and sisters ? Please share with us.