PDI paper of the year of VACC for 5th time

The PHILIPPINE Daily Inquirer was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Volunteers against Crime and Corruption (VACC) for receiving the Outstanding Newspaper of the Year award for the fifth straight year.

The anticrime group composed of victims of injustice awarded the distinction at Camp Crame on Friday during ceremonies marking its 15th anniversary.

The Inquirer was cited for its “sustained leadership in news publication and for its consistently courageous but balanced reporting of news that enabled it to maintain its credibility through the years.”

Inquirer reporter Nancy Carvajal was also named Newspaper Reporter of the Year.

The Inquirer first received the Outstanding Newspaper of the Year award in 2001. The paper received the same recognition in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012.

Carvajal was recognized “for her exemplary work in the field of print journalism as newspaper reporter” and “in recognition of her passionate commitment to responsible but fearless newspaper reporting that ventilated burning social and political issues and concerns, including those that touched on the advocacy for justice.”

Inquirer reporters who have received the same honor in the past were Jerome Aning (2001), Michael Ubac (2002), Christian Esguerra (2005), Jocelyn Uy (2007), Fe Zamora (2008), Marlon Ramos (2009), Cathy Yamsuan (2011) and Julie Aurelio (2012).

“The VACC recognizes the Inquirer’s really factual and truthful reporting of crimes and corruption in the country. Receiving the Outstanding Newspaper of the Year award for the fifth straight year automatically brings the Inquirer into the Hall of Fame,” VACC president Dante Jimenez said in a phone interview on Saturday.

Scam scoop

Jimenez cited the paper’s continuing series on the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam, which makes it, “hands down, the outstanding newspaper.”

Carvajal, who covers the National Bureau of Investigation, is the paper’s lead reporter for the pork barrel scam series.

The Inquirer scoop shed light on the NBI investigation into the scam involving pork barrel funds of lawmakers allegedly masterminded by businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

Jimenez said Carvajal’s award was primarily for her coverage of the NBI beat.

“Her stories allowed us to learn the truth [about many incidents],” Jimenez said.

Carvajal has written a number of exclusive stories for the Inquirer, including the investigations into the Atimonan rubout last January and the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard in disputed waters in the Bashi Channel in Batanes in May.

Carvajal has been with the company for 21 years.

Along with Inquirer desk editor Juliet Labog-Javellana and former Inquirer reporter Stella Gonzales, Carvajal also received the Jaime V. Ongpin Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2002 for the investigative report that chronicled the alleged police torture inflicted on the “Abadilla 5” to force the five men to own up to the assassination of Col. Rolando Abadilla.

The Abadilla 5 have been at the New Bilibid Prisons for nearly two decades for a crime, they say, they never committed.

More crime fighters

Jimenez said having 81 awardees this year is proof that there are more people who are “inspired” to fight crime and corruption and “help solve many crimes.”

Crime victims or their families nominate the awardees, who come from the media, the Philippine National Police and the NBI.

Jimenez said the VACC conducts a deliberate and careful selection process to ensure that only those who deserve the awards are cited by the group.

Jimenez said there have been instances when the group had to make “last-minute changes” in the short list of awardees because of complaints from the crime victims themselves.

Jimenez said the Hall of Fame and other major awards are voted on by the 13-man VACC board.

Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, the guest of honor at the VACC anniversary celebration, praised the anticrime group for its untiring work despite the lack of government funding and support.

He said he fully supported the VACC’s advocacies and expressed hope that the group’s partnership with the PNP and the Department of the Interior and Local Government would be stronger.

“Let us work together in policing the police force and let us help our police force police our communities,” Roxas said in Filipino.