A real-life lab to study media killings

In Quezon, they found a real-life classroom to learn about the plight of provincial journalists. One was even inspired to compose jingles for a campaign to end the violence against media.

Several times in the past nine months, Nikkie Elizalde, Tanna de los Santos, Diane Olaivar, Twinkle Fernandez and Marla Ivy Manundo—all senior mass communication students of St. Scholastica’s College (SSC) in Manila—traveled to Quezon to interview journalists, families of victims of media killings, police and local government officials, politicians and owners of media entities.

They were doing a thesis project aimed at producing a multimedia campaign to create public awareness about media killings in the province, described by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) as a “hotspot for journalists.”

“We were all stunned with the information we gathered,” Elizalde said.

Media violence

• In 1980, Lucena broadcaster Ike Lingan was pistol-whipped and beaten by a policeman inside a police station. He was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.

• In May 2003, Apolinario “Polly” Pobeda, host of a program over dwTI-AM radio station in Lucena, was killed by two men on a motorcycle. He was shot six times and died on the spot.

• In 2008, Bert Sison, a contributor to the Regional Bulletin weekly and host of a music-oriented program in dzAT radio station, was shot and killed while driving home in Sariaya town. He died on the spot from nine bullet wounds in the body, while his daughter, Liwayway, survived with a bullet wound in the arm.

• In 2007, this correspondent and Johnny Glorioso, a news correspondent of dzMM, survived an ambush by two men on a motorcycle while they were on their way to a radio station in Lucena City for their daily program.

The students said their experience in unraveling the truth behind the media men’s killings had transformed them. “In the course of our research and interviews, we were all saddened with what we had discovered about the plight of provincial journalists,” Elizalde said.

Campaign jingles

For De los Santos, who wants to join mainstream media after graduation, she was able to compose two campaign jingles “Buhay Mamamahayag” and “Itama Mo Ang Mga Balita” to help stop the violence. Her elder brother Junno, a veteran musician, helped her record the songs, both rock, in their home studio.

“Media is the world that I’m about to enter and I want to help change the prevailing wrong system. By doing these campaign jingles, I hope it could help address the issue to the people,” Delos Santos explained.

On Oct. 1-2, the students conducted a media safety training seminar for 13 journalists from print, radio and television media at a resort in Lucena. The topics included a refresher course, gender sensitivity in news reporting, first aid and basic survival techniques during dangerous assignments.

Representatives from the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, Philippine Press Institute, NUJP and the Center for Community Journalism and Development provided the inputs.

The students unveiled their campaign ads for print, radio and television, and even allowed the participants to use the “Itama Mo Ang Mga Balita” as cellphone ring tone.

Their thesis adviser, lawyer Charlton Jules Romero, who also chairs the Department of Mass Communications at the SSC School of Arts and Sciences in Manila, said the project “goes beyond whatever textbooks they have in school.”

“We encourage them to go out in the community, feel their lives and learn from the experiences of other people,” he said.