PCP Statement on a Photo with “Uncalled for, Insensitive and even Libelous” Caption Heading

Posted on May 10, 2012 by gigiecruz

Screen Shot of PDI May 9, 2012 Edition

LETTER to Philippine Daily Inquirer

TO:

Leticia Jimenez-Magsanoc
Editor in Chief
Jose Ma. Nolasco
Managing Editor
Artemio Engracia, Jr.
News Editor
Ruben Alabastro
Chief, News Day Desk
Nilo Paurom
Chief, Page One Operations
PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

Greetings from the Philippine Center for Photojournalism!

We would like to call your attention to the caption of a photograph showing President Aquino shaking hands with a veiled Muslim woman published on May 9, 2012.

The heading SECURITY RISK! we believe is uncalled for, insensitive and even libelous.

Although the burka is frowned upon in some Western societies, it remains to be part of the culture of Islamic societies. We believe labeling a dress a security risk does not take into account the nuances of the Islamic culture. It is also an affront to the minority Muslim population of this country that a symbol of Muslim culture is labeled outright a security risk and further fuels the stereotyping of our Muslim brothers as terrorists.

We therefore request that the Philippine Daily Inquirer, being a respected publication and a leading newspaper in the country, exercise the proper course of action by issuing a retraction and printing a public apology to the offended parties.

The Philippine Center for Photojournalism is an organization established in 1997 and count as its members photojournalists from various newspapers, wire agencies and other publications. Part of the group’s mission is to establish professionalism in the industry and to promote the ethical practice of photography in the Philippines. We therefore deem it our role to cite instances detrimental to our profession, such as this incident, and call the responsible party/ies to action.

We thank you.

Sincerely,
Fernando Sepe Jr.
Chairman
Philippine Center for Photojournalism

PCP 6- Trabaho ni Nanay

Posted on February 29, 2012 by gigiecruz

Photos and text by Migo Prado

Gemma Tacuyan, 29, is a mother, living in Agusuhin Resettlement Site in Subic, Zambales. Gemma’s family have been forcibly evicted from their home because Hanjin, a ship building facility, decided to place themselves there.

Their family has been relocated for a total of five times, and they have lived in their current location for three years.

The likelihood of Gemma’s family being removed again is high, because they don’t own the land they live in.

All through these, Gemma still continues on doing her duties as a mother.

PCP 6- Christmas Wishes – The Children of Sitio Agusuhin

Posted on February 29, 2012 by gigiecruz

Photos and text by Jo A. Santos

It is late November, and the elementary school of Sitio Agusuhin is filled with colorful Christmas decorations. In one classroom corner, children decorate a Christmas tree with small parols – cardboard stars pasted with handwritten notes.

In 2006, these children and their families were displaced when Korean-owned Hanjin built the third largest shipbuilding facility in the world. Forced to resettle in areas far away from their means of livelihood, they received little to no compensation for the loss of their homes and property.

With many families facing yet another threat of eviction, these children’s Christmas parols reflect their wishes, hopes and aspirations amidst the uncertainty of their future.

PCP 6- Genuine and Lasting Relief

Posted on February 29, 2012 by gigiecruz

Photos and text by Jose Martin Punzalan

One thing that is lacking in the Agusuhin Resettlement Site in Subic, Zambales is proper health center.

Should they require medical attention for diseases like Malaria, they would have to travel to the Olongapo town proper, which is not easy considering the remoteness of their location.

The locals would occasionally receive relief gods, but such goods are temporary and can only do so much. In the end they will still have nothing.

PCP 6 – No Owner

Posted on February 29, 2012 by gigiecruz

Photos and text by Ciriaco “Jun” Santiago

The Elementary School of Agusuhin- Annex is located at the coastal area of Barangay Cawag, Subi, Zambales. The school premise is originally a church, but in 2006 when a demolition was implemented in their original place, about 300 families were forced to move into its preset location.

The force eviction was done to make way for the building of a Korean-owned ship manufacturing facility -Hanjin.

What seed to be a house of worship was turned into a place of Hope. But now, they are facing another threat of eviction.

Everyday, they share their common moment of burden and dedicate their care to each other.

They owe nothing, but only to their classmates.

PCP 6- Sitio Agusuhin: Where a Child’s Dreams are Built

Posted on February 29, 2012 by gigiecruz

Photos and text by Chris Linag

This is the story of a dreamer whose name is Fresh Mariez Literatus,
a Grade 3 student living in Sitio Agusuhin.
She is consistent valedictorian of her class for three years now.

Fresh dreams of becoming a teacher. Asked why, she answered:
“Pangarap ko pong maging teacher dahil nakakatulong po sila sa mga bata.”

Faced with a threat of being evicted in their homes, the future of the people of Agusuhin, including its children, is yet again in limbo.

PCP 6 – Photo Essay: Agusuhin

Posted on February 29, 2012 by gigiecruz

Photos and text by Alan De Ramos

Antionio and Erlinda Eda 69 and 70, are one of the many elders in the new Agusuhin Rellocation site. But unlike most elders in the site, they have already learned to accept their fate. Not that they don’t support the cause of the other elders but because of their advance age they have chosen to live their lives in the best way they can whatever the situation may be.

Antonio and Erlinda built a mini “compound” where their family can be close to each other. Having lost their old livelihood which was fishing after their old house was demolished, they make the most out of it by adapting to their new environment. Antonio began making charcoal which they sell and use for their daily needs. While Erlinda takes care of the household chores while providing decent meals for her children and grandchildren.

PCP 6 – Photo story: A Portrait of Uncertainty

Posted on February 29, 2012 by gigiecruz

Photo and text by: by Richard Jacob Dy

A young girl living under the threat of constant demolitions

The 25th of November is Angel Centino’s special day, but she doesn’t know it yet. Her parents, Junito and Christine, chose not to tell her, at least not yet this year, not until they have enough money to celebrate.

In May 2006, when Angel was just five months old, her family – along with around 300 families in Sitio Agusuhin, Subic, Zambales – were evicted from their homes to give way to a shipbuilding facility for Hanjin, a South Korean company.

Today, the displaced families of Agusuhin still don’t have a permanent relocation site, and they are forced to live a life of uncertainty with each passing day.

(This essay is the product of a photo story assignment on November 25, 2011 for the 6th Philippine Center for Photojournalism Professional Photojournalism Workshop held at Subic, Zambales.)

Filipino Photojournalist wins 5th Annual FCCT/On Asia Photojournalism Award on Environmental Issues

Posted on February 29, 2012 by gigiecruz

Associated Press photographer and PCP officer Aaron Favila wins the top prize of the 5th Annual Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand and On Asia Photojournalism Award – Special Category on Environmental Issues. PCP congratulates Aaron Favila for this impressive feat

FIFTH-ANNUAL FCCT / ONASIA PHOTOJOURNALISM CONTEST

PRESS RELEASE

BANGKOK – The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) and OnAsia, the region’s leading stock photography and assignment agency, announced the winners of this year’s FCCT/OnAsia Photojournalism Contest.

Some 316 photographers submitted more than 5,500 images from across the region. Judges selected winners in four categories: Spot News, Feature Photography, Environmental Issues (a special category sponsored by the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand) and Photo Essay. In addition, the judges selected a Photographer of the Year, the contest’s top prize.

This year’s winners are:

Photographer of the Year: Athit Perawongmetha

Spot News
First Place: Salil Bera (West Bengal leopard attack)
Honorable Mention: Altaf Qadri (Kashmiri intifada)

Feature Photography
First Place: Graham Crouch (artificial limb therapy in Kabul)
Honorable Mention: Muhammed Muheisen (day laborers in Pakistan)
Honorable Mention: Edwin Koo (Pakistan’s Swat Valley)

Environmental Issues
First Place: Aaron Favila (Philippines typhoon)
Honorable Mention: Jashim Salam (Bangladesh tidal surges)
Honorable Mention: Erik Messori (Indian coal mining)

Photo Essay
First Place: Diego Verges Requejo (Indonesian “Ludruk” theater)

The FCCT/OnAsia photo contest has solidified its position as one of the most important photo contests in Asia since its inception in 2007. The quality and range of the photographs submitted each year continues to grow, underscoring how Asia’s photographers remain committed to reporting difficult and important stories despite economic pressures in the international media industry that are making it harder for photojournalists to earn a sufficient working wage.

The judges expressed special commendation for the work of Athit Perawongmetha, a photojournalist based in Bangkok, who won the year’s coveted Photographer of the Year award. Since starting out in photography as a hobby in the late 1990s, Mr. Athit has emerged as one of the most prominent and celebrated shooters in Bangkok’s busy photojournalism scene. His dramatic images of Thailand’s Red Shirt protests in 2010 – including one that won First Place in the Spot News category of the 2010 FCCT/OnAsia Photojournalism Contest – garnered international attention and propelled his work to another level. In 2011, he covered several of the region’s biggest news stories, including the devastating tsunami in Japan and Thailand’s mid-year elections. The result was a body of work that impressed the judges for its breadth, diligence and bravery, including a series of haunting images shot within the 20-kilometer “exclusion zone” around Japan’s Fukushima-Daichi nuclear power plant. All his images showed the careful attention to detail and sensitivity to human suffering that were evident in his widely-recognized work from the 2010 Red Shirt protests, and further established Mr. Athit as one of Asia’s top photographers.

The judges were also highly pleased with the submissions for the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand’s Environmental Issues category, a special category established this year focusing on the environment in Asia, including issues important to the European Union such as natural resources and waste; climate change; nature and biodiversity; and the environment and public health. The EU sponsored a similar special category in 2010 focusing on human rights that chronicled abuses in Cambodia, Myanmar and elsewhere.

Judges were especially impressed with the prize’s top winner, Aaron Favila, whose winning image captured the devastating impact of natural disasters whose increasing frequency in recent years is widely linked to climate change. The dramatic image showed a man hanging on to what remains of his home on stilts as he tries to recover his belongings after powerful Typhoon Nesat wiped out homes along a coastal village north of Manila in September 2011.

Other photographers recognized in the category documented the challenges posed by tidal surges in coastal areas of Bangladesh affected by climate change, and the growing toll of coal mining in Asia, which is shortening the lives of mine workers while releasing more carbon monoxide into the air.

“The European Union is proud to associate itself with this prize,” said Ambassador David Lipman, Head of the EU’s Bangkok-based Delegation to Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. “These pictures tell stories of the interaction between human behaviour and the world we live in. They illustrate the causes of environmental degradation as well as its consequences. Looking at Aaron Favila’s photos of people trying to hold on to their possessions in the face of the devastating forces of nature, it is hard to avoid thinking of the floods that struck Thailand last year. The European Union is a leader in the fight against climate change and the global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through improving energy efficiency and increasing the use of clean technologies. These images remind us why this is such an important undertaking.”

“For the fifth year in a row, we are awed by dedication, skill and imagination of photographers working in Asia despite the massive challenges they face,” added Patrick Barta, an FCCT board member and an organizer of the event. “We are very proud to celebrate their work, and hope that by promoting the best photographs in Asia, we can do our part to help protect photojournalism for the years ahead.”

Winners in the spot news, feature photography and photo essay categories won $1,000 cash and 1 round-trip ticket for economy-class air travel in Asia, courtesy of Star Alliance, the global airline network whose members include Thai Airways and other carriers. The winner in the environmental issues category won $2,000 cash, courtesy of the Delegation of the European Union to Thailand. The Photographer of the Year won a $3,000 cash prize and round-trip ticket for economy-class air travel in Asia.

“Pagkilala sa mga Natatanging Kuwentong Katutubo” recognizes 2 PCP members

Posted on February 27, 2012 by gigiecruz

PCP Congratulates Kara Santos and Vincent Go for the recognition given by the International Labour Organization and Probe Media Foundation,Inc. for their stories promoting indigenous peoples’ rights.

“Pagkilala sa mga Natatanging Kuwentong Katutubo” (Recognition of Outstanding stories on Indigenous Peoples) recognizes the efforts of Filipino media practitioners who have been able to provide the audience with “real stories” that contribute to the advocacy on indigenous peoples’ rights. The ILO supports the media recognition, in partnership with Probe Media Foundation Inc. and the Philippine Press Institute, which aims to increase awareness on issues related to indigenous peoples.

Aetas of Bataan Claim SBMA”
Photo Essay by Vincent Go

From PCP Web

“First Aeta Forest Food Festival”
Kara Santos: Travel Up

Related Story:
International Labor Org awards Sun.Star editor
Tuesday, December 13, 2011

SUN.STAR Davao editor-in-chief’s cover story on the Matigsalog tribes published October 11, 2009 won her one of the three plums in the print category of the International Labor Organization’s “Pagkilala sa mga Natatanging Kuwentong Katutubo” in an awards ceremony held at The Tent of Rockwell Powerplant last Monday.

“As precious as life itself” is a story of how in trying to comprehend resource valuation, community members of the Matigsalog tribe of Davao City instead relate why the environment cannot be quantified into any amount of money.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

Stella Estremera’s article is one of the 11 winning articles in four categories: online, print, television, radio, and photo essay categories.

Another Sun.Star article by freelance journalist Antonio M. Manaytay (Lost voices: Subanen asserts right for representation in governance) published online by Sun.Star Zamboanga was chosen as one of three outstanding stories in the online category.

The outstanding stories in all of the five categories were revealed in the ILO Year-end Reception that underscored the indigenous peoples (IP) as “partners in development,” and the journalists who presented them in unique storytelling that provided insightful glimpses of their culture, aspirations and indispensible efforts towards making a difference in their communities and showing the society their critical importance in nation-building.

The shortlist of outstanding stories from print, radio, television, online and photo essay was a result of a evaluation of more than 80 entries from August 2009 to August 2011, by a pool of experts on IP issues and from the media that comprised the screening committee and the judging panel.

The first ever “Pagkilala sa mga Natatanging Kuwentong Katutubo,” which served as the highlight of the reception that gave importance to members of IP communities, also showcased ethnic or indigenous dance, music, products and snapshots of the colorful life of the IPs in the country.

“It was a good mix of stories that show the other side of our IP brothers and sisters,” Joseph Alwyn Alburo, vice chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and member of the judging panel, said.

Both the screeners and the judges lauded the efforts of the writers who took time and effort to share to the public that indigenous peoples are “indeed partners in development” and that “more stories can be written about them in the future.”

“The stories are not about the journalists who produced them. They are about the IPs who are out there struggling to be part of a bigger community,” Ramon Tuazon, president of the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) and a member of the board of judges, said.

Secretary of Labor and Employment Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, who read the message of President Benigno S. Aquino III during the opening program, also lauded the efforts “for hailing the part that indigenous peoples plays in development.”

She said there are now IP desks in 16 regions of the country. “Ituwid ang daan para sa mga katutubo,” Baldoz added.

Estremera, in her acceptance speech on behalf of the awardees, said interacting with the IPs to listen to their stories and relaying these with their purest intentions at its most unadulterated narrative, is a journey into one’s soul.

“It is a rediscovery of our identity as Filipinos. Like any other journalist, I started looking and writing about them with pity in my eyes. That was until I listened to their stories and beliefs and saw in them the true resilience of the Filipino spirit, and a deeply ingrained dignity that has withstood the endless years of marginalization. Along with that came the realization that the pity is on us for sweeping these away to the margins and denying our children these stories. To ILO, thank you for this recognition, but the greater gratitude is for the IPs for waiting so long for their stories to be told. ”

In the end, she urged fellow journalists not to make them (IPs) wait much longer.

The Probe Media Foundation served as the project secretariat. The Philippine Press Institute was the coordinating arm for print entries.

The complete list of winners are:

Television: Michael Escobar, NBN Ylocos
Radio: Reyan L. Arinto, dyVL-AM Aksyon Radio Tacloban
Print: Jeffry M. Tupas, Romer S. Sarmiento, and Stella A. Estremera
Photo essay: Vincent Go of Vera Files, Edgardo V. Espiritu of PDO-Northern Luzon Bureau, and Kara Patria M. Santos of Travel Up.
Online: Antonio M. Manaytay (work published in www.sunstar.com.ph), Arthur L. Allad-iw of Northern Dispatch (Nordis) Weekly at www.nordis.net, and Ryan D. Rosauro of Inquirer.net.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on December 14, 2011.