VERA Files’ special report about the fragile state of the University of the Philippines arboretum in Diliman, Quezon City, the lone urban forest in Metro Manila, was awarded Friday Outstanding Achievement in Online Journalism in the 9th Hildegarde Awards.
The two-part report written by VERA Files contributors Antonio Jose Galauran and Luis Adrian Hidalgo was one of 15 media reports, programs and projects recognized by the St. Scholastica’s College, Manila in its annual awards that celebrate women’s achievements in mass media and its allied fields.
Lifetime achievement awards were conferred on filmmaker Ditsi Carolino and the late Susan Calo-Medina’s TV program “Travel Time.”
Carolino is known for depicting child rights and agrarian reform issues through her award-winning documentary films that include Minsan Lang Silang Bata, Mula Pabrika Hanggang Fukuoka, Bunso and Lupang Hinarang.
“Travel Time,” the longest-running documentary travel TV show in the country, began airing in October 1986. Calo-Medina, known for her famous quip, “Huwag maging dayuhan sa sariling bayan (Don’t be a stranger in your own country),” died on Jan. 9. Her son Marcos and co-host Manu Sandejas accepted the award.
In their brief remarks after accepting the award for VERA Files, Galauran and Hidalgo said their report—“Saving Metro Manila’s remaining urban forest” and “Near-site relocation mulled for urban forest dwellers”—sought to train public attention on the need to protect not only the UP arboretum but also the rights of the forest dwellers, all of them informal settlers.
The report was published in VERA Files’ website, Yahoo Ph!, abs-cbnnews.com, interaksyon.com and Malaya Business Insight. It was based on the undergraduate thesis the contributors submitted last schoolyear for their journalism degree from U.P. Diliman. The research won second place in the 2014 Philippine Journalism Research Conference.
This year’s other Hildegarde awardees:
Broadcast Media: “State of the Nation,” GMA New TV; “Biyahe ni Drew,” GMA News TV; “News.ph,” 9TV Philippines; “Red Alert,” DZMM; “Operation Tulong,” DZRH; and “Buhay at Kulusagan,” DWIZ.
Print and Online Journalism: “SAFF 44: The women they left behind,” Rappler and “More gaps than gains? Anti-women portrayals, practices continues despite Magna Carta of Women,” Bulatlat.
Development Communication: “Children’s Show,” Roderick Cabrido; “Run for Survival,” Save the Children Organization; and “18-day Campaign to End Violence Against Women,” Philippine Commission on Women.
Advertising: “The Most Disturbing Dinner,” Lucky Me! TVC, Publicis Jimenez Basic; “Inakup Arekup,” Department of Health, Campaigns and Grey; and “Sayang,” Pantene TVC, and BBDO Guerrero.
Canonized in 2012, Hildegarde was a 12th century Benedictine abbess, mystic, musician, writer and healer known for being fearless and critical, and opposed flagellation and simony