GMA News and Public Affairs wins three int'l awards

CEBU, Philippines - GMA Network’s News and Public Affairs won three awards in the 2009 US International Film and Video Festival (USIFVF).

Reporter’s Notebook’s Lunok-Droga (Filipino Drug Mules) won the Silver Screen Award in the Social Issues Production-Documentary Category. To film the documentary, host Jiggy Manicad traveled to Kuala Lumpur to witness the sting operation jointly conducted by Philippine and Malaysian police to arrest members of a Nigerian drug syndicate. Manicad also had the opportunity to interview the Filipino drug courier used to bring the syndicate down. Co-host Maki Pulido, on the other hand, tackled the worsening problem of drug abuse in the Philippines.

Another Reporter's Notebook documentary, Pinays for Export (Filipinas for Export): The Southeast Asian Sex Trafficking Trail received a Certificate for Creative Excellence in the same category. The episode featured the world’s third most profitable organized crime – human trafficking, with victims falling mostly into sexual slavery. For the first time on Philippine television, the trail of trafficked Filipinas from the Philippines, to Malaysia, Hong Kong and Macau was traced.

Jay Taruc’s documentary Batang Langoy (Child Swimmers) won for I-Witness a Certificate for Creative Excellence also in the Social Issues category. It documented the struggle of the Magalumbi island children, who swim a two-kilometer stretch everyday just to be able to go to school. Being unable to bring home their books, the children bury these under the sand and in the morning rush to do their homework before going to school.

The USIFVF was founded in 1967 and is one of the world’s leading international events devoted exclusively to recognition of outstanding Business, Television, Documentary, Educational, Entertainment, Industrial and Informational productions.