Outstanding women in media

Let me write about three Outstanding Women Journalists who were given awards by the National Council of Women of the Philippines last week. I do so because these are accomplished women whose bylines you read, but who do not write about themselves.

They are Ellen T. Tordesillas, Josefina (Pennie Azarcon) de la Cruz, and Gloria J. Baylon. I will write about the MOD magazine editor, Cynthia (Chay) U. Santiago, in a future column.

At the NCWP ceremonies, Labor Secretary Pat Sto. Tomas who handed the awards with NCWP president Myrna Yao, said she always read Ellen’s articles in Malaya, "especially when she is criticizing something." I think that is a tribute to Ellen’s kind of writing; she hardly writes in praise of people or events unless they deserve it; as such she is not branded as a praise-release journalist. In fact, Ellen is a gutsy writer, who does a lot of research on her subjects, which range from the heads of foreign embassies to American military bases to strange goings-on in government offices. Ellen finished her bachelor of arts at the Lincoln College in Iloilo City. People noticed her hard-hitting articles when she was with Malaya, an alternative newspaper during the martial law years. She is a correspondent of Asia Pacific Media Network which publishes a weekly on-line magazine on media happenings in the Asia Pacific.

She does work for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism which undertakes investigative reports on specific issues. In 1990, she did a special report on Philippine relations with PCIJ, and wrote a chapter on the presidency in the book Uncovering the Beat, for the same organization. In 1998, together with PCIJ editor in chief Sheila Coronel, she came out a special report on the controversial deal between the Philippine Estate Authority and Amari Coastal Bay Development Corp. For that PEA-Amari story, she was given that year’s Journalist of the Year Award by the Rotary Club. She was co-winner of the Jaime W. Ongpin Award for Investigative Reporting. She co-authored with Australian journalist Greg Hutchinson, the book Hot Money, Warm Bodies, which chronicled the events leading to the downfall of Philippine President Joseph Estrada.

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Pennie de la Cruz is managing editor of Sunday Inquirer Magazine. She has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Sto. Tomas. She is also a board member of the news agency, Women’s Feature Service, an instructor on Women’s Studies at St. Scholastica’s College, and a member of the women’s groups PILIPINA and Abanse! Pinay.

She has won several awards in journalism, among them two AIDS Media Awards in 2000, a DOST Science and Technology Award, a National Book Award for best anthology, a Golden Quill Award for best travel story and a Rotary Club Award for gender-sensitive journalism. She received a fellowship as well from the FOJO Institute of Journalism in Sweden, and has an ongoing grant from the Women’s Edition and Population Reference Bureau in Washington D.C. to write about women’s reproductive health concerns.

As an advocate of women’s issues, she has produced a slideshow on women’s images in the media titled, "How to Catch & Keep a Man," and co-wrote the script for the video "Up Close & Personal" on the same topic. The video has been used in journalism seminar-workshops sponsored by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. She has also developed modules on how to report and write about AIDS, women and violence, and other gender issues.

An Asia Foundation fellow, Pennie was also project director of the media monitoring group Mediawatch. She has authored and edited primers and modules on women and politics, adolescent sexuality, gender-responsive development, domestic violence, sexual harassment, sex tourism, population, Muslim women, and women’s rights for various UN agencies and women’s groups.

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Aside from being in media, Gloria Jane Baylon and I share two other things in common: we’re both from Mindanao, and graduates of Silliman University. Gloria was born in Midsayap, North Cotabato, while I saw the light of day in Anakan, Gingoog City.

Gloria Jane is at present in charge of media and public affairs of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFCOM), an agency under the Office of the President overseeing the implementation of the US-RP Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) of 2000. She is on loan with the VFCOM in her concurrent capacity as staff writer and projects editor of the Philippines News Agency Division, Office of the Press Secretary.

As a PNA writer, she recently went to the People’s Republic of China as a member of a media delegation on the invitation of the Chinese International Friendship Corporation, visiting Xiamen, Shanghai and Beijing. She is currently in Tripoli, Libya, as a member of the government delegation for a Libya/OIC-brokered meeting of leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front.

Gloria Jane studied in Japan for her masters in comparative culture at (Sophia University in Tokyo, and International Studies at Keio University in Tokyo), as a scholar of the Japanese Ministry of education in 1977-83.

While in Japan, she co-wrote and co-edited a book for Japan-based Filipino overseas workers, Women Across the Seas, with the well-known Japanese journalist and feminist, Yayoi Yayori, founder of the Asian Women’s Association. It was also during this time that she assisted distressed women by working as a case worker in an AWA-run women’s shelter. She also helped translate documents and worked with Japanese lawyers on cases involving Filipinos.

After finishing her studies in Japan, she worked as a foreign news correspondent, at the same time serving as a member of both the Professional Activities and membership committees of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan and the Nihon Press Club. She wrote columns for several publications, including, "A Foreigner’s Eye," with the Tokyo Shimbun. She did stints as an instructor of English, Filipino and Spanish with the Japan Overseas Corporation Volunteers, run by the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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I received several letters inquiring about the first MBA online in the Philippines which I wrote about sometime ago. Edison Tsai, an executive at a five-star hotel, summarizes the gist of those letters. He wrote to say that the program will benefit professionals. He himself has long wanted to get an MBA degree, knowing how important that is in the corporate world right now. However, his busy schedule prevents him from even taking one or two classes in universities here, not counting the fact that he has to travel often. And, he says, going abroad is out of the question as the expenses will be too much for him, what with a family to support. The launching of an MBA online at American City University in Paranaque is just what he needs. He can take the course by using his computer in the office or at home. What a break the offering is for him. He may reach American City University at 820-6774, 820-9181 or 820-5952. He may visit ACU’s website at 222.acuni.org.

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My e-mail address: [email protected]