To the young writers of Cebu

The greatest battle for Cebu Province’s crème de la crème student journalists has just ended yesterday at Arcelo Memorial National High School in Liloan after the conduct of the three-day annual Division Schools Press Conference (DSPC). Hundreds upon hundreds of budding news, editorial, feature and sports writers, copyreaders, photojournalists and radio broadcasters from all four corners of the island flocked together to celebrate the ideals of “campus journalism”.

For any youth aspiring to become a journalist, these press conference tilts sponsored by the Department of Education pursuant to R.A. 7079 or the Campus Journalism Act of 1991 could be the advent of a career in journalism. There is where his pen is discovered and developed. There is where his passion in writing commences to bloom.

At the outset, allow me to confess that—after having gone through the adventures of division, regional and national levels, myself—I have become an enthusiast of junior writing competitions such as a DSPC. Not only do these seminar-workshops provide a good venue for our burgeoning writers to expand their journalistic skills and shine, but more importantly, these also grind them to become important agents for nation building as future media practitioners.

That may not be tangible to these young journalists at this point. For them, the goal of DSPC is to gain a ticket to the regionals. And that’s perfectly fine. After all, it’s a competition. But this shouldn’t blind them to the real, much deeper purpose of the contest, which is to strengthen ethical values, encourage critical and creative thinking, and develop moral character and discipline of the Filipino youth. If they doubly notched it by winning a slot to the regionals and realizing these underlying goals, then hats off to them! As for those who didn’t make the cut this time, remember that writers are not born but made.

I have said this before and I will say it again: Everything that I know about campus journalism, I owe it to a DSPC and the trainings and workshops that go incumbent with it, which unfortunately is not availed of by everyone. Credits also go to my high school alma mater, Medellin National Science and Technology School (by the way, my sincere congratulations to the seven DSPC winners and five regional qualifiers and to their coach Mrs. Ma. Hartilita Alub for a job well done this year), which offers journalism as an elective course. By offering this important course in a high school setting, students get to be exposed earlier to the beauty there is in journalism.

To the young writers of Cebu, especially to those who will keep living their dreams for the Regional Schools Press Conference (to be hosted by Cebu City) and eventually the National Schools Press Conference (to be held in Davao City), the battle has just begun. As someone who can say “been there, done that”, I encourage you to espouse the very important attitude any journalist must not give up—being persistent. It’s fine to stumble and fall once at a time for as long as you know how to gather yourself back up again and carry on. No matter what happens, follow your dreams. If you do that, everything else will fall into place.