Congrats to the Inquirer, BusinessMirror, and PCIJ!

I am happy with how the 17th Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism (JVOAEJ) turned out earlier today for four reasons: First, the program's flow was so smooth with no hitches at all (except for the darn microphones that were not yet on when the finalist-panelists began to speak); the audience turnout was the highest in JVOAEJ's history (400 individuals; the previous record was 308 participants which was last year); seeing old friends again like Ben de Vera, Ehden Llave, Leslie Jose as well as our former interns last summer; and the largely positive feedback from the Awards.

Before I proceed with the official announcement of the winners below, at left are some of the photos taken during the awards.

Photo no. 1 - Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility staff with PJR Reports editor Chit Estella

Photo no. 2 - Us clowning with some of our former interns

Photo no. 3 - CMFR's resident hunks

Photo no. 4 - With friend and former intern Ben de Vera

Photo no. 5 - Us taking the Abercrombie and Fitch pose

Inquirer, BusinessMirror, and PCIJ win JVOAEJ top prizes

Newspapers BusinessMirror and the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism won the top awards in the 17th Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism (JVOAEJ) for works published in 2005 at ceremonies held at the AIM Conference Center Manila on June 29.

As administrator of the awards since it was launched in 1990, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) introduced an innovation for this year’s competition. Reports published by daily newspapers were judged separately from those published by non-dailies. Thus, there are two sets of first, second and third prizes for the investigative and explanatory categories.

The first prize winners of the daily and non-daily division of the investigative and the explanatory category receive a cash prize of P70,000 each and a plaque.

The first prize of the daily division of the investigative category went to “Tracing the trail of the tape” by Fe Zamora and Gerry Lirio of the Philippine Daily Inquirer which was published on September 17-18, 2005. In the non-daily division of the same category, the first prize went to “Running on taxpayers’ money” by Luz Rimban of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism published in i Report in September of last year.

CMFR in consultation with the Canadian Embassy announced that the Marshall McLuhan Prize will go to the first prize winner of the daily division. The Marshall McLuhan Prize is a travel study tour of Canada given to the first prize winner of the investigative category. This is the 10th year that the Canadian Embassy has given out Mashall McLuhan Prize in the JVOAEJ.

Luz Rimban also took the third prize of the investigative category’s non-daily division for her article “Major players elude government’s anti-logging drive in Aurora” The article was published in BusinessWorld, Cebu Daily News, Malaya, Philippine Daily Inquirer and Sun.Star Daily on January 31-February 1, 2005.

For also winning the third prize, Rimban takes home a cash prize of P20,000 and a plaque.

“CAP: From pre-need’s poster boy to whipping boy” by Daxim L. Lucas and Elizabeth L. Sanchez published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on September 19-21, 2005 won second prize in the daily division. In the non-daily division, “Cheats Inc.” by Miriam Grace A. Go of Newsbreak on September 12, 2005 won second prize.

They each received a cash prize of P40,000 and a plaque.

The third prize winner in the daily division of the investigative category went to “Border dispute leaves Dumagats in a quandary” by Fritz Dacpano published in The Manila Times on April 25-26, 2005.

She received a cash prize of P20,000 and a plaque.

In the daily division of the explanatory category, BusinessMirror took the first prize for its report “Confrontation to cooperation? Labor-management relations evolve in globalization era” written by Dave Llorito and published on November 2, 2005 while PCIJ took the top prize in the non-daily division with “Focus on Filipino youth: Perils of generation sex” by Cheryl Chan published in i Report September 2005 issue.

CMFR in consultation with the Australian Embassy decided that the Ambassador’s award, a travel grant to Australia, would go to the first prize winner of the daily division. This is the fourth time that the Australian Embassy is awarding the Ambassador’s Award in the JVOAEJ.

“Electronic ears listen with bugs and taps” by Fil V. Elefante published in The Manila Times on June 27-29, 2005 won second prize in the daily division and “Mama can’t eat” by Vinia M. Datinguinoo of PCIJ published in the January-March 2005 issue of the i Report took the second prize in the non-daily division.

They each received a cash prize of P40,000 and a plaque.

The third prize winners in the explanatory category are “The economics of corruption” written by D’Laarni A. Ortiz, Larissa Josephine C. Villa, Roulee Jane F. Calayag, Ehden Llave-Pelaez and edited by Noel G. Reyes which was published in BusinessWorld on July 19, 2005 (daily division) and “Bataan nuke power plant: Still unused, still paying for it” by Lidy Nacpil and Mae Buenaventura published in the Philippine Graphic on March 14, 2005 (non-daily division).

The third prize winners in both division received a cash prize of P20,000 and a plaque.

The first awards were given in 1990 to honor the late Jaime V. Ongpin, who was secretary of finance during the Aquino administration. A press freedom advocate, Ongpin was involved in the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship and was instrumental in harnessing public support for the restoration of democracy in the Philippines.

This year, the JVOAEJ is sponsored by The Asia Foundation with support from the United States Agency for International Development.

The finalists of the 17th JVOAEJ are:

Investigative Category

Daily Division

Bailout costs too much for deposit insurer
Norman P. Aquino
BusinessWorld
November 29-December 1, 2005

Palawan’s gas pains
Jofelle P. Tesorio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
January 13, 2005

Non-Daily Division

So young and so trapo
Avigail Olarte
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Published in i Report
September 2005

Guns and gold
Gemma B. Bagayaua
Newsbreak
December 5, 19, 2005 and January 30, 2006

For land and wages
Half a century of peasant struggle at Hacienda Luisita
Dabet Castañeda
Bulatlat.com
Published in Philippine Graphic on January 3-10, 17, 2005


Explanatory Category

Daily Division

Philippine economic progress since 1988
The ‘good old days’
John Mangun
BusinessMirror
December 1-3, 2005

Graduating class: Education, labor mismatch
Norman P. Aquino
BusinessWorld
March 10, 2005

Non-Daily Division

Mutants on your plate
Alan C. Robles
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Published in i Report
January-March 2005

Broken promises
Lala Rimando, Cathy Rose Garcia and Elena Torrijos
Newsbreak
January 31, 2005

Trained to care
Avigail Olarte
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Published in i Report
January-March 2005