Who's going to win the JVOAEJ this year?

Just before I go to other things, let me point you to RG Cruz and Filipino Voices to update what I last posted. I'll try to find time in the near future to discuss issues related to the abduction. But for now, let me just post here an announcement on the upcoming Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism:

Winners in Ongpin Awards Known By June 26
Source: Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility

The best investigative and explanatory reports published in 2007 will be named on June 26 from among ten finalists during the 19th Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence on Journalism (JVOAEJ), the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) which administers the awards has announced.

This year’s finalists are:

Palace document shows gov’t plan to neutralize Left
Norman Bordadora and Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 16-17, 2007

The road to Italy
Gemma Luz Corotan
Newsbreak
September-December 2007

Inside PCGG 21 years later
Fernando del Mundo, Margaux C. Ortiz, Jerry Esplanada and Daxim L. Lucas
with reports from TJ Burgonio and Lawrence de Guzman
Philippine Daily Inquirer
February 22-25, 2007

Environmentalists to govt: Manage garbage, don’t promote landfills, dumps
Nora O. Gamolo
The Manila Times
October 28-29, October 31-November 1, 2007

Trapped in a web of lives
Glenda M. Gloria
Newsbreak
December 2007-February 2008

Garci was here
Miriam Grace A. Go
Newsbreak
July-September 2007

The battle for Manila’s gateway
Roel Landingin
Newsbreak
September-December 2007

Bridging the digital gap
Allison Lopez, Riza Olchondra, Juliet Labog-Javellana with reports from
Julie S. Alipala
Chief: Fernando del Mundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
December 27-29, 2007

Malansang balak ng Hapon sa Pilipinas
Soliman A. Santos and Kenneth Roland A. Guda
Pinoy Weekly
October 17-23, 2007

What’s swimming in your soup?
Prime Sarmiento
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
Published in Malaya, November 27-28, 2007

To focus attention and encourage reporting on the urgent issues of human rights, the environment, and governance and corruption, the JVOAEJ awards this year scanned both investigative and explanatory articles on these three topics.

For more information, click here. As seats are limited this year, please contact CMFR (+63 2 894-1326/894-1314) to confirm your attendance.

Established in 1990, the JVOAEJ has become one of the most prestigious journalism awards in the Philippines.

Militants allegedly abduct Ces Drilon, two cameramen

ABS-CBN 2 news anchor Ces Drilon and two camerapersons were abducted in Sulu, according to some reports.

Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants abduct 3-person TV team in Philippines
The Associated Press
Published in the International Herald Tribune
June 9, 2008

Philippine security forces were searching Monday for a Manila television reporter and two cameramen believed to have been abducted by al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf militants while pursuing a story.

ABS-CBN senior reporter Ces Drilon and her two crewmen were intercepted Sunday in volatile Jolo island's Maimbung township by armed men under Albader Parad, an Abu Sayyaf leader in the area, the regional police chief said.

Read more here. According to this report, the ABS-CBN management declined to comment on the issue at the moment, but is releasing a statement early today.

Below is a report from The Mindanao Examiner:

Sayyafs Seize Journalist, 3 Others In Southern Philippines
The Mindanao Examiner
June 9, 2008

Abu Sayyaf militants have seized a Filipino television journalist and two cameramen, including a Muslim university professor in the southern Philippine island of Sulu, police said Monday.

Police said Ces Drilon and her cameramen and their companion Octavio Dinampo were abducted in the village of Kulasi in the town of Maimbung. Drilon’s team arrived in Sulu on Saturday from Zamboanga City, said Supt. Julasirim Kasim, the provincial police chief.

“We received reports that the four were abducted by the Abu Sayyaf led by Albader Parad,” Kasim told the Mindanao Examiner.

He said Drilon’s group, from the television giant ABS-CBN, was believed taken to the hinterlands of Indanan town. Dinampo teaches at the Mindanao State University and is said to be helping Drilon in her coverage. The identities of the two cameramen were not immediately known.

“There is no demand yet for ransom,” Kasim said, adding, Sulu Gov. Sakur Tan convened the Crisis Management Committee to address the situation.


Read more here. Other related reports here and here. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility is going to issue a news alert on the incident.

I'm a bit surprised that none of the top news websites, even abs-cbnnews.com, the website of ABS-CBN 2, has so far carried a report on what happened. Or at least from my earlier scan of the news items on their websites and in Google Reader. NBN-4 reported on the incident earlier in the afternoon, but I was not able to catch its full report.