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Conference affirms role of community radio in human development

The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) Asia-Pacific concluded its 5th Regional Conference and Assembly — held in Bangkok, Thailand from 27-30 September 2023 — by electing a Board of Directors for the next term.

The newly elected Board is led by Dr. Ramnath Bhat (India) as its President. The other members are Supinya Klangnarong (Thailand) Deputy President; Raymund Villanueva (Philippines) Treasurer; Arti Jaiman (India) Representative, Women International Network; Subas Khatiwada (Nepal) Vice President, South Asia; Sinam Mitro Sutarno, (Indonesia) Vice President, Southeast Asia; Asuka Hashizume (Japan) Vice President, East Asia; and Shane Gregory Elson (Australia) Vice President, Pacific. The newly elected Board of Directors will serve for the next four years.

The 5th AMARC Asia-Pacific Regional Conference has reiterated the significant role played by community radios in furthering human development and the expression of and support for human rights.

Endorsing the Bangkok Declaration , community radios of the Asia-Pacific region have resolved to deepen interactions with regional inter-governmental bodies, donor organizations and supporters, national associations, and United Nations organizations, to develop strategies, programs, and training opportunities for community radio stations to be better equipped to serve local communities. Community radios have reaffirmed commitment to participating in disaster planning, mitigation, response, and recovery.

Calling on the governments of the Asia-Pacific region to recognize the vital role community broadcasting plays in developing a vibrant, responsive, and democratic society and to create a regulatory and legislative environment that supports the stable operation, growth and sustainability of community radio, the Regional Conference has highlighted the commitment of community broadcasters towards the promotion of the rights of indigenous peoples to establish their own community radio stations in their own languages and have access to non-indigenous community radio without discrimination.

Members of AMARC have renewed their commitment towards creating spaces on the airwaves for peasants, workers, fisher folk, refugees, displaced people, and asylum seekers, the stateless, the trafficked and diverse and marginalized voices, irrespective of cultural, ethnic, religious, social, class, caste, disability, gender or sexual or political identification or age. While reasserting the role of community broadcasting in countering disinformation for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the Regional Conference unequivocally denounced all forms of sexual and gender-based violence, particularly during times of conflict from the domestic sphere to war that is waged on the bodies of women and minorities.

Earlier, the 5th AMARC Asia-Pacific Regional released the ‘State of Community Radio in Asia-Pacific Report, 2023 .’ The first of its kind regional report presents an overall picture of the state of community broadcasting in the Asia-Pacific region based on information collected through comprehensive surveys and interviews conducted across several countries of the region.


The Regional Conference was participated by 152 members representing fifteen countries of Asia-Pacific as well as Africa, Europe, and North America. Altogether twenty-five workshops and strategic meetings were held in the Regional Conference. Topics covered ranged from digital transformation of community broadcasting to setting up online stations, tackling fake news to effective content creation on social media for social cause, indigenous broadcasting to gender relationships and intersectionality, broadcasters’ safety to climate change adaptation to Rebuilding Global Movement of Community Broadcasting. AMARC Asia-Pacific has thanked its members, donors, and partner organizations for their support for organizing the 5th AMARC Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of Community Radios.

UMAGA MATAPOS ANG HALALAN

Ni Raymund B. Villanueva

Umaga matapos ang halalan

Ay bumangon upang maghatid

Sa manggagawang may pasok.

Kape ang tuluyang gumising mula sa tila bangungot

Na balita sa resulta ng botohan.

Dumaan sa UP upang makapaglakad-lakad

Ang sintang asong naiwan noong kami ay bumoto.

Pag-uwi ay inaalo-alo ang kabiyak na umiiyak:

“Anim na taon na namang ganito.”

Sa radyo, kasunod ng pangalan ng mga nanalo

Ay anunsiyo ng pagtataas na naman ng presyo

Ng gasolina’t krudo, apat na piso kada litro

At bayad sa mga ekspreswey.

Sa daan ay nakita ang laksa-laksang tao

Nakapila ng pagkahaba-haba, buong tiyaga

Naghihintay ng masasakyan—walang ibang mapaghahambingan—

Patungo sa katayan.

“Ayoko na!” bulalas ng isang kabataan sa social media.

“Nais pa ng pamilyang magpatuloy ako ng pag-aaral.

Para saan pa, lahat naman sila

Sa magnanakaw ang balota?”

Sa anibersaryo ng pagpaslang kay Bonifacio

Ang reyalidad, parang sumikat na araw

Mainit, nakakapaso’t walang pakundangan

Umaga matapos ang halalan.

–11:30 ng umaga

10 Mayo 2022

Lungsod Quezon

UPLB’S Gandingan gives first ever-Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award to Kodao’s Villanueva

Awards founder: ‘He exemplifies offering one’s self and skills in leading efforts to uplift small communities through broadcasting’

Parts of the 16th Gandingan awarding ceremony announcing the first-ever recipient of the Ka Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award and Raymund Villanueva’s acceptance speech. (Footage by the UP Community Broadcasting Society)

Kodao’s Raymund Villanueva won the first-ever Ka Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award in Community Broadcasting in the 16th Gandingan Awards given annually by the Community Broadcasters’ Society Inc. (ComBroadSoc) of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB).

Cited for his active role in training community radio broadcasters in the Philippines and abroad as well as in establishing community radio stations nationwide, Villanueva won over two other finalists, the Radyo Natin network of the Manila Broadcasting Company and Radyo Katabang of the local government unit of Vinzons, Camarines Norte.

The award was named after the late Lucio “Ka Louie” N. Tabing, hailed for advocating for the inclusion of the rural masses and the indigenous peoples in broadcasting and development. He died in January 2018 of natural causes.

Ngayong taon…ay nahanap na natin ang kauna-unahang tatanggap ng Ka Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award in Community Broadcasting. Siya ang ating ehemplo sa pag-aalay ng sarili at kakayahan upang manguna sa pagtataguyod ng kapakanan ng maliliit na komunidad sa pamamagitan ng pamamahayag at pagtuturo sa mga mamamamayan,” Gandingan Awards founder and UPLB Prof. Mark Lester M. Chico said.

(This year, we have found our first-ever recipient of the Ka Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award in Community Broadcasting. He exemplifies offering one’s self and skills in leading efforts to uplift small communities through broadcasting and teaching citizens.)

UPLB Department of Development Broadcasting and Telecommunication (DDBTC) chairperson Dr. Trina Leah T. Mendoza said the Ka Louie Tabing Award is recognition to radio stations and personalities who have significantly contributed to the field of development through their reporting and storytelling.

“Following a thorough deliberation by the DDBTC and in partnership with the UP Community Broadcasters’ Society, we have selected an awardee who has championed community radio broadcasting through the establishment of community radio stations in the country and capacity building of community radio broadcasters throughout the Asia-Pacific region,” Dr. Mendoza said in her announcement of the winner.

“This award is truly significant because Ka Louie was a pioneer in both the concept and practice of community radio broadcasting in the Philippines and beyond,” she added.

Dr. Mendoza said Villanueva is a broadcaster and journalist of 25 years and a chief reporter and editor who focus on human rights and peace journalism.

Villanueva has participated in both successful and aborted attempts to establish community radio stations in Cagayan, Mountain Province, Leyte, Cebu, Iloilo and Bukidnon provinces, as well as in Metro Manila.

He has hosted and produced multi-awarded radio shows in several commercial, campus and religious radio stations in Metro Manila.

As a community broadcasting advocate, he has given trainings and workshops for communities and organizations throughout the Philippines and among migrant Filipino communities in Hong Kong, Italy and The Netherlands. He has also represented the Philippines in community radio conferences and assemblies in Argentina, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Timor Leste as participant and trainer.

FOR ELENA AND FRENCHIE MAE

In his acceptance speech, Villanueva paid tribute to Tabing he credits for encouraging Kodao Productions towards community radio broadcasting.

He said Tabing is highly regarded as a pioneer in the global movement of community broadcasters.

Villanueva however complained of the burning of Radyo Cagayano, the closure of Radyo Lumad due to red-tagging, and the failure of Radyo Taclobanon, Radyo Sugbuanon and Radyo Komunidad among urban poor communities in Metro Manila to proceed due to harassments from suspected state agents.

He also cited the 2020 abduction and subsequent death of Bantayan Island development worker Elena Tijamo who turned up dead in a Mandaluyong City hospital a year later.

Tijamo, a red-tagging victim, assisted in the establishment of Radyo Sugbuanon that was later forced to stop test broadcasts after repeated police harassment.

In a Facebook post Saturday night, Villanueva also called for the release of Tacloban-based broadcaster Frenchie Mae Cumpio he helped train to later become anchor and station manager of the planned Radyo Taclobanon.

Red-tagged, Cumpio is accused by the government of being a communist guerrilla even while she was hosting a regular weekly radio show in Palo, Leyte.

“But we will not stop in our efforts to establish more community radio stations in the future. We persevere because of our desire for genuine social justice that is possible only when the people have their own free voice,” Villanueva said.

“There is no democracy if the people are silenced,” he added.This year’s Gandingan Awards is themed, “Naninindigan para sa ating mga karapatan” (Standing up for our rights) its organizers said is a salute to media workers and institutions who stand up for the human and other rights that are under attack.

The award is named after a set of four hanging gongs that are part of a kulintang ensemble and also used by the Maguindanao youth to communicate.

The UP Community Broadcasting Society announcement card.

VETERAN JOURNALIST, PRESS FREEDOM ADVOCATE

Villanueva is Kodao Production’s director for radio who has hosted radio programs in several radio stations throughout his career as broadcaster-journalist.

He has filed news reports from Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, China, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Italy, The Netherlands, Argentina, Timor Leste, Norway, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

A press freedom advocate, he is the immediate past deputy secretary general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines that he also served as a two-term national director. He is currently the NUJP’s media safety officer for Luzon.

Villanueva is a previous winner of several Gawad Agong Awards for his reportage on the national minorities and was the 2015 Titus Brandsma Emergent Leadership in Journalism awardee of the Carmelite Order in the Philippines.

He is a fellow of the first and only Diploma in Radio Journalism program of the Asian Institute of Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2006 and a fellow of the Graciano Lopez Jaena Community Journalism Workshop on human rights reporting of the College of Mass Communication of the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 2012.

He authored two books on Kodao’s reports on the peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

His first book published in 2018 was a collection of poems from the 1990s to the 2010s. #

A POEM FOR TARITS

By Raymund B. Villanueva

TA ZIGEBEBANNAG NGA KAVULU

Para kani Rita “Tarits’ Baua

Nu tiyempu na aggaradu ta komang

Nu aranni ngana mas-si y kapayakang

Y danung malimakang, kaddo masipakang

Mala ta gukag na abayaw y negalu tu nuang.

Namegafu ta aggig sittam nga kusetseru

Napakaga ta malapo tu davvun y aradu

Nage na nabaling y aggaw na Yafu

Nagalla-gallakang ngana y anteru fugu.

Sangau, ta nappange tu umma

Magite-takki ittam nga lumakag dua

Ta davvun y vukal itetaga ta

Innam mu, mattatalovu nepagi-mula.

Angngarigang tu ariam mu meyennag gapa

Kannammuam-mu, maddarawa ngana

Umara-ranni aggaw, affu-fusi na vunga

Mapannu-pannu sangau yore y kareta.

-6 Eneru 2022
1:49 n.f.
Syudad nak-Quezon

FOR A COMRADE GONE TO REST

For Rita “Tarits” Baua

When the fields cry out to be plowed

The ponds from the rains are drying out

What water remains is drained, the grass is cut

And the carabao is fetched from where it’s tethered.

We start often from the edges

Our plows biting into softened soil

Just like that, before the day is through

What once was flat is now furrowed.

The new morn that on us shall dawn

Will then welcome our unshod feet

Gently covering kernels we drop

That soon shall see tender leaves sprouting.

In the chance you no longer can wait

We are certain of their flowering, fruiting

As are the days for gathering

And the carts will groan with our bountiful harvest.

-Translated 7 February 2022
8:49 AM
Calatagan, Batangas

PARA ITI KADUA A NAPANEN NAGINANA*

For Rita “Tarits” Baua

(An Ilokano translation)

No agsaning-in dagiti kelleng a maarado

Dagiti piskiria a nadanuman maatianan

Ania man danum a nabati, dagiti ruot maparaspas

Ti nuang maala manipud nakaigalutanna.

Rugian kadagiti sidsidiran

Tangbaw bukwalenna dagiti naruka a daga

Kasta latta, sakbay a malpas ti aldaw

Dati a natanap itan naaradon.

Agbukarton ti maysa a parbangon

Mangsarabo kadagiti lamulamo a dapan

Abbungan bukbukel a matmatnag

A di agpaut pagrusingan adu a bulong.

No bilang ta dikan makapaguray

Siguradokami iti panagsabongda, panagbunga

Kas kadagiti aldaw a panagburas

Dagiti karison agarasaas kinabaknang ti ani.

–Honor Blanco Cabie,
2105-2112; Feb 9, 2022, Metro Manila, Wednesday.

MonRam, 1944-2021

March 29

Reply to a Comrade

By Engr. Ramon P. Ramirez (+)

Last night we had a talk
 in a bus filled with people
   on their way home.
I talked about the moon
   sailing silently on a cloudless sky.
And you talked about the trees
   on the plaza we passed by.

It is the same moon
 which shone upon Chingkangshan
   and the Red base at Yenan.
It is the same moon
 which brightened up the streets of Peking
   on the first day of October
     in nineteen-hundred and forty-nine.

Who knows that today
   the same moon showers its glow
     upon our comrades in the countryside
       lighting their way up dangerous mountain trails.

The trees we saw are much the same
   as those that shelter our comrades
     from the sun and rain and reconnaissance planes.

Moon and trees
   though thousands of miles apart
     become our allies in the people’s war —
Like Wu Kang, too, who will serve us
   his cassia-flower brew.

Many years from now
   we shall talk about the moon moving triumphantly
     across a red sky;
   we shall talk about the trees swaying
     amidst red banners on the plaza we shall pass by.

We shall talk of things
   that will stir our hearts
     and widen our visions;
       and of men becoming god.
Perhaps still in a bus full of people
   happily on their way home
     to the communes.

(Written by the poet in 1976.)


ENJAMBMENT FOR COMRADE MONRAM

By Raymund B. Villanueva

Unlike the moon you wrote about, I did

not know you were a secret poet

crafting paeans about the silent and glowing

orb across cloudless night skies

and shadow-throwing trees giving shelter

to comrades trekking dangerous mountain trails.

Didn’t you know we thought you were like

that moon, with your white hair radiant as your smile

there, gleaming at the corners of our viewfinders

and flitting across our fields of vision

among the pulsating throng.

We heard you talk of dreams and triumphs–

wistfully of the region of the oragon and magayon

whence you sprung, lovingly of the bloodline you belonged,

proudly of the brotherhood you loved, ever hopeful

of the revolution you embraced.

They, all, glowed fulsome in your heart.

We shared a ride when we saw each other last.

The road was twisty and the sky was dark.

But, like that one moonlit March night long ago,

you spoke of plazas with swaying red flags.

I now know, Comrade MonRam,

it was the moon I drove home that night

to his other great love, home to his bride.

–9:57 a.m.
4 August 2021
Quezon City

BINHI NG TULA

(Alay kay Kerima Lorena Tariman)

Supling ng mga magulang na kapwa manunulat
Kanyang pangala’y mga tila pamagat
Kerimang mahusay at mapagbigay *
Lorenang kapita-pitaganang tagumpay **

Sa kamusmusa’y aklat ang kapiling
Bitamina niya’t ehersisyo’y panimdim
Pag-unawa, ‘di kasanayan, ang tamo
Hindi talinghaga ang birtud ng berso

Nagbagong-taong may layon ang wika
Punglong walang patid sa inangking digma
Iwinaksi ang aspalto’t sa lupa nag-yapak
Doon, doon kung saan may layong tiyak

Ang balita kahapo’y kagila-gilalas
‘Sang hiningang maluwalhating napigtas
Buhay na tapat sa hangaring lumaya
Kamataya’y makapangyarihang tula

Kamatayang nagsisilang ng marami pang tula.

-Raymund B Villanueva
   9:31 n.u.
22 Agosto 2021
   Lungsod Quezon
*, **:Mga na-google na kahulugan ng pangalang Kerima at Lorena

Nakakahawa, nakakamangha

Ni Carlos Marquez

KUNG ikaw ay magsasaka ng palay na taga-Nueva Ecija at inis-na-inis ka sa Kongreso sa pagsasabatas ng taripa sa bigas; kung sumasagad na sa rurok ang kinikimkim mong galit sa mga nakakahiyang kamangmangan na ipinapakita sa mga desisyon at deklarasyon ng maraming opisyal ng gobyerno; kung hindi mo na talaga mapagkasya sa sikmura ang mga ipinalulunok sa iyong galung-galong dugo ng mga pinapatay sa tinatawag na gyera sa droga; kung nagpupuyos ka na sa himutok at galit sa pilit na panghihimasok ng mga militar sa mga paaralan at kanayunan; kung sa tingin mo’y nawawala na ang katinuan…tumula ka.

Ganito ang nasumpungang paraan ni Raymund B. Villanueva, isang aktibistang mamamahayag at makata, upang ibuhos ang naimbak na galit. Isinatinta niya ang mga galit na iyon at inilatag sa papel. Ang resulta: “Persolitika”.

LUNAS ang pagtula, o pagsulat nito – alternatibong lunas pero hindi panandalian ang bisa (palliative). Pangmatagalan. Upang guminhawa ang pakiramdam, ibinuhos ni Raymund ang marahil ay malaking bahagdan ng mga naipong likido sa katawan sa 100-pahina ng mga tula at litrato tungkol sa personal at pampolitikang kaisipan sa “Persolitika: Mga tula at larawan”. Ang mga sakit ng lipunan na nagmistula nang epidemya pagkaraan ng maraming panahon ay sinisikap lunasan ng mga manunulat – mamamahayag man o makata. Subalit habang patuloy ang matahimik na pagsigaw sa ibabaw ng papel, parang mas lalo pang dumarami ang problema. Parang mga gremlin na habang nababasa ay lalong dumarami. (Parang tagyawat ni Yolly Samson: “Sa kakaisip sa ‘yo tagyawat dumadami…”). Kaya nga, tumula nang tumula si Villanueva at may lunas na dala ang mga tula niya.

Katulad ng epidemya ang mga tula sa “Persolitika” – nakakahawa. At nakakamangha. Pati na ang mga dakilang haligi ng panulatang Filipino ay napatayo, napatigalgal, at sumaludo sa 23 tulang personal, 40 tulang politikal, at 32 larawan na may indayog din at sining. Dalawa sa mga nagpugay sa mga tula sa “Persolitika” ni Villanueva ay sina NVM Gonzales at Jose Ma. Sison. Sutsot lamang ng mga nota ng pangalan ng dalawang ito ay dumagundong na kampana na pumupukaw sa isang maingay na metropolis.

Si NVM Gonzales o Néstor Vicente Madali González ay isang higanteng nobelista, manunulat ng maiikling kuwento, at makata, na may gawad na Pambansang Alagad ng Sining Para sa Panitikang Pilipino nuong 1997. (Binigyan ni NVM ng pagkilala kung anong uring manunulat si Villanueva nuong 1995, apat na taon bago siya pumanaw). May gawad din siya ng pinakamimithi ng mga manunulat sa panitikan na Carlos Palanca.

Samantala, kilala ng marami si Jose Maria Sison bilang isang manunulat na aktibista na siyang nagtatag ng Communist Party of the Philippines.

Bakit ganoon na lamang ang pagpupugay ng mga bathala ng panitikang Filipino kay Raymund B. Villanueva?

Dumampot tayo ng ilan sa mga tula sa “Persolitika” upang malaman.

Sa tula, halimbawa, na “Sa Gabi ng Pangungulila” ay nakipagkumperensya si Villanueva sa mga salik ng gabi – buwan, kuliglig, batis, at hangin – upang punan ang nabuong gawak ng kalungkutan sa pagkakalayo sa kanyang minamahal. Romantiko si Villanueva. “Maglakbay tayo, giliw/At idampi bilang halik ang luhang naging hangin./Sana’y kanyang mabatid/Ako’y nagmamahal pa rin.” Akala ni Raymund ay siya lamang ang nakikipagbuno sa kalungkutan ng gabing iyon. Sa kabilang bahagi ng gabi, balisa rin marahil ang kanyang irog noon sa pagkakahiga.

Hindi ba kapag hindi makatulog ang mga bata, kukuwentuhan sila hanggang sa mamungay ang mga mata at lunurin ng antok ng mga ritmo ng mga kataga sa “Mga Kuwento ni Lolo Raymund”? Pero iba ang mga kuwento sa “Bedtime stories”. Ang kuwento niya’y hindi alamat ng siyudad (urban legend). Ang kuwento niya’s katatakutan. Mga nakakatakot na katotohanan. Mga signos ng panahon.

“When our children tire of stories
About our rich kings
We tell them stories of the queen’s warriors.
Soldiers well-drilled
In shooting unarmed peasants
Or defenseless workers
Mercenaries whose shield is the civilian populace
Whose commanders are foreign-trained.”

Sa halip na makatulog, ang mga bata’y magigising. Babangon, magmamasid, makikisangkot.

ANG lalim ng isang tula, ayon kay Jose Garcia Villa, ay katulad ng isang himala, may tugtugin katulad ng awit ng ibong “seagull”. Ang tulang masusumpangan sa maraming pagkakataon, kasama ang mga hinaing ng mga magsasaka, ay may talinghaga at musika.

Sa “Literal”, pakinggan po natin ang deklarasyon ng mga magsasaka sa Palo, Leyte nuong 2005. “Ang salita ng mga magsasaka: ‘Atin muling pagyamanin ang lupa./Subalit ang mga sundalo’y hindi kailangang/Maging literal.”

Sinabi ng mga magsasaka ng Palo, Leyte na “Nais naming ng matagalang kapayapaan.” Ang totoo, naging literal ang pag-intindi ng mga sundalo.

May robotikang pag-iisip ang mga sundalo. Programado.

Inilathala ng Pantas Publishing and Printing, Inc. at ng Kodao Productions, Inc., ang “Persolitka Mga tula at larawan” ni Raymund B. Villanueva ay mabibili sa Popular Book Store. #

Kodao’s photo essay wins Gawad Agong 2016

A KODAO PRODUCTIONS photo essay on Manilakbayan 2015 won at the Fourth Gawad Agong para sa Pamamahayag (Agong Award for Journalism) held last December 20 during the at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

Raymund Villanueva’s “Bonicris Mandagit: A Manobo bead crafter” published last November 2015 was adjudged as this year’s best photo essay.

(Read: Bonicris Mandagit: A Manobo bead crafter)

Agong’s awarding ceremonies were held during the Grand Cultural Night of the Pambansang Lakbayan ng mga Pambansang Minorya 2016 at the UP Campus Management Office Grounds.

Gawad Agong is given by the Kalipunan ng mga Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (KATRIBU) and the Indigenous Voices in Asia-Philippines to journalists and media organizations who produce outstanding reports on Philippine indigenous peoples struggles and welfare.

“Agong” is a traditional Philippine indigenous people’s musical instrument that has come to symbolize the national minorities’ struggle for self-determination.

Adjudged this year’s best were the following:

  • Vincent Go, Union of Catholic Asian News, Gawad Agong para sa Photojournalism
  • Raymund B. Villanueva, Kodao Productions, Gawad Agong para sa Photo Essay
  • Benjie Alejandro, DZBB, Gawad Agong para sa Mamamahayag sa Radyo
  • Desiree Caluza, Vera Files, Gawad Agong para sa Print at Online
  • Lian Nami Buan, subselfie.com, Gawad Agong para sa Dokumentaryo
  • Hon Sofia Balod, Saksi GMA 7, Gawad Agong para sa Balita at Telebisyon
  • Northern Dispatch Weekly, Gawad Agong ng Pagkilala sa Natatanging Katutubong Midya
  • Kilab Multimedia, Gawad Agong ng Pagkilala para sa Natatanging Grupong Pangkultura

The award is Villanueva and Kodao’s third Agong first place award, following last year’s best radio program and another best photo essay honors.  Villanueva shared his best radio program award last year with his erstwhile Veritas 846 “Tala-Akayan” program co-host Fr. Delfo Canceran, OP and Kodao co-producers Promotion of Church People’s Response and Kapatirang Simbahan para sa Bayan.

Villanueva has also been given the Gawad Agong “Natatanging Katutubong Mamamahayag” (Outstanding Indigenous Journalist) award last year, being a member of Cagayan Valley’s indigenous group Ybanag.

A news writer and editor, photographer, radio broadcaster, poet and filmmaker, Villanueva is also the recipient of the Titus Brandsma Award for Emerging Leadership in Journalism last year. # (Featured photo by Ray ‘Bogsi’ Panaligan)

Kodao’s Villanueva accepts Titus Brands Award

Kodao Productions’ Raymund Villanueva was awarded the Titus Brandsma Award 2015 for Emerging Leadership in Journalism in a ceremony last November 27.

The award is given to an “outstanding young journalist who possesses an impressive and commendable track record in his or her professional performance and who has shown fidelity to the journalism code of ethics.”

The award is also given to journalists for their “use of the tools of media in fresh and innovative ways and has displayed courage in speaking the truth about issues involving peace, social justice, and the integrity of creation.”

The Titus Brandsma Award is a biennial recognition of outstanding journalists and social communication practitioners given by the Order of Carmelites in the Philippines.

This year’s award is the seventh time the awards have been held. Villanueva is the only second recipient of the Emerging Leadership in Journalism award.

Asian Institute for Journalism and Communication president Florangel Rosario Braid, PhD served as this year’s jury chair.

In this acceptance speech, Villanueva cited Kodao’s efforts to establish community radio stations for vulnerable communities all over the country.

He also mentioned Kodao’s workshops and training for marginalized sectors in the Philippines and abroad.

Villanueva is a veteran broadcaster, journalist and photographer for various alternative media organizations. He is now head of Kodao’s radio department.

This is a video of Villanueva’s acceptance speech.