PCIJ wins top prizes in 16th Jaime Ongpin Awards

Yvonne T. Chua of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) bagged two of the top prizes in this year’s Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Excellence in Journalism (JVOAEJ).

Now on its 16th year, the JVOAEJ run by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), held the Awards ceremony yesterday at the AIM Conference Center Manila in Makati City.

Chua won first prize in the Investigative category for the second and third parts of the PCIJ series How representative is Congress? which she had written with additional reporting by Avigail Olarte and Booma B. Cruz. The series was published in BusinessWorld, Cebu Daily News, Manila Standard, The Manila Times, The Philippine Star, Sun.Star Cebu and TODAY on March 23-24, 2004. The first part of the series was written by Sheila S. Coronel, a JVOAEJ Hall of Fame awardee.

The second place in the Investigative category went to Glenda M. Gloria and Raphael Martin of Newsbreak for their story Cover-up in the military published in the November 8, 2004 issue.

The third prize also went to Newsbreak for a folio of two articles: A comptrollers hidden wealth by Glenda M. Gloria with reports from Gemma B. Bagayaua, Miriam Grace A. Go, Raphael Martin, Gemma Nemenzo and Noli Cabantug and The godfather by Glenda M. Gloria published in the December 20, 2004 issue.

Meanwhile, Chay Florentino-Hofileña and Aries Rufo bagged the first prize in the explanatory report category for their PCIJ article. The showbiz press gets into politics._ The article was published in BusinessWorld, Cebu Daily News, Malaya, The Manila Times and Sun.Star Cebu on May 3-4, 2004.

Chua also took the second prize in the explanatory category for her piece. Much ado about numbers published in the i-magazines January-June 2004 issue.

The third prize went to D Laarni A. Ortiz of BusinessWorld for her piece Filipino diaspora provides needed boost published December 9, 2004.

The JVO awards had been solely for investigative reports from 1989 to 2000. This is the fourth year that the explanatory report as a separate category was recognized.

The top prize winners in both categories received a cash prize of P70,000 and a plaque. The top winner in the Investigative category also received the McLuhan Prize, a travel-study grant in Canada from the Canadian Embassy. On the other hand, the top winner of the Explanatory category received the Australian Ambassadors Award, a travel tour of Australia.

Second place winners in both categories received P40,000 and a plaque; while, the third prize winners received a cash prize of P20,000 and a plaque.

The JVOAEJ is an awards program run by the CMFR to promote the practice of investigative journalism and explanatory reporting. These involve basic building blocks for any kind of reporting: research, probe, inquiry and corroboration to insure the validity of ones findings.

The Awards are organized in cooperation with Ateneo de Manila University and sponsored by The Asia Foundation with support from the United States Agency for International Development.

The first awards were given in 1990 to honor the late Jaime V. Ongpin, who was Secretary of Finance during the Corazon 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.

Apart from the top prizes, six finalists in the Investigative report category and five finalists in the Explanatory report category each received a plaque and a cash prize of P10,000.

The six finalists in the Investigative category were (in no particular order): Pork is a political, not a developmental, tool Yvonne T. Chua and Booma B. Cruz, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

Published in BusinessWorld, Cebu Daily News, Malaya, Manila Standard, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star and Sun.Star Cebu on September 6-7, 2004; Reclaiming land, Tony Leviste-style

Gemma B. Bagayaua, Newsbreak, March 15, 2004; A mega killing, Aries Rufo, Newsbreak, August 16, 2004; In Tarlac, CARP gives land to the wealthy, Luz Rimban, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Published in BusinessWorld, Cebu Daily News, Malaya and Mindanao Daily Mirror on July 5-6, 2004; 16 years of agrarian reform Lands back in the hands of the lords, Zelda D.T. Soriano with additional research by Ma. Jessica Ocasla and John Thomas Sipin Bulatlat.com, Published in Philippine Graphic on July 12 and 19, 2004; The untaxable church, Aries Rufo, Newsbreak, November 8, 2004;

The five finalists for the explanatory reports were, in no particular order: Survey agencies on center stage, Miriam Grace A. Go, Newsbreak, April 12, 2004; Half-truths in advertising, Cecile C.A. Balgos, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Published in January-June 2004; Pervasive rot Jing A. Mable, Philippines Free Press, October 30, 2004; Fat cats, Lala Rimando, Newsbreak, December 6, 2004; Spinning the news, Ibarra C. Mateo, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Published in i-magazine January-June 2004.