KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – The Philippine media took center stage in the just concluded general assembly of the Confederation of ASEAN Journalists (CAJ) held at the Nikko Hotel here from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4, with the election to the regional vice presidency of National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) president, Benny Diaz Antiporda.
Antiporda is the third Filipino journalist to be elected as CAJ official in the 34-year history of the CAJ. The first was Antonio Nieva in 1985 and Fred Lobo in 1996.
More importantly, the RP delegation headed by Antiporda, also successfully convinced its regional counterparts to include the resolution of media killings in the Philippines among the CAJ’s top priorities under its “Kuala Lumpur Action Plan,” that would chart the group’s activities in the next two years.
Apart from Antiporda, the Philippine delegation was composed of NPC directors Joel Sy Egco, chairman of the Committee on Press Freedom; Marlon Purificacion and Roniel de Guzman; former National Union of Journalist of the Philippines chairman Joe Torres; and veteran journalist and columnist, Danilo Mariano of the Manila Times.