STAR columnist among Journalists of the Year

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine STAR columnist Jarius Bondoc has been named one of Metrobank Foundation Inc. (MBFI)’s Journalists of the Year (JOY).

Joining Bondoc are television host and Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) executive director Malou Mangahas and news producer/anchor Jiggy Manicad.

Bondoc writes the column “Gotcha” in The STAR and also hosts the dwIZ radio program “Sapol ni Jarius Bondoc.”

Mangahas hosts GMA News TV’s “Investigative Documentaries,” while Manicad is an anchor of GMA-7’s “Reporters’ Notebook” and “24 Oras Weekend” and GMA News TV’s “Quick Response Team (QRT).”

This is Metrobank’s first search for Journalists of the Year, done in partnership with Probe Media Foundation, Inc.

The search recognizes excellence in Philippine journalism across all media platforms– television, radio, print, and online.

With the theme “Shaping the Nation through Powerful Storytelling,” the search honors Filipino journalists whose excellent storytelling has contributed to positive social change and in building the nation.

The nominees went through a stringent screening process by a selection committee.

Each of them submitted five of their best works in the last 10 years and were judged based on the criteria of skills and craftsmanship, relevance of content to the community or target audience, and its contribution to positive social change.

Six finalists advanced to the last stage of the competition – a panel interview by the final board of judges chaired by Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

The other judges were Commission on Higher Education chair Patricia Licuanan, University of Santo Tomas 96th rector Fr. Herminio Dagohoy, University of the Philippines System former president Emerlinda Roman, Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation president Carmencita Abella, Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication president emeritus and senior adviser Florangel Rosario-Braid and UP Institute of Islamic Studies dean Prof. Julkipli Wadi.

“Our recognition programs are aimed at strengthening and advancing strategic sectors of society considered as key pillars in nation-building,” said Metrobank Foundation president Aniceto Sobrepeña.

“This is the very essence why we launched the search for JOY, expanding our recognition programs to journalists who have produced outstanding works and are role models for aspiring media practitioners and journalists. We take pride in discovering these gems in the media sector,” Sobrepeña added.

JOY follows the same tradition of recognizing excellence among outstanding public servants such as the pioneering Metrobank Foundation Search for Outstanding Teachers (SOT), the Country’s Outstanding Police Officers in Service (COPS), The Outstanding Philippine Soldiers (TOPS), and the Metrobank Art & Design Excellence (MADE).

In 2001, the Metrobank Foundation partnered with the Asian Institute for Journalism and Communication in the conduct of the Search for Outstanding Journalists (SOJ).

Recipients then were Sheila Coronel (print), Jessica Soho (broadcast), and the late Armando Malay, Sr. (Distinguished Leadership in Journalism).

Meanwhile, Probe Media Foundation founder and trustee Cheche Lazaro expressed their commitment to train those inclined to commit to the highest ideals of journalism.

“When the Metrobank Foundation included journalists among its annual searches for excellence in unheralded fields, we enthusiastically agreed to collaborate. We recognized immediately their desire to reward journalists for contributing to positive social change was but a natural extension of our efforts to mold such journalists. I congratulate the winners for they serve as models to their peers and to aspiring ones,” Lazaro said.