AIJC has new President

The Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) Board of Trustees has recently appointed Ramon R. Tuazon as the new president of the institute. Mr. Tuazon has literally grown with the  AIJC  starting as one of the graduate students of the school and working as Graduate Assistant in the 1980s. He was one of the committed  men and women who nurtured the organization as a respected institution in media and communication.

As Vice President for Research and Development and Consultancy of AIJC prior to his appointment, Mr. Tuazon was consultant/project manager and training resource person of various local and international-funded projects. He has conducted numerous international and local research studies in the areas of communication, mass media, social mobilization, education, literacy, environment and sustainable development. Among the more than 20 publications he has co-authored/co-edited are: Media as a Battlefield: Coverage of the War in Iraq (2003); A Reader on Information and Communication Technology Planning for Development (1998), Megatrends: The Future of Filipino Children (1998), A Handbook for Frontline Advocates of Children’s Rights (1997), How Social Mobilization Works: The Philippine Experience (1996), and Jose Luna Castro’s Handbook on Journalism (1990).

Mr. Tuazon is currently a professorial lecturer at the AIJC Graduate School and Miriam College Department of Communication and a regular lecturer at the SEAMEO-INNOTECH. He is also the chair of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Technical Committee for Communication and a member of CHED Technical Panel for Social Sciences and Communication.

Peace Journ Fellows

The labor sector in the Philippines is celebrating two significant events in 2008 and the AIJC is helping in the planning of these events.

In 2008, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will celebrate its 75th anniversary and the Philippine membership to the International Labour Organization (ILO) will mark its 60th anniversary. To prepare for these twin events, the AIJC facilitated a Communication and Advocacy Planning Workshop on November 20, 2007 at the ILO office in Makati City. The workshop was sponsored by the ILO Subregional Office for South-East Asia and the Pacific.

The workshop prepared a draft communication and advocacy plan that aims to create public awareness on these events and mobilize participation of relevant stakeholders.  The proposed theme adopted by the participants was “ Towards stronger and broader partnership in pursuing decent work for Filipinos” to emphasize the need to sustain gains in promoting partnership not only among the “traditional” tripartite partners but also with new allies such as the academe, church, and mass media, among others.

Among the activities lined up for the celebrations are a book project, regional and national tripartite meetings, regional workshops on the informal economy, research studies on decent work, design of signagesincluding logo, letterheads, and car plates, among others.

Participants to the one-day workshop included information officers of DOLE, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), Federation of Free Workers, Informal Sector Coalition of the Philippines and the ILO. AIJC President Ramon R. Tuazon and Associate Director Ann Lourdes C. Lopez were the workshop resource persons while training coordinator Janelle Dagaas and training officer Paul Alaras facilitated the sessions.

Meanwhile, the ILO also commissioned the AIJC to prepare an advocacy document that will chronicle the involvement of the international organization in addressing child labor in the Philippines over the past decades. According to Ma. Concepcion E. Sardana, senior program officer of the ILO, the document will highlight accomplishments, good practices and even issues and concerns in planning and managing programs that address child labor. It will be a useful advocacy tool of ILO for its bilateral and multilateral donors.

Comm Media Skills conducted for gov’t staff

AIJC conducted a seminar-workshop on Effective Training Communication Media Skills for 19 government staff on December 5-7 at the Meralco Management and Leadership Development Center in Antipolo City. Participants were personnel from the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, Office of the Ombudsman and Department of Finance who are tasked to perform communication functions.

The three-day seminar-workshop was divided  into four modules, namely,  News and Feature Writing, Basic Photojournalism, Design and Layout, and Effective Media Relations. Resource persons included Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI)  Publisher Isagani Yambot,  PDI Chief Photojournalist Ernie Sarmiento, GMA 7 Assistant to the President and Community Relations Chief Rod Cornejo and PR Consultant Marcelino Ballesteros. Other resource persons were the following AIJC officers and staff: AIJC President Ramon Tuazon, Associate Director for Research and Development and Consultancy Ann Lourdes Lopez, Graduate School Associate Dean Madeline Quiamco, Creative Director Liza Azarcon, Training Coordinator Florjanelle Dagaas, Training Officer Paul Alaras and IT staff Zandro Espolong.

The seminar was organized by the Millennium Challenge Account - Philippine Threshold Program Technical Assistance Project funded by USAID under the leadership of Communication Specialist Benny Rayco. Chief-of-Party Benjamin Allen closed the program, encouraging the staff to apply lessons learned as they continue to excel in their respective work areas.

A two-day Training on Web Writing and Editing was facilitated by AIJC for 11 staff of the Literacy Coordinating Council (LCC) Secretariat on December 12-13 at the SEAMEO-INNOTECH in Diliman, Quezon Cty.

With ADB consultant Jay Delfin as resource person for web writing, the participants learned the nuances of writing for the global community and how to utilize the web to reach a wider audience. AIJC President Ramon Tuazon discussed the importance of maintaining the LCC in the world wide web. On the other hand, Dr. Madeline Quiamco, associate dean of the AIJC Graduate School, lectured on proofreading and editing for the web.

The LCC Secretariat is headed by Dr. Norma Salcedo with Dr. Minda Sutaria as consultant

AIJC joins consortium for Telecentre Academy

AIJC and eight other private and public organizations entered into a Memorandum of Agreement to respond to the global call to bridge the digital divide through the establishment of the Philippine Community e-Academy. The partnership includes the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), International Development Research Centre, Development Academy of the Philippines, National Telehealth Center, UP Los Banos Open University, Philippine Rice Research Institute, Intel Technology Philippines Incorporated, and Microsoft Philippines Incorporated.

Spearheaded by the CICT, the Telecenter Academy will be a consortium or a partnership platform where all members shall work “with Telecentre.org and its global telecentre academy initiative.” It also recognizes the importance of telecenter development as a part of the rural and community development strategies for government, donors, NGOs and the private sector. 

The initiative takes off from the Philippine Community eCenter (CeC) Program, a priority program in the Philippine Strategic Roadmap for the ICT Sector 2006-2010. The Roadmap aims to “ensure the availability of competent CeC knowledge workers,” aside from the envisioned e-Academy.
Telecenters are information communication and technology areas in barangay centers that provide information technology-enabled services. The Philippines has around 800 CeCs and more than 2,600 Internet-connected high schools which are potential CeC sites.
According to the National Computer Center, it is important to address the  issue of telecenter sustainability and sees the telecenter manager as mainly responsible for coming up with practicable business models.
Once operational, the Academy will provide a national level training and capacity building system for CeC managers and other telecentre operators in the Philippines.

AIJC officers participate in Ford Motoring Awards, KBP Golden Dove

Two top officers of AIJC have been requested to participate in the judging of prominent awards. Newly appointed AIJC President Ramon. R. Tuazon took part in the Ford Motoring Awards as one of the members of the Board of Judges.

On the other hand, Vice President for Administration and Finance Imelda Samson was one of the judges in the much-coveted Golden Dove Awards. For the past 16 years, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng  Pilipinas has been giving the Awards to broadcast industry players to promote higher standards of excellence and professionalism in the broadcast media. It also aims to promote more socially relevant TV and radio programming.