A boy digs for scraps in the village of Tetuan in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. Influential Spanish priest Angel Calvo gestures as he speaks about poverty during a training and seminar on poverty and human rights reporting by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines in Zamboanga City on Sunday, October 12, 2008. The training was attended by journalists in Zamboanga City. (Photos of Father Angel Calvo and participants to the NUJP training are courtesy of FotoReportage / http://fotoreportage.wordpress.com/)ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – “Journalists should denounce poverty and give voice to the voiceless,” this was the message of Spanish Father Angel Calvo in his lecture during a training on human rights and poverty reporting in Zamboanga City in Mindanao.
The training, held at the Solidarity Center in Roseller Lim Blvd., was sponsored by the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, Center for Community Journalism and Development and the Davao City-based media cooperative MindaNews.
At least 18 local journalists, who are working for newspapers, radio and television outfits, participated in the training.
Father Calvo, who heads the independent Zamboanga-Basilan Integrated Development Alliance (ZABIDA), spoke on the poverty condition in Zamboanga City.
“Poverty is a very complicated issue and journalists should take extra care when reporting it,” he told participants.
He also presented photographic slides and a documentary-MTV about poverty in Zamboanga City.
The influential priest, who also heads the Peace Advocates Zamboanga, cited the massive influx of people from neighboring provinces as one factor that contributed heavily to the poverty situation here.
The Spanish-funded ZABIDA program, which started in 2007, aims to fight poverty and at the same time strengthens peace and security in the communities.
The Manos Unidas together with the Agency for International Cooperation, the development assistance arm of the Spanish government, are funding the ZABIDA program.
The Peace and Equity Foundation also has listed 33 out of 98 villages in Zamboanga City as priority areas, which mean that many of its residents cannot even meet their basic needs and have no access to basic social services.
In a study, it said that more than 50% of the entire city populations are living below the poverty threshold.
“Poverty is not only economic issue but more of moral issue today,” Father Calvo said.
The Peace and Equity Foundation was formed as an independent non-profit foundation on October 2001 by the Caucus of Development NGOs to support the work of civil society in eradicating poverty and marginalization.
The Foundation administers an endowment fund from the net proceeds of the Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificate (PEACe) Bonds developed and sold on the capital market by CODE-NGO. As a funding institution, it will not go into direct implementation of projects nor undertake direct training and capacity building programs.
Darwin Wally Wee, chairman of the local NUJP chapter, the seminar is part of a series of training being carried out by the local NUJP chapter since it was organized in August.
He said the seminar is aimed at educating journalists on poverty and human rights reporting and the responsibilities of the media as the vanguard of democracy.
“Such training would further enhance the knowledge and widen the understanding of journalists on reporting these sensitive issues of human rights and poverty,” he said.
“Human rights and poverty are sensitive issues and therefore critical analysis of the situation is necessary,” said Maricel Pascual, a participant in the seminar. “The training and seminar is very helpful because it presented a very clear picture of poverty as well as other factors involved in it,” said Pascual, a local radio reporter.
NUJP Secretary General Rowena Paraan was the main speaker during the training and she lectured on the basics of human rights and the role of media in covering and writing stories on poverty, among others. (Nung Aljani)
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