National Press Congress Month Begins

It's all systems go for the holding of this year’s National Press Congress in Baguio City as media members and press organizations in the Philippines start to celebrate Monday the opening of the National Press Congress Month.

This was announced by Juan P. Dayang, president of the Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc. (PAPI), as he calls on the members of the community press to undertake meaningful observance of the occasion.

The annual month-long celebration of the press congress every December is in consonance with Presidential Proclamation No.1187 declaring the Month of December of every year as the"National Press Congress Month and the Month of the Community Press in the Service of the Nation” under the auspices of PAPI, an aggrupation of more than 800 publications nationwide.

In Aklan, Dr. Ambrosio R. Villorente, president of the Aklan Press Club, Inc. (APCI) and publisher of Madyaas Pen reported that he will gather leaders of the community, provincial and municipal officials to discuss the role of the community press in improving local governance.

For his part, Wilfredo 'Jun' Berganio, regional chairman of PAPI for Region II, revealed that he would spearhead an active press freedom movement to promote and protect the welfare of the working media members in the region.

In Zamboanga, PAPI Regional chairman Vic Arevalo along with Dante Corteza of Zamboanga Times and cultural historian Icelle Borja , said they would rally media groups in their area to discuss the challenges confronting the community press.

In Cagayan De Oro, Ms. Pilar T. Banaag, PAPI Regional Chair and publisher of The Banner, reported that PAPI member publishers in Region 10 will be joining the congress to actively participate in the discussions especially designed to promote press freedom and underscore their lofty ideals as public service especiallyin the countryside.

For their part, Pol L. Bulilan, president of Visayas Media Association (VMA), Felix P. Villacastin, president of Mindanao Media Association (MMA), and Ben B. Diansay, president of Minsupala Integrated Journalists Association, Inc., shared the same worries on the effects of the global economic meltdown, global warming and climate change.

They said the press congress set in Baguio City must be able to produce fruitful resolutions enumerating positive point of actions for the benefit of countryside dwellers.

The press congress will run from December 11 to 13 at Teachers’ Camp in Baguio City with some 700 publishers, editors, campus writers and editors, reporters, broadcasters and other media communicators in the country including some campus journalists and Filipino journalists working abroad, in attendance.

The event will discuss the role of the of the community press in the promotion of understanding regarding media’s challenges andresponses on global economic meltdown, global warming and climate change.

Expected to lead the guests and speakers on the occasion is President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who made the annual gathering significant with the proclamation she issued which also cites the role of PAPI plays in upholding press freedom and the dignity of journalism and publishing profession.

The press congress has “Media, Culture, and the Global Crisis,”as its centerpiece theme and will be conducted by PAPI incooperation with the National Commission on Culture and the Arts(NCCA), Visayas Media Association (VMA), the Mindanao Media Association (MMA), and the Minsupala Journalists Association, Inc. (Aklan Forum Journal)