In a simple ceremony held Monday, Chua was cited for the “depth and breadth of her work” as journalist.
Flora May M.Cerna, head of the Department of Research and Project Development at the Transparency and Accountability Network, is the awardee for the 2010 Aquino Fellowship for Public Service.
The awards are given annually by the United States Embassy and the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation to individuals who excel in journalism and public service. (Photo by Reylynne de la Paz)
“Her award-winning articles helped expose discrepancies in textbook procurement in public schools, lack of accountability and transparency in government institutions, and unexplained wealth of former senior officials. She co-coauthored and edited several books related to investigative journalism. She is now training a new generation of journalists in advancing government accountability, working as a part-time assistant professor at the University of the Philippines,” the US embassy citation read.
Cerra, the US embassy said,” has a track record of successful advocacy.”
“Under her leadership, TAN created new methods of challenging traditional government procedures and encouraged several government organizations to adopt new processes that made them more transparent and accountable,” the citation read.
US Ambassador Harry K.Thomas Jr. said, “Today, we all take inspiration from the hope that a new Aquino in Malacañang brings to the Philippines and to the world. But hope requires many friends to become reality, and much hard work. As this fellowship program indicates, kasama tayo sa pagbabago. [We are partners in working for change.] These two honorees remind us that passionate dedication brings success and the capacity to inspire others as we are inspired by the Aquino legacy.”
Maria Elena “Ballsy” A. Cruz, who represented the Aquino family, congratulated the two awardees saying,”By your persistence — through your writing, teaching, organizing, advocacy — you have trained the spotlight on the realities of our society and showed us how an active citizenry can make a difference in the drive against the abuse of power and privilege and the misuse of government resources. Indeed, the truth that you have uncovered thus far, has already begun to set us free.”
This is the Fellowship’s first award ceremony since former President Aquino’s death.
Chua, who started her journalism career in 1981, under Marcos’ Martial Law, recalled that it was then difficult to imagine “journalism in a democracy.”
Today, she said, “Freedom of the press is in no better shape. Cases of libel, a crime in this country, have been brought against members of the profession, many of these unjustifiably. Our work as watchdogs has been hindered by increasing restrictions placed on the flow of information. And we mourn the deaths of far too many journalists murdered in the course of their work.”
Amidst all these, she said, journalists must continue performing their role well. “Let not our commitment to truth, a free press, good governance, and democracy ever waver,” she said.
Established in 1998 by the US Embassy in Manila as the Benigno Aquino S. Aquino, Jr. Fellowships for Professional Development, it was renamed in 2009 the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Fellowships for Professional Development to commemorate President Aquino’s significant contribution to strengthening Philippine democratic institutions.
The Aquino fellows will participate in an exchange program in to meet and share views with American and international counterparts.
Yvonne’s acceptance speech:
Twenty-nine years ago, when I got out of journalism school and began working as a reporter, it was difficult to picture the phrase, “journalism in a democracy.” After all, the country was under a dictatorship.
I first worked for what people called a “crony” newspaper. On many occasions it was mocked—derided as the “Philippines Daily Suppress.” But little known is the fact that it was our editors who had kept the hopes and idealism of young journalists like me alive.
Many of them had once worked for Asia’s freest press. Notwithstanding martial law’s repressive conditions, they tried the best they could to let us report the truth, hoping this would escape the watchful eyes of Malacanang, and bore the wrath of the Palace when it didn’t.
Our editors drove us hard to pursue excellence in our craft, reminding us without fail that the dictatorship was an aberration that would—and must— come to an end.
And when we despaired over the future of our country and of our profession, they would urge us not to lose hope. As one of them liked to say, “Just keep pushing. The wall will fall.”
In the twilight years of the dictatorship, I was with the news desk of Ang Pahayagang Malaya, an alternative newspaper that the dictator had belittled as the “mosquito” press. Never had the perils of journalism been so real to me—until then.
We constantly feared that the military would descend on us: to raid, arrest, and close us down like it did years earlier to our sister publication, We Forum. We carried the phone numbers of our lawyers wherever we went, so we could call them right away in the event we got picked up. Some of our colleagues were harassed, jailed—even killed.
But there was an unspoken understanding among us—young and old journalists alike—that push must turn to shove.
In January of 1986, when Haiti’s corrupt dictator, “Papa Doc” Duvalier, fled into exile and people there danced in the streets, we wistfully asked one another, “Will we too dance in the streets?”
A month later, the wall fell. And yes, we danced in the streets.
We owe this largely to the man and woman after whom this fellowship is named: former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., whose assassination further stoked the people’s fury at the dictator and whetted their hunger for democracy; and to his widow, the late Corazon Aquino, whose greatest legacy to our country is the restoration of democracy and, along with this, all our rights and freedoms, including freedom of the press.
In the last twenty-four years, however, we have seen democracy travel the bumpy road. Its value has even been unfairly questioned by some—the sad consequence of bad governance, in particular the abuse of power and corruption by some of our leaders, and our inability to hold them to account.
Freedom of the press is in no better shape. Cases of libel, a crime in this country, have been brought against members of the profession, many of these unjustifiably. Our work as watchdogs has been hindered by increasing restrictions placed on the flow of information. And we mourn the deaths of far too many journalists murdered in the course of their work.
Amidst all these, we must all the more perform our role as journalists—perform it fully and perform it well. Let not our commitment to truth, a free press, good governance, and democracy ever waver.
Maraming salamat, at magandang hapon sa inyong lahat.
Inspiring speech, Yvonne. May we have more of your kind of journalist.
I may have some misgivings about some journalists in the country but with the examples you are showing, the same thing with Ellen,give me reason to hope that good will prevail.
Congratulations, may your tribe increase!
i suggest to also include financial award to outstanding journalist like Yvonne Chua,