Conflict's impact on children highlighted by winners of Red Cross humanitarian reporting contest

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (August 27, 2013) - Three entries underlining the plight of children affected by armed conflict led the list of winners in the Red Cross Award for Humanitarian Reporting 2013.

"Batang Halau," a one-hour documentary by GMA News and Public Affairs on the plight of undocumented Filipinos living in Sabah, followed the stories of "stateless" children who were born in Sabah to Filipino parents, and how they could not go to school or avail of public services. Halau means "forced to leave" or "expelled" in Malay.

Produced by Eleazar del Rosario for GMA News and Public Affairs' Reel Time, the documentary won first place in the nationwide media competition's video category.

"Mga nag-aaral lang pwedeng mangarap (Only the educated can dream)," reflected a young boy in "Batang Halau" who scoured garbage to earn money and buy food for his family. In the documentary, his mother said they fled Tawi-Tawi because of the conflict.

"Strides into the future" by Stella Estremera, editor in chief of Sunstar Davao, told the story of Norjaida, who at 3 months old, lost her leg in an ambush in Northern Mindanao. To help her return to normalcy, Norjaida was assisted by Davao Jubilee Foundation, a physical rehabilitation center supported by the ICRC, through a prosthetic limb.

"Child in red blanket" by Inquirer correspondent Jeoffrey Maitem took the top spot in the photography category. The image shows the protective father carrying his child wrapped in a red blanket as they and other families fled hostilities between government troops and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters last year in Central Mindanao.

The winners of the second Red Cross Award for Humanitarian Reporting—organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Philippine Red Cross (PRC)—were revealed today in an awarding ceremony held at The Bayleaf in Intramuros Manila. 

"Their stories and images illustrated the heavy toll of conflicts on civilians—with some looking through the eyes of children who are the more vulnerable in these situations. All the finalists showed that reporting on conflict need not be sensationalized or focused only on the conflict or on the peace negotiations," said Pascal Mauchle, ICRC head of delegation to the Philippines.

Mauchle handed the trophies and prizes to the winners along with Gwendolyn Pang, PRC secretary general, and representatives from partner organizations International News Safety Institute (INSI), The Peace and Conflict Journalism Network (Pecojon), Photojournalists' Center of the Philippines (PCP), and Rotary Club of Manila (RCM).

The top winners for the other categories hailed from Mindanao. They were: for online, "The Tampakan project: Battle over Southeast Asia's largest copper-gold reserve" by Bong Sarmiento of Mindanews; and for radio, "Tudok Firiz: Meketefu" by Malu Manar of DXND-North Cotabato. The other spots went to:

For photography: "Bakwit" by Ruby Thursday More of Mindanews (second place) and "Clash on Good Friday" by Erwin Mascariñas of Mindanews (third place).

For print: "Women take lead in bringing peace" by Julie Alipala of Inquirer (second place) and "'Bangsamoro' stirs feelings of Christians, Muslims" by Celerina del Mundo of Daily Manila Shimbun (third place).

For radio: "Mga bakwit: TNT sa Maguindanao" also by Manar (second place) and "Mga residente sa Maco: na-trauma sa giyera" by Ruel Dagsangan of DxDN Radyo Ukay (third place).

For video: "Bakwit," by Karen Davila and Karen Namora of ABS-CBN (second place); "Killings unabated under Aquino" by Ronalyn Olea of Bulatlat.com (third place).

Twenty-five finalists competed in five categories of the only Philippine media competition that aims to promote responsible reporting of conflict situations by highlighting the plight of those affected by it.

A total of 19 judges from the partner organizations judged the entries based on: evidence of research (30 percent); sourcing (20 percent); coherence/ organization (20 percent); style and presentation (15 percent); and conflict-sensitive reporting (15 percent).

Aside from the awards ceremony, a forum on conflict reporting in the Philippines was held. Guest speaker Jesus Dureza, chairman and president of the Philippine Press Institute, and former Press Secretary and presidential adviser for Mindanao, talked about the "Pains and gains of conflict reporting," while Rommel Banlaoi, chairman and executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, discussed "Media reporting of the maritime territorial disputes: national and regional security implications." (By Jesse John Arthur Edep)