BONTOC, Mountain Province – The municipal government, through the Office of the Municipal Mayor-Information Unit conducted a “Journalism Training for Campus Journalists” on March 22-23, 2022, at the Chico Breeze Function Hall, Eyeb, Poblacion, Bontoc, Mountain Province.
A total of 75 participants from Mountain Province General Comprehensive High School, Saint Vincent’s School-High School Department, All Saint’s Mission School of Mountain Province Incorporated, Guina-ang National High School (NHS), Mainit NHS, Talubin NHS, Tocucan NHS, and Dalican NHS participated in the two-day training.
The activity aimed to improve the communication skills of campus journalists on writing, editing, proofreading, headline writing, and photo documentation as well as to update the participants on the latest trends, approaches, and principles of journalistic writing in view of the new normal in education.
Sangguniang Bayan Member Jerome Tudlong, Jr., chairperson of the Committee on Education, delivered a welcome message and encouraged the participants to actively participate and attentively listen to the resource speakers as the activity is a great avenue for learning.
In his closing remarks, Bontoc Mayor Franklin Odsey mentioned that the activity is a great opportunity for them to acquire and develop their abilities as young journalists.
“Journalists help immortalize the important events. Thus, I encourage the students to participate in activities as such since you can hone your writing abilities,” he said.
Mayor Odsey who has been a public teacher for years before entering politics has always been supportive of the education and youth development programs, thus, he immediately approved the allocation of budget for the conduct of the Journalism Training for Campus Journalists.
The resource speakers are Political Affairs Officer Erlindo Agwilang from the Office of the Congressman-Mountain Province for news writing, freelance writer and artist Clienteast Van Totanes for feature writing, Information Officer Erwin Batnag from the Provincial Information Office for photojournalism, and Gary Pekas from the Provincial Legal Office for editorial writing.
Campus journalism has long been implemented through the Republic Act 7079, or Campus Journalism Act of 1991, which prescribed the implementation of campus journalism in both private and public schools in the Philippines.
