By Louren B Aranas
The Crusader Publication, the official student paper of Xavier University will present Sibya: 4th Northern Mindanao Student Communicators’ Congress on February 28, 1-5PM at SM City Cinema 3.
Its theme, “Making Quality Media in the Mainstream,” aims to tackle the relevance and potential of major media outlets—through print, broadcast, and the Internet—to share information and influence thinking.
All these and more will be discussed by guest speakers Lourd de Veyra, Marites Vitug, and Nancy Carvajal.
‘Sibya’ is Cebuano for ‘broadcast’—a fitting way to describe a core purpose of media.
Lourd de Veyra is an award-winning author, journalist, and broadcast personality whose social commentaries are regularly aired on TV 5. He has also published books wherein he shares thought-provoking and humorous observations on Filipinos’ everyday life and pop culture.
Marites Vitug is a co-founder of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and the editor-at-large of Rappler. She was an author and editor-in-chief of Newsbreak magazine which focuses on investigative journalism. Among others, she was given the Courage in Journalism Award for her exposes on the plunder of Palawan's forests.
Nancy Carvajal is a journalist of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. She was named Outstanding Journalist of 2013 by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility for her extensive work on the Php10B pork barrel scam.
Venue for discussion
Sibya is an annual student-run, non-profit communication congress established in 2012 by The Crusader Publication. It gathers communication students, student journalists, and the general public through invitation and independent promotions.
Through inviting credible speakers in the field, Sibya aims to increase interest in journalism and bring a venue for intellectual discussion to communication students and interested parties in Mindanao.
To incite healthy competition and encourage student participants to dig deeper on the theme, Sibya also includes competitions such as essay-writing and photojournalism. Cash prizes and freebies from the sponsors await the winners.
Ryan Louie Madrid, editor-in-chief of The Crusader in 2012, said the idea stemmed from the lack of venue for discussion on media trends, especially for students in Northern Mindanao.
“Instead of always going to congresses usually held in Manila, we bring them here para mas daghan makaapil (so more people can join). [It’s about] analyzing existing trends in communication and bringing them to the Northern Mindanao community.”
In 2012, with the theme “Social Media for Social Change,” the Rappler team—Maria Ressa, Patricia Evangelista, Chay Hofeliña and Michael Josh Villanueva—spoke about how social media can be an effective medium for concrete change.
In Sibya’s second installment, GMA Network representatives—Jiggy Manicad and Justin Joyas—discussed “Investigative Reporting for the Informed Choice.” It focused on the power of investigative reporting to help the community make sound decisions and on responsible use of social media.
In its third serving, AG Saño, Ditsi Carolino and Atom Araullo tackled ways today’s resources—visual art, documentary films, and broadcast journalism—can tell compelling stories. With the theme “Communicating Causes through Stories,” they talked about how these tools can advocate causes, trigger critical thinking, and incite action.
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Tickets are sold at Php50 for communication students, invited schools and student publications, and at Php75 for the general public.
Proceeds will be allotted for the educational materials, staff remuneration and infrastructure of the Mindanaw Tribal School Inc, a school for the indigenous youth in Maramag, Bukidnon. It is recognized as the first school with an indigenous people (IP) curriculum.
Kits with notepads and sticker, among others, will also be given to all participants.
For more information, contact The Crusader Publication through email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), social media (facebook.com/sibyacongress and twitter.com/thecrusaderpub) or mobile phone (0917-7256-417).