December is Nat’l Press Congress Month

President Arroyo has declared December this year and every year thereafter as "National Press Congress Month and the Month of the Community Press in the Service of the Nation" to be observed under the auspices of the 32-year-old Publishers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PAPI).

The declaration is contained in Presidential Proclamation No. 1187 dated Dec. 7, 2006 which was issued the following day.

The month’s observance will be highlighted by the 11th National Press Congress, organized by PAPI and scheduled Dec. 16-19, 2006 in Tagbilaran City. PAPI had organized similar press congresses in the past 10 years.

"There is a need to focus attention on the important role PAPI plays in upholding press freedom and the dignity of journalism and publishing profession," the Chief Executive stressed, citing the organization’s "dedication to the promotion and defense of press freedom to the lofty ideals of journalism as a public service, especially in the countryside."

Founded in 1974 by the late Gen. Hans Menzi, then publisher of the Manila Bulletin, PAPI was envisioned as a responsible and self-regulating organization for the print media.

From a dozen membership of Manila-based publishers, PAPI has grown into a strong organization nationwide committed to help shape a society of responsible citizens.

Today, under the leadership of PAPI president Juan P. Dayang, a noted and veteran journalist, the organization has continuously initiated programs and projects aimed at strengthening press freedom, upgrading the competence and respectability of community journalists, and promoting countryside development.

In her message for the press congress, the President noted how PAPI has "pursued and sustained its press freedom advocacy, particularly in the country’s community media."

"It is indeed very encouraging that PAPI’s leadership has seen the need to reorient and guide its members towards goal that complements the thrust of the national government, a move that validates my having issued the proclamation," she said.

PAPI’s 11th National Press Congress in Tagbilaran City features, among others a colloquium on the life and works of Graciano Lopez Jaena, the second national summit on countryside media and culture, a roundtable forum on media and tourism, a symposium of investment opportunities, and a plenary on current vital issues.

Some 300 publishers, editors, broadcasters, reporters and other media practitioners and communicators from various regions, including public information officers and campus writers, are expected to attend the event, considered as the biggest annual gathering of journalists in the country.