A call for peace and freedom

The Rotary Club of Manila is 103 years old today. It has the privilege to chair the Rotary Centennial Clubs, a group of centenary Rotary clubs all over the world. This means one hundred years of service to humanity; one of Rotary’s flagship projects has been the eradication of polio all over the world.

Almost half of that or for 56 years since 1966, the Rotary Club of Manila has been recognizing outstanding journalists like the late Doroy Valencia and Amando Doronilla. In keeping with precedents, the RCM Committee of the 2022 Pro Patria Journalism Awards consulted with members of media to define what the awards would stand for. Ruperto S. Nicdao Jr., president of the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcasters ng Pilipinas, commented that a journalist to be worthy of the award must have an impact on society. Almost to a man, the committee rejected bloggers since the structure of discipline and peer review has not been instituted or formalized in their case.

This year’s Outstanding Journalist expressed what the people ask themselves in their daily reverie: Alex Magno tells them the sense and impact in their lives of international events; Iris Gonzales adeptly finding the truth in a web of facts, reporting them like a maestro producing ode to life that is highly appreciated; Joaquin “Quinito” Henson has raised the level of sports journalism into an art. On tv-radio, Elpidio ‘Deo’ Macalma shocks as he scoops foibles of famous personalities which encourages public vigilance, while TV investigative reporter Sandra Aguinaldo gives us the quintessence of a journalist who lights the darkness in the daily struggle of the ordinary Filipino. Jose Roberto ‘Roby’ Alampay led the production of a documentary, “A Story of Our Islands,” which instilled pride in the bounty of nature and appreciation of our beautiful people and country.

The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to the venerable Emil Jurado whose totality of experiences is a legacy to younger generation of journalists – wrapped with his wisdom and wise counsel.

One Manila Rotarian, Joel Valdes, an economist and finance expert who served as undersecretary in the Department of Finance, opined that the Rotary Journalism Awards “has become more compelling as the ethical and philosophical bars need to be raised in a regime of fake news.”

Clarissa Ward, chief international correspondent of CNN reporting on the mayhem of war, succeeded in forcing us to ask “what is the value of freedom, the meaning of life” and we conclude that the peace of the world is not guaranteed by the accumulation of power and wealth but the restraint and self-control imposed by the compassion of shared humanity by the force and example of her reporting.

As such the 2022 RCM Pro Patria Journalism Awards is a message to Vladimir Putin and his generals that the world knows his crime and there is no better power and treasure but the compelling call for peace and freedom.

What the Rotarians of the world, decent Russians included, are saying: be truthful, be fair, be a man of goodwill, think and act to benefit the world.

The red-carpet ceremony will be held at noon today at the Conrad Hotel to coincide with the week’s celebration of Philippine Independence Day and the birth of the national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal.

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Amado D. Valdez is former chairman of the Social Security Commission.