A rebel wallflower named Daniel Marcelo Mapanoo, was born on June 21’ st in the year 2000. He lives in the small municipality of Carmona in Cavite, together with his father, his aunt, and his grandmother. He is 19 years of age and is currently studying BS Development Communication in the University of the Philippines – Los Baños, a path he never knew he would take.

As a writer, Daniel is not equipped with the knowledge of journalism. He is never part of the school’s newspaper, he never competed on writing competitions, and he never wished to be part of that world. He remembered a time just recently, wherein his teacher asked a raise of hand of who had an experienced with journalism. Almost everybody in the class held their hands high. It put immense pressure on him to see those people raising their hands.

But he viewed it as a challenge, needed to be overcome.

He is, however, cultivated in creative writing. It is his strength. It brings him joy to write a story fictional or not, which captures emotions. His mind is constantly thinking of stories of a possible person, a place, or an experience, that will bring interest, love, or mystery to a reader.

Daniel is a prisoner for great movies, television series, and books. it is his influence as a creative writer. He admires its power of communicating with its audiences in a unique manner. These things are also where he gains knowledge from, as well as have the eye to look beyond one’s self and perceive the true essence of what is happening to society. He also adores those unthinkable stories that make him awe with amazement on how brilliant and highly imaginable those writers and directors are, having a capability in making each of their own worlds.

In conclusion to a simple background of who Daniel Marcelo Mapanoo is, his life story is still wrapped with uncertainty. There are a lot of things that are yet for him to discover, for him to know, and for him to grasp fully. There are undoubtedly numerous things that he is unaware of like his ambition, to say the least. But what Daniel is truly sure of, is that life together with his choices, good or bad, will lead him the way to the path of endless possibilities.

In a place where honor and excellence meet at the end of the crossroads, a lonesome girl is wandering aimlessly while carrying a jar of hope on her beaten arms. The lava-stained sky seems to sympathize with her withering tears.  Feelings of fear and doubt are clouding her mind. She loathes herself for failing to meet everyone’s expectations. From time to time, she wishes she would just disappear from this dim colored world.

After years of billowing with the breeze, she now aims for the sky. She strives even harder to prove to everyone she isn’t as bad as they think she is. At some point, a recollection of bad experiences from her peers crosses her mind but she chooses to ignore those. No matter how bad they think her chosen path is, she will never cease in improving until they realize they said the wrong things about her and her chosen path. To thrive and to survive is her adage. Like a wildflower in the wake of extinction, she will find her way out of this endless conundrum she belongs in.

Her name is Vanessa G. Martinez, a freshman under BS Development Communication. Coming from a school where everyone is a genius, she felt as though she was an outcast. She lost herself together with her dreams. Just being at the sidelines made her unable to grasp what direction her life will take in the future. Staring at the vast horizon, she wondered what life had in its sleeves for a lost person like her. Her life may be hard, but it taught her to be tough. Her passion in writing started blazing again when she found herself. She realized right after that to be able to do what you love, you must first find yourself. Find the fire burning deep inside you and never listen to the negative comments of the people who try to bring you down.

In a place where honor and excellence meet at the end of the crossroads, there was once a lonesome girl wandering aimlessly while carrying a jar of hope on her beaten arms. The lava-stained sky seemed to sympathize with her withering tears.  Feelings of fear and doubt were clouding her mind. She loathed herself back then for failing to meet everyone’s expectations. From time to time, she wished she would just disappear from this dim colored world, but now, after she have founded herself, she now aspires to continue her passion in writing. She now awaits what life has in its sleeves for a changed person like her.

Writing to me did not come naturally. I was never a reader nor a writer. In all honesty, my first ambitions were to follow my family’s steps and become an accountant.

I started my early elementary years as a sheltered, English only speaking middle class boy with no care for society around him. My eyes were shut to the realities around me because I was taught to follow the rules and refrain from asking questions. Furthermore, my understanding of the world around me, revolved around me.

          Fast forward a couple of years, I entered my first year of high school clueless to the daily struggles everyone around me faced. This, however, all changed when I met my mentor and long-time friend, Mr. Alfred Lozanta, who was at the time our grade 7 AP teacher. He challenged us to look at world from the perspective of every Filipino, not just our own. He made us realize that we as Filipinos have the obligation to help those who cannot help themselves. This pushed me to look deeper into myself and ask the hard questions, “What is my purpose as a Filipino?” I often asked. Frankly, I still have a hard time answering that question, but now, I have a better idea of what I need to do. If my goal before was to get rich and live a glamorous life, my paradigms shifted to something even greater. To help my nation with the talents and skills given to me, this would be the goal I learned to resonate with.

          As I write this now, the writer I am today continues to evolve and change, I am who I am, a writer for the Filipino people. The simple-minded child who I once was has opened his eyes to the harsh but truthful reality of society, currently we are not all equal. This is the challenge I face as a contemporary media writer. How will a person like me combat the inequality our nation faces? I may not have the answers right now but one thing is certain, my values and goals may change with time but my heart will never stray for the love of my people and nation. To summarize, I am not a media writer for myself, I am a media writer that seeks the betterment of his nation and people.

Entering the world of Development Communication is a very new experience and feeling for me. I never thought that it would be really different from the things that I experienced during my Press Conference days. Writings and tasks are never that easy. Readings are never that short and easy to understand – a lot of analyses required and a lot of coffee to keep you awake. However, I find the tasks exciting. But then again, looking for and choosing a topic is a really hard decision to make.

A lot of confusion can really get in your way when choosing a topic. You may think that a topic is development-orientated, but it is really not. Now, here is something that can help you out to sort development-oriented topics from those that are not.

• Purposive – Your topic must not only be written and published but it must be written and published with a purpose. We do not only write to inform but to also influence others’ behavior on how to decide or act upon a certain issue. Whatever purpose your topic and your write-up might serve, always remember that we all must have desirable outcomes, targets and specific goals as to why we chose and wrote about a certain topic.

• Pragmatic – After setting our purpose and goals while using your topic, we have to make sure that our topic can be result-orientated. We need to make sure that we will be leaving an impression or an impact to the readers. Our topics must always be relevant to our chosen audience (know thy audience) for us to know how to stir up and generate results from them.

• Valuable – Last but not the least, always make sure that your topic is valuable and worth it. No matter how good you wrote your write-up if it is not something worth remembering or something that does not appeal to the audience, then your work will go to waste. It must be something that concerns a lot of people – their values and their ideas. The audience must also think that the topic is also important for them for you to achieve your goals and receive you results.

Well, topics can be development-orientated in a lot of ways. Basically, in development communication, we assume that there is an attached value in every message that one communicates (Jamias, 1975). As long as our aim is to reach and promote development through communication and through our writing, we are slowly reaching our goal to being the best version of our ideal development communicator.

Hospitable people. Good food. Complete data set. 

Who says data gathering isn’t fun?  Well, if  you’re doing something you love with people who are close to your heart, gathering data is just like hitting two birds with one stone – you come home with a fulfilled task and a fulfilled heart. I guess the daunting dilemma of finding our assigned barangay and overcoming our social anxiety was toppled by the aura which welcomed us upon our arrival in Barangay Bambang. We did not have a hard time asking for access to the information we need and the employees accommodated us with smiles on their faces. Plus, we had our cravings satisfied with the good food offered in the eatery where we had our lunch.

So…

How can you make your data gathering experience fun and fulfilling? 

All you need is to…

• BE PREPARED – Whether you expected things to happen or not, it is essential for media writers to at least have a  gist of what kind of battles they are putting their selves into. It is always better to be ready and grounded as it makes tasks easy flowing. This applies in your resource person, your questions and how are you going to get the information. Aside from that, it avoids loss of focus and instances when you need to go back for missing information.
• BE RESPECTFUL AND VERSATILE – Going out to the field means immersing to different kinds of people and circumstances. An effective media writer upholds respect and versatility towards dealing with people outside his or her usual circle. Being respectful also establishes a positive relationship between you and your resource person and paves the way to effective communication.
• BE RESOURCEFUL – Data gathering can fuel our adrenaline rush especially in the midst of difficult situations. An effective media writer is flexible. He or she knows how to find ways on how to  gather data easier and more efficient. He or she is also practical and analytical and makes sure that he or she gets her job done.

Our visit in Barangay Bambang brought out the BONAKID in us – mga batang may laban! Pam, JM and I faced our battles as media writers with determination yet we did not forget to have fun. We hope you’ll do the same 🙂

Photo courtesy of John Mark Ayap.

My Country or Nothing.

That was my mantra for the past two years in high school. When people ask me why I kept my options tight is because I don’t see myself anywhere else. I was so sure that I would be the first in my family to graduate as an “Isko” in the College of Development Communication. It’s like I was being preparing for that very moment. 

Writing has always been my forte. I began writing stories in pre-elementary even though I couldn’t even spell certain words yet. When I reached third grade I slowly I started to write news and features for the school paper. As I reached high school, I fell in love with volleyball. Playing this sport gave me confidence not only as a person but as I writer. Sports writing became one of my main beats in high school and I also got the chance to become one of the editorial staff for the school paper. 

After graduation, here I am looking for a job or something to spend my time with since I didn’t really pass the UPCAT. I came across an ad online for Redefy Philippines. I applied as a writer with low expectations of getting accepted as if getting rejected by UP wasn’t enough. I waited a few weeks or so still with a hangover from my first and second rejection from the University. If I had to guess what a heart break would feel, I guess this was it somehow.  An e-mail from Redefy became my silver lining. I said to myself that this is it, my first step to actually make an impact in people’s lives and an inch closer to my dream of being a journalist. Through this experience I realized younger generations need our help more than ever to raise a socially competent society and providing justice and equity for all. 

My teacher once said, to be in UP means to be selfless. I would have to give my all for my country. As a writer, I shouldn’t write only for the so-called “intellectual elite” but I should write for those Filipinos who work for 12 hours a day, 7 days a week just to get by. I will write for the natives who need justice for their land. And I will write not on behalf of the poor and oppressed but I will write and fight with them. UP or nothing. DevCom or nothing. My country or nothing. 

What makes a topic development-oriented?

As I did my research, I’ve encountered an article released in 2017 by Panay News which featured an article by Juan Jamias (2014) entitled “Development Communication and Development Journalism.” Upon further research, I came to know Jamias as one of the pioneers in the field of Development Communication in the University of the Philippines Los Baños. In his article, he defined development journalism in general in not only 3, but 5 characteristics:

• Development Journalism is purposive: conscious attitude to work for a goal or objective.

• Development Journalism is relevant: up-to-date.

• Development Journalism is mass-oriented: cover a wider scope.

• Development Journalism is scientific in outlook: coverage is in-depth.

• Development Journalism is a technical subject matter-oriented: rationally-based information.

As a development communicator in training, here are the top 3 characteristics that I’ve learned in the previous weeks that makes a topic development-oriented:

It has a mission.
A development-oriented news has an underlying purpose which follows certain goals such as the MDGs, SDGs and the 4Es of Development Communication. It doesn’t only stop in presenting certain phenomena; it caters a story that is hinged on achieving concrete targets.

It is for the people’s welfare.
A development-oriented news promotes the betterment of the people. It doesn’t only focus on certain individuals but reaches out to a larger audience on whom development should be aligned. It is able to provide solutions to the problems faced by a certain community or more so by the whole nation.

It is action-oriented.
A development-oriented news should be action-oriented. It should cover concrete measures that should be taken to achieve the idea of development. It presents how the different key players take part in the actualizing progress.

Despite the variety of characteristics that determines the development-orientedness of topics, I believe that it all boils down to one important message: we, development communicators, have the capacity to utilize communication as a tool to facilitate development and therefore, be channels of change.

Rating myself has allowed me to be aware of the things I am lacking, and I realized that there are a lot of qualities and skills of a media writer that I should improve on.

Among the qualities listed, which quality would be the one that you need to work on the most? Why?

I think the quality I need to work on is intelligence since I am not that knowledgeable about most things in the field of communication, especially media writing. I should also be more industrious in reading and improving my writing skills.

Given your ratings, what keeps you from getting that 1.00 self-rating?

I believe that I have a lot of room for improvement. I am not that experienced in media writing and I have relatively poor communication skills that I need to work on.

Among the skills listed, which skill have you developed the highest competency? What contributed to the development of that skill?

I think I have developed my validating and clarifying information skills. Since fake news has been rampant, especially in social media, I have learned to check other sources of information by researching information from legitimate sites.

Among the skills listed, which skill would be the one that you need to work on the most to develop? Why?

I would have to improve my writing skills as it is an important skill in becoming a development communicator. Writing in a clear and concise manner will help me in accomplishing the activities that will be tasked in the future.

As of now, I do not see myself as an efficient media writer as I lack the skills and qualities that constitutes a media writer. But, I do believe that being aware of my weaknesses will help me in improving my writing. The only thing left for me to do is to push forward.