The media industry is an exciting, yet challenging world. But being part of it is worth it and meaningful, according to top-notch media experts from ABS-CBN, who shared their experiences to over 800 student-delegates in the second leg of the Pinoy Media Congress (PMC) Caravan held at Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Cavite.
Jeff Canoy, who shared his journey from writing for the student paper to making it as an award-winning multiplatform journalist, gave a fresh perspective on Journalism, calling it as a “love letter to the public” and encouraged the young communicators to be agile in producing stories, as “agility is key in doing truth in love.”
Pete Dizon, the company’s youngest TV production business unit head of hit noontime variety program ”It’s Showtime,” underscored among delegates that no one is “too young to make an impact” in the fast-paced entertainment industry, noting his quick yet tough climb in the production ranks.
ABS-CBN Head of Creative Communications Management Robert Labayen spoke about the importance of the Japanese concept “ikigai,” where one’s talent and passion intersect with what the world needs. Growing up as an aspiring songwriter in Bicol, he found his own balance as he spearheads the creation of the network’s inspiring summer and Christmas station IDs, writing and co-writing most of the songs.
ABS-CBN Film Restoration head Leo Katigbak was also able to share his passion as he explained the importance of movies to our culture and history, and what ABS-CBN is doing now to preserve and restore classic Filipino films.
After listening to all the sessions, student-delegate Ella Bonilla had a renewed sense of appreciation about the media industry, realizing that ‘it is not just about entertainment’ since it has a ‘deeper’ and ‘meaningful’ purpose.
LPU faculty member Derrick Ordonez also expressed excitement on what lies ahead in the field of media. “The future for the entertainment, news, and film industry is bright. As long as there are people who are ready to squeeze their creative juices, we will continue to achieve greatness,” he said.
Meanwhile, student-delegates also enjoyed special performances from “Tawag ng Tanghalan” Season 3 champion Elaine Duran, first runner-up John Mark Saga, second runner-up John Michael dela Cerna, and “BidaMan” heartthrobs Jin Macapagal, JR Baring, and Dan Delgado.
The third leg of the Pinoy Media Congress Caravan is scheduled on November 8 featuring ABS-CBN News Public Service and Bayan Mo, iPatrol Mo head Rowena Paraan, ABS-CBN head of Print Publishing and Ide8 Mark Yambot, “It’s Showtime” business unit head Pete Dizon, and ABS-CBN Film Archives head Julie Galino at Cebu Normal University. Like in previous legs, students can look forward to other activities after the sessions including a free screening of a restored film and a documentary-making workshop with ABS-CBN DocuCentral production unit head Carmina Reyes. Knowledge Channel head Danie Sedilla-Cruz will also be there to promote the third “Class Project Intercollegiate Mini-Documentary Competition.”
Launched 13 years ago, ABS-CBN and the Philippine Association of Communication Educators’ (PACE) Pinoy Media Congress has served over 12,000 communication students with talks and free workshops on various fields and topics in media. To reach and inspire more students, ABS-CBN began to broadcast the annual conference via satellite to host schools in Visayas. This year, ABS-CBN goes even further by bringing the PMC experience to different campuses in the Philippines to promote media literacy and help shape the next generation of media and communication practitioners in the Philippines.
