While waiting for my turn to speak before college writers in a regional online campus journalism training conducted by the Philippine Information Agency early last month, I got engrossed in the discussion preceding my schedule.
The mid-afternoon topic was “Mobile Journalism: Disaster Reporting”. Sharing his experiences was my former Journalism student at St. La Salle MassComm, Romeo Subaldo, who has eventually became a media colleague.
Also widely followed for his travel and adventure-oriented video features, “Tripping ni Roming”, the broadcaster was taking campus journalists that afternoon to an online journey on the protocols of covering calamities and reporting nature-based risks.
I didn’t mind the session extending over the scheduled time as I was, at the same time, immersed in the scope of Roming’s discussion and the depth of the various questions later raised by the student writers from across the region.
Little did I realize then that that early October discussion will be followed four weeks later by a more intense, graphic and venturesome reportage on the conflict between nature and mankind, where the latter is oft the hapless victim.
Over the weekend, Roming and his Digicast team aired what they put together the mini-documentary, “Delubyo: Ang Halit ni Tino sa Negros”, a 20-minute report of the extent of destruction to lives and property, particularly in the in the central part of Negros Island. At least 70 persons were reported dead and about 60 others remain missing on Negros Island.
The documentary illustrates the extent media workers would go to bring to their audiences here-and-now details they should know vital to their survival and well-being amid the onslaught of nature’s fury.
In the production, Roming recounted that the early November tragedy this year is the worst calamity he has witnessed in his two decades of being a journalist. An intern with ABS-CBN during his senior year in college, Roming was immediately absorbed as an employee of the network right after graduation in 2005.
“I’ve never seen a devastation greater than this in my career,” he told me, as he recalled that while Typhoons Odette and Yolanda brought strong winds and deep flood waters in the province, Tino carried lahar flow, giant rocks and huge trees downstream – and on the highways, as shown in the grim situation in, among others, Canlaon City, Barangay RSB in La Carlota and other inundated areas.
By now, the many images of human suffering – from the audio-visual narrative and other video clips shared by netizens – showed how wrathful nature could get when it goes awry – raging winds stripping homes of their roofs, highways transformed into rivers, ambulances and other vehicles buried in debris, cars and even buses waltzing to the tempo of the torrents, which also carried homes downstream.
And faces numbed and overwhelmed by the suddenness of the losses to lives and property.
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The documentary has gained the attention not only of the media audience but also of fellow media workers, including the multi-awarded Inday Espina, who called it, “the best of community journalism” that “deserves an award.”
Inday lauded Roming for, among others, his speed, grit, enterprise and objectivity in gathering and reporting details in what she described as his “Spartan operation”.
The Philippine Information Agency, in a Facebook post, also highlighted not only the breadth and depth of his reporting on current concerns but also in his service as a conduit for appropriate agencies and institutions to hear the ‘masses’ voices in their plea for help.
Curious after watching the documentary, I asked Roming what insights he gained from this recent coverage experience. His reply:
“You can lose everything that you worked for – material things, property, even loved ones in a matter of seconds, thus we have to live each day as if it’s your last.”
And he added: “For every disaster that people go through, there are those who perish. For those who have survived, God has a purpose in your life. Eventually, you will find out why He allowed you to continue living.”
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It’s gratifying to see former students, like Roming, make their mark on the often-arduous task of community journalism.
It warms my heart to no end thinking that I have been part of the setting of the foundations of responsive and responsible journalism for scores who have eventually become colleagues in the calling of serving communities through the power of the pen, the voice and compelling images.
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Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Joshua 1:9) | NWI
