“WRITERS imagine that they cull stories from the world,” writes author and activist Arundhati Roy in her magnum opus, The God of Small Things. “It’s actually the other way around. Stories cull writers from the world. Stories reveal themselves to us.”
Iloilo has a rich tight-knit community of student journalists, representing different colleges and universities around both the city and the province. Mostly members of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines – oldest and broadest intercollegiate alliance of student publications in the country – and competing in the annual College Press (COPRE) Awards of the Philippine Information Agency VI, the region’s young scribes have persevered to hone and developed their beloved craft: the art of telling stories.
No voice unheard
I joined the Central Echo, the official student publication of Central Philippine University, when I was a Second Year engineering student – as a way to meet new people and still stay true to my passion for writing, a semester after I shifted from a Communication and Media Studies course.
CE, originally named The Hoe (because CPU was then the Jaro Industrial School for boys and its adjoined Baptist Missionary Training School), was established in 1910 – making the publication one of the oldest in the country, even among the longest running in Southeast Asia. A decade later it would be renamed The Jaro Echo, until eventually taking on its moniker today.
Now with the motto “No Voice Unheard,” CE stands as one of the most competitive and progressive student publications in the region – year after year standing out in the annual COPRE Awards and delivering relevant issues serving the Centralian student body. But more than the accolades, I treasure my time as a staffer and editor of the prestigious student publication, because of the unique and inspiring stories I have come across and would eventually write and share.
From meeting and being motivated by a deaf-mute trek guide that would lead us through the now popular sights of Iloilo’s “Little Baguio” Sitio Tabionan in Bucari, Leon to hitching a precariously ride on a backhoe to explore the unexpectedly colorful Calajunan Dumpsite, then being stunned and disheartened by the number of children collecting scrap for livelihood instead of going to school.
My favorite stories are two of my most recent, a piece I wrote after an immersion activity with Yolanda teenage victims in Aklan – three faithful years after the calamity struck – and a personal interview with a former peddler of illegal drugs, a mother, who shunned the life of crime when she found out her son was diagnosed with cancer.
“Nakapaminsar ko nga ang bata ko basi nagkabalatian kay ang gina-obra ko ilegal kag malain. Nagpangadi ko nga ‘Lord, hatagi ko last chance, untatan ko ni, para nga mabuhi bata ko,’” a teary-eyed Nanay Melba share to us in her humble home in city proper. “‘Kon mabuhi bata ko, pangako ko simo, mauntat ko. Kon mabalik ko baligya, kwaa kabuhi sing bata ko, indi ko pagbasol sa imo.’”
I never would have imagined I’d have these exciting experiences or meet people with such compelling stories – but because of an unplanned foray into student journalism, my eyes have been opened to such a diverse world with different points of views.
Integrity, reliability, commitment
Mary Zeliet Paris is the outgoing editor-in-chief of Forum Dimensions, the official student publication of West Visayas State University main campus. Established in March 1939 as The Normalite, FD has lived through World War 2 and Martial Law, valuing “Integrity. Reliability. Commitment.”
Zeliet first came across FD when she was 14. Little did she know, a few years later she would be joining the same publication after transferring schools to pursue Mass Communications.
“I can still remember my 14-year old self coming across The Forum newspaper in an office lobby. I was intrigued, so I scanned it. But then I ended up reading it cover to cover, utterly amazed on how the scribes tugged at my heartstrings, opened up my mind and empathize toward the laments of the marginalized, and see beyond the faces of seemingly ordinary people,” relates Zeliet.
“Right then, I grew an admiration for the publication and what it stands for: quest for truth and giving voice to the unheard. Five years later, I mustered the courage to join in my sophomore year in college. I was fresh from shifting to a Mass Communications course for a ‘change of calling’ as I would label it. I did not really expect to get in, but I tried my luck anyway.”
FD publishes four different publications: The Forum, the university student newsletter, is published twice every year; Dimensions magazine and Handuraw, a literally folio, are published annually; and Taghol is their weekly wall newspaper. I the most recent COPRE Awards held in Iloilo City, FD’s magazine was adjudged one of the best in the region – among the stories in the issue, Zeliet muses, was one of the best articles she’s ever written.
“Everything I write about I fall madly in love with. [But probably my favorite story] would be The Last Woman Standing, the story I wrote about the last surviving comfort woman of Iloilo. There I met ‘Yay Oding and got the privilege to listen to her story,” she shares.
“Umabot ang mga Hapon sa duwa ka bagon dyan sa restawran. Mapanglugos ang Hapon. Ginpamatay nanda ang mga waitress. Ako lang wala mapatay. Ginpang-utdan nanda tiil kag ulo. Si Margarita kag Conchita… ubos sanda lupog sa salog. Wara ti sanda mga ulo,” reads the grim tale Lourdes “Yay Oding” Divinagracia shared to Zeliet and the FD staff.
“FD publishes a diverse pool of articles every year, ranging from light, easy reads to ‘I might need debriefing’ kind of articles. It’s a matter of finding an angle that would catch the ‘kilit’ as they’d call it. As a writer, the way to keep your readers attention is to always know your audience – what tugs their heartstrings and what fuels their passions. Also, keep surprising them. Innovate. Shock them. It’ll make them want more.”
With her journey with FD ending and her term as editor-in-chief about to close, Zeliet shares that joining a school publication was “one the best decisions [she’s] made in the past three years.” But she shares that the most fulfilling part of being a writer may not be what people expect it.
“The most fulfilling part for me is ‘listening.’ Many would think that a huge chunk of the process is simply writing, editing and distributing the finished product to the student body. But a major part of being a student journalist – a good one at that – is being an extraordinarily good listener,” shares Zeliet.
“When you listen to how people narrate their stories, you immerse in their lives, take a tour in their shoes, look at the world as how they see it, feel their passions, their pain, their longing, and their dreams. It’s priceless! The more people I listen to, the more I believe that no one I meet is ordinary. Everyone has a story to tell.”/PN
