PH-American Press Club honors ’19 Plaridel journalism awardees

Torch Bearer awardee Nerissa Fernandez of ABS-CBN Deputy Consul General Raquel Solano, Plaridel awards Chair Esther Chavez and Consul Vanessa Llona welcome other awardees and guests. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

SAN FRANCISCO – This year’s Plaridel awardees for Filipino American journalism were honored by the Philippine American Press Club-USA on its annual awards night held recently at the San Francisco Filipino Cultural Center.

Heading the honorees were Plaridel 2019 Torch Bearer winners Nerissa Fernandez for Community & Media Leadership of ABS-CBN and Dr. Richard Kempis for Community Leadership together with Tina Pamintuan, the recipient of the Ocampo-Henry Memorial Award for Radio.

Guests of honor were keynote speaker Daly City Mayor Ray Buenaventura, Deputy Consul General Raquel Solano the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco, and Rose Ramos, a great great grandniece of Marcelo del Pilar after whom the award is named.

Fernandez who has been ABS-CBN Global Head of Corporate Affairs and Public Relations since August 2011 took the opportunity to underscore the very important virtue of listening in the process of communication.

Marcelo del Pilar’s great great grandniece Rose Ramos is the first del Pilar descendant to grace the Plaridel Awards since its inception in 2012. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

“Everybody needs to listen and listen well without judgment, without condemnation, without presumptions and without stereotyping,” Fernandez stresses. “We need to start to listen to the millennials whose their stories are not the usual stories that we are accustomed to hear and watch.”

She added that the millennials, based on recent study, are expected to comprise 75% of the workforce by year 2025.

The other Torch Bearer awardee Dr. Richard Kempis is the president of the San Francisco Filipino Cultural Center’s Board of Directors and is one of the center’s founders.

Keynoter Mayor Buenaventura declared: “You all are protectors to the right to free press by the power that you have and by what you do every day by writing the stories and publicizing what are happening in the community. The press always stood up no matter what is happening in society, never gives up and when attacks come, become even stronger, bands together and fights back with the truth on their side,” Buenaventura observed.

Keynote speaker Daly City Mayor Ray Buenaventura stressed the importance of the freedoms people enjoy as enshrined in the Constitution. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

“Today we continue to shape our histories,” said Deputy Consul Solano. “Members of the Filipino media may not be fighting colonial masters but with their excellent journalism, they serve as catalyst for societal change.”

For the first time, a descendant of Marcelo del Pilar attended the awards named in honor of the anti-colonial journalist-hero.

“Our great great granduncle did his writings despite facing much pressure and hard time writing against the authorities, particularly exposing the abuses of the Spaniards during his time,” said Rose Ramos in an interview with INQUIRER.net.

“He was courageous enough to be one of the writers of and later became the editor of revolutionary paper La Solidaridad and with full knowledge of the dangers he was exposed to,” extolled Ramos, a great great granddaughter of Marcelo’s brother Juan.

General Gregorio del Pilar, the youngest general of the revolution is a nephew of Marcelo and Juan and a first cousin of Ramos’ maternal grandmother Maria. Ramos thinks that Marcelo should also have his own life depicted in a movie.

Ramos’ mother Digna took after Marcelo’s craft as she was also a writer, while an older sister was also a journalist.

The current officers of the PAPC are President Joseph L. Peralta, Vice Presidents Charito Benipayo (internal) and Christina Osmena (external), Executive Secretary Lorna Lardizabal Dietz and Treasurer Edwina Esporias Aniag.

Board members include Rudy Asercion, Troy Espera, Esther Chavez (also Plaridel Awards Chairperson), Rodel Rodis, Bheng Topacio, Tony Villegas, Josie Alegre, Gary de Guzman and Raymond Virata.

The 2019 Plaridel Awards winners are: