Advocacy Campaign Planning Workshop

November 15-17, 2004
Held at VICTO House in Lahug, Cebu City

Conducted by the PAMANA National Council, the workshop was billed as Building a Stronger Leadership for Marine Resource Management with the objective of training the Council and providing them the direction, guidance and confidence to strategize, plan and implement relevant policy advocacy and campaigns in their local areas. To help in this endeavor, PAMANA tapped the expertise of Philippine Media Center for Advocacy (PhilMedia) led by Atty. Magdalena Lepiten and Anna Fionah Bojos.  

The workshop proper was held for the first two days, with eighteen council members attending. The members were able to discuss their problems and perceived solutions particularly on marine tenure. Raul Socrates Banzuela of Haribon Foundation shared the campaign of Palawan versus Jewelmer Corporation. On the second day, the council members, together with some PhilMedia staff and Jourdel Mario Añabieza of the secretariat, visited some of the media outlets of Cebu, including the ABS-CBN TV and radio station in Jagobiao, Mandaue City. A Council Meeting was held on the third and last day.

Among the accomplishments of the workshop were the presentation of the policy paper on Marine Tenure, the documentation of cases on Marine Tenure, the conduct of Media Advocacy, and the assessment of PAMANA's advocacy agenda.


Workshop Photos

Day 1
PAMANA member Jhonny Macarandang and workshop facilitator Atty. Daymeg Lepiten discuss a case in which control of a marine sanctuary in Batangas was lost to a foreign dive shop operator.

 

PAMANA member Alex Pineyra of Honda Bay, Palawan, narrated a story about a marine tenure problem at a marine sanctuary on Sombrero Island, Palawan. Some 300 families are in danger of being driven out by a foreigner who bought the island for 12 million pesos. The case is presently in the courts.

 

Gonz Reyes of the Cebu PAMANA Secretariat, makes a point.

Workshop participants in an "anduhaw-dividing exercise."

 

Day 2
Workshop participants divided into three groups....

Group #1 went to ABS-CBN TV and radio station in Jagobiao, Mandaue City.

The group was interviewed on-the-air by D.J. Edgar Guiterrez. Each participant had the opportunity to speak and answer questions from both the D.J. and also from callers, providing a golden opportunity to gain first-hand experience being a media spokesperson.

Here, PAMANA National President Fernando "Andy" Tiburcio and others answer questions on-the-air.

 

Group #2 visited DYLA Radio for an on-the-air interview, and then the Inquirer newspaper.
Group #3 visited the Cebu Provincial Capitol where they searched (unsuccessfully) for the provincial press corps, then went to AKSYON Radyo for their own on-the-air interview.

Back at VICTO House, the afternoon began with participants being interviewed by reporter Jesse Campos and cameraman Eunie Cahambing of the GMA7 television station. The interview was later shown on the evening news in Cebu.

 

Next, participants gave report-backs on the morning media visits. Many talked about how intimidated they had felt, relating their feelings that members of the media are"big" but the fish wardens are just "small." Hopefully, the first-hand expericence will help dispell those feelings, "next time."

 

Socrates "Soc" Banzuela of the Philippine Community Organizers' Society has been writing a proposal for PAMANA to support a group of indigenous fisherfolk claimants in Palawan. They are fighting a decades-long battle against usurping of their historic fishing rights by a large corporate pearl farm owned by Eduardo Cojuanco, a long-time crony of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

 

Facilitator Fionah Bojos offered some recommendations to PAMANA as follows:
1. Media advocacy;
2. Sectoral representation;
3. Contact PAMANA ka sa media;
4. Contact na media;
5. Local media.

PAMANA extends a special thank you to:

Royal Netherlands Embassy website (Manila)