With a population of less than a million people scattered over 1.5 million hectares of isolated coastal towns, rugged  mountainous terrain, and far-flung islands, Palawan does not have the demographics and geography that would attract advertising and media agencies.

Hence, for a long time, radio was valued mainly for the morning news and its public service called “panawagan.” There farmers asked for help in finding a missing carabao. Students aired pleas for their parents to send them tuition money.  Travelers relayed messages for relatives to fetch them from the jeepney or bus station.

These days, radio stations still do that, and much more. With three to four local stations competing on the AM band, hard-hitting talk shows and exposé-laden news programs have become the name of the game. When some professionals and business leaders started publishing community newspapers, their influence in shaping public opinion also grew rapidly and began to tilt the balance in favor of more critical coverage of news events. In most cases, reportage of perceived anomalies and irregular transactions in government has helped some news agencies and personalities gain credibility and respect among the general public.

Among the publications that gave a much-needed boost to serious news coverage and commentary in the province in the mid-1990s is Bandillo ng Palawan, the flagship project of a non-profit media organization bearing the same name that promotes environmental awareness. Bandillo started as a monthly magazine in 1993 and endured a six-month hiatus in 1997 before coming back in 1998 and 1999.

Although the English-language magazine has yet to be resurrected since it temporarily halted publication in 2000, its publishers have managed to maintain the newspaper’s Filipino edition, which started as a bimonthly and is now a regular weekly paper. Bandillo has three won national awards for in-depth coverage of environmental issues in Palawan.

AS a media organization, Bandillo was one of the lead agencies in the organization of the Palawan Press Club (PPC) in August 1998. It was during its press club membership days when it first encountered the idea of public journalism.

Yasmin Arquiza, Bandillo ng Palawan editor, recalls that as part of organizational development efforts in its first year of existence, the PPC coordinated with the Evelio B. Javier Foundation (EBJF) for an introductory seminar on ublic journalism. Two representatives from each media agency were invited as participants, along with information officers from several government offices and special projects.

Resource persons gave inputs on the concept of civic journalism as practiced in the US, the introduction of public journalism in some Philippine provinces, the importance of media ethics, and new opportunities for community participation in governance through the Local Government Code.

Participants also engaged in joint vision-setting and team-building exercises. The main objective for bringing news  reporters and news sources together was to have a greater appreciation of each other’s duties, as well as promote better understanding of the roles of media and government in a changing political environment.

A follow-up seminar from the EBJF gave the Palawan media the opportunity to hear from experienced journalists about investigative reporting and ethical questions that go with it. Group activities and structured learning exercises helped participants to “think outside the box” and to appreciate the value of working as a team rather than individually to attain certain goals.

The three-day seminar concluded with the turnover of responsibilities to a new president. Memoranda of agreement were also signed with the Governor of Palawan, the Mayor of Puerto Princesa, and the head of the Palawan NGO Network for the conduct of monthly forums where important issues affecting the community are discussed.

In between these seminars, field trips to northern and southern municipalities were held where members met with local officials and community organizations. These activities were meant to forge linkages with newsmakers outside the capital city of Puerto Princesa, where coverage tends to be focused, and widen the scope of local news reportage.

Together with a forestry conservation project based in Palawan, the press club also held a seminar on environmental reporting to help improve the skills of members in this specialized field which is particularly important in the province due to its reputation as the country’s last ecological frontier.

But with the press club’s change in leadership and increasing friction with other members who did not share Bandillo’s views on media ethics and responsibility, the latter decided to renew its ties with the EBJF separately and focus its public journalism activities on other concerns.

“Unfortunately, the gains of the first year were not sustained in the succeeding years of the press club. Our experience in the past three years showed that many of the members were not that willing to fulfill their responsibilities as journalists,” Yasmin laments.

Bandillo’s first public journalism project was the cross-visit of barangay park rangers from Olangoan Falls, a proposed nature reserve in Puerto Princesa City, to two established ecotourism attractions in the province in May 2000. The activity was part of Bandillo’s protected area initiative together with the barangay council of Binduyan and the Henry TSL Foundation that started in September 1999. The partnership was unique in the sense that it brought together the media, a local government unit, and the private sector in a conservation project focused on ecotourism and environmental education.

During the three-day activity, a dozen park rangers traveled to the southern municipality of Narra to visit Estrella Falls, a popular destination for tourists and local residents alike. The mayor and other local officials welcomed the group and shared their experiences in managing the park. The municipal board also gave copies of their resolutions on park fees and related ordinances that could help the barangay council of Binduyan craft its own rules for Olangoan Falls.

On the second day, the barangay park rangers went to the St. Paul’s Subterranean River National Park, where they had a  brief interaction with their more experienced counterparts. The St. Paul’s park rangers gave a briefing regarding their responsibility in protecting the rich biodiversity of the World Heritage Site, as well as insights in handling visitors to the famous underground river, the main attraction of the park.

In the morning of the third day, the group went on a river trek to Olangoan Falls, where a facilitator from EBJF helped  the barangay park rangers process the lessons they learned and discovered during the trip Limited financial resources forced the tripartite partnership to lie low beginning January 2001, but communication lines among Bandillo, the barangay council, as well as its park rangers, and the Henry TSL Foundation remain open.

The good news though is that their protected area initiative has started to bear fruit. The Department of Environment  and Natural Resources has begun surveying Olangoan Falls and has conducted a public hearing as part of the 13-step process for its eventual declaration as a protected area. Meanwhile, newly elected Mayor Dennis Socrates pledged to provide funds for ecotourism destinations in the city, with Olangoan Falls at the top of the list he enumerated during his first State of the City address.

Bandillo also organized the “Trainers’ Training for Environmental Advocacy” held in the northern municipality of El Nido in June 2001. The training was jointly sponsored by Saguda-Palawan, another environmental group in the province, with facilitative and funding support from EBJF. The activity arose from the need of both groups for advanced skills training since many of their members were increasingly in demand as resource persons and trainers in various seminars.

Participants in the training included local journalists, ecotourist operators, NGO workers and municipal employees. Inspired by reports from other provinces about their public journalism efforts during a sharing session in February 2001, Bandillo ng Palawan teamed up with the Puerto Princesa Jaycees and the Palawan NGO Network for a Candidates’ Forum held prior to the local and congressional elections in May.

A total of 12 candidates for the position of mayor and vice mayor of Puerto Princesa, as well as congressional  representative for the second district of Palawan, presented their campaign platform during the one-day forum in April. A multisectoral panel grilled the candidates about their stand on particular issues. Two local radio stations and one local cable television broadcast the event live, while Moscom-Puerto Princesa provided chatroom and email facilities for those who wanted to send in questions through the Internet. Listeners and viewers were also encouraged to send questions through the radio stations or via text messaging.

After the forum, each of the candidates signed a covenant where they pledged to abide by the promises they made during  the campaign and report their accomplishments for the first 100 days in a follow-up activity if they won. During the week of the May 14 elections, Bandillo ng Palawan published a simplified matrix that summarized the campaign platform of major candidates for top local positions.

At present, organizers are preparing the second part of the project, the Ulat ng Bayan/Ulat Sa Bayan where the  performance of the winning candidates will be up for evaluation. During the Ulat ng Bayan, the same multisectoral panel during the Candidates’ Forum will present their assessment of the first 100 days of the new administration.

In the Ulat sa Bayan, the officials themselves will give a report about their accomplishments. The evaluation will  focus on three major areas: economy and the environment, basic services, and governance. Of the candidates who signed the covenants during the forum in April, two were elected as mayor and vice mayor of Puerto Princesa. Other officials invited to the program are the governor and vice governor of Palawan, and the two congressmen of the province.

Though the Candidates’ Forum is a regular election activity of the Philippine Jaycees, the local chapter in Puerto Princesa can only hope, as much as Bandillo and the Palawan NGO Network do, that their unique partnership can be institutionalized and continued in the future. The three are also looking at ways in which they can sustain their monitoring of the performance of local officials as a means of promoting good governance at the local level.

Even as Bandillo ng Palawan has strengthened its linkages with various groups in public journalism projects, the group  still nurtures hopes that it can help the Palawan Press Club move beyond its narrow confines and grow into a truly professional organization.

“Despite our disagreement with some officers of the club, Bandillo has tried to help other members of the group by sending them to advanced training outside Palawan. In the process, it is hoped that a core of well-trained and responsible journalists can be created that will provide better direction to the press club,” Yasmin says.

At the same time, the management of local media agencies need to become actively involved in molding their reporters b y giving them better pay, improved working conditions, and clearer editorial direction.

In terms of promoting good governance, there remains a pressing need for independence on the part of journalists whenever they relate with local officials. In a small community like Palawan, it is inevitable for media agencies to tecome associated with various political camps. Often, they end up getting used overtly or covertly. Community journalists need to learn that credibility can only come from an independent stance. In the end, their conscience will have to prevail when the public interest in the truth is at stake.

Of course, these are easier said than done. Learning how to preserve harmony and balance community relationships with press freedom is a tricky thing. Unlike large cities where reporters can criticize local officials without worrying about immediate backlash from neighbors, or the relatives of politicians, Palawan is a sensitive community where every little thing becomes a personal issue to most people. Its only advantage is that the province is largely peaceful, and most groups are open to resolving conflicts through dialogue.

In Yasmin’s view, the ideal is far from the real in the context of Palawan’s community press. All things considered though, she notes, the situation is not that bad either.