As the social, political, and economic environment in many local areas throughout the Philippines is dramatically changed by the decentralization of governance as articulated by the Local Government Code of 1991, communities will be facing new burdens and challenges: that of making informed decisions in the face of scarce resources.

In a media environment lorded over by radio stations that have wide audience reach and strong influence on the public pulse, English-language newspapers are trying to survive, their sphere of influence reduced to a fraction of the Iloilo population—professionals, the academe, business community and politicians.

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.

It all started with a four-day lakbay-aral (study tour) to Puerto Princesa, Palawan on environment management and protection in October 1997. Journalists from Region VI, including those from Negros Occidental, saw for themselves the pooled initiativesof the Palawan media, the local government and an environmental nongovernmentalorganization in dealing with issues affecting the environment.

Didi Quimpo recalls one plane ride back home from a business trip abroad five years ago that dramatically altered the course of her advocacy as a social development worker. Comfortably slouched in her seat enjoying the flight, she was momentarily drawn to a news feature flashed on the plane’s video screen.

Sometime ago I came across a thought-provoking article on the workings and attitude of the present day news media. Something struck me in that article, a passage attributed to Ervin S. Duggan, president of the US Public Broadcasting Service. Said he: “The idea of journalists that the purpose of the story is the story itself invites a terrible kind of journalistic amorality. Trying to do the story just for itself invites cynicism. It