Nation
Written by Alma Anonas-Carpio / Correspondent
Tuesday, 30 June 2009 00:02

LAUNCHING its new format and announcing the addition of “GraphicTech,” a section devoted to technology news and analysis features, the Philippines Graphic celebrated its 19th anniversary on Thursday last week at the Manila Grand Opera Hotel in Manila.

“We are proud to present a new layout for the Graphic, as well as a full-featured technology section,” Graphic editor in chief Inday Varona said in her remarks at the celebration.

The reformatted Graphic features an edgier layout design that creates the perfect foil for the magazine’s already well-written analyses and news-feature pieces, as well as the high-quality poetry and short fiction that have been its trademarks since the Graphic was founded by National Artist Nick Joaquin in 1990.

The Graphic’s 10 Outstanding Young Leaders and the winners of the annual Nick Joaquin Literary Awards also reaped honors that night, as did former Graphic editor in chief and Palanca Awards Hall of Famer Gregorio Brillantes, who received the first Nick Joaquin Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifetime of service and achievements as a teacher, journalist and writer of short fiction.

Graphic publisher T. Anthony Cabangon, Philippine Graphic Publication Inc. (PGPI) board chairman Judge Pedro Santiago (ret.), PGPI executive vice president Ricky Alegre and Varona presented this year’s 10 Young Leaders Awards. These young leaders were honored for the passion with which they pursued and achieved their goals.

According to Varona, “passion spells the difference” between excellence and mediocrity. Positing the question, “Is the nation worth fighting for?” Varona notes that “these young leaders do not even ask that question. They believe. And they walk that talk.” The winners are:

* Paolo Villaluna, director of the short film Palugid. His films Ilusyon and Selda, codirected with Ellen Ramos, competed in the international film festivals of Montreal, Thessaloniki, Torino, Melbourne, Atlanta and Pusan. Villaluna also serves as the programmer for Indiesine, the only theater in the Philippines that exclusively screens independent films. He directs the critically acclaimed documentary show Storyline for ABS-CBN News Channel and is now an in-house director for advertising giant Filmex.

* Imelda Visaya Abaño, an award-winning writer whose articles focus on the environment, health and community development. In 2008 she received the gold medal and a $5,000 cash prize in the 13th United Nations Correspondents Association Awards sponsored by the UN Foundation. She was cited for her article on Haiti, which judges described as a “well-written, well-researched and comprehensive report on an incomprehensible country, by someone from a country where misery is fairly ubiquitous but nowhere near as desperate.”

* Jun Yupitun is the director for operations of Pilipinas Teleserv Inc., and he spent the last nine years developing innovative call-center design modules and software that revolutionized how businesses and vital government agencies serve their clients. He successfully married phone-hotline services with electronic banking and Internet-request processing to cut the wait for vital documents from one to two weeks to just a few days.

* Alejandro Consolacion II is an award-winning composer and organist whose works have won worldwide recognition. At 19 he premiered “Psalmus XXXVIII,” a composition that helped the De La Salle University Chorale win in the 2nd Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Competition at Giesen, Germany.

* Gerard Salonga is a music arranger, conductor, musical director, movie scorer and album producer who worked as the conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2005 he bagged three Aliw Awards for Best Musical Director. In 2004 and 2005 his musical arrangements for the Filipino Channel won the Promax World Silver Award in New York (Best Use of Music/Post Score With or Without Lyrics).

* Muntinlupa City Mayor Aldrin San Pedro is one of the youngest mayors in the country, and his administration has overcome many challenges and succeeded in turning Muntinlupa into one of the country’s leading cities by nearly doubling the city’s income through sound fiscal management. Under San Pedro’s leadership, the city also attracted new business with its improving peace-and-order situation, and improved the standards of its public education and health services.

* Efren Peñaflorida is a young man from the slums of Cavite City who works tirelessly for a better Philippines as a volunteer teacher and community worker, whose efforts to transform the lives of street children were recognized worldwide. He is a CNN Hero nominee, a finalist in the United Kingdom’s 2008 Global Youth Awards, a nominee of Sweden’s Right Livelihood Award Foundation in 2005, and a recipient of ABS-CBN’s Gawad Geny Lopez Bayaning Pilipino Award in 2004.

* Nonito Donaire Jr. successfully defended his International Boxing Federation’s Flyweight title this year with a fourth-round technical-knockout win over Raul Martinez. This victory prompted boxing experts to include him on the list of the world’s best pound-for-pound boxers, in the eighth slot. His professional record is 21 wins, 14 knockouts and one loss.

* Josefa Lacandula is the chief of the Women and Children Concerns Desk and the Family, Juvenile and Gender Sensitivity PNCO, (police noncommissioned officer) of the Dumaguete police station, and she received the Country’s Outstanding Policemen in Service award in 2008 for the same reason that the Graphic honored her: She is a police officer who stops those who commit acts of violence upon women and children, and her work involves healing the wounds of families victimized by domestic violence.

* Barely out of her teens, Sarah Jane Cua won the Brand’s Asia-Pacific Sudoku Challenge in Singapore, solving her way through two of the most head-wracking categories in less than 30 minutes.

The winners of the Nick Joaquin Awards for Literature were Roario Cruz-Lucero, who brought home the grand prize of P50,000 for her short story titled “Papa’s Field” published in the August 25, 2008, issue; Erwin F. Castillo, who bagged the second prize of P30,000 for his story “Cape Engaño” which appeared as a two-part story in the Graphic; while the third prize of P20,000 went to Sasha Martinez for her short story “This Fleet of Shadows,” which was published on September 29, 2008.

The board of judges for the Graphic literary contest was led by Graphic literary editor Marra PL. Lanot and included Luis Katigbak and Susan Lara.

* Published by BusinessMirror