Bulatlat won two awards.
By BULATLAT
MANILA – Lumád leaders from the #Manilakbayan2015 led the Gawad Agong for Journalism, held on Oct. 29 at the University of the Philippines Diliman, in recognition of media workers’ contributions in publicizing the indigenous peoples’ issues.
Now on its third year, the Gawad Agong salutes media practitioners who report about the indigenous peoples in the country, whose issues rarely make it to the headlines.
“Because of your work, you serve as voices of the indigenous peoples,” said Dulphing Ogan, Kalumaran secretary general.
“As long as government interest is to sell our ancestral lands to big, foreign companies, in direct opposition to our interest, which is to protect and defend our territories and environment, there would be more human rights violations in the future. You are thus challenged to continue to report true stories of the indigenous peoples,” he said.
Bulatlat writer Raymund Villanueva and editor Dee Ayroso won awards for photojournalism and online news, respectively. Villanueva also won the award for radio and photojournalism, and received citation as indigenous media worker.
Gawad Agong gave citations to two indigenous media institutes: the Northern Dispatch Weekly (Nordis) and Radyo Sagada, both based in the Cordillera region.
Kathleen Okubo of Nordis said it was the first for them to receive an award outside of the Cordillera. Nordis started as a news dispatch in 1997, and then as weekly newspaper in 2002.
“We do not deny that we are biased for the indigenous peoples, we are biased for the people’s movement, and we are biased for the victims of human rights violations….we do not deny that this is our distinct identity,” said Okubo.
Lian Nami Buan, of GMA News TV, received the award for Tina Panganiban-Perez, for the Best TV News Feature.
“It’s true…we bear the guilt that these stories rarely come out in mainstream media. Sometimes we lose, but we fight, sometimes we win. The efforts to share IP stories continue,” Buan said.
The following received awards and citations:
Media institutions: Northern Dispatch Weekly, Radyo Sagada
Indigenous peoples in media: Raymund Villanueva of Bulatlat.com and Kodao Phils. (Ibanag) and Joe Torres of Uca News (Subanen)
TV News Feature: Tina Panganiban-Perez, “Mga Mangyan sa Puerto Galera, nanganganib mapaalis dahil sa landfill”
Radio News Feature: Malou Manar, “Proud Manobo”
Radio program: Raymund Villanueva and Fr. Delfo Cenceran, OP, “Manilakbayan ng Mindanawon, Panawagan para sa Katarungan” in TalaAkayan, aired over Radio Veritas 846
Photojournalism: Raymund Villanueva of Bulatlat.com, “Banwaon children of Balit”
Online news: Dee Ayroso of Bulatlat.com, “Lumád women: Our place is in the struggle”
Multimedia : Bernard Testa of Interaksyon, News 5: “Disrupted dreams: Lumád children’s art portrays their hopes and dreams”
TV news reporting: Jay Sabale of QRT, GMA News TV, “Grupo ng mga Lumád sa Mindanao, tuloy ang protesta laban sa gobyerno”
News documentary: Malou Mangahas, ID, GMA News TV, “What is the cost of building a sanitary landfill?”
Gawad Agong is given by the Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan ng Pilipinas (Katribu), Koalisyon ng Katutubong Samahan sa Pilipinas (Kasapi), Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), Kusog sa Katawhang Lumád (Kalumaran). It is part of the Indigenous Voices in Asia Project, and sponsored by the Swedish Initiative for Development Aid (Sida) and supported by the Asian Indigenous People’s Pact (AIPP).
Under the project, similar awards are given by indigenous groups to journalists in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Nepal. 
Northern Dispatch started as a news dispatch in 1990.