Selected staff writers of Monthly Quest, the official publication of Quezon City Polytechnic University, attended in a 5-day Luzon-wide Student Press Convention coined as Lunduyan 2011 with a theme of “A Writers’ Sanctuary is the People. It was held last October 22-26, 2011 at Dioko Resort and Butterfly Farm located in Brgy. San Joaquin, San Pablo City, Laguna. MQ Editor-in-Chief Eunice Joy Berana, Associate Editor Lani Jane Cidro, Managing Editor/Circulation Manager Dannah Mae Añonuevo, and Opinions Editor Jovan Cutillar together with MQ Adviser Kristine Velasquez participated in the convention.
Lunduyan 2011 is an annual 5-day Luzon-wide Student Press Convention organized by the College Editor’s Guild of the Philippines (CEGP). Lunduyan is a Hiligaynon term which means sanctuary. It also means zenith or peak. Writers must have their own sacred place where they can ponder what to write as well as to sharpen their skills. Moreover, they should reach their peak in order to decide what they should write. It was launched last year 2000.
Selected staff writers of Monthly Quest, the official publication of Quezon City Polytechnic University, attended in a 5-day Luzon-wide Student Press Convention coined as Lunduyan 2011 with a theme of “A Writers’ Sanctuary is the People.
College Editor’s Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) is the widest and oldest existing intercollegiate alliance of tertiary student publications in the country. There are a total of 750 student publications who are members of CEGP from more than 500 schools in 68 out of 78 provinces and cities nationwide. Their demands is to reopen all closed publications, end all forms of campus press repression, establish publications in all schools, and scrap the Campus Journalism Act of 1991.
The 5-day convention was made of five forums, two Classroom Discussions and three Journalism Skills Trainings.
The forums helped the participants to be aware of the current Philippine government setting and campus press freedom. There was one set of forum each day. The 1st forum included talks on the topic, Pinoy Under P-Noy: The Plight of the nation on the NCR Situation with speakers Glenes Padilla of Ibon Foundation and BAYAN-NCR President Paolo Quiza. The 2nd forum included topics on the Mainstream Media Situation, Campus Press Freedom Situation and the Campus Press Freedom Act of 2011 with speakers CEGP Secretary General Christopher Pasion and Pinoy Weekly Editor-in-Chief Kenneth Guda. The 3rd forum included topics on the Current Philippine Education Situation and The Pressing International Education Situation with speakers National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP) President Einstein Z. Recedes and Deputy Secretary General Pauline Gidget Estella. The 4th forum included topics on the Envisioning of Government’s Philippine Development Plan and the Need for National Industrialization BAYAN PIO Arnold Padilla and Charles Ramota. The 5th forum included topics in The Use of Use of national Language for Country’s Development and On Culture and Counter Culture with speakers University of the Philippines College of Arts and Letters (UP-CAL) professor and Palanca Awardee Jun Cruz Reyes and UP-CAL professor Michael Andrada.
The Classroom Discussions served as eye opener on current social issues. The 1st Classroom Discussion was a Writer’s Trip to Laguna towns Calauan and Victoria. It aimed to understand the following marginalized sectors: workers; women; lesbians, gays, bi-sexual, and trans-sexual (LGBT); peasants; and migrants. The 2nd Classroom Discussion tackled topics about Socio-Political Discussions, which included globalization; liberal theology; propaganda movement; human rights and documentation; Philippine social realities; and cultural change.
The Journalism Skills Trainings sharpened the writing skills of the budding writers. The 1st Journalism Skills Training covered discussions on editorial writing, news writing, feature writing, graphics and layout, basic photography, broadcast media writing, and ethics of Journalism. The 2nd Journalism Skills Training tackled topics on lampoon writing, campus paper management, online publishing, investigative reporting, citizen journalism, photo and video documentation, and tools for analysis. The 3ed Journalism Training Skills included topics on literature and the arts, poetry writing, fiction writing, creative non-fiction writing, gender-related literature, theatre arts, short film-making, literary criticism, and writing for children.
There were also candle lighting in commemoration of the Maguindanao Massacre on the 2nd day; Commemoration of the slain Palawan journalist Dr. Gerry Ortega and Caucus on the 3rd day; and Awarding of 7th Gawad Emman Lacaba and Cultural Night Presentations on the 4th day.
Monthly Quest 