黑料社

MANILA, Philippines 鈥斅燭he Inquirer Foundation and Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPower) signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on Aug. 16 for a partnership in support of the next batch of Inquirer journalism scholars.

It marked a milestone in the Inquirer scholarship program as it reaches its 31st year. Under the MOA, three junior students will be selected from the Journalism Department of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP-CMC), with AboitizPower extending them assistance in the next two academic years or from 2024 to 2026.

Signing the agreement were lawyer Rudyard Arbolado, Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) president and CEO; Connie Kalagayan, Inquirer Foundation executive director and assistant vice president (AVP) for corporate affairs; Ronald Francis Suarez, AboitizPower VP for corporate affairs; and Abigail Tomas, AboitizPower AVP for public relations.

READ: Inquirer scholars in UP graduate with top honors

The partnership provides for a semestral scholarship fund amounting to P50,000 which consists of a stipend, book allowance, Wi-Fi or communication allowance, and board and lodging allowance鈥攆or a total of P200,000 per scholar covering the two-year period.

鈥淚t鈥檚 great to partner with Inquirer and also with UP鈥� When we learned that Inquirer had a journalism scholarship program, we were really quite excited. The only regret was it took us this long,鈥� Suarez said during the signing held at the PDI office in Makati City.

鈥楢ccess to the truth鈥�

Through the years, the Aboitiz Group has supported a long list of scholars mostly in technical fields but also, more recently, in media-related courses.

鈥淥ur world really needs better access to the truth, because the truth is sometimes very elusive. Hopefully, this is one way we can help,鈥� Suarez added. 鈥淎mong this partnership鈥檚 impact is being able to unlock the highest potential of individuals and bridge the lack of financial capacities.鈥�

鈥淔or the past 31 years, we鈥檝e had 80 scholars and 61 of them came from the UP College of Mass Communication,鈥欌�� Arbolado noted. 鈥淲e are thankful and fortunate to have UP-CMC as a partner and this is our way of participating in UP鈥檚 role.鈥�

鈥淎nd we are really thankful for AboitizPower for joining us and sharing our mission,鈥� Arbolado said. 鈥淚n the real world, you have to integrate several disciplines. We hope to create that environment at Inquirer.鈥欌��

PDI and AboitizPower, he said, share the values of responsibility, teamwork, integrity and dynamism.

Also witnessing the signing were UP-CMC Dean Fernando Paragas, PDI associate publisher Juliet Javellana, executive editor Volt Contreras, managing editor Robert Jaworski Aba帽o, corporate affairs officer Bianca Kasilag-Macahilig, account executive Michelle Galang and AboitizPower media relations manager Chiqui Rivera.

鈥淢any students in UP are still in need鈥� who are smart but struggling especially during the pandemic. In this way, we can help those who are in need. Thank you very much for this initiative; we will fulfill [UP鈥檚 part with] honor and excellence,鈥� Paragas said.

Extended period

Launched in 1993, the Inquirer Journalism Scholarship Program has selected students also from UP Los Ba帽os, University of Santo Tomas, Ateneo de Manila University and University of the East.

For the first time, under the recently signed MOA, the program is welcoming a corporate partner and the assistance is being extended from just one academic year to two.

鈥淸I]t is really better to start helping our scholars in the third year because then we would really be able to support them,鈥欌�� Kalagayan said.

The selection process is ongoing for the next PDI scholars out of a maximum of eight candidates from the UP-CMC. Candidates must have maintained grades of at least 1.75 and shown keen interest in journalism as a craft and career. The evaluation will also consider their family鈥檚 financial capacity as a factor.

The scholarship also comes with opportunities for internship and eventual employment in the Inquirer.