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Veteran journalists talk about  AI in  journalism in GMA Masterclass

September 26, 2023

Veteran journalists from GMA Integrated News talked about their experiences, professional milestones, and perspectives on the practice of journalism with easy access to such technology tools as generative artificial intelligence or AI during the highly popular “GMA Masterclass: The Cebu Press Freedom Week Special” at the University of the Philippines Cebu Performing Arts Hall last Sept. 18, 2023.

Organized by GMA Regional TV, the forum took on the theme “Journalism in the Age of AI” and featured Howie Severino, Pia Arcanghel, Aileen Perez, and Nikko Sereno as resource persons. 

The masterclass was one of the activities of the 31st Cebu Press Freedom from Sept. 17 to 23.

Students from various colleges and universities, such as the University of the Philippines Cebu, Cebu Normal University, University of San Jose Recoletos, Southwestern University PHINMA, Cebu Technological University, University of the Visayas, University of San Carlos, Santo Nino Mactan College, among others, converged at the event. They were eager to learn more about the topic of artificial intelligence and how it is impacting the landscape of journalism.

The event began with a warm welcome from UP Cebu Chancellor, Atty. Leo Malagar. In his opening remarks, he underscored the importance of students remaining vigilant, actively engaged, and steadfast in their commitment to safeguarding democracy and upholding the principles of freedom.

GMA Masterclass icons also shared some advice for youngsters aspiring to be the next generation of journalists. They also gave their insights and perspectives on artificial intelligence.

Severino underscored the importance of recognizing AI as a complementary tool to journalism, while also highlighting its potential as a weapon capable of causing harm. 

In light of generative AI tools, Perez emphasized that while AI holds valuable applications in monitoring and data analytics, it is important to acknowledge its potential to generate uncanny content.

Arcanghel underlined the potential advantages of employing AI in research but confessed her hesitation to use it due to a worry about becoming overly reliant on it. 

Meanwhile, Sereno stressed the time-saving benefits of AI while cautioning against its misuse.

GMA Masterclass: The Cebu Press Freedom Week Special marked the start of the 31st Cebu Press Freedom Week aimed at providing an arena for discussion and education on various local and national issues for students and educators. (Report by Charles Jave Retanal/Photos by Adriana Villena)

Comm UP opens 1081 Exhibit to commemorate Martial Law victims

September 21, 2023

The 1081 Exhibit, now in its sixth year, commemorates the 51st Proclamation of Martial Law with an Opening Program and a Multimedia and Art Exhibit that was launched last Monday, September 18, at UP Cebu’s Jose T. Joya Gallery under the theme “Lift the Sheets: Uncovering the Dictator’s Dirt.”

Participants in this significant event pledged never to forget the sacrifices made by Filipinos who bravely stood up against oppression.

“The 1081 Exhibit aims to counter fake news and disinformation of Martial Law with the factual narrative and connect the past with the present by resurfacing the [Marcos] family’s great robbery of the country and its impact on citizens that can still manifest until today,” said Kirstein Ann Pilongo, this year’s 1081 Exhibit Project Head and current Communicators of UP Chairperson, in her opening statement.

The week-long exhibit will last until Friday, September 22. It will include forums, seminars, educational discussions, film showings, protest actions, performances, and contests that will serve as a somber reminder of the significance of remembering this tragic and dark chapter in our history.

The UP Students’ Theater Arts Guild for Education (UPSTAGE) delivered an evocative performance, strongly reenacting the torturous memories of Martial Law victims, and provoking strong emotions from the audience.

Bounded by the solemn setting, student leaders from various organizations organized a protest action, lifting their voices to address important issues and voicing their firm opposition to the current administration’s acts of injustice.

The opening event was then succeeded by the opening of the Multimedia and Art Exhibit at UP Cebu’s College of Art and Design (CCAD) COMM Wing, which was organized in partnership with the Fine Arts Students Organization (FASO) and curator Greys Compuesto. The exhibit featured a variety of artworks in many forms that reflected a visual narrative of the contradictory Martial Law Era. (Erna Josette Bonsukan, BA Communication 2)

UP Cebu holds public screening of award-winning short film ‘Sibuyas ni Perfecto’

August 27, 2023

The University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu has opened to the public the screening on Sept. 1, 2023 of the Cinemalaya XIX Best Short Film “Sibuyas ni Perfecto.”

Directed and produced by Prof. Januar E. Yap of the College of Communication, Art, and Design (CCAD) of UP Cebu, “Sibuyas ni Perfecto” will be shown at 3 p.m. and then again on 4:15 p.m. at the UP Cebu Lawak Sinehan.

Yap said the film documents one day in the life of a farmer as he goes about performing a task for someone he considered a friend. He added that he leaves it to the viewers how they will see this one day in the life of Perfecto.

“Gilaum namo nga ang mga mananaway makakita o mahimong saksi sa usa ka sitwasyon nga bisan tuod og kadiyot lang o simple lang pero duna siyay dagkong kahulugan sa konteksto sa atong kinabuhi isip nasud,” Yap said.

In choosing to award “Sibuyas ni Perfecto” the Balanghai for Best Short Film, Cinemalaya cited its “quiet but coruscating take on social iniquity and how the poor’s exploitation by the rich is driven by their own denigration and self-abasement.” The Cinemalaya 2023 awards night was held on August 13 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

UP Cebu Creative Writing Program Relaunches Tagik Landasan Writing Workshop

August 31, 2023

The UP Cebu Creative Writing Program of CCAD is now accepting submissions for the 3rd Tagik Landasan Writing Workshop, to be held in October 9-10, 2023 at Multimedia Room (Day 1) & Joya Gallery (Day 2).

Eight (8) Slots shall be reserved for UPC students (Grade-10 & 11 and College Undergraduates). Two (2 ) slots are reserved for UPC Alumni who are based on Cebu City. Please note that previous Tagik Landasan Writing Workshop fellows as well as fellows of regional and national writing workshops are not qualified for this year’s writing workshop. Interested applicants may submit the following genres in either Cebuano or English—a suite of three (3) to five (5) poems; one (1) five-to-eight-page short story, or one (1) five-to-eight-page creative nonfiction (personal essay).

Entries must be typed in Book Antiqua, font size 12, with 1-inch margin on all sides, single-spaced for poetry while double-spaced for prose entries. Entries must not bear the author’s name. Applicants are required to submit their resume with a scanned 2×2 ID picture. A statement of intent providing a short background of their literary interests should accompany the application.

Submissions must be sent as attachments in Word file with the subject header format “Tagik Landasan_[Applicant’s Full Name]_[Genre: Poetry, Fiction, or CNF]” (example: Tagik Landasan_Aiko Sukahi_Fiction) to the following email address:[email protected] After the workshop, there will be a culminating event to recognize the fellows in Gabiing Dako: A Night of Poetry which will be organized by UP TINTA.

UP Cebu Communication Student Directs Play for Kulukabildo: Stories to End the Stigma and Celebrate Life

February 6, 2023

Watch Mavy Avila’s play “Sama sa Mga Duwaan ni Inday” in Bidlisiw Foundation, Inc.’s Kulukabildo: Stories to End the Stigma and Celebrate Life. Kulukabildo features eight plays written by Palanca-award-winning writers, translated into Bisaya, and adapted for the stage by Bisaya directors and actors.

Avila is a BA Communication IV student at the UP Cebu College of Communication, Art, and Design.

UP Cebu Communication Faculty Publishes New Paper

January 10, 2023

Congratulations to Communication program professor Dr. Belinda Espiritu for publishing her paper titled Land, Blood, and Tears: Discursive Themes and Strategies of Resistance to Neoliberal Hegemony in the Lumad’s Struggle for Their Rights in the Journal of Global South Studies last November 16, 2022.

Abstract: This paper examines the discursive themes and strategies of resistance by the Lumad, the indigenous people of Southern Philippines, and civil society groups to neoliberal hegemony, the dominance of the political-economic philosophy that champions the market as the prime regulator of economic activity, in the Lumad’s struggle for justice and their rights. The Lumad have been subject to killings of their leaders, militarization, red-tagging (the pernicious labeling of government critics, activists, and other members of civil society as Communists or terrorists) of their schools, and displacement from their lands. It is a study situated in the context of indigenous resistance to neoliberal globalization. It uses the critical discourse analysis approach in analyzing the discursive themes and strategies of resistance, particularly the theoretical ideas propounded by John Flowerdew founded on Foucault’s theory of power and resistance. Ten purposively selected news articles and two statements published from 2017 to 2020 by the online alternative news media outfit Davao Today were analyzed in the study. The discursive themes identified were neoliberalism’s dire consequences and destructive impact, displacement of the Lumad, food security, red-tagging, the struggle for education, counternarrative to red-tagging, defense of the environment and Lumad ancestral lands, injustice, corporate greed, and environmental degradation and the catastrophes that result from it. The discursive strategies of resistance used were constatives, or truth claims with factual backing, regulatives, avowals, ridicule, sarcasm, rebuttal, vivid adjectives, use of words, and use of evocative phrases and sentences. These discursive themes and strategies of resistance call for an economic system that empowers and respects indigenous peoples and local communities and interacts with the environment in a positive, respectful way.

Access her paper here.

Joya Gallery Joins Visayas Art Fair 2022

January 10, 2023

The Joya Gallery is joining the Visayas Art Fair 2022!

Visit our exhibit Belatedness: The Urge/ncy to Thrive at Booth E from Nov 25-27, featuring the works from UP Cebu’s Fine Art students and the 46th Jose Joya Awardees.

See you there!

#vaf2022

Graphics by Ardinian Jaq Sanque

UP Cebu Fine Arts Faculty Opens Solo Exhibit

January 12, 2023
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Ivy Marie Apa, a Fine Arts faculty member of UP Cebu College of Communication, Art, and Design, had her art exhibit opening titled “Mythologies”, which took place at the High Space of Qube Gallery at Crossroads, Banilad yesterday, November 17.

Her artwork is influenced by her fascination with a peculiar interest in visual images and appearances seen every day, such as things seen in advertisements, mass media, and pop culture, among others, where she wants to interrogate these things.

These spectacles and images mediate relationships with others, such as by how one perceives other people and how one presents themselves on what they should look like and what one should have.

Apa highlighted that her exhibit is not a critique of a capitalist system, which she first thought of, nor a condemnation of the dominant system that we are currently in, but a dialogue between the relationship with the products of the system and how everyday lives are dictated by this system.

As an educator, her exhibit is informed by philosophers’ ideas that resonate with her interest in mythologies and myth-making; the images we consume are tools and devices where we make myths.

The exhibit operates through the intersection of Greco-Judeo-Christian tradition, commercialism, and consumerism, explaining that in our everyday lives, we cannot escape with theologies and the influence of traditions. As one looks at the images, they seem to worship them.

“Mythologies” is a year of making that is very personal for Apa, where she has to learn and unlearn things as she produces the work. Apa hopes to influence others to reflect on the things that one consumes in everyday life.

This art exhibit is curated by Nomar Miano and runs from November 17 until the 10th of December this year. Qube Gallery is open weekly from Tuesday to Saturday from 12 to 6 in the evening.

Text and Photos by: Ian Peter Guanzon, BA Communication II

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