MANILA, Philippines — Saint Michael's College of Laguna recently celebrated the National Arts Month through “Pasinaya 2011@smcl,” a multi-arts festival featuring dance, acoustics singing, story-telling, theater and film showing.

According to SMCL president Dr. Lourdes Almeda Sese, the National Arts Month is an opportune time to embed in the students a sense of appreciation for the country’s artistic culture.

During the event, a cultural dance presentation was also rendered by the Philippine Barangay Folk Dance Troupe, one of the country's best dance companies dedicated in performing the native arts in their authentic form. The dance group is an awardee of the Philippine Presidential Medal of Merit Award, or the "Patnubay ng Kagalingan sa Sayaw."

Apart from the Pasinaya festival, the school also held a Corporate Social Responsibility Day, highlighted by the launch of its two campaigns. First is the "No to Mining In Palawan", a program in support of the 10-million signature campaign that aims to stop mining activities in Palawan. The “Wear your Cause” campaign, meanwhile, seeks to empower every member of the Michaelean family to “shout out” their cause by wearing pins as an advocate of women’s rights, children’s rights, breast cancer support, love of country, environmental awareness, responsible journalism among others.

Thomson Reuters holds journalism forum
Thomson Reuters Philippines recently held a journalism forum dubbed “Journalism: Challenges and Opportunities at the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication.

The event was part of UP MassComm’s 46th foundation week talk-series. Thomson Reuters bureau chief John Mair challenged students to sift for what is relevant and true from streaming information and know how to put those information in context, and explaining its meaning.

He cited how the recent anniversary-celebration of the peaceful EDSA people-power revolt of February 1986 presents a counterpoint on how covering media has changed—compared to real-time reports of violence as the Libya uprising unfolded.

“Control of communications reaches people on the ground, courts sympathy everywhere else, and helps win revolutions. Radio Veritas did that for the Philippines then. Now, in the Middle East, smart phones enable anyone to feed video, photos and messages globally. People are being organized through Facebook and Twitter!,” he said.

These same channels, Mair added, however may also be used to reach supporters or misinform and reporters may get hurt in the crossfire. Students must also be careful of copyright and libel laws which also apply to the internet.

Thomson Reuters also donated 20 desktop computers to the College.