Living and Working in the Cordillera – a visual auto-bio of Art Tibaldo
Introduction:
Joel Arthur "Art" Tibaldo is a true multi media artist. He studied arts following the tradition of the conservative Thomasians. He finished his Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Santo Tomas in 1982. He took up courses in filmmaking, video production and joined Baguio City's mass media in the early eighties as a photojournalist. He has produced award winning short films, paintings and video documentaries. Currently, he is serving the national government as a Media Specialist of the Department of Trade and Industry-Cordillera Administrative Region and at the same time produces and hosts a local weekly cable television program. His first attempt to work in a government facility was aborted when the Maharlika Broadcasting System, MBS-4 where he worked as a new Video Editor was taken over by the media group associated with the EDSA People Power of 1986. When President Marcos was deposed, the network was sequestered and returned to the Lopezes as ABS-CBN Channel 2 on 14 September 1986. It was also during this period that Tibaldo volunteered his services as Public Information Assistance Desk Officer at the National Media Production Center which later became the Philippine Information Agency. Perhaps one of the first to volunteer and work under the administration of President Aquino in Baguio or the Cordillera, Tibaldo witnessed and became part of many important events that shaped CAR as an administrative region. From the Peace Talks in Mt. Data, the selection process of the Cordillera governing bodies, the failed attempts for an autonomous government through a Plebiscite and the information and education advocacy that preceded it, Tibaldo also met his wife Helen who later became the head of the agency after she was sent by PIA Head Office to oversee the info campaign. After the devastating killer earthquake of 1990, Tibaldo’s services as an audio-visual expert was tapped to package and produce several information materials that includes the Eco-Walk Program and audiovideo presentation of Baguio City among others. After completing a five and a half month long scholarship training in Okinawa, Japan on Video Production in 1993, Tibaldo helped the Cordillera News Agency establish the longest running community television program in Northern Luzon.
A part time university instructor, Tibaldo taught Electronic Newsroom, Video-Television Production and Desktop Publishing to journalism students of the Baguio Colleges Foundation (now University of the Cordilleras) and University of Baguio. He has also conducted numerous workshops on photography, video production, visual arts and editorial cartooning. On Photography, he sees the medium as an extension of his art and chosen career. He developed B&W films in the early eighties and documented the changing landscapes of Baguio and the mountain provinces. He has recorded on film some of the historic events in the Cordillera Region's quest for autonomy. An environmentalist, Tibaldo was an active member of the Baguio Regreening Movement and the Alay Sa Kalinisan during his tenure at PIA. He was likewise tapped by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) for the production of a training video on disaster preparedness and by the Department of Agriculture (DA) on agricultural programs and industries which includes the supporting video of Corazon Kub-ao Ryan who later received the Gawad Saka national award in the fishery category in 1997. After the devastating earthquake of July 16, 1990, a planning congress initiated by a group called Team Baguio conceived the creation of Alay Sa Kalinisan and Baguio the Regreening Movement. Tibaldo became involved with both the ASK and BRM representing the Philippine Information Agency. When Baguio vied for the national search for the Cleanest and Greenest Highly Urbanized City in 1995, Tibaldo produced for the city the audio-visual presentation material needed by DILG as a basis for the national search. For three consecutive times, the efforts solid waste management, beautification and clean air as well as the monitoring of the barangays for their cleanup programs. In 1995, Tibaldo spent days and weeks in Sagada, Mountain Province with the late Jose Nicolas “Peppot” Ilagan, documented the community and produced a 30minute video “Sagada.. the First Peace Zone”. The project was funded by the National Unification and Development Program in tie up with PIA, CNA and DILG. The video project presented how the peace loving community is opposed to any form of violence including the presence of combatants from the government and the rebel forces. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) also tapped the services of Tibaldo for the documentation of the Forest Sector Project (FSP) and Community Based Forest Management Sector (CBFM) programs in the Cordillera. The documentary “Indigenous Forest Management of the Cordillera” that shows the different customary practices in protecting the forest in the mountains won the Five Best Documentary Award during the 1999 Film Academy of the Philippines awards night.
In 2004, He organized the first Eco Warriors Powwow that involved three hundred children of Baguio as a vanguard to the city's natural resources. He is also involved with the Save Our Street Children Foundation Inc. of which he was the Chair from 2003 to July 2005. As a hobby, Art hopes to expand his collection of old media equipments such as cameras, microphones, recorders, books etc. to be able to put up a small media museum. Among his collections include; a 1930s 16mm Projector, 1950s open reel tape recorder, a Steky 16mm miniature camera, a '50s AKG microphone, an old Royal typewriter and a Yashica twin lens reflex camera. See more of Art Tibaldo's work at: www.imagesphilippines.com /art tibaldo and at; www.cordilleraonline.com/photo gallery
1999 FAP Awards CNA's 30 min. docu "Indigenous Forest Management" won the 1999 Best Documentary Award by the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP). Photo shows me receiving a plaque from Atty. Espiridon Laxa & Ben Pinga, the father of Filipino Documentary Filmmakers during the awarding rites at the Philippine International Convention Center.
From 1996 to 2002, a series of “Screen Education Seminar for High School Teachers” were held at the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) in coordination with the Organization of Specialized Film (OS Film) and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
OS Film’s Ben Pinga (in photo), the acclaimed Father of Filipino Documentary Filmmakers sought my assistance and PIA became involved in this undertaking. Pinga died in 2010.
Other Engagements: Resident Curator-Owner, Baguio Media Museum & Animation Studio Guest Instructor, “Electronic Newsroom 1&2”, UC-BCF AB MassComm (1993-2007) College Instructor, University of Baguio, Mass Communication Department-(2008-2012) Columnist, “Tradetalk by Art Tibaldo”, The Baguio Reporter Contributor, Baguio City based publications since the mid-80s Web Senior Contributor: www.baguiogallery.com Founding Member & Past President, Save Our Street Children Foundation Inc. Lifetime Member: Cordillera Indigenous Peoples Historical Society (Res 02-06) Studies: Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA Major in Painting) University of Santo Tomas, 1982 Units in MBA, University of Baguio, Units in DevComm of Benguet State University Cert(s) in Filmmaking & Cinema-as-Art, UP Film Center-Diliman, 1983 & 84 Cert. in TV Production (scholar), Okinawa International Center-Japan, 1993 Cert. in Macromedia Flash, Informatics Baguio, 2002 Cert. in Information Center Management Course-PIA, Eco-Tech Center, Cebu 1989 Independent Film Scholarship Grants: MOWELFUND-1984 & Goethe Institut-1985 Delegate/Speaker/Residency Programs: -Arts Competitor - III Delphic Games in Jeju, South Korea (September 7-17 2009) -"Importance of Research and Documentation in the Development of the Cordillera Region" CNA-NCCA-Read Foundation: Research and Documentation Workshop on Culture and Environment for Teachers, Researchers and Documenters, ov 13-14 2008 Baguio City -"Appreciating Photography" - University of the Cordilleras-College of Humanities, Oct. 2008 -“Photojournalism: Documenting Life Through the Lens" – Educational Forum”, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Mass Communications, August 2008
-“The Internet, Television and You”, CMLI National Youth Congress Resource Speaker on Media, Sept. 2007 -"THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN GOVERNANCE, EDUCATION AND TOURISM", University of the Cordilleras 2006. -“Upland Culture of Northern Philippines”, Resource Speaker, University of Hawaii, Capi’olani & Leeward Community Colleges, Honolulu, Hi, 2006 -Filmmaker-in-Residence, East West Center Gallery, Hawaii -Art Program Facilitator, Yayasan Anak Warisan Alam-Youth Environmental Congress, Malacca, Malaysia, 2002 -Igorot International Consultations 1 & 2, West Covina, Ca. 1995 & Washington DC, Virginia, 1997 -Cabrini Mission General Assembly, New York, NY, 2003 Achievements, Commendations & Awards: News TV - CNATV’s coverage of the 2011 & 2012 Panagbenga won top award in the annual flower festival media competition with Alah Sunduan as reporter and Tibaldo as producer. Baguio Centennial Commission Commendation, 2009 Gawad Kalasag Award 2008, for exemplary contribution in the advocacy and promotion of disaster preparedness in the Cordillera Administrative Region. Nanay Rosa Bautista Journalism Award (20 years of media practice), 2007. Outstanding Alumnus, MPHS-BCHS-BCNHS 2006 Alumni Homecoming Outstanding Citizen of Baguio, 2003 “Best in Documentary”, “Indigenous Forest Management-30min”, Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) 1999 “TV Producer of the Year”, 1st BCBC Media Awards, 2005 “Cameraman of the Year”, 1st BCBC Media Awards, 2005 “Print Contributor of the Year”, 1st BCBC Media Awards, 2005 2nd Place Winner, CSC, Centennial Painting Contest, 2000 “Best Documentary Photography-1985” PPAP, Manila 2nd Place Winner –“Camote Miners”, Manila Experimental Film Festival, 1985 2nd Place Winner – Civil Service Centennial Painting Contest. “Filmmaker of the Year-1988”, The Baguio Midland Courier “Artist of the Year-1987”, The Baguio Cordillera Post “Editorial Cartoonist of the Year-1986, The Baguio Cordillera Post “Champion”, Practical Shooting, PMA-Media Dual Meet, 2000 Trademark owner: “Media Newseum” Registered in IPO Philippines Publications, Contributions and Articles Written: "A Century of Being Baguio"-Coffee Table Book Photo Contributor “The Four Horsemen of the Information Super Hi-way”. Author “Suggested Guidelines in Conducting Media Briefings and Issuing Press Releases on Government Programs. Column "City of Pines" by Robert P. Reed (Photo contributions) "Japanese Pioneers in The Northern Philippine Highlands" by Patricia O. Afable 2004 (photo contributions)
"Igorots: The people who constantly touches the earth and the sky� (photo contributions) Attempt to Social Media world record for uploading in Facebook 807 photos in one sending on February 25 2012. Auto-Biography: My artistic days: At the time when Senator Edgardo Angara was the President of the University of the Philippines and Poet Virginia Moreno was the Director of the UP Film Center, I was lucky to have been chosen as a scholar for a workshop on "Cinema-As-Art". I spent many days in Diliman with notable lecturers such as Lino Brocka, Laurice Guillen, Marilou Diaz-Abaya, Ricky Lee, Mike Parsons and other contemporary Filipino Directors including facilitators and course staff Nick Deocampo and Ernie Sarmiento who taught us the basics of filmography. My engagement in filmmaking was more than a honeymoon as my bid for scholarships was granted by MOWELFUND, Goethe Institut and the Embassy of France that brought us to UP Baguio for a Cinema-Direct workshop the year after. My stint with UP Diliman introduced me to experimental and independent filmmaking using a Super-8 Camera.
Above photos show "stills" taken during the shooting of "Hinterland", one of my early experimental film about a painter and relic hunter who saw the financial gains of stealing a legendary tattooed mummy in the uplands of Benguet that is very much valued by antique collectors. Due to lack of budget, I acted the role of the relic hunter and my BFA classmate Rafael Jun Concepcion served as my cameraman who also doubled as the Tumungaw (unseen being guarding the mummy). The story reveals a relic hunter searching for the legendary mummy up in the hinterlands and the short film ended with character’s death when a supernatural force came into play. The film climaxed when the relic hunter runs away with the mummy and the final scenes show the swaying of the hanging bridge being crossed by the characted tossing him out into the air with his rope entangling his neck causing him to hang in mid air few feet above the river below.
My government service days: After a rigorous government screening conducted by the National Economic Development Authority, I was chosen to represent the Philippines in a Colombo Plan Technical Assitance granted to recipients of "developing countries" by "developed" nations such as Japan. Thus, I spent six months mainly in
Okinawa International Center through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as an international student scholar of Video and Television Program Production. We had a shorter stay in Tokyo and Kyoto where we had a tour to the facilities of NHK Television and Toie Animation Studios. Together with about a dozen colored students, we completed the course after having produced and collaborated various television programs.
During this scholarship period, we met the world famous wrestler Antonio Inoki who was a Senator at that time and since my team chose to do a feature on Okinawan music, we were able to cover a concert of the Rinken Band and interview Teruya Rinken, the group leader. During the filming of "Dragon Spirit", an NHK historical series, I was part of a cast with the role of island villagers and the make up artist practically painted us Pinoys brown- my first time to witness a big scale production for a national television. I owe this scholarship to my former office, the Philippine Information Agency which is under the Office of the Press Secretary.
"The Internet, Television and You" is the topic given to me during the 28th CMLI Annual Convention held at the Teacher's Camp on Sept. 8 2007 participated by about 800 elementary graders from various schools of the Philippines. Since I was prompted to give a short talk on mass media in the Philippine setting, I delved on; "Behind the Scenes of Mass Media: Is it REAL or REEL?�. With CMLI's aim to promote media awareness, I used props and did unusual style of presentation as seen in above photo. October 29 2007 - Despite the ongoing election fever in the Philippines, it was a tiring but fulfilling day for me and groups of visitors who came up to Baguio purposely to learn. The first group who came are young journalists from Tuguegarao who visited the Baguio Media Museum as an added feature of their communication seminar at the local YMCA.
The second group is composed of high school delegates of the 49th Annual National Convention for Children's Museum and Library Inc. (CMLI) Junior Members and Teacher Advisers who opted to take the workshop on Filmmaking at the Teachers Camp. I gave a lecture on "Photojournalism" to the Cagayan Valley visitors and "Filmmaking" to the CMLI delegates.
Commencement Speech by Art Tibaldo BCNHS Graduation Rites for Class 2010 I am honored to be here with you today at your commencement from one of the finest high schools in the country…a school with long history of excellence that brought honor and prestige to the city. I belong to Baguio City High School Class of 1978 and I believe some of you are my relatives, my classmates’ sons or daughters or even a friend’s grandchild. In some occasions like the Panagbenga Street-dancing Parade or other city activity, I think I must have seen and taken photos or video clips of some of you as you were showing to visitors what a Baguio citizen is like…brilliant and cheerful - . You deserve a whole round of applause. The moment I received a call from one of your mentors about my role here today, I readily accepted to be your guest speaker despite the short notice because I didn’t want to miss a thing especially that this is your graduation day. City High is very close to my heart because it reminds me of my confused self way back when. Remember the old hymn?... Baguio City High You are so dear to me, Though from thee My footsteps far may stray, Over mountain, hills beyond the deep blue sea I shall love thee Ever be where'er I may…. This hymn is still being sung in many class reunions here and abroad with a resounding upbeat tempo. I grew up in Baguio with a Baguio attitude and I still maintain my Baguio-ness that’s why I am here with you today. If you do not know what I meant by Baguio-ness, I urge you to consult your elders who grew up and spent most of their time here. ( I'll expound a little on this before I end my talk) This morning’s culminating exercise is actually likened to deja vu where things that happened before is repeated in an almost similar scenario. You will graduate today and move on with your life but you will
always be reminded of your high school days and most likely return to your alma mater and reminisce…hey, I studied here and had wonderful experiences with my classmates and teachers. I belong to the generation of Sharon Cuneta and it may sound corny to mention few lines of her song “High School Life” which I’m sure your parents know very well by heart. Sharon’s song defines the youthful innocence of a young student saying… “Ev'ry memory, kay ganda…..at High school days.. are exciting, kay saya”…now the song has a tearjerker part because it mentions……”luluha kang talaga”..that’s why I don’t want to sing it. So my dear graduates… as you celebrate this milestone in your life and look forward to a new horizon, never forget what has brought you this far…. and if you can at this point in time face your parents and say thank you, can you do that now? (O wala munang iyakan. Of course..to your teachers also…) To my co-parents, I know our role is far from over and we still have to brace ourselves and continue the sacrifices of nurturing these students because after all, everything has its rewards…..well, it may not be here but as the saying goes….”masupapakan to idiay langit.” Graduates… always remember the love of your family and friends and don’t forget to thank God for everything that the lord has given you. Your graduation theme “Education: Changing Lives” (Edukasyon ang Solusyon) states a continuing process that each one should profess and imbibe. I still strive to learn new technologies and continually reinvent myself even if I am already almost half a century old. As a young high school student in the mid seventies, I realized that I cannot be an architect because of my poor comprehension in math and arithmetic and so I set my goals and dreamt of becoming a master painter someday like Juan Luna or a Leonardo da Vinci… reason why I took up my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Manila. (in Ilocano) I finished my Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Santo Tomas out of the love and sheer effort of my parents who wanted me to realize my dreams. This I owe them my education and I will forever be grateful knowing that the lord will also reward them for what they have done even in the afterlife. That dream remains a dream and I hope that I will still be above the ground when my art works is hung in significant places like museums and building lobbies. We all go through life with a lot of uncertainties unsure of our capabilities and strengths, but the most difficult to overcome are inside us. I’d like to quote Hollywood actor and movie director Paul Glazer who said “...when we experience our fear… when we say the words ... "I am scared," we have the choice, the ability to acknowledge that being 'scared' is not who we are. It is not our identity.” So, are you ready to take bold steps and move to the next level? Graduates, are you ready to face a new challenge? We, your parents, aunts and uncles have already hurdled and faced many challenges in life. We went through countless trials and errors only to make both ends meet and in order to let our children finish their schoolings.
No one can tell what can happen next. In 1985, I had a promising job as a VTR Editor in the defunct Maharlika Broadcasting System (MBS) Newscenter-4 or the government television under the Marcos regime. The turnout of event during those years brought about People Power and EDSA 1 and the new Freedom Government under President Corazon Aquino returned the facilities of Ch-4 to its original owner which is ABS-CBN. So that being the case, I left Manila, returned to Baguio and sought out what’s in store for me. As a newsman and government information officer, I had encounters with near death when in Abra, our convoy led by the rebel Priest Fr. Conrado Balweg was fired upon and ambushed by members of the new People’s Army leaving eight members of the Cordillera People’s liberation Army dead. This happened in 1987 in Baay-Licuan, Abra and we were lucky to have missed the encounter by mere chance because we used horses and the group of Fr. Balweg was on foot thus giving us a lead time of few minutes. You have a choice…. You can either be a passive observer watching the wheels go round and people move at a faster rate or be the active hero of your own life. You will inevitably make mistakes but I’m sure, you will have a learning experience that will push you all the more to achieve what you have set for yourselves. My father was a pest exterminator of the Baguio Health Department. After finishing his high school In Saint Augustine’s School in Tagudin, he left his place in the uplands of Alilem Ilocos Sur to make a living in Baguio City. As a young child, I saw my father making brooms after work and that’s the first time that I came to know the word…”sideline”. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. Follow your passion and do something you love. We are all enrolled in a full-time information school called life and since we are capable of downloading and digesting loads of information that are often vague and inaccurate, I have decided to pursue my higher learning even in my personal ways. I have established the Baguio Media Museum and Animation Studio out of a garage and the upper deck of my house in Sumulong Road as a show window on how communications evolved from antiquity to modernity. I have attempted to simplify the teaching of media, methods and techniques through an interactive edutainment center that displays communication gadgets from an animal’s horn, Egyptian papyrus paper, telegraph, radio systems and computer gadgets. In the Media Museum, one can learn and appreciate how communications evolved from antiquity to modernity through a techno-demo on the various methodologies of print, radio, television and the internet. Speaking of computers and its interactive nature, you can just google the word Baguio Media or my name Art Tibaldo and you can check my websites depicting the communication processes. Just before I end my talk, let me just tell you that not all high school graduates can immediately go to college for some reasons or even desire to take this higher learning and with that, allow me to share what a college dropout has to say in his message as a commencement speaker.
Steve Jobs, the Chief Executive Officer of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios said in his speech delivered on June 12, 2005. “I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.” Steve Jobs my dear graduates together with another Steve…Steve Wozniak developed the first personal computer…the Macintosh inside the garage of Steve’s family house. And since Windows or the PC just copied the Macintosh, it’s likely that no personal computer would have the wonderful set of typographies that computers do If Steve Jobs just dropped-out from his college subjects and not dropped-in on his calligraphy class. To my assumption, this is where Apple computer got the then popular phrase “garbage-in and garbageout.” Just like what Steve Jobs said to the graduating class, you have to trust in something…your gut, destiny, life, karma or whatever. This approach has never let Steve Jobs down, and accordingly, it has made all the difference in his life considering that he was once evicted from the organization that he built. At this point, may I take this opportunity to invite you to an upcoming exhibit this May during the Alumni Homecoming by the host class of Batch 85 of which I will hope to join if plans will push through because I will exhibit some features of the Baguio Media Museum and Animation Studio. I think that will be on the first Saturday of May. As the Media Specialist of the Department of Trade and Industry, may I further add that not all of us can be entrepreneurs but anybody can be enterprising. We often hear the words sipag at tiyaga long before a politician decided to use that as a tagline. Filipinos are not born or destined to be poor; that everyone has the right to have a better life; and that being enterprising is what helps one to succeed. It is only through the creation of small businesses that poverty can ultimately be beaten. We just have to change our attitude. Many of us go to school to become employees of offices and big corporations. Many of us dream to become soldiers, engineers, lawyers, doctors and even as policeman but the MSMEs or micro-small to medium entrepreneurs are the ones that keep our economy afloat. The small businesses and not the big corporations are engines that propel of our economy. We just had a Go Negosyo seminar right at the University beside us and many college graduates and unemployed professionals were present and they now wanted to learn how to start a new business. My office conducts trainings on how to start a business and even how to handle finances. We do not provide loans but we assist clients on how to package a feasibility study and business proposals required by financial and lending institutions.
Vilma Cruz-Abad of DTI-Baguio/Benguet is an active member of the City High Alumni Association. She can assist you more than I can because she is a direct intervener and can become your consultant freeof-charge not because you are from City High but because it is our mandate to build an enabling environment for business to grow and for consumers to get the best value for their money as we foster professionalism, integrity and competence among ourselves in DTI. Now, back to what I mentioned before as Baguio-ness….it is not only a state-of-mind or an ideal of what Baguio should be. It is what the Baguio Centennial Commissioners refer to as “Fostering a Culture of Caring” that we can interpret and manifest in our own personal ways. Finally, please allow me to read few lines from the message of my new DTI secretary Jesli Lapus who said…Always remember that an educated Filipino is a productive Filipino. And…with the tenacity of succeed and the determination to serve, an educated Filipino is bound to be a successful Filipino. As we always say…Edukasyon ang Solusyon! Mabuhay ang Class of 2010!
Promoting an activity and event through social media
As a public information officer (PIO) or media specialist of an organization, part of my task is to network with private media and establish good rapport and camaraderie as this is essential to an office wanting to tell to the public where their taxes go.
One need not have to be a cybergeek to create websites that promotes business. Through social networks, I can promote the events, programs, industry and the rich culture of my region by accessing and using a number of sites without having to drop a centavo. I can even make money by uploading my photos to a third party service provider that promotes and sells my intellectual property referring to every photograph that I make.
Personal Blogs: Create a Website, Post a Blog and Let the World Surf it. By Art Tibaldo Time has changed, a new world is emerging and media is rapidly reshaping society. Digital technology has long revolutionized old systems and methods and it continues to explore limitless horizons. Today, I can’t imagine reprinting my legacy black and white negatives using my old darkroom enlarger and dissolving double weight photo papers in a tub of developers and acid fixers. Instead, I can scan my negatives in a flatbed scanner at high resolution and save it as either jpeg or tiff (depending on your preference) digital files and later reverse it into positive using Adobe Photoshop.
Without having to soak my hands in chemicals, I can later print my image at a high resolution of 300dpi (dot-per-square-inch). In fact I don’t even have to print my image on paper if I want to share it for everyone to appreciate. I can upload this content or file through the internet and post it for everyone who wants to download for that makes me a content creator – and so with anyone else. Mobile telephones has also changed the way communicate. We do not only use the cellular or celfon to converse with one another but we also use it to capture images and record sounds. Depending on the band width, capability and service provider of the unit, it can also transmit a gallery of text messages, images, movies or sounds through digital satellite services. Just like mastering photography, being computer literate is a never ending process. Computer programs and softwares are upgrading faster than the operating systems of desktops, laptops or palmtops. Before you are able to master another authoring program, new ones are invading cyberspace and before you knew it, your eyesight are getting worse and your workroom have accumulated dusts and funny of it all people will call you a geek or a nerd. After IT Superhighway and Cyberspace comes now the world of blogosphere or whatever digital village that is nowhere to be found in the global map. Blog or web log is an online conversational medium that caught my curiosity just a year ago and it is fast gaining ground as an alternative to an email or even a webpage. Its persistence in cyberspace is a clear example of the democratization of media in both creation and distribution.
Media Specialist and Information Officer
Regularly since 1993, I've been producing shows for a community cable television program. As Technical Director of a live evening talk show, I see to it that everything runs smoothly and the show proceeds without flaws. Photo shows (clockwise) me switching AV gears at the control room of Skycable Baguio, videotaping the burning Petroleum nut while interviewing environmentalist Dr. Michael Bengwayan, me and my officemate covering the DTI led Consumer Welfare Month celebration and taking footage of a TESDA trainee.
I do not only consider myself as a chronicler of events but I’d like to think that I am also a visual ethnographer. I have recorded on film and video numerous cultural events in upland Philippines such as the “Entako men Lambak”, “Adivay”, “Lang-ay”, “Ullalim”, “Padaya ti Abra” and others including the Igorot International consultations that was held overseas. My special training on a special documentary approach called cinema-direct has helped me capture candid images without unnecessarily disturbing my subjects. During important events such as the 50th World War II commemoration rites and the 25th Cordillera day celebrations, I helped the PIA and RDC-CAR respectively in mounting a photo exhibit and tableau depicting the event. Above photo shows me with a special setting on the Mt. Data Peace talks and the delegation of Cordillera artists who competed during the 2009 Delphic Games III held in Jeju, Island, South Korea. I represented the Philippines in the Documentary Filmmaking category.
Media Newseum – A first of its kind in the Philippines and possibly in Asia FROM CAVEMAN TO SPACEMAN AND CLAY TABLET TO IPAD, the Baguio Media Museum & Animation Studio Showcases the various forms of communication and how it evolved from the ancient cave paintings to the latest in information technology. The edutainment facility promises a different learning experience to visitors. The mission of the Baguio Media Museum and Animation Studio is to preserve and present for posterity the mediums and processes of communication particularly in Print, radio and television. As such, the Museum plays a unique role in the history of “mass-media” and its worldwide impact on the human experience. For now, the Media Newseum is on per appointment basis only until such time that a mainstay personnel will be trained to handle the required demonstrations and lectures.
Virtual Reality - Multi-Media Specialist Art Tibaldo of the Baguio Media Museum and Animation Studio uses cinema and television special effects to demonstrate how communications evolved from cave painting to satellite broadcasting. Tibaldo opens his garage-cum museum every saturday to Baguio City's curious spectators.
EDUTAINMENT-Above photo shows Mass Communication students of the University of the Cordilleras working on a PC-based radio infomercial project that they conceptualized and accomplished at the studio.
The Media Museum has a growing collection of media tools and paraphernalia such as old film projectors, movie cameras, typewriters, microphones, printing equipment etc. It has a ready to operate radio announcer's booth, darkroom, media library and TV studio. Housed at the studio is an animator's desk and areas for artwoks and movie props. A wide collection of cartoon characters and toys also adorn the recieving area that was originally intended as a garage. Future activities of the media museum will include a residency program for artists, filmmakers and visiting reporters. A training module on Video Production, 2D Animation, TV Broadcasting and Photography is now being developed as an add-on feature of the media museum. The Cordillera News Agency-Television is preparing a reality-TV type of production that will be aired in Baguio's cable networks. Social Media Profile In my Facebook account, my profile outlines what I do; “I connect dots, click buttons and put together bits of information. I'm not building a monument but I'd love to cement bricks of knowledge and weld ideas that people can relate with. I write stories from personal accounts and experiences, I paint art concepts from dreams and visions, I capture photographs from real occurrences and scenarios not for a Pulitzer award and don’t ask me to write about your achievements as I am not a fiction novelist. Besides, writing a Bestseller publication is not among my wish list. Do drop by my Cybercave and Media Newseum.”
Cordi-Culturati – My cultural advocacy and promotions
I belong to an indigenous community that boasts of its rich culture and unbroken tradition. This self portrait depicts me as an Igorot tribesman who live in the uplands of north Philippines. The painting at the background is one of my major work when I was a student taking up Fine Arts.
If there’s one thing that binds many Filipinos in the global community, it is their cultural attachment and love for something traditional like the Tinikling dance which I came to learn with gusto during my scholarship in Japan.
Hawaii The year 2006 is truly a special year for thousands of Filipinos who are living in Hawai’i and my short stay in the island state is as memorable as the locals especially when I became part of their celebrations. It never came to me that I will be involved in the Filipino Centennial Celebrations until William Feltz, the Arts Coordinator of the East-West Center sent an e-mail inviting me to present the upland culture of northern Philippines as a Visual Ethnographer. After having documented numerous rituals and customary practices of the various tribes in the Cordillera for years, I can say now that it pays to treasure our tribal heritage. I have met Bill about twelve years ago and we have exchanged emails and videotapes about the peculiar customary traditions of Hawai’i and Cordillera. In 2005, the East-West Center Art Gallery Curator, Dr. Michael Schuster came to Baguio for what seems to me an arts and crafts expedition. I gave him the necessary contacts and references and he later proceeded to Sagada and Banaue to collect exhibit materials. Michael also met with the Tamawan artists and Tommy Hafalla who contributed to the ongoing exhibit at the EW Gallery. I also took Michael to my office at DTI and his attention was caught by some contemporary products displayed in our One-Town-One-Product corner. Together with native baskets that he got from Banaue that included a walking cane, the items are now on exhibit at the said gallery. After receiving my approved visa and official leave from my work, I enplaned to Honolulu on the 7th of February and arrived on the same day despite the almost ten hours of flight. Juny La Putt, a retired Philippine Army Colonel and a Civil Engineer who retired from Honolulu Engineering Department met me at the airport and drove me to the University of Hawaii where EWC is located. More popularly known as the Hawaiian Webmaster, Juny became my tour master for several days taking numerous digital shots of me including our tour in Waikiki beach and the opening program at the EWC Gallery on February 12. Juny started building websites as early as 1994 and he has helped promote the Philippine Military Academy and Baguio City in the world-wide-web among others. With Juny’s long experience with HTML and internet publishing, I consider him as a website guru. In fact, he is in the
process of publishing his latest book on Web Page Development. Five of his earlier books on Surveying published by National Bookstore are still widely used by Engineering students. During my stint as filmmaker-in-residence at the East-West Center, I was lodged at the Lincoln Hall where I stayed for twelve days in a hotel like accommodation complete with TV, telephone and fridge. As a Visual Ethnographer, (a title used during my tour) I showed clips and segments of my video documentaries on customary practices in the Cordillera and had dialogues with students and exhibit goers. A 15 minute video on DVD was also played non-stop in a 21 inch flat screen throughout the duration of exhibit period. I was invited to speak at the Kapi’olani Community Colleges where I had a good number of students taking up Anthropology. Raymund Liongson, a commissioner of the Philippine Centennial Commission and a professor at the Leeward Community College also invited me to speak before his 11-12AM and 12PM classes. My coming to Hawaii was very timely as the school's curriculum had a Philippine Studies Colloquium Series that discussed indigenous people’s culture. At the offices of Bill and Michael, a calendar was posted just for my schedules and it was heavily dotted with appointments. At the Center for Philippine Studies, a component of the School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I gave a presentation on “Images of Cordillera through Visual Ethnography”. My one hour lecture consisted of a showing of my video documentaries and discussions on Cordillera arts, rituals, customary practices including ancient practices in agriculture and forest management. I was also asked to discuss indigenous notions of peace and war and luckily, my lecture materials included the “Sipat” in Mt. Data where then President Corazon Aquino had a ceremonial peace talk with the rebel priest Fr. Conrado Balweg in 1986. The attendees were particularly struck when I discussed present day happenings such as tribal conflicts. I narrated one incident when one of my students at the University of the Cordilleras-BCF asked for permission to go home because of a growing tension between their village folks and neighboring ethnic groups in Kalinga. I joined the BIBAK-Hawaii in their post Valentine party at a Moanalua Community Center and I provided an impromptu entertainment of songs while serving as toastmaster. I brought with me a portable Bose powered speaker, a 7 inch LCD monitor, a Radioshack mini mixer, a compact DVD player with an Ilocano sing-a-long discs and a Magic Sing microphone. I sang “Achy Breaky Heart” while the BIBAK members danced a modified LA walk. Angel Galas serenaded his caucasian wife and the evening party lasted at past 10 complete with gong playing, short talks and fine dinner. Half of the hand woven bags that Rovilyn Mayat-an consigned to me were sold during that evening.
IGOROTIZATION or CORDILLERANIZATION - With my family embracing my culture
An elder or "pangamaen" communicates with the spirits of the departed and offers food as a customary practice. My wife Helen Tibaldo who heads a government media facility is joined by veteran newsmen Willy Cacdac and Joe Dacawi in this solemn customary tribal practice. The offering consists of a local wine called “Tapuy�, cooked rice with meat, water, salt and sometimes tobacco. Willy wrote 30 in July 2006, Joe followed few years after joining other senior newsmen in the great editorial room in the sky. Right photo show daughters Tam Jewel and Inah Felice garbed in ethnic attire during a trade exhibit and cultural presentation as part of the Cordillera day program.
My News Coverages
Her name is Florita and she greeted me with a furious lash of wind and rain strong enough to blow roofs off its base and topple pine trees on loose grounds. My July 12 2006 morning started when a text message from Philippine Daily Inquirer Photojournalist Toots Soberano prompted me to put on my pants and grab my camera to cover a landslide along Magsaysay Ave. Twenty minutes later, Toots passed by me and off we went to the site in rain gear carefully assessing the situation. I took several
digital still shots and few minutes of footages with my new Sony VX2100. Seemingly, we were the first newsmen on the scene as it was still early (6:30AM) with no respondents yet on the site to determine whether there's a living soul inside the vehicles covered with eroded earth. The landslide is actually part of an upper road that fell toward a commercial district below. We left the scene after few minutes while furious Florita was still causing damages to other places in northern Philippines. The early July 13 radio broadcast announcement breaks another landslide incident in Baguio and this time it is in a place close to my residence. As a trained member of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC) of the Cordillera Administrative Region, I rushed to the scene and saw a situation where I do not want my house to be into-under loose soil while raining heavily. I met with Punong Barangay Camilo Estepa (village chairman) and City Administrator Peter Fianza who assured the affected homeowners that proper assistance be provided to them. Above the two houses at risk is an ongoing building construction owned by the Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital. Both Estepa and Fianza called the attention of the hospital management to fix the problem.
We rode on this sleek looking air wolf when our media group was invited by the builders of the newly constructed San Roque Multi-purpose Dam Project in San Manuel Pangasinan was about to be turned over to its permanent operator.
Collecting, Borrowing and restoring old photographs is not only a form of hobby to me but it is part of my commitment to preserve the rich cultural tradition of the indigenous peoples of Philippine's Cordillera region. The restored photos and collected old films are being showcased during Cordillera Day and indigenous People’s Month celebrations.
With Marianito Meneses at DZWT and Alejandrino Amadeo at DZEQ, Radyo ng Bayan
Radio: Communicating Through the Airwaves My first encounter with an anchorman and radio station dates back to the mid 80s when an Ilocano writer named Roger Salibad requested me to take a portrait of the locally famous announcer Juan Tenorio whom I came to know as Romy Sacayanan in real life. While waiting for the bemustached announcer at the DZWT AM station to signal a commercial break so I can ask him for the shoot, I waited patiently and observed one thing that I wouldn’t want to venture on…work on a radio station as a broadcaster. The popularity of radio as a source of information even up to these days continue to permeate in the interior towns of the Cordillera and I recall some village folks asking me who the person leading our
group during the autonomy information campaign was and when I mentioned Bobby Angel, their eyes looked at my other companions hoping to get a glimpse of Juan Tenorio. It was during my seventeen years tenure with the Philippine Information Agency that radio plugging, spot announcement and interviews has become part of my official work as Information Officer. As member of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club, I came to get acquainted with the icons of the trade like Manny Salenga, Buddy Cenzon, Baby de Guzman, Willy Cacdac, Atty. Domitilo Pineda, Eddie Aguilar and others who like most of them are now probably broadcasting in the sky. When I transferred to the Department of Trade and Industry-CAR in 2003, I also became a regular coanchor of DZEQ, Radyo ng Bayan’s public affairs program “Kalakalan, Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran” or DTI Hour with Andre Amadeo, the station’s acting manager. Having acquired my accreditation and membership with the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas since 2007, I though it worthy to readers to be informed about some important guidelines and provisions of the Broadcast Code of the Philippines. I had my first radio interview sometime in 1987 when I felt that there was a need for me to update my media colleagues on an incident that just happened at the Philippine Military Academy. I was coordinating for media coverage prior to the yearly graduation of military cadets when a loud explosion rocked the military barracks. I was told to see Colonel Eduardo Purificacion, the officer in charge for media affairs at the grandstand and I was approaching the place when the grandstand exploded. At that time, my instinct as a young journalist was to break the news at the earliest possible time and so I notified my former office, the Philippine Information Agency and called the radio station DWHB. It was during the conflagration and commotion that I returned to the PMA administration office to use their telephone unnoticed and reported everything that I saw. The late radio anchorman Willy Cacdac, interviewed me live over the airwaves and the feedback effect of radio is so immense that even the higher officers of the academy wondered who spilled the news from among the ranks. Moments later, the academy was besieged with calls and the gate of Fort Del Pilar had scores of newsmen wanting to get in. After having attended several media trainings after that incident, I came to learn about media ethics and some guidelines on the processing, packaging and dissemination information especially for the general public. I fully agree that some information must first undergo verification, cross checking and processing before it is finally released to the general public for purposes of clarity and to avoid double meaning.
Cable television program hosting has become a task that I never imagined from the very start of my career and we share the same experience with my wife Helen who regularly hosts the weekly Kapihan sa Baguio. which is now considered a media institution.
TV Host – When the People’s Television Network established its short lived TV broadcasting in North Luzon using the strategically positioned communication antennas of Mt. Santo Tomas which is about 8 Thousand feet above sea level, PIA-CAR was able to produce few segments of canned shows with me as the cameraman, and video editor. Using a 1989 video technology, we were able to broadcast video coverage and infomercial of the autonomy campaign. Using the Analog VHS tape format, we were likewise able to record on video a historical play adaptation of how the various ethnic tribes of the Cordillera united to oppose outside influences from the Spaniards, Americans, Japanese and the establishment of multinational projects such as the Chico River Dam Project and the Cellophil Resources Corporation. After returning from a five and a half month long scholarship in video production in Okinawa, Japan as a Colombo Plan scholar, my office allowed me to network with the Cordillera News Agency as a trainor and Technical Director of the C N A-Television’s “This is Baguio TV Show” which is now the longest running and enduring cable based TV show in the city of Pines. In the course of my work at PIA, I also underwent several trainings on Mass Media and Communication with groups like the People in Communication (PIC) and Sonolux Asia. I learned basic procedures as a
stand-up reporter through a hands-on training conducted by the Radio Television Malacanang or RTVM and succeeding joint undertakings between the Philippine Information Agency and the Cordillera News Agency.
Cyber-artist
When social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter opened the floodgates of information sharing, the true concept of social media or people journalism became a reality to most democratic countries such as the Philippines. There are about 22M Filipinos whose age range from 34 years old and below who are into Facebook making us rank No. 5 in the world according to the data presented by Osorio. Despite other multi-media functions such as SMS & MMS sending, emailing, blogging, chatting, gaming, voice mail, music download and video sending among others, we should also get ourselves used to new realities such as pay-per-view or video on demand using our mobile units. During the 16th to the 18th staging of the Baguio Flower Festival or better known as Panagbenga, I have received and accredited about five hundred applicants under the hobbyist category as member of the media committee. We believe that individual website owners or bloggers plays an equally important role in promoting an event through their uploaded photographs. There were positive feedbacks especially from among those who weren’t able to be in Baguio for the flower season and the images posted by these amateurs were highly appreciated. On the 25th of February, I downloaded all my shoots during the float parade and resized the images to the right file size for online publication and uploaded all my 807 pictures to my Facebook account. Only later did I realize that perhaps that group sending alone could make it to another first in the history of social media. I certainly hope it will. (for further refinement‌last updated on March 5 2013)