"Thank You for helping us"-- PLM alumni
By Willie Jose
My alumni-friends from the Pamantasan ng
Lungsod ng Maynila Alumni Association in Canada had a very successful
tête-à-tête and luncheon with the members of the local media held at Mayetta
Restaurant in Toronto last weekend.
Actually,
this is the first ever alumni-newsmen affair hosted by us -- a small bunch of
indefatigable PLMers. And our main aim is to show appreciation for the noble work
these media people have been doing not only to keep updated our kababayans here on the going-ons back
home but also to unify them by being responsive to their needs.
But on a personal level, the event is our own
way of telling them “thank Sir for accommodating our requests (lots of pakis) for the publication of press
releases and write-ups”. Through the help of the community papers, we have been
able to reconnect and touch base with the rest of the PLMers living in Toronto
and its neighboring areas,
As
a journalist myself, I know how journalists feel when people show appreciation
for their work. And just a simple expression of “thank you Sir” is enough to bring immense
joys to us—mababaw lang ang kaligayahan naming mga journalists.
I
would like to think this media
appreciation affair was not only a real
success based on the big
turnout of media men-- publishers, reporters, owners of media outfits
and other writers-- attending this event but most importantly, their
presence was also an indication of their willingness to be partners of other associations and
groups in community and to be of help to
them in disseminating information
on their
projects primarily aimed at
benefiting our kababayans back home.
Jojo
Taduran, a veteran journalist, commented that “I have been amazed by the
cohesiveness of this small group but despite their number they have shown their
determination to help their alma mater in whatever best they can; they have not
forgotten the poor but talented PLM students who need financial help for their
schooling.
These
alumni have been sending a stipend of P3, 500 per students/ semester and this
amount is just enough to cover the students’ transportation fares and some
snacks. Even if these students are scholars, most of them don’t have enough money for jeepney fares simply because their parents are living on the edge
being jeepney or tricycle drivers,
laborers, dressmakers and a number of them are living on shanties
in some squatters areas and
cemeteries in Manila’
We
PLMers who are fortunate enough to be given a chance to live in this part of
the world can relate to the situations and circumstances of the students whom
we are helping because just like them, they had parents who were also poor, we
had experienced walking from the PLM in Intramuros to Quiapo or Sta Cruz and
from there, get jeepneys going either to \Sampaloc, Tondo or Divisoria where
most of us lived. The only thing we had before was our sole determination to
finish studies which we firmly believed would liberate us from the clutches of
poverty.
Romy
Marquez, a newsman, who took a video and posted it on website, had been awed by
the tenacity and the cohesiveness of the group, that Despite their small in
number these alumni have been trying their best to help extend help to their
former school\judging by the turnout of media men who attended the affair, and
the enthusiasm shown
