The DXND Special Reports’ entry to the 15th Golden Dove Awards was entitled ‘Aksa Sato’, a tribal B’laan term, which means unity. The award was given out yearly by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) and held on October 25 this year at the Star Theater in Pasay City.
The DXND entry was a special report on the creation of the “sanctuary of peace”, or a peace zone, in Sitio Klong-Kleng in Barangay Kanibong, a place dominated by B’laan natives in Tulunan, North Cotabato but which was the scene of frequent gunbattles among different tribes.
In 2005, leaders of the B’laans, Maguindanaons, Ilonggo and Cebuano settlers in Barangay Kanibong declared their area a sanctuary of peace where they agreed that no armed fighting or any hostilities between and among their tribes shall again disrupt their peace they are enjoying for the past three years. They organized TriBo-CC, short for Tri-peoples’ Boundary Coordinating Council and started rehabilitating the place that has been known three decades ago as a ‘No Man’s Land’.
Other entries under this category were Usapang Pambata, a 30-minute block time program of the North Cotabato Provincial Government aired over DXND-NDBC; Sining Galaw of DZRM-AM of the Philippine Broadcasting Service; In The Raw of DWNU-FM of the Progressive Broadcasting Corporation; and Heard on Thursday of DWRX-FM of the Audiovisual Communicators, Inc.
The Usapang Pambata was this year’s Best Children’s Radio Program. This is its second award from the KBP, being cited during the awards last year.
The DXND Special Reports was also nominated for the Best Documentary Program on radio category during the Awards.
The award was not NDBC’s first. In 1993 and 1995, Sa Likod ng Balita, a weekly 30-minute investigative program of NDBC, was chosen as Best Radio Documentary Program by the Cultural Center of the Philippines for Broadcast Arts. In 1997, the same program was chosen as Best Radio Reportage on AIDS/STD by the Philippines AIDS/STD Media Awards (PAHMA) and the Department of Health. In 2005, the DXND Special Reports was nominated as Best Radio Newscast during the 14th KBP Golden Dove Awards.
Both Sa Likod ng Balita and DXND Special Reports programs were written and hosted by Malu Cadelina Manar, program director DXND-NDBC.
Manny Luzon, chairperson of the KBP awards and recognition committee, said the number of entries this year was the highest in the history of the Golden Dove Awards “prompting us to move the awards night thrice to give the judges more time to select a winner in the 39 categories for programs, stations, and individuals.
“Through time, the Dove has become the definitive symbol of excellence in Philippine broadcasting, a well-deserved accolade for the men and women in radio and television whose endeavors played a pivotal role in making the KBP what it is today,” said Luzon.
The first KBP Golden Dove Awards was held in 1990.
This year’s head of the Board of Judges was Consoliza Laguardia, chairperson of the Movie Television Review Classification Board (MTRCB). Among the members were Fr. Ambeth Ocampo, chairperson of the National Commission for Culture and Arts; Mary Ann Maglipon, program communications officer of the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef); Belen Fernando, president of the Philippine Association of National Advertisers (Pana); Fr. Nicasio Cruz, associate professor of the Department of Communication at the Ateneo de Manila University; Secretary Estrella Alabastro of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST); Jones Campos, head of the public relations of Globe Telecom, Inc.