PLAN International Philippines? Young Hearts Program and AnakTV have strengthened their team-up for the Learn Without Fear campaign, a global crusade that aims to minimize, if not eliminate, the incidence of violence, bullying and abuse in schools.

The strategy is to harness Young Hearts children, mostly in Plan-assisted communities, to actively participate in the campaign through media production. Children are the affected subjects; hence, they make the ideal writers, producers and directors.

Since April, AnakTV has been continuously training hundreds of kids, aged 9 to 17, in three Samar provinces, Masbate, Occidental Mindoro, Cebu and Southern Leyte. The children are being honed in digital photography, video and radio production and various aspects of media, with mentors like Lem Garcellano, Mag Cruz Hatol, Alan Allanigue and Rhanch Macalalad.

Different classes

Youth behavior, tastes, and morals are chiefly influenced by media. It therefore makes sense that these young minds are trained to become media-literate and smart producers. They have begun producing their own public service announcements and radio plugs. A few of them have started making short documentaries, using the theme, Learn Without Fear.

This week, nearly 150 kids were brought to Manila for the third Wow Bata festival. Workshops in different classes related to media were conducted. Storytelling was handled by Bodjie Pascua, reporting and interviewing by Aljo Bendijo and Angelique Lazo, acting for television by Malou de Guzman, voice acting by Rose Nalundasan, creative conceptualization by Salvii Casino, scriptwriting by Bonifacio Ilagan, and animation, storyboarding and puppetry by Enrick Geronia, Jonas Diego and Carlo Magno, respectively.

Two children were named winners of AnakTV?s Batang Brodkaster award: Merry Sunshine Serrano, 15, of Masbate, and Anabelle Barcenas, 17, of Camotes Island. The Batang Brodkaster competition is where the country sources out its entries for the various international competitions and festivals that seek video entries from children.

The Batang Brodkaster winners were selected by a jury consisting of MTRCB chair Ma. Consoliza Laguardia, IBC president Roberto del Rosario, president of SEAFCTV Edgardo Roces, papal awardee Elvira Yap Go, and RPN operations manager Edith del Rosario.