Fig. 1. Press Release announcing the formation of the Filipino Freelance Journalists' Guild (FFJ). Image retrieved from: https://web.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122098591664091869&set=a.122098592516091869.
It all began with an ID card.
It was 2021, and I was doing a story at the time for an international publication.
As you may know, this was the height of the Covid pandemic. People were prohibited from leaving their homes, unless they had a valid reason to, and proof of it—like work. The problem was, I did not have any documentation to prove I was a freelance journalist; as a result, I was having extra difficulty getting access to sources.
I wasn’t the only one. Other freelancers, particularly in the Philippine regions, were complaining about experiencing challenges, like not having an ID to present. It was simply how things worked.
And so, in the hope of finding a solution, we individually sought help from the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), of which we were members. As a response, the union provided us with provisional IDs.
It would look like the problem has been solved, but we were just beginning to discover the tip of the iceberg that is freelance journalism in the Philippines. There were other, more pressing, issues that needed immediate action—like low pay, safety, and even sexism in the industry.
Taking inspiration from our experience, the NUJP saw fit to create an organization for freelance journalists in the country. The union pitched the idea in the same year to its partner organization, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which the latter greenlit and funded.
The freelancers’ organization was finally established in October 2023. As one of the people who approached the union for an ID, I was asked to become a part of this inaugural and historic project.
Fig. 2. FFJ is a guild in pursuit of fair working conditions for Filipino freelance journalists nationwide.
Photograph by Len Olea. Image courtesy of FFJ. Retrieved from: https://web.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122098600604091869&set=a.122098520918091869.
The founding assembly for the guild took place October 21st in Quezon City. It was a rainy Saturday, and our team from NUJP was worried that the weather would hinder our target audience from attending. We were happy to be proven wrong. It was a packed venue, and everyone was eager to participate in the activities, share their experiences, and mingle with other freelancers.
After the election of the first five directors took place, the guild was officially born. I was lucky enough to have been elected as one of its officers.
Its creation is the culmination of a two year research phase and loads of waiting in between. The key takeaway from our study was that freelance journalism was not favorable to the condition of journalists, especially those based outside Metro Manila—hence the need for a group of freelancers to be created.
And the guild couldn’t have come at a better time.
Freelance journalism was already at its peak. Some of the former journalists from media giant ABS-CBN have begun shifting to freelancing after the company’s undeserved closure in 2020. There was also an increase in journalists leaving newsrooms due to burnout and mental health reasons, and a growing clamor from freelancers themselves for a group that would be able to represent them and their needs.
The establishment of the guild is a progressive development, to say the least.
But the work doesn’t end there; its formation is only the beginning. The real work is in organizing freelancers to band together, in order to demand for better working conditions for all. (There is strength in numbers, after all.)
The guild’s vision says it best: “A country where Filipino freelance journalists are truly independent, safe, protected, and have equal opportunities”.
Having a media ID may seem little, but it’s the little things that truly matter. An ID is a journalists’ identity and credibility rolled into a single piece of plastic.
Our hope is that in the future, there will be IDs for all.
June 2024
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