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BY HERBERT VEGO
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Sunday, January 8, 2017
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IT MUST have been more than a decade ago since broadcaster Josie Moralidad â whose alluring voice had glued our ears to Aksyon Radyo â left Iloilo City and flew to the United States, where she eventually transformed into a Ziman. Thatâs because her American better-half is Barry Ziman.
Todayâs good news is that our US-based colleague is never too far to be heard on local radio. She has agreed to represent RMNâs DyRI-Iloilo in covering the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump at Washington DC on Jan. 20, 2017. A mammoth crowd of 800,000 spectators are expected to be at the vast Capitol ground for that occasion.
Just last Friday, I heard Josie being interviewed by DyRI station manager Ronel Sorbito on her unexpected US assignment.
Lucky Josie. A resident of Washington DC, she really fits to a T her new role as the Filipino correspondent accredited by the Foreign Press Center of the US Department of State tasked to spearhead the group of 10 Philippine-based journalists invited to a 10-day US tour across Washington DC, Los Angeles (California) and Honolulu (Hawaii) from Jan. 30 to Feb. 8. The all-expenses-paid tour is aimed at promoting the US-Philippines bilateral relations.
While it is not certain yet whether they could shake hands with President Trump in any of the three âballsâ he would grace, their itinerary already includes scheduled conferences with key officials at the Pentagon and Homeland Security.
Yes, Virginia, despite Digong and his bad mouth, the US is not abandoning us.
Josie has furnished me a copy of a letter she received from Mark Zimmer, foreign media relations officer of the US State Department, which I am partly quoting below:
âIn my role as the officer charged with interacting with journalists from Asia here at the Foreign Press Center, I am coordinating the travel of 10 Filipino journalists here for a tour by which weâll discuss the health of the US-Philippines bilateral relationship. Iâm writing to ask if you would consider briefing the group on your work as a journalist for a Philippine outlet here in the Washington area.
âBy way of background, the Foreign Press Centers run several foreign reporting tours per year, centered on US policy. The journalists spend about 10 days in the US learning about a topic, and produce media reports that run in their home outlets. For this Philippine tour, ten journalists are coming from all parts of the Philippines, representing print, broadcast, and online outlets. They will meet with various actors in the US-Philippines relationship to get a broad picture of the good health of the dynamic US-Philippines relationship. They will begin their 10-day trip in Washington, then proceed to southern California, and end in Hawaii.
âWhile in the US, they will explore many facets of the US-Philippines relationship, including US government engagement, Diaspora influence, and people-to-people ties.
âWeâll be in Washington from Jan. 30 â Feb. 1, 2017.â
The 10 Filipino journalists that Josie Moralidad-Ziman would play âmotherâ to in the duration of their US tour and the networks they represent are the following: Pia Christine Bravo, Philippine Star; Ron Gagalac, ABS-CBN;Â John Paul Soriano, GMA-7;Â Nicolette de Leon, Philippine Daily Inquirer;Â Juan Gotinga, CNN-Philippines;Â Exequiel Paterno, Rappler-Philippines; Anna Marie Aznar, Sun Star-Cebu; Antonio Coliya, Mindanews; Harlington Palangtiao, Baguio Mindanao Courier; and Tara Yap, the Manila Bulletin and Daily Guardian.
Yes, thatâs our very own Tara Yap, a multi-awarded Ilongga journalist.
What about this writer? Would I also go to represent Panay News?
Sorry, Ms. Ziman and Mr. Zimmer, I have no US visa yet. Better luck next time, Mr. Me./PN
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