The University of Santo Tomas held the third lecture for its UST Media Leadership Lecture Series with veteran journalist Mr. Jose Cecilio “Jing” F. Magsaysay of Lahi Philippines (Lahi.PH) as speaker. The event took place on October 9, 2018, at the Dr. Robert C. Sy Grand Ballroom at the UST Paredes Building.
This year’s lecture series theme is “Media Leadership Towards Nationalism,” and Mr. Magsaysay’s lecture titled “Proud Ka Pa Bang Maging Filipino?” (Are you still proud to be Filipino?) touched on key points of national concern, such as the national identity as embedded within the individual Filipino, the meaning and types of freedom available in varying degrees to the citizens, and how media committed to truth can protect the kinds of freedom accessible to the nation. He supported his points with short documentary-style interviews from renowned sculptor Ramon Orlina, comic book artist Manix Abrera, historians Prof. Xiao Chua, and Prof. Vic Torres, and Mr. Norman King, the first Aeta graduate of the University of the Philippines.
Mr. Magsaysay, whose journalistic experience spans over three decades, serves as president and content head of Lahi.PH, a company that celebrates Filipino excellence through content produced for multimedia platforms. He emphasized that, “truth and freedom cannot exist without each other,” which is why Lahi.PH seeks to share “ang tunay na kwento ng Pilipino” (the true story of Filipinos). Students were urged, “Use your freedom to learn. You have access to all the information you want especially in one of the best Universities in Asia. Use your freedom to learn, and use what you learned to protect your freedom.”
“Lahi and UST, in this partnership, look forward to producing content about the University, the principles and philosophies of [UST] and the dreams of the students for the country,” Mr. Magsaysay said at the end of his talk. He added that as a result of the partnership, more interactions and activities with Thomasians are to be expected.
