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My National Schools Press Conference Story (NSPC) story, a thread;
JOURNALISM: HOPE AMIDST THREAT
To tell a piece of story about hope, one should have himself experience a situation where tragedy, frustrations, and heavy challenges come along the way...
National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) is dubbed as the Philippines& #39; Olympics for Campus Journalism. To reach this level of competition is the greatest endeavor a student journalist can have himself.
Upon our arrival at Tuguegarao City, Cagayan, on March 9 until March 14 in the morning, everything was fine. We were visiting famous tourist spots destination, malls, fast-food chains, souvenir shops and many more when the news about COVID-19 started attacking the charts with an
increasing number of confirmed cases around Metro Manila, as well as rumors rising that Metro Manila will be under Lockdown before our trip home on March 15. We were like feeling anxious but chose to hide what we& #39;re feeling, everyone was worried, we all know,yet we remain calmed,
doing our best to contain our nervousness while thinking about our safe trip going home amidst the threat of the virus.
Until March 14 in the evening, the President called out to the public for a sudden address. And without any further due, he announced that travel ban going in-and-out of Metro Manila will be imposed at exactly 12:00 A.M. of March 15 - the same date of our supposed to be connected
flight going to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from Tuguegarao. We were devastated by the news. Stress and heavy worries filled our existence, it was like immediately go home now or stay in Tuguegarao as long as the lockdown lifts.
We were so much worried while praying for everyone& #39;s safety.
Having high hopes, my advisers were in rush searching online for available plane trips going home. We did not get any, not even one ticket. Over and over again they tried to search for any, yet all were fully booked, nothing left for us. Friends and colleagues started to contact
us asking about the situation. More frustrations started to envelop our faces,
our supposed to be fun-filled experience in Tuguegarao City turned out to be a thrilling-suspense part of a movie scene where protagonists start to panic searching for a solution because if not, a more tragic and serious plot twist awaits.
After a serious moment of consensing for a decision, the group decided to take a bus going to Clark, Pampanga, and instead of having our flight home to Bacolod at NAIA, we will have it at Clark International Airport (CIA).Making the decision whether to take a bus or not was hard,
we were considering situations like; it would be a long trip and will have many stopovers of areas that are unknown to us and that some of those places might have any persons who contracted themselves with the virus unknowingly. It is a risk. Yet still pursued.
