NDBC's Bida Specials bags CMMA awards

MANILA , Philippines – Bida Specials, a 30-minute radio features and documentary program of the Notre Dame Broadcasting Corporation (NDBC), bagged this year’s Best Business Feature and News for Radio during the 37thCatholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) held here Friday.NDBC chief executive officer Father Jonathan Domingo said the award from CMMA, one of the country’s most prestigious award-giving bodies, was NDBC’s first.Bida Specials, one of NDBC special programs, is hosted and produced by Malu Cadelina Manar, director for AM programming based in Kidapawan City.The BIDA Specials submitted two entries this year.Of these, its episode with a title, Ginto sa Liguasan Marsh (Gold in the Liguasan Marsh), got a nomination and finally, won, among several hundred entries coming from different media entities from around the archipelago. Winning piece The winning piece of the Bida Specials features a story of poor Moro women who live in a town in Maguindanao province surrounded by the Liguasan marsh, the largest swamp and marsh area in Southern Philippines. Because of too much poverty, these women, all residents of General Salipada K Pendatun town, decided to organize themselves and put up their own business.They saw how useful the products in the marsh, especially the water hyacinths, which, in the past, were considered a problem of the local government unit, especially during rainy season.With some help from friends, families, relatives, and other private groups, their capitalization grew up.They were able to buy machines needed to manufacture bags, pair of slippers, sleeping mats, and other products made from water hyacinths. They sell their products to a local market in Maguindanao.But there were groups that promoted their products to big cities like in Manila, Cebu, and Davao. For these women, the marsh is like ‘gold’ that they have to dig daily. This episode is a story of triumph – conquering poverty through hard work and team work. For these women, the ‘injustice’ of poverty demands a powerful and practical response to address both its causes and its impact on their lives. When they decided to put up capital and business of manufacturing handicraft, it was their way of reducing the impact of poverty, and in this way, trying to escape from it. ‘Keeping true its promise’ The Bida Specials has already won several awards since it started airing its maiden episode on September 2012. It won Best Specials from the Golden Dove Awards in 2013 for its feature on the ‘legacy’ on transparency and good governance of the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.The Gawad Agong of the Indigenous Voices in Asia awarded in 2013 Bida Specials for its feature on the plight of lumad children in a town in Magpet, North Cotabato.The program has also won three Humanitarian Reporting Awards from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and won Best Agriculture Segment for Radio from the Bright Leaf Awards. The latest it received was a nomination for Best Radio Reporter from the Globe Media Excellence Awards to, which, the awarding is set on November 17. Manar, host and producer of Bida Specials, said the awards are proof it is keeping true to its promise of giving its ‘chief executive listeners’ credible and quality program through in-depth presentation.