INDAY Espina-Varona grabbed the prestigious Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) press freedom award for Independence in a ceremony honoring courageous journalists all over the world at the Getty Images Gallery in London, on Friday, November 9.
Varona who hails from Bacolod City and daughter of the late journalist, Rolly Espina, bested four other nominees for “resisting pressure (including financial, political, economic or religious pressure) or because of the values and rules that enable them to resist.”
In her acceptance speech, Varona dedicated her award to “embattled Philippine colleagues, the 185 killed since the 1986 restoration of a fragile, perpetually threatened democracy, 12 of them in the first two years of President Rodrigo Duterte’s rule.”
“If I am independent, it is because there are colleagues and fellow citizens who fight for rights and freedoms, who refuse to be silent in the face of thousands of murders and other injustices, who fight on despite threats, arrests and torture, whose words and deeds speak from beyond the grave,” Varona added.
RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said this year’s nominees “reflects the challenges faced by brave journalists across the world,” adding that they “courageously fight back against forces that would prefer journalism didn’t exist, from online mobs to organized crime and authoritarian governments.”
She asked for support for the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) who continue to fight for press freedom and protection. She was former chairperson of NUJP.
Varona is a contributing editor at ABS-CBN where she used to head Bayan Mo, I-Patrol Mo, and writes for Ucan news as well. She held top editorial positions as well in The Manila Times and the Philippine Graphic in the past.
Among her achievements is the Marshall McLuhan award for Journalism that earned her a fellowship from the Embassy of Canada, the Jaime V. Ongpin award for excellence in journalism and Stanford Fellowship.
She is also one of the founders of #BabaeAko movement, a social media campaign that was recognized as among Time’s most influential online platform.
Other nominees with Varona are Anas Aremeyaw Anas, an undercover reporter from Ghana, Péter Pet of Hungarian news website 24.hu, and Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui.
Meanwhile, the NUJP congratulated Varona, its former chair, for winning the award.
“We thank Inday for recognizing the role independent Filipino journalists have played in defending and advancing our people's rights and liberties and defending democracy despite the dangers they face, not least from the very forces supposedly sworn to protect and preserve our freedoms,” the statement said.