ABS-CBN broadcast journalist Nina Corpuz has been awarded The Media For Labor Rights Prize, a journalistic prize established by International Labour Organization (ILO), the labour arm of the United Nations.
The prize recognizes efforts to help spread information on international labour standards drawn up and overseen by the ILO and their relevance to local labour and social issues.
Nina’s article, entitled “Filipino Domestic Workers, Between Justice And Survival” was chosen as the best story on labour rights among 50 entries from journalists and media professionals around the world. Previous winners were from Japan and Zambia.
The award ceremony will take place during the 99th Session of the International Labour Conference from June 2 to 18 in Geneva, Switzerland.
The article will also be posted on the ILO website and will be published by newspapers in different countries and languages.
In August last year, Nina was granted a scholarship to attend a course on “Communicating Labor Rights” at the International Training Center of the ILO (ITC-ILO) in Turin, Italy. It was here that she started writing the winning article, and continued working on it upon her return to the Philippines.
The article was further inspired by her experience while covering repatriated Overseas Filipino Workers who were sent home from the Middle East in August 2009 after their employers abused them.
According to the ITC-LTO trainor Vittorio Longhi, Nina’s article “is a global story” which he hopes “will also have an impact in the Philippines and help to improve domestic workers’ conditions.”
The article’s topic is also timely, as the 99th International Labor Conference is including in its agenda for the very first time the setting of international standards for the protection of Domestic Workers.
Nina has been a television journalist for ABS-CBN for the past nine years, filing reports for newscasts TV Patrol World and Bandila, The ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), Studio 23 and www.abs-cbnnews.com. She also anchors a news program, Balitang Europe, which airs on The Filipino Channel (TFC) and ANC. Nina also hosts the daily evening show “Magandang Gabi Dok” and the Saturday morning program “Para Sa ‘Yo Bayan” with Vice President Noli “Kabayan” De Castro on DZMM Teleradyo.