Sumulong College of Arts and Sciences

Antipolo, City

Midterm Examination
Campus Journalism

Direction: Answer the following briefly but comprehensively.

1. Read the editorial article below then answer the questions that follow.

‘Human capital,’ not ‘humans as capital’ By The Manila Times

LABOR Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd found himself in hot water earlier this week
when it was disclosed during a Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) online
briefing that he had asked the governments of the United Kingdom and Germany to
provide the Philippines with Covid-19 vaccines in exchange for deploying more Filipino
health care workers to those countries.
As Alice Visperas, DoLE international labor affairs bureau director, explained in the
briefing, Bello had informed the two governments that the Philippines “was considering”
giving them an exemption from an existing cap on the number of health care workers
that could be deployed if the agency’s requests for additional vaccines as well as
renewal of some bilateral agreements guaranteeing protections for overseas Filipino
workers (OFWs) were granted.
News of Bello’s offer sparked an angry reaction from the public, many of whom
accused the Labor secretary of treating OFWs as “a commodity.” Likewise, the news
was poorly received in official circles; in its regular daily briefing on Wednesday,
Malacañang took pains to clarify the offer “was not the President’s idea,” and referred
any further questions to Bello’s office. In an interview later the same day, the UK
Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce stressed that “we have no plans to link
those two issues,” vaccines and OFWs. For his part, Bello, who seemed genuinely
surprised at the outcry, attempted to walk back his offer later, saying that his only
concern was that any health care workers who would be deployed overseas would be
assured of receiving Covid-19 vaccinations.
The controversy was one of those rare instances when one can practically read
what’s in an official’s mind from a statement he makes. From Secretary Bello’s
perspective, such an offer must have surely seemed like a benefit to all concerned.
Several hundred thousand OFWs have lost their jobs overseas as a result of the
pandemic, and the health care workers among them would surely be eager for an
opportunity to return to work. There is also clearly demand for them. The UK and
Germany as well as other countries even before the pandemic had asked that limits
imposed on the numbers of workers by the Philippine government be lifted due to high
demand for their services. And of course, the government is, for a variety of reasons,
struggling to obtain adequate quantities of any vaccines. Bello’s offer, therefore, might
appear to solve several problems at once.
However, to the public hearing Bello’s offer, it simply sounded as though the Labor
secretary, whose duty it is to look out for the well-being of overseas workers, was willing
to treat them as bargaining chips for vaccines. It was also not lost on the public that in
his capacity as Labor secretary, Bello has no direct responsibility for the government’s
vaccine procurement efforts, so his offer also tended to cast the entire government in a
bad light, giving the impression that officials are acting in an uncoordinated manner.
What really indicts Bello’s offer, however, are the implied consequences of its not
being accepted. If the offer was turned down, no additional vaccines would be
forthcoming, and healthcare workers would be denied further opportunities abroad —
outcomes that hurt, rather than help the country in any respect.
It goes without saying that no overseas worker should be treated as a commodity or
a pawn in an unrelated exchange of favours. The value that even one of our modern-
day heroes adds to the economy and community abroad where he or she works is far
greater than any number of thousands of doses of vaccines.
We do believe that Secretary Bello had the best of intentions with his creative
suggestion to Germany and the UK, and this incident should not reflect poorly on other
good work he has done on behalf of Filipino workers both here and abroad.
Nonetheless, it was an error in judgment on his part, and a serious one. He and his
fellow government officials should take a lesson from this to be more considerate of the
impression their “unusual” ideas might make, and exercise circumspection in pursuing
them
a. What issue(s) is (are) addressed? 
b. What is the main argument?
c. What evidence is put forward to support the argument/problem?
d. What are the differing points of views related to the issue?
e. Are the parts of editorial evident in this article? Support your answers by
providing details from the article itself.

2. Discuss three types News Lead.

3. Read the news lead below then answer the questions.

“Health officials are trying to locate at least 50 people who attended a wedding with a
Taiwanese woman and her daughter before the two tested positive for swine flu.”

a. What type of news lead is this?

b. Are WHs and H questions evident in this lead? Support your answers by
providing word/phrases from the news lead.
c. This is a good news lead. Do you agree? Or disagree? Explain your answer.

4. Give three types of lead in Feature Writing and discuss.

5. Give five pointers to remember in writing sport stories.

Prepared by:

Mr. Reñer G. Aquino

College Instructor