Samal-Davao Bridge, landfill in Davao serve as learning sites for MindaNews’ climate reporting training
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 17 July 2026) – Two controversial projects – the Samal-Davao Bridge and Davao City’s sanitary landfill – served as the laboratories for the second batch of MindaNews’ Climate Reporting Workshop participated in by mostly student journalists from five regions in Mindanao.
Held from July 10-13, the activity brought participants to Samal Island and the landfill in Barangay Carmen where they interviewed stakeholders and residents for the stories as their workshop outputs for future publication on the MindaNews website and social media page.
The day before the field visits, lawyer Mark Peñalver, executive director of Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability, gave an overview of the Samal-Davao Bridge project and the landfill in Davao.
Peñalver tackled the impact of the bridge project on Samal Island’s marine ecosystem, in particular the damage done to its coral reef due to the poor choice of landing site. He cited that a study by JICA had suggested four alternative landing sites that are shorter – and, therefore, less costly – and won’t cause destruction to marine life.
He also voiced concerns over Samal’s readiness to handle 25,000 vehicles projected to enter the island daily once the bridge is completed, as well as the amount of waste that will be generated by heavy tourist arrivals.
Peñalver’s discussion on the Davao landfill focused on the effects of not implementing segregation at source and other solid waste management measures prescribed under Republic Act 9003. He described it as a failure of governance.
The open forum on Peñalver’s input gave the participants additional ideas on what questions to ask during the field work and how to approach the stories they had in mind. They were reminded though of the possibility that their story ideas could change depending on what they would encounter in the field.
Mindanao Institute of Journalism training officer Jill Villanueva Palarca told the participants that their stories should contain the five elements in MindaNews’ Climate Reporting Toolkit. These are signal, impact, evidence, governance and audience.
She emphasized that “signal” in particular does not only come from field work but can also be obtained from other venues like press conferences, and that one can create several stories from a single signal.
As an example, Palarca presented MindaNews reporter Bong Sarmiento’s investigative story on the Samal-Davao Bridge and pointed out which details correspond to the five elements.
In addition, MindaNews editors Bobby Timonera, Carolyn Arguillas and H. Marcos C. Mordeno shared some tips on what to do and watch out for during coverage. They also shared how to spot different angles of a story, as well as concrete experiences during coverages that can provide lessons and insights for younger journalists.
Field visits
In Samal, the participants were given a briefing by Engr. Kim Joshua Garciano of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office, and Assistant City Administrator Karen Kaye Ruiz-Servillon. The briefing covered the state of the local government’s preparedness to handle the environmental, social and economic implications of the bridge which was reported to be 61% complete as of July and solid waste management practices.
While the two officials addressed every question thrown at them, the participants did not fail to notice that they were evasive whenever asked about the impact of the bridge project to the coral reef and other marine resources. They always pointed to national agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways or the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as “the best agency to answer” [the question].
Meanwhile, the visit to the landfill in Davao enabled the participants to get stories straight from residents who live nearby and to see the situation firsthand. The sight of a hundred garbage trucks lining the road waiting for the go-signal to dump their cargo gave the budding journalists an idea of the gravity of Davao’s solid waste disposal problem.
The landfill made headlines after a trash slide on May 20 that killed two persons. The tragedy led to a temporary closure order from the DENR-12 Environmental Management Bureau, a move that forced the city government to suspend garbage collection.
Listening to indigenous voice
On July 12, Day 3 of the workshop, Robert Cahapon a.k.a. Takurug Ki, co-founder of Salumayag Youth Collective for Forests, shared some insights on conservation as viewed through the lens of Indigenous Peoples and how indigenous storytelling may look like in the age of digital technology and social media even if their elders still practice oral tradition.
Robert emphasized the link between culture and biodiversity. At the same time, he lamented that academics who conduct research in IP communities would not recognize community members who shared data as co-authors. He said this shows a lack of appreciation for indigenous knowledge.
Robert also mentioned the need to be culture-sensitive, e.g., recognizing indigenous methods of conservation, acknowledging the contribution of IPs to academic research as a way of appreciating their knowledge, and being mindful of presenting stories in their proper cultural context.
His sharing made some participants realize that they need to be more responsible in telling stories about IPs and for more exposure in indigenous communities. As one of them said, “This is reality,” alluding to the conditions being experienced by the IPs as narrated by the resource person.
Presentation of stories and other outputs
Aside from the news stories and features, the participants produced photo essays and explainers. The drafts were presented to the editors for revisions and enhancement in terms of content, sources, layout and other technical aspects, choice of images or photos, and focus of the stories.
As expected, the limited time did not allow the participants to interview more sources and stakeholders. In Samal in particular, the interviews were limited to tourists and workers of a resort near the bridge’s landing.
Another constraint was the reluctance or refusal of some residents at the landfill site to be interviewed, apparently overwhelmed by the number of participants who approached them.
To enhance their stories the participants made use of available sources online for additional data. These were mainly stories published by MindaNews. (MindaNews)
This activity is part of the three-year Media Impact Philippines project implemented by MindaNews (Mindanao Institute of Journalism) together with International Media Support (IMS), and co-funded by the European Union (EU) and the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).
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