By Monsi A. Serrano
De La Salle University’s Southeast Asia Research Center and Hub (SEARCH) and the Department of Communication conducted a webinar presentation featuring Rowena E. Cantuba on “The Celebrification Process of OFWs and Their Concerns from the Perspective of OFWs, Media Personalities, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA),” with Dr. Jason Vincent A. Cabañes as the discussant.
Cantuba’s presentation covered the celebrity-making phenomenon that involves OFWs and their plights as they are sensationalized by the media. Cantuba’s research looked into the possibility that OFWs can be commodified and commercialized by the media personalities, therefore creating celebrities in their own regard.
Cantuba postulated that there is an opportunity for the celebrification process to start because of the relationship of mass media and its audience.
Since the audience is very reliant on the information they read, hear, or see in media, their decision-making is also reliant on the information that comes from these communication platforms.
The celebrification process is even more pronounced in a Philippine audience as media personalities raise the status of OFWs they feature in their programs by way of making their problems public.
Cantuba is currently the Vice President for New Business Engagement at the Telenetwork Media Center, Inc, the agency behind “OMJ, Oh My Job,” a successful multimedia program that is currently airing on DZBB-GMA NEWS TV Radyo Na, TV Pa.
She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Arts from the University of Santo Tomas. Afterwards, she became a field producer for GMA 7’s Mel and Joey, which paved the way for her to become a Program Manager for GMA Regional News and Sports. She recently received her Master’s Degree in Communication at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Open University.
The presentation was held last Friday, January 29, at 3 p.m., via Zoom conference. Certificates were given to participants.
Meanwhile, Dr. Cabañes is an Associate Professor in Communication at De La Salle University – Manila, and an Affiliate of SEARCH. Currently, he is the Vice Chair of the Ethnicity and Race in Communication Division of the International Communication Association, and an Associate Editor of the journal Communication, Culture and Critique, published by Oxford University Press.
SEARCH is based in De La Salle University, aiming to generate Southeast Asian research, collaborate with specialists, network with other centers and institutes of Southeast Asian Studies, provide resource materials, and serve as a hub for all matters concerning Southeast Asia.