Daughter of Maguindanao massacre victim gets scholarship from US media group

CHICAGO — A daughter of one of the slain journalists in the infamous Maguindanao massacre has accepted a $1,000 scholarship award from the Chicago Journalists Association (CJA). Julia Mae Reblando, 14, daughter of Alejandro “Bong" Reblando, accepted the scholarship from CJA president Allen Rafalson and charitable fund president Karen Pettite during the CJA’s 71st Annual Dinner awards ceremony held last October 1 at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza in downtown Chicago, Illinois. “There’s no doubt the death of my father, Mr. Alejandro “Bong" M. Reblando, was the reason I am here. If I have my choice, I would rather have been in the Philippines with my father seeing me grow and guide me to be responsible adult individual," Julia Mae said in her message read by her mother, Myrna Reblando. “The absence of my father made me grow a little bit older because I am trying to find an answer why the powerful war lords and politicians would kill my father and 56 other people, including 30 journalists, who were just trying to do their job – write the biggest story of the day – the first time in our area that a politician would like to beat a well-entrenched Philippine Provincial Governor, who does not want to cede his office to anyone he does not like," she added. Reblando was part of an electoral convoy that was brutally massacred November 23 last year. Facing multiple murder charges for the crime are members of the powerful Ampatuan clan and over a hundred other suspects associated with them. Julia Mae, currently a junior high school student, said with the scholarship, she can now pursue her ambition to become a journalist and serve her countrymen. “As I said in my application for this scholarship, I just want to continue the profession of journalism that my father started. But also I want to show the people how much I really care about everybody most especially my fellow countrymen, the Filipinos," she said. Julia Mae was supposed to read her message, but she got emotional when, as she was ascending the stage, she heard the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone" being sang by Filipino-American community torch singer Ellen Balmadrid. The Reblandos arrived shortly before the event Friday afternoon in Chicago, their round-trip tickets provided by Philippine Airlines. They were met at their port of entry in Las Vegas, Nevada on the night of Thursday, Sept. 30, by Renato Avenido of the usnewslasvegas.com, the same person who met the slain Reblando when he visited Las Vegas in 2001. - KBK, GMANews.TV