2021 Banaag Presidential Awardee Rose Cheryl Eclarinal-Murdock
Teller of Filipino tales
In May 2020, as people around the globe sheltered at home, confined to their four walls by the raging corona virus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, Rose Cheryl EclarinalMurdock, a journalist based in London, United Kingdom (UK), decided to help her fellow Filipinos cope with the fear, uncertainty, isolation – even depression – the health crisis caused.
Although Covid-19 put everything on hold starting in March 2020 when the pandemic really got a grip on the whole world, Rose started live streaming a public service program just as soon as she was able, in May of that year.
Through Juan EU Konek, Rose provided relevant information about Covid-19 to her audiences and provided entertainment shows to divert the minds of Filipinos from the deadly and highly contagious disease.
Having shifted to a digital format when it resumed programming in 2019 after a three-year hiatus, Juan EU Konek was now even more accessible to its audiences. Rose managed to secure funding, £12,000 over six months, from the National Lottery Community Fund for Juan EU Konek.
The National Lottery Community Fund, which is raised by National Lottery players for good causes, is used to extend financial support to turn great ideas into real projects that will make a difference in communities and people’s lives.
Covid-19 was devastating for Filipino health workers in the UK who, like everyone in the health care field, were at the frontlines in the exhausting and desperate struggle to save as many lives as possible.
Rose used the grant from the National Lottery Community Fund for a six-part “Kontra Corona” docuseries that detailed the experiences of and crucial roles played by Pinoy frontliners in Europe in the battle against a killer disease. The series told the stories of those who sadly lost their lives and those who survived but continued to put themselves at risk as they performed their duties. How Filipino communities in the continent were affected by the pandemic was also covered by the special program.
The different episodes of the docuseries were: 1. Ravaged, 2. Fate, 3. Epicenter, 4. Covid Warrior, 5. Bayanihan, and 6. Homecoming.
Rose partnered with ABS-CBN Teleradyo to bring the Kontra Corona docuseries to a wider audience. The documentary was also aired on online platforms, like Facebook and YouTube, and cable Channel 26 on SkyCable.
Rose presented the magazine show Juan EU Konek in 2014 to showcase Europe-based Filipino journalists’ strengths and tell the extraordinary stories of kababayan in the UK and the European continent.
The show, which she conceptualized, funded, and produced, was supposed to be a one-off special for ABS-CBN’s
The Filipino Channel’s (TFC) 20th Anniversary. But the program was a trailblazer and its stories so compelling that ABS-CBN incorporated it into its regular programming.
From 2014 to 2016, Juan EU Konek aired every first Sunday of the month on TFC in Europe and the Middle East and on TFC.tv worldwide. Rose, with Danny Buenafe and Gene Alcantara, hosted the program that showed the many faces of “Juan”, the Filipino, who had moved to foreign countries but whose roots remained firmly planted in the Philippines.
Juan EU Konek was TFC Europe’s first foray into long-form magazine reporting, a one-of-a-kind for its Europe audiences. The documentary received the Best Television Show Award – Regular Category in the CFO (Commission on Filipino Overseas) Migration Advocacy and Media (MAM) Awards for two consecutive years, 2014 and 2015.
It was recognized for helping raise public awareness on issues concerning Filipino migration, advocating the cause of and promoting a positive image of Filipinos overseas, and espousing the concepts of migration and development.
When it resumed programming in September 2019, Rose continued in her roles as Executive Producer and Company Director. This time her show co-hosts were Kiara Gregorio and Crystal Dias.
The show kept its format of telling stories to educate, recognize, honor, inspire, and entertain Filipinos in Europe and beyond. Juan EU Konek was regaining its momentum until the UK, like many other countries, had a Great Lockdown.
But, as subsequent events would show, the lockdown was just another hiccup for the determined veteran broadcast journalist committed to providing Filipinos abroad and back home in the Philippines accurate and helpful information and a medium for their voices to be heard.
London-based Rose was born on September 30, 1974 in Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication degree, Major in Broadcast Communication, from the University of the Philippines Diliman (Quezon City) in 1996.
She applied for and got a job with the leading Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN, starting as a researcher and writer for the investigative magazine Inside Story. Later, she would become a senior producer, story editor, reporter, executive producer and correspondent for the Kapamilya (the popular handle of ABS-CBN) network.
She joined TFC in 2009 in Europe as a Senior Correspondent, a job she continues to do until now. Despite the pressure of her work as a journalist, Rose managed to find time to pursue graduate studies and advanced journalism courses.
In 2001, she got a diploma in International Broadcast Journalism from the Thomson Foundation in Wales, UK. She also received a diploma in International Broadcast Journalism TV (Social Conflict and Cohesion) from the Radio Netherland Training Center in 2005. She was a recipient of the Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, the British Chevening Scholarship and the Nuffic Scholarship.
Rose graduated with distinction in 2008 from the University of Wales, Swansea (in partnership with the University of Aarhus in Denmark and the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands) with a Master of Arts degree in Journalism and Media within Globalization: The European Perspective (War and Conflict Specialism).
The broadcast journalist, who lives in London with her husband and daughter, continues to hone her skills to achieve her goal of becoming an effective cross-border messenger and an advocacy journalist.
Being part of the Filipino diaspora herself, she wants to help uplift the lives of Filipinos and share their compelling and inspiring tales of triumphs and challenges as migrants in Europe.
Even though she was doing a stellar job as a correspondent in Europe for ABS-CBN, she felt there was always more that could be done to bring out the fullest potential of Filipinos through journalism. This sparked the idea for Juan EU Konek.
Rose continues to put Filipinos first in many of her endeavors and is constantly looking for ways to promote and raise the voices of her kababayan. As a journalist, she has reported on “eye-opening” and compelling stories of Filipinos that are thoughtprovoking and that raise awareness, like the plight of domestic workers and nurses in the UK and Filipino fishermen in Northern Ireland, as well as human trafficking in Malta.
She has forged partnerships with other companies to be able to tell stories of remarkable Filipinos in diverse platforms. Some of her partners are Facets, One Philippines and Aura Magazine.
She also supports Filipinos in need. In 2009, she was presented a Certificate of Appreciation for her valuable contributions to Filipino artists Jojo Austria, Sam Penaso, Emmanuel Santos, Robert Fernandez and Marcial Pontillas during The Young Art Philippines Exhibit.
When a major typhoon devastated her region, Bicol, she organized an online fundraiser through Juan EU Konek for its victims.
Rose decided to do the six-part documentary because she felt it was important to acknowledge the vast numbers of Filipino migrant workers around the globe who played a crucial role in the battle against an invisible but deadly enemy. In the UK, about 90 percent or 180,000 of Filipinos are health care workers. They were putting themselves at risk every day during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic as they performed their duties.
Although the Juan EU Konek team had to face its own Covid-related challenges and restrictions during filming, it rose to the challenge and was able to document the struggles, sacrifices and resilience of overseas Filipino frontliners, and tell their stories.
Being part of the Filipino diaspora herself, she wants to help uplift the lives of Filipinos and share their compelling and inspiring tales of triumphs and challenges as migrants in Europe.
The documentary was also Juan EU Konek’s way of honoring the memory of and paying tribute to frontliners who made the ultimate sacrifice of giving their lives in the performance of their duties and responsibilities. Through the series, Juan EU Konek also wanted the families that frontliners left behind to have a visual account of their loved ones that they could treasure.
The Juan Eu Konek Kontra Corona docuseries showcases the admirable traits that migrant Filipinos exhibited throughout the Covid-19 pandemic – hard working, kind and compassionate towards others, resilient in difficult circumstances, unwavering in their faith in God, imbued with a community spirit and showing grace under pressure.
In conferring the Banaag Award to Ms. Rose Cheryl P. Eclarinal-Murdock, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte recognizes her utmost dedication to put the Filipino community first in many of her endeavors throughout her career in journalism and her motivation to uplift Filipino migrants in Europe.