By Jigger Jerusalem/PNA
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY–Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) chief Martin Andanar has been conferred an honorary membership by the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC).
Secretary Andanar received the honorary membership during a fellowship dinner for the club’s 67th founding anniversary celebration Friday evening. The oldest press club in the country, COPC was founded on November 11, 1951.
COPC officials cited Andanar’s links to the city, where he grew up and studied before going to Manila to work as a broadcast journalist.
COPC President Rufino Magbanua said the recognition bestowed on Andanar was unanimously supported by the club’s board of directors.
Andanar joins COPC’s list of prominent honorary members, which include former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Sr. It was Pimentel who issued an executive order for the annual observance of Press Freedom Week every May when he was city mayor in 1982.
During his speech, Andanar said the honor bestowed on him by the local press club was poignant as his dreams of becoming a broadcast journalist took roots in this city.
Andanar went to the Jesuit-run Xavier University Grade School and Xavier University High School in Cagayan de Oro.
Andanar remembered how he and his brother would spend time at their house’s roof in Barangay Macansandig to daydream. Those moments, he said, were spent talking about what they wanted to become in the future.
“By Grade 5, I already knew that I wanted to be a broadcast journalist. My aspiration to become a broadcaster and a public servant was born here in Cagayan de Oro,” he said.
Andanar recalled that his father gifted him with a cassette player when he was in the fifth grade and would use it to listen to news and music. Local disc jockeys and news anchors at the time, he said, had influenced him to go into broadcasting.
Two weeks ago, Andanar was also conferred lifetime membership by the Manila-based National Press Club (NPC).
