THE CHAIR of the UST Department of Journalism has been elected president of the Journalism Studies Association of the Philippines (JSAP) Inc., a group of journalism educators and student publication advisers.
Asst. Prof. Felipe Salvosa II, chair of the UST Department of Journalism and assistant publications adviser of the Varsitarian, was elected to a three-year term as JSAP president on Feb. 8.
Salvosa was chosen by a 10-person board of trustees. He replaced former University of the Philippines (UP) Journalism Department chair Lucia Tangi, who will remain with JSAP as board chairperson.
As new JSAP president, Salvosa said he plans to continue the non-profit association’s mission of retooling and upskilling teachers, especially in dealing with AI-enabled disinformation.
“As JSAP matures as a professional organization, we will aim to equip journalism educators with the tools and knowledge necessary to deal with AI-enabled disinformation and the shifting dynamics of contemporary journalism,” he said.
“We will prioritize innovation in pedagogy, the use of digital tools, and the promotion of resilience among journalism faculty, ensuring they are prepared to lead the next generation of truth-seekers,” he added.
Salvosa, the founding editor of digital news outlet PressOne.PH, obtained his undergraduate and master’s degrees in economics from UST in 2000 and 2005, respectively. A product of campus journalism, he became associate editor and research head of BusinessWorld, managing editor of The Manila Times, and Philippine researcher under London’s Financial Times group.
He was appointed coordinator of the UST journalism program under the now-defunct Department of Communication and Media Studies in 2017 before being promoted to department chair when the Faculty of Arts and Letters underwent restructuring in 2024.
Also elected to the JSAP board was UST Department of Legal Management Chair Teodoro Lorenzo Fernandez, a former Varsitarian managing editor. Fernandez will assist former Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) journalism chair Cherry Pebre, who was reelected to the post of secretary.
Other JSAP officers are former PUP College of Communication dean Hemmady Mora (vice president and treasurer), Philippine Press Institute Executive Director Ariel Sebellino (assistant treasurer), and Rommel Lopez of the Holy Cross College of Davao City (auditor).
Photojournalist Jimmy Domingo of De La Salle University, Ma. Cristina Rara of the UP College of Mass Communication, and the Moro academic Datu Jamal Abbas continue to be part of the JSAP board.
JSAP is the only registered association of journalism educators in the Philippines. Conceptualized by UP’s Tangi, it was established in 2019 to promote the study and research of journalism while advocating for an independent news media.
