I’m Andy, a freelance journalist and communications specialist based in Prague, Czechia.
I am an Erasmus Mundus Journalism fellow in the 2022-2024 cohort, taking the Totalitarianism and Transition track at Charles University in Prague. I have freelanced for Al Jazeera, GMA News Online, and Business Mirror (Philippines) and have written news stories, profiles, travel content, lifestyle and event guides, and features on the Beijinger, beijingkids, Daanishly, Travel Now, Global Times, and more.
I began my career as a radio program producer at GMA Network, and then worked in its television newsroom as a production assistant, news producer, head writer, and executive producer. I was part of the GMA News Team that won the George Foster Peabody Award for Best News Coverage in 2013 for our reportage of Typhoon Haiyan in the central Philippines. Two years later, I moved to China to work as a news editor and writer at China Global Television Network (CGTN). I moved to internal communications as a journalist for Beijing’s top bilingual school, writing in-depth student and faculty profiles and cover stories for an educational magazine.
Aside from broadcast news production and print publications, my career has extended to the public relations and communications industries in the Philippines and China. Most recently, a publication I managed and edited pro bono for a Filipino diaspora group in China was named one of the outstanding works on Filipino migration in 2021 by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, an agency attached to the Office of the President of the Philippines. In 2015, I co-managed Chevron Philippines Inc.’s social investment program, Caltex Fuel Your School, which earned my team three accolades: the Philippine Quill Award of Merit, awarded by the International Association of Business Communicators – Philippines; the Silver Anvil Award, awarded by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines; and the Grand Prize for Improving Quality and Access to Education, awarded by the AmCham Foundation Philippines.
Besides reporting and writing, I enjoy traveling to document culture, cuisine, and communities. When I’m not writing, I often look up at the night sky because I still dream of being an astronaut.
Check out my recent articles and other published work here.