A graduating high school student of Jubilee Christian Academy in Quezon City won The Manila Times Essay Writing Contest, which posed the question, “What are the ill effects of the illegal drug trade on society and what can be done about it?”
Robyn Mikaela Rey received the award of P15,000 and a scholarship from The Manila Times College on Monday.
Her winning entry was titled “Drug Wars: An Assault on Morality.”
“I focused on the morality side [of the drug war] because I thought that it would be too common to focus on health, crime rates and other aspects,” she said of her piece.
Rey said she was surprised to learn she won the competition. It was her schoolteacher who gave her the good news.
Inspired by her win, Rey declared she would continue writing on the side while pursuing a business administration degree in college.
“I really have the interest to be heard and I love to voice out my opinions, because for me I am a very opinionated person and I have a lot of things to say about any topic. And whenever I am requested to write something, I usually like to think really hard and be honest with what I really feel,” she said.