Ukrainian journalist visits Cebu, talks about resilience amid crises
Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk visits Cebu on Nov. 13, 2025 to discuss resilience and defending democratic values amid crises. She shared her experiences documenting war crimes in Ukraine and said the Filipino concept of bayanihan reflected a similar spirit of collective solidarity, noting that it resonated deeply with her. Her lecture at the University of Cebu, titled The Strength of a Nation: Resilience Through Democracy, was hosted by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines and the Embassy of Ukraine and drew civic leaders, journalists, and students.
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00:00So I have a chance to be invited to the Social Good Summit in Philippines.
00:06But Philippines is not just Manila but incredible amount of the islands.
00:11And this year Ukraine has opened its embassy in Philippines.
00:16And I had a chance to, while coming also with the support of a lot of Filipinos,
00:21to travel a bit around the country and speak to the students to share my experience,
00:27to answer the questions.
00:28I had a chance to speak to the students from various universities of Sebul.
00:32It was, you know, to show some of our documentaries.
00:37I'm working in the war crimes documentation.
00:39But mainly I was speaking about the Ukrainian resilience.
00:43Because, of course, we are in a very different context.
00:47Ukraine is fighting against unprovoked invasion.
00:53You know, it started in 2014, but it's quite a tough war for the last three and a half years.
01:02There are bombs falling. There is a part of the country occupied.
01:04But at the same time we still have a democracy, which is fighting for its survival.
01:09Mainly through the strength of the society, the creativity of the people, but also cooperation of the civil society, the state actors and the business.
01:18And what is interesting for me while being in the Philippines is that, you know, first of all, I like to be in the democratic societies.
01:24There is always a discussion. Would it be the discussion against how you fight the corruption?
01:28But it's something we can relate.
01:29Ukraine went through the huge road on how to fight for their accountability.
01:34And for me, it's very important to make this argument that the democracies are strong because they are capable to clean themselves.
01:41It's a permanent fight. The things, you know, you can improve things if you identify the problems.
01:49But also there is something special, which I didn't understand before coming to Philippines.
01:53The country is an incredible place because of the nature circumstances.
01:58There are the typhoons. There are the earthquake.
02:01There is an idea that the crisis might come at any given moment.
02:06And you need, you cannot outsource that to some part of the society to clean up the debris or to save people.
02:16You need to work together. I might be mistaken with the Filipinos' word bahaniya.
02:22Bayaniya.
02:23Bayaniya.
02:24So I might be mistaken, it's a bayaniya, you know, this kind of idea of the community.
02:28And this word resonates a lot to me because that's how we live.
02:33You know, there is something in our society which connects us.
02:38Ukraine has a lot of immigrant workers outside of Ukraine.
02:43We do understand what does it mean to lose our people.
02:47Now there are even more during the war as refugees beyond the laborers who were, you know, working a lot in Europe.
02:54At the same time, we want our people to return.
02:57We want to, you know, like we are learning for some of the solutions how you can find the cheapest solutions to defend ourselves.
03:06How you find the cheapest solutions to, you know, like to maintain education, health care during the war.
03:13How you can live when your power grid and electricity under the permanent attack.
03:19And I do find a lot of understanding here.
03:24How was the reception earlier of the students of University of Cebu?
03:32So, I'll be completely honest. I've been to a lot of countries speaking to a lot of students globally.
03:39I truly admire when people ask questions. And they ask very different questions.
03:45They ask about the Ukrainian resilience. They ask about, you know, professional path.
03:51About how you deal, you know, how you are in crisis.
03:56So, they were not really just the questions, you know, like about Ukraine, but they were curious.
04:01They also came up with some gratitude and they asked the question how they can help, which is very pleasant.
04:10So, I felt quite a genuine level of curiosity and openness and eagerness to learn, which is not obvious, you know, like there are a lot of countries in the world.
04:24There are a lot of tragedies. There are a lot of wars. Yes, we live through the Russian war, but it's one of many.
04:30Of course, I want to say that disregarding, it's not about Ukraine being important.
04:36This war has implications in geopolitics, in human rights, in, you know, like for the economy of the world, but mainly also for this kind of like what would be the future structure.
05:06Would you like to say that Tokyo?
05:19I would like to say that because this is pioneering freedom cannot in my area, which adjust matters from the world.
05:26Pick up stroke, and you understand what you're doing.
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