pjr reports december 2007

EDITOR’SNOTE

PUBLISHED BY THE CENTER FOR MEDIAFREEDOM & RESPONSIBILITY

Melinda Quintos de JesusPublisher

Chit EstellaEditor

Hector Bryant L. MacaleAssistant Editor

Booma B. CruzCopy Editor

Luis V. TeodoroConsulting Editor

Don Gil K. CarreonJose Bimbo F. SantosJunette B. GalagalaMelanie Y. Pinlac

Kathryn Roja G. RaymundoReporters

Arnel RivalArt Director

Lito OcampoPhotographer

Carol M. ParageleEditorial Secretary

Jose AbuevaJoaquin Bernas, SJ

Melinda Quintos de JesusFulgencio Factoran

Maribel OngpinTina Monzon Palma

Paulynn Paredes SicamLuis V. TeodoroBoard of Advisers

The PJR Reports(Philippine Journalism Review Reports)

is published by the Center for MediaFreedom and Responsibility. All mail

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PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTSDECEMBER 20072

The publication of this issue is supported by a grant from the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Norway.

PRESSED FREEDOM By Manix Abrera

SOME OBSERVERS in the Manila Peninsula siegemake muchof the fact that media became the center of attention in thefailed power grab by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig.

Gen. Danilo Lim. Other observers, however, would just as easilyreply that such could not be helped. After all, an attempted coupmust have happened at least ten times in the country’s recenthistory. Carting off journalists who were covering an event, onthe other hand, would seem to be the first of its kind to havetaken place in this nation’s tumultuous experience.

And while putting down an uprising is widely regarded as aprerogative and duty of government, the same cannot be saidabout waving a finger at journalists and warning them that thenext time around, they will be arrested for covering events thatinvolve so-called enemies of the state.

The issue then is no longer just about coup plotters; it isabout the role of media and the way its members perform theirduty of reporting an event as accurately as possible. At a certainpoint, this issue was in danger of getting lost. The police—andeven some journalists—think that the press has no businessbeing in a place where operations against alleged lawlesselements are being conducted. The journalists could get hurtand who will be blamed then? Worse, they could be impedingthe efforts of the authorities to get to the criminals.

What was overlooked was the fact that the journalists havenever complained about getting hurt—or killed—whilecovering an event. Getting caught in a crossfire or being hit bya stray bullet are all parts of the hazards of the trade. What theydo complain about is when they are singled out for retributionor just plain harassment, or when they are arrested or handcuffedor thrown to jail or murdered because they were doing theirjob. Because then, the authorities would be saying something

different: that journalists should not be instruments in upholdingthe people’s right to know.

It’s been a colorful year for the Philippine press. The curiousthing is that questions about freedom of expression continue tobe raised more than two decades after the supposed restorationof democracy. As told in this issue’s article describing the yearthat was for the press, the good news is that fewer deaths amongjournalists have taken place. The bad news is that press freedomremains a tricky proposition.

It’s not that the media have unfailingly done their job well.An article on how the press covered the story about MariannetAmper shows how a tragic event can possibly get much worsefor its victims.

Media as an institution has its problems as well. Survivalcontinues to top the list. The means of trying to stay alive arebecoming increasingly disturbing. It has been said that the trueowners of media are the advertisers. Often, they can be moreassertive than the traditional owners of a media enterprise. Toavoid the pain of losing a rich source of revenues, newsorganizations have been bending over backwards toaccommodate the wishes of advertisers to get more attentionfor their products. Lately, this has come to mean using the newsto peddle commodities. An article on this worsening problemis featured in this month’s PJR Reports.

Struggles are usually a grim affair. The bright spots lie inthe growing number of friends and allies who believe in thesame things that the media are supposed to stand for. They, too,have raised their voices against repression. These people—likeUnited Nations rapporteur Philip Alston and new-found humanrights ally Chief Justice Reynato Puno—have become fellowtravelers in a long, dark road.

Chit Estella

Dilemmas

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Editor’s Note 2Speaking of Media 3Monitor 4Crisis 26Chronicle 27Obit 27

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IN THISISSUEPJR REPORTS DECEMBER 2007

SPEAKING OFMEDIA

THECOVER

REGULAR SECTIONS

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PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS DECEMBER 2007 3

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Media, Politics and Mariannet AmperYASMIN D. ARQUIZA .................................................................................................... 8Blurring the line between news and ads

MELANIE Y. PINLAC AND KATHRYN ROJA G. RAYMUNDO 10

JUNETTE B. GALAGALA 18A Season of Giving—and Accepting

First, it was the Pen—thehotel—that was under siege.But by the end of the day,journalists—the wielders ofthe pen—felt it was they andtheir profession that wereunder attack.

It’s Christmas time in the newsroom

Worse than a tragedy

19

Still Crying for JusticeJOSE BIMBO F. SANTOS 24A widow’s long wait

Gains and setbacks in the fight for media freedom

Do Fewer Deaths Mean a Freer Press?........................................................................................................JOSE BIMBO F. SANTOS

Words from the Sponsors

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Living in the Light of Truth 22The role of media in establishing a just society

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Being There 28A coverage leads to an unexpected trip

DJ YAP

CHIEF JUSTICE REYNATO S. PUNO

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Brazen acts

“The Philippines is the most democraticcountry in the region. We have notolerance for human rights violations ofany kind…. We deplore any and allkillings of political activists andjournalists.”

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, in anOct. 15 speech before human rights advocates

in a regional forum on human rights in Manila,Philippine Daily Inquirer, Oct. 16

“To attack a broadcaster right inside theannouncer’s booth while he is doing hiswork is the height of brazenness that agovernment official can do. It onlyreflects the government official’sdisrespect and ignorance of media’s roleas watchdog of democracy, a role thatshould always be protected.”

Joint statement of Carmelito Francisco of theNational Union of Journalists of the

Philippines-Davao and Roy Geonzon of theKapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas -

Davao on the Oct. 24 attack againstRoel Sembrano, Oct. 26

“While we have yet to ascertain themotive for the attack, this incident isnevertheless another clear example of theculture of impunity nurtured by officialapathy and inaction that has emboldenedthose who wish to silence a critical pressto carry out such brazen attacks as thisbroad daylight attempt on the lives of(Marlan) Malnegro and (Ruben) Oliverio.“Again and again, government hasvowed to put an end to media killingsand solve the murders of our colleagues.Again and again, these vows haveproven to be lip service.”

National Union of Journalists of thePhilippines on the slay attempt against the two

Digos City-based radio announcers, Oct. 25

“The authorities must send a strongmessage to those who attack journaliststhat their actions will not be toleratedand will have serious consequences.”

International Federation of Journalists Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park, on the slay

attempt against Malnegro and Oliverio, Oct.26. Park urged government authorities toinvestigate the incident immediately and

thoroughly.

The rights of others

“If we can pass some of the problems tothe private sector, the mass media, forinstance, in relation to the right of replybill, let’s do it…. But let us also makesure that we have an honest-to-goodnessworking remedy to balance the right of

the mass media to publish what they wantto publish with the right of the objects oftheir libel, defamation or criticism toexplain their side within the ambit of theright of reply bill.”

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., in a seminar onright to reply organized by the Philippine PressInstitute, Oct. 19. Pimentel is the proponent ofSenate Bill 1178 (“An Act Granting the Rightof Reply and Providing Penalties for Violation

Thereof”).

An exaggeration

“Indeed, 9/11 traumatized the world, butmost especially United States citizens. Thetwin buildings epitomized the rise of theU.S. as a global superpower and also thecollective aspirations of its people. 9/11was interpreted as an attack againsteverything the U.S. symbolized.

“The Glorietta 2 explosion killedeleven people and injured more than ahundred innocent individuals. If it was aterrorist attack, the casualties were smalland it may be an exaggeration to namethe site of the tragedy as ‘Ground Zero.’In fact, the Glorietta 2 blast was a minorterrorist attack compared to the suicidebombing in Pakistan which killed morethan hundred people also on October 19.

“But if media exaggerated its reports,the public agreed with them. The blastoccurred in Makati, the country’s financialcenter; the building was owned by thecountry’s richest family, the Ayalas; andmost symbolic of all, it was a mall.Glorietta was a perfect terror target.”

Mong Palatino, http://mongpalatino.motime.com, Nov. 4

The presence of media

“And why did the police want thejournalists to get out? Were they planningto do something they did not want thejournalists to witness, record andbroadcast to the nation and the world?Were they, perchance, planning abloodbath? Did they perhaps think thatwith Trillanes, Lim et al. dead, the threatsto the Arroyo administration would begone?

“No, sir. It won’t. It would havearoused other soldiers to anger and thedesire to get rid of the tyranny of theArroyo administration would increaseand more and bigger mutinies wouldfollow again and again until one of themsucceeds. So they should thank thejournalists for being there and preventinga bloodbath.”

Neal H. Cruz, “As I See It,” Philippine DailyInquirer, Dec. 5

A confrontation on basic issues

BOOMA CRUZ, JUNETTE B. GALAGALA AND HECTOR BRYANT L. MACALE 14The Siege of the Pen.........................


Cheers

Jeers

They’ve got it allADVERTISING HAS conquered ThePhilippine Star’s front pages.

A story about the opening of the SMXConvention Center inside the SM Mall ofAsia complex eased out a news story onpage 1, lower fold of the Star last Nov. 6.The feature article was an enumeration ofthe amenities offered in the newconvention center, which, the report said,was already booked up to the end of theyear.

A virtual press release, the reportquoted SM Investment Corp. presidentHarley Sy as saying that the new facilityenhances management’s goal of makingthe mall the premiere tourist destinationin the country. It also discussed the SMmanagement’s plan to go into servicingbusiness process outsourcing companies.

After identifying the features of theconvention center, the report took noteof the mall’s other entertainmentfacilities—an indication of the article’sout-and-out promotion of SM and its giantcomplex.

Cheering instead of reportingTHE PHILIPPINE Star clearlyjumped to conclusions in reporting

the developments in the basketball careerof former Ateneo Blue Eagle center JapethAguilar (“Japeth closing in on the NBA,”Nov. 12).

The report said Aguilar was a seasonaway from attracting the attention ofNational Basketball Association (NBA)scouts. The young cager made it to theroster of Western Kentucky University(WKU), a Division 1 school in the USNational Collegiate Athletic Association(NCAA).

Division 1 is the highest level ofintercollegiate athletics recognized by theNCAA in the United States.

The report did not provide thenecessary details to support its bold

headline. The story was based only on thestatements of Aguilar and his father, whorecounted how his son got into WKU andthe adjustments he had to do to make it tothe team. He also expressed the hope thathis son would make it to the NBA.

The report would have been moreenlightening and convincing if it includedan interview with the WKU basketballcoach, who should be in a better positionto assess whether Aguilar really has whatit takes to make it to the NBA or even becompetitive in the NCAA.

The report should have also noted thata stint in a Division 1 school does notguarantee entry to the NBA. Due to thelimited number of NBA teams (30), andthe high number of Division 1 schools(336), the chances of US college playersmaking it to the NBA are very slim.Moreover, scouts have ceased relyingsolely on Division 1 schools, scouting andactually recruiting foreign playersabroad.

A story that sellsTHE LIFESTYLE section hasbecome a favorite place for

advertisements disguised as featurestories like the ones published in TheManila Times (“Celebrating 10 years in showbusiness: Anne Curtis takes on the fastlane,” Oct. 25).

The write-up about the career ofyoung actress Anne Curtis turned out tobe a pitch for the clothing line Freeway.The company’s upcoming holiday fashioncollection was discussed with Curtis asmodel.

The actress had a ready spiel: “I likeFreeway because the clothes allow me tobe fun and flexible. Freeway constantlyreinvents and it doesn’t go with just ontrend. And that’s exactly how I am as faras style and fashion are concerned.”

On the same page, another articlefeatured the soon-to-be launched

“Motion,” a fragrance from Scent Stationsupposedly inspired by actor John Prats.The actor was quoted as saying that hewas “thrilled” with the idea of havinginspired a new brand of cologne.

What’s Uncle Sam up to now?SIXTEEN YEARS after the Senatevoted to shut down the US military

bases in the Philippines, is the UnitedStates building up military bases in thecountry again?

A three-part special report by thePhilippine Daily Inquirer believes so, butthrough a different strategy.

“Instead of concentrating its troopsand equipment in only a few locations,the United States will decrease thenumber of large well-equipped bases andincrease the number of smaller, simplerbases in more locations,” wrote Inquirercontributor Herbert Docena.

Docena is a research associate at Focuson the Global South, a Bangkok-basedpolicy research and advocacy center.

The Inquirer reports, published fromOct. 15 to 17, explained why and how the

US has been trying to restructure itspresence overseas to stave off opposition.

“If, in the Cold War, US overseaspresence targeted the Soviet Union andother communist and nationalist forces inthe Third World,” the Inquirer reported,“today, the US current ‘global posture’ isaimed at any state or non-state forceperceived to be threatening US interests.”

The reports claimed that the UnitedStates clearly wanted to prevent the rise ofrivals that could threaten its preeminentstatus, particularly China. Given its locationvis-à-vis China, the Philippines has againbecome part of the “global posture” of theUnited States, the Inquirer said.

Explaining Erap’s pardonPHILIPPINE DAILY Inquirercolumnist Fr. Joaquin Bernas

explained the key constitutional and legalissues involving President GloriaMacapagal Arroyo’s grant of executiveclemency to ousted president andconvicted plunderer Joseph Estrada. Hediscussed the President’s powers andlimitations and the two kinds of pardonunder the law (“Only GMA can forfeitpardon benefits,” Oct. 27).

Hazy headlineTHE PHILIPPINE Daily Inquirerreport about a ceremony at the

University of the Philippines commemo-rating victims of fraternity violence in thecampus had a wrong head (“UP studeslight candles for dead frat neophytes,” Oct.31).

The article mentioned several studentswho died due to hazing. But some of thosecited in the report were not victims offraternity initiation rites. Both Den DanielReyes and Dennis Venturina, for example,died during fraternity rumbles and notduring an initiation.

The Inquirer also mentioned one victimwho was not even a member of anyfraternity: Niño Calinao. Gunned downby an alleged hired killer, Calinao’smurder on Feb. 19, 1999, is believed to bea case of mistaken identity.

HTTP://WWW.SKYSCRAPERCIT Y.COM

LITO OCAMPOEstrada

Never too big to advertise

Aguilar HTTP://WWW.BASKETBALL.EXCHANGE.PH UP students light candles for slain schoolmate.

HTTP://SELVO.WORDPRESS.COM


through a statement. He claimed that hisparticipation in the project was above-board and that the new railway systemwould boost economic development.Defenders of the deal said the project wasexempted from the Procurement ReformAct because it involved an executiveagreement.

Age differenceTHE DAILY Tribune got confusedabout the age of Mariannet Amper

who allegedly committed suicide due to“despondency with the extreme povertyher family was suffering.” Its headlinesuggested that the girl was 6 years old(“DepEd to investigate 6-year-old kid’ssuicide,” Nov. 9). Yet, the lead describedAmper as a 12-year-old, grade-6 student.

Upon checking other reports, PJRReports found out that Amper was a 12-year-old sixth grader from Davao.

Gloria’s megaphonesI-WATCH NEWS, aired ongovernment sequestered RPN-9, is

working overtime as a propaganda armof President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

I-Watch News gave extensive coverageto the Nov. 6 gathering organized byPampanga politicians to express supportfor their cabalen, Arroyo. The report wasaired when the Senate was consideringinviting Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio toshed light on the alleged bribery ofcongressmen and local officials inMalacañang on Oct. 11.

I-Watch News said Panlilio was not ableto attend the rally due to a priorcommitment. But the sound bites ofofficials interviewed in the program wereclearly aimed at Panlilio.

Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda said “twoyears na lang mahigit si Madame Presidentngayon. Kung magpapagamit sila sa ibangpulitiko upang pabagsakin ang ating Pangulo,kawawa naman ang Pampanga (ThePresident has just a little more than twoyears to go in office. If some people willallow themselves to be used by otherpoliticians to topple the President,Pampanga will suffer).”

Bacolor Mayor Bobby Dunca, on theother hand, said, “Magsama-sama na tayo atsana wala nang oposisyon para sa ikauunladng ating bansa (Let’s all unite and I wishthere will no longer be any opposition sothe country can move forward).”

IBC-13’S EXPRESS Balita rushed tothe defense of the Arroyo

administration following reports aboutthe alleged bribery of local officials inMalacañang.

On Oct. 16, Express Balita peppered itsnewscast with interviews of governmentsources who disputed Pampanga Gov. EdPanlilio’s claim that Palace officials gaveout cash to governors and representativeson Oct. 11.

The report interviewed BudgetSecretary Rolando Andaya Jr. and Defense

Secretary Gilbert Teodoro who said thatgovernment funds are rarely distributedin cash. Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye didwhat he has been doing for the Presidentfor the longest time—deny a negativereport about his boss. He said not one ofthose who attended the Oct. 11 oath-takingceremony received funds from thePresident herself. Nowhere in the reportwas Panlilio’s side aired.

On Oct. 19, Express Balita reported thatthe President was “sawa na sa gulo (tired ofbickerings).” The media were thencarrying stories about calls for PresidentArroyo to step down following thebribery scandal. The report used thestatement of Chief Legal Counsel SergioApostol, who said the opposition mighthave been behind the alleged bribery todiscredit Arroyo.

When the burning issue was about thelatest impeachment bid against thePresident, Express Balita devoted twonewscasts in downplaying the complaint.On Nov. 6, the newscast highlighted theappeal of Pampanga local officials forCongress to set aside the impeachmentcomplaint, the forecast of formerPresident Joseph Estrada that the ousterbid would not prosper, and theassessment of former President FidelRamos that there was no real threatagainst Arroyo’s leadership. No otherviews were presented in the newscast.

PRIMETIME TELEDYARYO tried itsbest to deflect the bad news about

President Arroyo’s trust ratings.Reporting last Nov. 15 on Pulse Asia’s

October survey that showed thePresident’s consistently high disapprovaland distrust ratings, Teledyaryo aired a one-source story—an interview with Palacespokesperson Ignacio Bunye who said thePresident would rather focus on povertyalleviation. There was no mention of theresults of the Pulse Asia survey.

According to the survey, Arroyoregistered an overall disapproval ratingof 39 percent, the highest among the

No holier than thouMANILA STANDARD Todaypublished a two-part report

explaining the issues surrounding theNorth Luzon Railways Corp. (Northrail)project (“Northrail project worst of themall,” Nov. 10; “Probe of speaker’s role inNorthrail fiasco sought,” Nov. 12).

The latest offensive of Sen. Juan PonceEnrile against Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.revived the controversy over theNorthrail project, which aims to developa 32-km railway from Caloocan City toMalolos, Bulacan, and eventually to Clark.

Describing the speaker’s call for moralrevolution as absurd, Enrile blamed DeVenecia for allegedly brokering theoverpriced project. The senator said DeVenecia does not have the moral highground to support his son’s exposésagainst the government because thespeaker himself intervened in thenational broadband network deal to favorhis son’s own bid.

The Standard Today quoted parts ofEnrile’s privilege speech exposing theloan agreement as highly questionable andone-sided. He said the contract did not gothrough competitive public bidding.

The article noted a couple of studies,including one by Sen. Rodolfo Biazon,which showed the Northrail project asprobably the world’s most expensiverailway system. A study by experts fromUniversity of the Philippines Law Centersaid that in the long run, the Northrailproject would prove to be just an addeddebt burden to the country.

De Venecia aired his side of the story

Anything for an ‘exclusive’?ON NOV. 9, the Philippine DailyInquirer published the photos of the

victims of the car crash that killed formersocial welfare secretary Dulce Saguisagand injured her husband, former senatorRene Saguisag, as well as theircompanions in the vehicle. Although thepictures were not close-ups, they wereclear enough to show blood coming outof one side of Mrs. Saguisag’s head. Thephotos were intrusive and disturbing formany readers, not to mention themembers of the Saguisag family.

The use of the pictures prompted areader to protest the use of thephotographs, saying the newspaper hadbeen insensitive to do so. Although aneditor’s note at the end of the reader’sletter apologized for the use of the photos,it sounded weak and less than contrite.The editor pointed out that the photoswere “exclusive” to the Inquirer (theywere given by a contributor), implyingthat this was the reason the paper decidedto publish them. n

LITO OCAMPOEnrile

LITO OCAMPODe Venecia

LITO OCAMPOSaguisag

Arroyo OPS


Cheers

Jeers

country’s top five national officials. Herdistrust ratings increased by 9 points to 46percent during the period.

A bait for a storyTHE USE of hidden cameras is aticklish issue because of ethical

considerations. Noypi: Ikaw Ba ’To?, an ABS-CBN 2 public affairs program that tacklesthe character and traits of Filipinos throughsocial experiments, has used hiddencameras to show how Filipinos react tovarious social situations. Past episodestackled various Pinoy traits such ashospitality and honesty.

Last Nov. 5, Noypi was not content withusing hidden cameras. The program useda minor as an “accomplice” in anexperiment that looked into the dangersof meeting strangers from television chatroom channels. In these chat roomchannels, viewers meet and communicatewith others by sending their contactnumbers that are shown on-air.

The program started by showing clipsof a 2004 episode of Private I, a defunctABS-CBN 2 program that tackled crimes.A 2004 episode “Killer Texter?” discussedthe case of a female teenager who wasallegedly killed by a man she hadpersonally met after getting his numberfrom a chat room channel.

Noypi “experimented” on the issuethrough its “accomplice” (Noypi’s ownterm), a 14-year-old girl who was to meetsomebody from a chat room.

The teenager, alias “Angel14QT,” wasinstructed to post her number in a chatroom. She received several text (short-message service) replies to “Angel14QT.”One texter, “Philip,” asked if she wasinterested in an SEB (“sex eye ball” in chatroom parlance). He insisted on a meeting.While not saying anything about an SEB,the accomplice agreed.

In their face-to-face meeting, Philipinvited Angel14QT to a place where they

could talk. Angel14QT told the programthat Philip told her that he wanted to gowhere no one could disturb them.

In their meeting, he told her he wasfeeling cold and wanted to get warm. Thegirl prevented him from going any fartherand abruptly ended their face-to-faceencounter.

The next day, however, Philiprequested another meeting in a fast-foodrestaurant. He brought two companions,one of whom waited outside. Philip wasmore aggressive this time, persuadingAngel14QT to go to another place. Heasked, “Hanggang dito na lang ba tayo (Arewe only going to do this)?”

Philip even touched Angel14QT whoprotested: “Ano ba! Huwag mo nga akonghawakan (Hey! Don’t touch me)!”

After a few minutes, Noypi said itinstructed Angel14QT to go with Philip.

Philip took Angel14QT to a motel.When the two were already in front of themotel’s reception desk, a team from Noypiappeared. Philip, whose face wasdigitized, realized it was all a setup. Hestarted questioning the motives of theaccomplice.

Angel14QT told Noypi that shepanicked when Philip was about to payfor a motel room. She also became afraidwhen he began blaming her for whathappened.

Noypi protected the identities ofAngel14QT and Philip by blurring theirfaces most of the time. But protecting thepersonalities’ identities could not correctNoypi’s biggest mistake—using a minoras an accomplice for a story and actuallyexposing her to danger.

Noypi said it did not want anything badto happen to Angel14QT that’s why itsteam immediately showed up at themotel’s reception desk.

The whole experiment—from the timeAngel14QT gave away her number to thetime that she went to a motel with Philip—could have endangered and traumatizedher. Noypi’s spy team might have been only

a few meters away but it was still theteenager who had to deal with the man’sadvances. And she was even asked todescribe her feelings in a separateinterview on air.

Noypi is not the only local program touse hidden cameras. This undercover toolis also used by so-called “investigative”programs like Imbestigador (GMA-7) andXXX (ABS-CBN 2).

The use of hidden cameras and otherforms of journalistic deception violates thejournalistic ethical principles of justice andhumaneness.

Using hidden cameras is permissibleonly in limited circumstances (forexample, when an issue is of profoundimportance and all other alternatives ingetting the same information have beenexhausted). This should also be done onlyafter experts on the issue have beenconsulted.

efficient electricity use.The report showed how industries save

energy, providing a contrast to the energydepartment’s rudimentary tactics thatinclude the formation of the anti-”kotong(extortion)” task force, the use of compactfluorescent lamps, the limited use of air-conditioning, and cutting down on the fuelconsumption of government vehicles.

The report would have been morehelpful, however, if it had explained howthe suggested measures—for instance, theuse of compact lamps and the loop systempipeline for air-conditioning—couldactually reduce energy consumption. Itcould have also ranked the major energyusers in the country to show theimportance of the malls’ efforts.

Since the report tried to relate fuel-saving efforts to rising fuel prices, it wouldhave been interesting if it detailed thecountry’s fuel consumption and how theenergy-saving measures could actuallyhelp keep fuel costs down.

True colorsIT SEEMS Primetime Teledyaryo’s biasis not only for President Arroyo.

In its showbiz segment last Nov. 15,Teledyaryo reported on an upcoming dramaprogram of an all-female dance group. Theshow would tackle the social disadvantagesof having dark skin. Some members ofthe dance group would portray dark-skinned characters, it added.

The reporter described dark-skinnedpeople as those not endowed withbeautiful skin (“Hindi binigyan ngmagandang kulay”).

Refusing to let an issue diedown

24 ORAS has been consistent inproviding valuable information to

explain to the public the alleged bribery

Reporting on solutionsWITH THE impending fuel pricehike, Top Story on Nov. 9 discussed

not only the proposed energy-savingmeasures of Energy Secretary AngeloReyes but also those procedures that somemalls were already implementing. Thereport compared the energy-conservingmeasures of SM and Ayala malls.

Some of SM’s strategies included theadjustment of chiller options in accordancewith the five-day weather forecast of Pag-asa and Yahoo!, the replacement ofincandescent bulbs with compact bulbs,the use of just 50 percent of lights in backalleys and storage areas, smallerdishwashing machines in the food court,the installation of capacitors for moreefficient power use, and the quarterlyreplacement of aging sanitary equipment.

Ayala, on the other hand, has beenimplementing a loop system pipeline forthe air-conditioning of Glorietta malls andreplacing bulbs with fluorescent lights. Ithas also installed an automatic sensor inescalators and new chillers for more

Reyes LITO OCAMPO

Lazatin LITO OCAMPO


in Malacañang. This in spite of the lack ofnew data or officials willing to shed lighton the case.

On Oct. 16, 24 Oras’s report, “Pulitikaat Panunuhol (Politics and Bribery),” triedto determine if bribery has become a partof Philippine politics.

Alex Brillantes Jr., dean of theUniversity of the Philippines NationalCollege of Public Administration andGovernance (UP NCPAG), wasinterviewed for the report. He said briberyhas become the standard operatingprocedure to secure contracts and servicesfrom the government. Still, Brillantes said,the amount of money involved and theway bribery is being done nowadays areworrisome.

24 Oras noted a 2007 Social WeatherStations business survey on corruptionwhich showed that 61 percent of privatelyowned companies have been asked bygovernment officials for bribes whensecuring permits and licenses or payingtaxes.

The report sought the views of a non-government organization. Vincent Lazatinof the Transparency and AccountabilityNetwork (TAN) said that compared to lastyear, the rate of bribery has declined.Nevertheless, he expressed alarm over thefact that bribery has become widespreadand that erring officials no longerbothered to be discreet. He said peopleshould muster the courage to exposebribery.

NCPAG and TAN emphasized the roleof media in continuously reportingbribery incidents and helping pass theWhistle-Blowers Protection Act.

Making gov’t accountableON OCT. 18, 24 Oras and Saksireported the many questionable

expenses of the Office of the President (OP).Based on its investigations, the news

team said OP had incurred P615 million inunliquidated cash advances. The paper trailshowed that the Commission on Audit(COA) released a memorandumcompelling “the concerned accountableofficers to liquidate their cash advanceswithin the prescribed period and refrainfrom granting additional cash advance tothose who have unsettled cash advances.”

The report said the OP accepted P9million in donations for the victims of theSouthern Leyte landslide, typhoonMilenyo and the calamity in Albayprovince. The funds, however, were usedfor other expense items such as paymentfor hotels and seminars, donation to anunnamed foundation, and repair of theMalacañang golf course.

According to the report, loansamounting to more that P200 million wereextended to small entrepreneurs in therural areas in 2003 to 2004. The funds weresourced from the Presidential Social Fund,

An effort to understandWHILE MOST people blame poverty for the suicide of 12-year-old MariannetAmper, GMANews.TV explained in its Nov. 10 special report other factors why

children commit suicide (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/68149/The-tragic-life-of-Mariannet-Amper-or-why-children-commit-suic).

GMANews.TV interviewed psychiatrist Ma. Luz Casimiro Querubin who notedthat even rich kids commit suicide. She said that a suicidal tendency is “developedthrough time when the child faces long-standing problems within himself and in hisimmediate environment.”

GMANews.TV cited the article, “When a Child Wants to Die,” by Dr. Agnes Buenowhich stated that 100 percent of her patients who wanted to commit suicide are fromthe class A economic status, 90 percent are Catholics, and 80 percent are unhappy withtheir relationships.

which is supported by revenues of thePhilippine Amusement and GamingCorporation and Philippine CharitySweepstakes Office. The loans were notrecorded in the books.

Former Budget Secretary BenjaminDiokno, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye,and Sen. Francis Escudero were asked fortheir reactions.

A follow-up story was aired on Oct. 22in 24 Oras. COA named the officialsresponsible for the unliquidated advances:Inter-Agency Legal Action Group c/oNorberto Gonzales (P5 million), NaturalResources Development Corp. c/o VictorN. Corpus (P10 million in 2005), and Officeof the Presidential Advisor for SpecialConcern c/o Abraham Purungganan (P29million).

Gonzales, Corpus, and Purunggananwere asked for their reactions. BudgetSecretary Rolando Andaya said, “It is veryclear that no funds are missing. There wasjust an accounting error. Therecommendations of COA werefollowed.”

No deal!EVERYTHING SEEMED to be goingwell for Bandila’s Oct. 15 newscast

until its last news item was aired.For its final story, Bandila reported that

one of its anchors and her boyfriendplayed on ABS-CBN 2’s game showKapamilya Deal or No Deal. It showed KorinaSanchez and Sen. Manuel Roxas II waitingfor the game show host to open theirchosen briefcase.

Winning only P10 in the game, the twopromised to donate P75,000 to their chosenbeneficiary, the report said.

Shown in the newscast was Sanchezgiving Roxas a peck on the cheek duringthe game show. n

Running the No. 1 householdAMID THE Senate hearings on the 2008 national budget and the controversybehind the alleged bribery in Malacañang, GMANews.TV looked into the bills of

the most powerful household in the Philippines last Nov. 13.In the report, “Malacañang household bills: P2.4-B tab on taxpayers in 2006” (http:/

/www.gmanews.tv/story/68543/Malacañang-household-bills-P24-B-tab-on-taxpayers-in-2006), GMANews.TV reported that maintaining the President’s official residencecosts nearly P196 million a month or P273,148 a day. The report compared the expensesof Malacañang in 2005 and 2006 and recalled the launch of austerity measures by thePresident herself through Administrative Order 103. The report said Malacañang isstill one of the most expensive households to maintain.

On Nov. 15, GMANews.TV also reported on the travel expenses and “donations” ofthe Office of the President that amounted to P40 million and P35 million a month,respectively. n

Escudero LITO OCAMPO

Mariannet’s family at the funeral mass

Malacañang’s Kalayaan Hall HTTP://WWW.FLICKER.COM/PHOTOS/13118355@NO

BARRY OHAYLAN/HTTP.//WWW.DAVAOTODAY.COM

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS8

ABOUT AN hour before she hanged herself,12-year-old Mariannet Amper had gone tothe factory where her mother worked,wanting to help repack noodles. Everyweek, her mother and sister-in-law took

home an average of P400 as they were paid by the pieceand were not yet considered highly skilled. The ownersometimes allowed children to work in the factory afterschool, and since Nov. 2 was a holiday, Mariannetwanted to help her mother so they could earn moremoney.

n By Yasmin D. Arquiza

DECEMBER 2007

Three weeks after the suicide,her mother Magdalena is stillwondering if Mariannet hadbecome distraught after gettinga reprimand instead ofencouragement for her insistenceon working. The night before theincident, she had asked herfather, who does not have aregular job, for money for a

school project and had also beendenied. Mariannet loved schoolbut was often frustrated becauseshe and her younger brotherrarely completed a week withoutany absence, usually due to lackof fare money. She would rejoiceif Friday came around and sherealized they had not missed asingle day of school that week,

Magdalena recalls.So why did Mariannet kill

herself? Did she feel over-whelmed and helpless in the faceof abject poverty? The questionskeep haunting Magdalena, as wellas thousands of others who haveread and seen the story ofMariannet Amper unfold ontelevision, radio, newspapers,the Internet, and even over textmessages.

Perched on a leveled piece ofland near the top of a hill, the hutwhere the Amper family lives inDavao City isn’t much, theirlifestyle more rural than urban.The main door opens into akitchen, where a dining tablealso stands on the dirt floor.Another door leads to an innerroom with a wooden floor wherethe family does everything else—entertain themselves, sleep,

to hang herself has left a burn, areminder of her sad fate.

The contents of Mariannet’sdiary, a school requirement, andher unsent letter to GMA-7’s WishKo Lang program have beenreported so often and have laidbare what had once been a littlegirl’s private musings about hermisfortune.

The family’s impoverishedsituation is not unique; millionsof Filipinos share the same fate.For many people caught in thissituation, suicide has become theeasy way out, as the tabloids sooften scream in their front pages.What is unique in Mariannet’scase is the way the governmentreacted to the story, and how ithas brought out the worst inPhilippine media.

A slap in the faceNico Alconaba, Mindanao

bureau chief of the Philippine DailyInquirer, never thought the storywould provoke such intensereactions when he wrote what heconsidered a routine news articleassigned to him by a Manilaeditor who had heard about it onthe radio. He believes part of thereason for the shock wave wasthat the story landed on the frontpage, instantly eliciting a flurryof breast-beating in the nationalgovernment.

For one thing, Mariannet’ssuicide was a slap in the face ofPresident Gloria MacapagalArroyo’s claim that more andmore Filipinos are benefitingfrom her much-vaunted econo-mic policies. It also exposed theunnecessary expenses in publicschools that make it difficult forpoor children to complete theirprimary education which issupposed to be free.

The knee-jerk reaction fromthe government was predictable;officials quickly gave renewedfocus on anti-poverty programsand educational projects. InDavao, Alconaba’s office receivedphone calls from readers asking

...................................................................study, and play. Magdalenapoints to the wooden beam in themiddle of the room where thenylon rope that Mariannet used

MEDIA, POLITICSWorse than a tragedy

MARIANNET AMPER AND

Reporters and photographers crowd around the casket of Amper (top), leaving little space for the family to grieve (right).Photos by BARRY OHAYLAN/HTTP://WWW.DAVAOTODAY.COM

Mariannet’sfather and twobrothers werequestioned,with the localmedia feastingon speculationsthat the threewere possiblesuspects.

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS 9DECEMBER 2007

how they could send donationsto the Amper family, which wasstunned by the outpouring ofsupport.

Magdalena sheepishly ad-mitted she could hardly believethe amounts of cash that donorswere offering the family. Theirlong-neglected neighborhood, awarren of houses where farmanimals share cramped spaceswith the residents, was suddenlyswarming with media vehicles.The Amper family had to put upa wooden rail beside the steps dugon the slippery slope going uptheir sawali and nipa hut so thatnewscaster Vicky Morales couldsafely climb up when she arrivedto shoot Mariannet’s story forWish Ko Lang. Mariannet’s wakebecame a roller-coaster ofemotions for the family, fromgrief to bewilderment togratitude for the blessings theywere receiving, even as theylamented that these had come atthe cost of losing their youngestdaughter.

Politicians join the frayAfter the funeral of Mariannet

on Nov. 10, however, the storyshifted dramatically. An article inthe next day’s issue of theInquirer had a number of quotesfrom mourners such as “We’realso poor but I will not hangmyself,” which cast a harsh lighton the child for taking her ownlife.

Alconaba explains that theInquirer has a policy of puttingout a “good news Sunday” issue,and it just happened that thestory came out on that day; hence,they had to put a positive spin onthe story. By this time, the mediahad also realized that thedonations to Mariannet’s familycould inspire copycat suicidesamong children. The segment ofWish Ko Lang on her story endedwith the note, “Nais naming ipaabotsa lahat na hindi ipinapayo ng WishKo Lang ang paggawa ngdesperadong paraan para makuha angatensiyon ng aming programa (Wewant everyone to know that WishKo Lang does not encourage anydesperate means of getting theprogram’s attention).”

On the same day that thefuneral story came out, DavaoCity Mayor Rodrigo Duterteappeared on his regular paidbroadcast on the local channel ofABS-CBN. Regular viewers havegotten used to his colorfullanguage on television, withsome people even keeping scoreof the number of times he says“p——ina” and “f—— you,” saysNikki Gomez, an editorial writerfor a local newspaper.

The mayor minces no wordswhen attacking his opponents,

the most prominent among themDavao First District Rep.Prospero Nograles. His show lastNov. 11 was particularly virulent,as Nograles had criticizedDuterte in the aftermath ofMariannet’s suicide. The twopoliticians traded accusations ofinaction on each other’s part—Duterte as the city’s local chiefexecutive and Nograles as thecongressman for the district thatincludes Ma-a, where the Amperfamily resides.

Irked by the insinuations,Duterte belatedly ordered anautopsy of the child’s body, whichhad to be exhumed. The ordercoincided with growing criticismsabout the poor quality of nationaland local governance that has ledto severe inequality in Philippinesociety and extremely harshconditions such as those expe-rienced by Mariannet’s family.

A new angleAlconaba recalled that when

he first visited the family, thelatter was in favor of autopsy ifonly to disprove a neighbor’ssuperstitious belief that evilspirits might have taken hold ofMariannet and that her body hadbeen replaced by a banana treetrunk. Such folk beliefs arecommon in rural areas beset byill fortune.

When the reporter told thefamily what an autopsy involved,Mariannet’s mother instantlyrejected the idea, saying shedidn’t want her daughter’s bodyto be despoiled. In a meetingwith the Inquirer’s localcorrespondents after the funeral,Alconaba predicted that a rapeangle would most likely surfacein the story, given the black eyeit had given the government.

True enough, the city medico-legal officer was reported to havefound healed lacerations onMariannet’s labia, and the localpolice chief immediatelyconcluded that the girl had beenraped. Mariannet’s father andtwo older brothers were calledin for questioning and subjectedto a drug test, with the local mediafeasting on speculations that thethree were possible suspects.

Worse and worseThe tone of the media coverage

worsened by the day—the schooldenied that it had required aproject; there were supposed to bepages from the girl’s diary thatcould have shed light on thesuicide, but which had been tornfrom it; Mariannet’s father wasaccused of being a drunk and a wifebeater; the family had supposedlyrefused to have the girl’s bodyautopsied earlier because theywere hiding something; Maria-nnet’s mother was alleged to havea second husband; and so on andso forth. At one point, the policechief even disputed the povertyangle, saying the Ampers were notas poor as other Filipinos.

The family was bewilderedby its quick reversal of fortuneand the barrage of negativemedia reports. At one point,Mariannet’s father Isabelo recalls,a radio commentator asked himpointblank about his demeanorwhen he gets drunk and thrust amicrophone at him. Althoughstunned, he protested, “But I amnot a drunk!” He complainsabout reporters who call himearly in the morning andrepeatedly delve into theirprivate lives, and says that so far,only one radio station has beenfair in withholding judgment

about the family. Although hewants to clear his family’sreputation, he knows that theyare no match against powerfulinstitutions and personalities.

From their sad experience,Mariannet’s mother Magdalena isslowly realizing how the mediahave pounced on their personaltragedy in pursuit of a story,without regard for the feelingsof her family. Asserting herdignity amid what she considersunfair coverage, she is protestingthe media’s news peg thatpoverty drove her daughter tosuicide, saying they still manageto eat three times a day. She doesnot understand why thegovernment and the media seemintent on destroying her family’sreputation, saying they neverblamed the government for theirmisfortune.

A quick look at the newsreports will show that, in fact,government officials were quickto take the blame for the suicidethemselves. On the rape angle,she says the family believes thatMariannet’s fondness for ridingbicycles since she was nine yearsold may have caused the reportedlacerations. Since she had no bikeof her own, she would often useher brother’s bike which was toobig for her. This was why one ofthings she asked from Wish KoLang was a bike for herself,Magdalena said. She laments thatthe media did not report thistheory, and focused instead on theaccusations against the men in herown family.

Instant autopsy resultsAfter the autopsy report came

out, the media stopped going tothe Ampers’ house uponDuterte’s request to leave the

family alone, Mariannet’s fatherIsabelo says. He is grateful for thereprieve, even as there are stillquestions that need to beanswered. Why was the family notgiven a copy of the autopsyreport? If he had not beenchallenged by Nograles, wouldDuterte have ordered an autopsy?How credible were the findingsof the city medico-legal officer andthe police, given the politicalmotive for the investigation?

One of the aspects thatAlconaba finds intriguing aboutthe autopsy report is that theprocedure was done in just twohours, and on the same day, cityofficials immediately concludedthat Mariannet had been raped.The girl’s brother, Isabelo AmperJr., who was the only member ofthe family to witness the autopsy,said he was told it would takesome time before the results arereleased, so they were takenaback when the report about therape came out on the same day.

Both the family and membersof the local media like Alconabaand Gomez believe that anindependent investigation isneeded to find out the truth aboutMariannet’s suicide. Given thesorry state of Philippine mediaand government, however, thisis not likely to happen. Alconabasees the rape angle as aconvenient win-win solution forboth Davao politicians andnational officials, as the mediahas reduced the story to asimplistic equation: 12-year-oldgirl + sexual abuse = suicide.

Most reporters failed to portrayMariannet as a person. Hermother describes her as aprecocious and sensitive child wholoved to climb trees, play withbabies, and hug little puppies.However, it seems that she wasoften rebuffed in her eagerness tolive life to the fullest. A mournertold Alconaba that Mariannet oncechided a neighbor, “Why don’tyou want me to hold the baby?It’s not yours anyway. God gaveit to you.”

Mariannet often prayed therosary with her little brother,from whom she was inseparable,and read the Bible when she hadnothing to do, her mother says.

When she runs out of theories,Magdalena Amper says she resortsto the simple notion that everyoneis given a set time on earth, andperhaps, her daughter’s time hadcome. Why she had to go in such amanner remains a mystery, evenas the impact of Mariannet’s deathon those she left behind mayprovide clues about her final acton earth. n..........................................................Yasmin Arquiza is a freelancejournalist.

Mariannet’s family says goodbye.


MEDIA’SR O L Eh a sa lwaysbeen to

serve the interests of thepublic. Primarily, themedia exist to gatherinformation crucial forunderstanding the worldwe live in. But in order todo their job, the mediamust also ensure theirsurvival as business enter-prises.

Here lies the dilemma: howto balance the need for profit andthe need to faithfully serve thetraditional purpose of deliveringthe news.

Newspapers need millions ofpesos to maintain theiroperations. With the decline inreadership and the soaring costsof printing, many newspapercompanies say that the profitthey earn from their circulation(sales) is just not enough to coverthe cost of operations. That iswhy many newspapers rely onadvertisements to earn extrarevenues.

Newspapers, however, alsoknow the risk of relying onadvertisements and advertisers.In July 1999, when then PresidentJoseph Estrada asked movieoutfits and big corporations topull out their ads from thePhilippine Daily Inquirer, the presslearned how vulnerable it can be.

The Inquirer’s accountmanager, Lita Pascual, saidadvertisements are the primarysources of the newspaper’sincome. She pointed out thatcirculation alone is not enoughto continue operations. She saidthere are times when even salescannot cover printing costs.

The same is true of othernewspapers with even smallercirculations than the Inquirer. Forexample, according to Malaya’sadvertising manager MalouSison, the newspaper needsaround P6 million to sustain itsmonthly operations. The paperdepends on advertising for thebulk of its revenues.

Pascual cited Libre, a free andtabloid-sized version of theInquirer, to show how importantadvertisements are in maintainingoperations. The cost of printingLibre is shouldered by itsadvertisements, she said.

This explains why newspapersallot about 40 to 60 percent oftheir space to advertisements. The

WORDSBlurring the line between news and ads

FROM THESPONSORS

n By Melanie Y. Pinlac andKathryn Roja G. Raymundo

Advertorials canmislead a readerinto thinking thatwhat he isreading is newsrather than anadvertisement............................................................

Inquirer, for example, dedicates60 percent of its space toadvertisements. The ManilaBulletin allots 30 to 40 percent, andMalaya and the Philippine Star,both 50 percent.

Isagani Yambot, publisher of

the Inquirer, explained that anewspaper is a businessenterprise as much as it is a publicservice. He further said that anewspaper needs to earn profitbecause “if you do not make aprofit or just break even or even

lose, very soon you have to foldup.” The extra profit could alsohelp newspaper companies inupgrading their facilities andequipment as well as providesalaries for their employees.

Getting adsTo assure themselves of

income and keep theiradvertising clients, newspapersthen have to offer competitive

rates for ad placements.Most newspapers usually

measure their rates by columninch, with a usual base rate ofP330 per column inch. Rates alsodepend on the date and page ofpublication as well as the size andcolor of the advertisements.Other newspapers charge extrato international companies.

A full-page, black-and-whitedisplay ad in a broadsheet wouldcost from P90,000 to P160,000. Ifcolored, prices go up to P162,000or as much as P284,000.

Newspapers also offeradvertisers special supplements.Broadsheets usually have a teamof writers and artists forsupplements which aresupervised by the marketing oradvertising department.

According to Rory Page,supplements supervisor of theBulletin, supplements could be

Pascual

Broadcaster Andy Vital dishesout the news from his radiobooth.

A station’s reach and influence account for its power.

Photos by LITO OCAMPO


supplied ready-made by anadvertiser or done as an in-houseproject by the newspaper. In-house supplements, as in the caseof the Bulletin, are usually aboutspecial holidays or, upon therequest of their clients, corporateanniversaries. The price of aspecial supplement in the Bulletinranges from P315 to P370 percolumn-centimeter, dependingon the day of publication.

The placement of asupplement also depends on itslength. If an advertiser wants apull-out supplement, it will begiven a separate section by thepaper. But if a supplement is onlytwo or three pages, it would beplaced where the client wants itor where the supplements teamdeems it fit.

Reservations for ad place-ments are approved by themarketing and advertisingdepartments.

Division of powerThe content and layout of ads

in newspapers are also subjectedto the publishing policies of thenewspaper. For example, theInquirer states in its advertisingpolices that “final layout andcopy are subject to editorialapproval.” It also states that thenewspaper could “accept/rejectadvertisements in accordancewith the publisher’s policies.”

There are times when thecontent of an ad is as good asapproved. This is when the ad hasalready been checked anddeclared passed by the Adverti-sing Board of the Philippines Inc.(AdBoard), said Pascual.

On the other hand, accordingto Yambot, non-traditional ads(which consist mostly of text andvery often have political contents)are rejected if they are deemed“libelous and not in good taste, orpotentially illegal.” By illegalYambot meant those that inciteseditious or rebellious acts. Theseads are also reviewed by the legaldepartment to make sure that theydo not violate any law.

Most newspaper companies

allow their advertising clients tochoose where they want theiradvertisements placed. Malaya’sSison said that advertisersusually prefer the premiumpages 3, 5, and 7. These pages aresupposedly the most accessibleto readers.

Often, ads are placed beforethe editorial department gets tolay out the pages for the news.The same goes for supplements.

Describing the process thatgoes into apportioning space forads, Page of the Bulletin said,”Editorial? Parang sila ’yung pinaka-endpoint. Maghihintay langsila…(ng) dummy (mula) dito sadesk namin. Dito magpapa-reservekami (ng pages)…. At the end of theday… kung ano ‘yung remainingpages… ’yun na ang gagawin nila(The editorial department is theendpoint. They wait for thedummy from us. Here, we reservepages for the supplement. At theend of the day, they [editorial] justhave to make use of the remainingpages).”

Special requestsThe editorial department

seldom involves itself in matters

Despite the cleardelineationbetween the jobsof editorial andadvertising staff,a situation canstill get sticky.Advertising clientsmake “specialrequests” andeditorial staffagree toaccommodatethem via“advertorials.”

...........................................................

concerning advertising. Anewspaper’s sales, marketing, oradvertising managers handlethis. In turn, the advertisingdepartment recognizes that itdoes not have any hold on theeditorial.

“Of course, this is a news-driven company,” Bulletin’sMenchu Ambrosio explained.“But sometimes, our clients haverequests regarding placementsand so we coordinate,” she said.If, for example, a client wants an

ad to be in the lifestyle section,“we make sure it will come outin the lifestyle section,” she said.

Despite this clear delineationbetween the jobs of the editorialand advertising staffs, thesituation can still get sticky. Thisis especially so when advertisingclients make special requests.

One such request is for thenewspaper’s reporters to writeabout their product or cover theirproduct presentations. Ambrosiosaid that advertisers consider

these requests “very normal.”The request is channeled throughthe advertising department ordirectly asked of the editorialdepartment. She sees nothingwrong with this kind of requests.

“(The advertiser will say)maybe we could invite one ofyour writers to try our productsand maybe write somethingabout it. We do that especially innewspapers that have severalsections that cater to differentindividuals, like restaurants,parents, fashion,” she explained.

For the Inquirer, Yambot saidthe editorial department wouldoften let the supplement writershandle these requests. But ifreporters are asked to do thestories, they are given the choiceto turn down the request. In thiscase, the request would bereferred to another reporter. Orthe article would be written bythe reporter without his or herbyline.

Press releasesWhile the division of

responsibility is clear withregard to advertising, thedelineation becomes vague whenit comes to press releases. Thereare advertisers who would liketo see their press releases usedby a newspaper as well. These arein addition to the space theadvertiser has bought to promotehis product.

According to Ambrosio,when it comes to press releasesthe job of her department is “justto make sure these would findspace in our paper.” She addedthat “the final decision, of course,especially when it comes to pressreleases, is always with the

Seva Palmones Tadeo

ABS-CBN boasts of its news and current affairs department.

Page and Ambrosio of the Bulletin

Yambot


editorial. That is why we havewhat we call the discretion of theeditor.”

In a telephone interview,Robert Requintina, assistantmetro editor of the Bulletin, toldPJR Reports that they usually usepress releases as fillers. Althoughpress releases from majoradvertisers are given priorityover others, there is no assurancethey will always be used. Editorsalso have the prerogative tochange the font type and size of apress release to set it apart fromeditorial material, and cut itdown according to the spaceavailable.

The newspapers providespecific space for theiradvertising department. Malaya’s“People and Events” section, forexample, is allotted to adver-tising. According to Sison, this iswhere their clients’ press releasesare usually placed.

AdvertorialsMeanwhile, the blurring of

the line between editorial andadvertising matter does not stopwith the editorial staff’sacceptance of the requests ofadvertisers. It also involves thepublication of what have cometo be known as “advertorials.”

Advertorials, a combinationof “advertisement” and“editorial,” usually take the formof news. Some advertisers placetheir advertorials in specialsupplements while others arethinly disguised as press releasesor even news.

The use of advertorials canmislead a reader into thinkingthat what he is reading is newsrather than an advertisement.For example, last Aug. 10, theBulletin published a “false cover”showing a new anti-dandruffshampoo in the market. Thespecial supplement wasdisguised as the front page of theissue, complete with the day’sweather report and index. Thearticles on it also used the samefont as news reports. The “frontpage” contained information onthe ability of the shampoo tocontrol dandruff. On the otherhand, the inside pages featuredthe fashion show sponsored bythe shampoo’s company andother features of the product.

For Yambot, there is nothingwrong with advertorials as longas there is a clear distinctionbetween advertisement andnews. This is done by changingthe layout of advertorial texts orlabeling these as such.

The Inquirer, for example,labels advertorials as “adv’t” or“advertisement” or places theseinside light purple borders.Yambot said the newspaper also

makes sure that the font typediffers from what is used in theeditorial material. Sans serif fonttypes (like the Univers andHumanist font types) are used foradvertorials instead of the TimesNew Roman type used in op-edand news. The headlines ofadvertorials are also in sans serifand light purple when in acolored page. If an advertorialconsists of several pages (like thatof a supplement), the dominantcolor should also be purple.

Yambot added thatadvertorials are seldom found inthe main section of the Inquirerbecause of lack of space. Pascualalso mentioned that thenewspaper makes sure that an addoes not attack other products inthe market.

What about the reader?Such steps, however, do not

lessen the possibility of

misleading the reader. Asidefrom the fact that many readersdo not know about the internalguidelines of a newspaperregarding advertorials, manynewspapers do not bother to marktheir advertisements.

For example, last Sept. 22, theManila Standard Today publisheda report, “Boy Abunda’s SecretsRevealed,” in the entertainmentsection. The article was packagedas entertainment news and wasaccompanied by Abunda’s photo.But the report was actually anendorsement by Abunda of acorned beef product and its newflavors. The paper gave noindication that it was anadvertorial or even a pressrelease.

Inquirer’s Yambot said thereare advertisers or advertisingagencies that still try to pass adsas legitimate editorial materialsbecause “they think that thereader prefers to read editorialmaterial, not advertisingmaterial. So they try to say to the

reader, ‘Hey, this is (editorial)material. Read this,’ when in factit’s advertising material.”

Advertising on radioRadio stations dzBB, dzMM,

and dzRH admit that theirrevenues come solely fromadvertisements. Given this fact,does it follow that advertisersinfluence the kind of news andeditorial content aired in theradio programs? How doadvertisements affect radiooperations?

For the three radio stations,the sales department whichhandles advertisements worksseparately from the news andpublic/current affairs depart-ment.

Nori Temblor, officer incharge of dzBB news operations,says, “Walang kinalaman angmarketing sa news content andcommentaries ng radio. It’s aseparate division…may kanya-kanyang responsibility (Market-ing has nothing to do with radio

news content and commentaries.It’s a separate division…we allhave different responsibilities).”

R. J. Seva, sales director ofGMA Marketing and ProductionsInc., clarified that if anadvertising client gets involvedin a controversy, the stationwould still report the incident.

Temblor stressed that beingan advertiser does not exemptone from the station’s policy ofupholding fair and balancedreporting. “The (advertising)package doesn’t includeprotection (from a controversy)or praise (for the product),” shesaid.

DzRH news and public affairsdirector Andy Vital said it is clearthat the sales department shouldnot get involved with the newsand editorial department or viceversa. But he observed that therehave been cases when the salesdepartment requested specialcoverage of particular eventsespecially if advertising clientswere involved. Although hewould have denied the requests,he said he had to do so to appeasethe clients and management.

Vital said that with the hugenumber of news events thatneeds to be reported and with thelimited number of reporters thestation has, such requests by thesales department are a burden tothe news team. To accommodatesuch requests, certain reportershave to be pulled out from theirbeats.

Saying that covering eventsinvolving advertisers runscounter to what journalists aresupposed to do, Vital neverthelessadmitted that “Pero pakiusapan…sometimes nato-tolerate sa newsdepartment (But it’s a request andsometimes this is tolerated in thenews department).”

PoliciesThe flagship AM stations of

media giants GMA Network andABS-CBN Broadcasting Co. aredzBB and dzMM, respectively.DzRH, on the other hand, isoperated by the ManilaBroadcasting Company (MBC).

The published rate card ofdzBB shows that a 30-secondadvertisement costs P25,000. Butthe station often uses differentrates for different advertisers.This is called the negotiated rate.

Seva said, “If you use the ratecard to compute the revenueswe’re getting, you will be misledbecause very seldom do we usethe rate card. Usually, it’s thenegotiated rate (that we use).”

On the other hand, dzMMuses a broadcast order to placeradio advertisements. EmmanuelTadeo, Manila Radio Divisionsales head of dzMM, says that the

There areadvertisers whowould like to seetheir pressreleases used bya newspaper aswell. These are inaddition to thespace theadvertiser hasbought toadvertise hisproduct............................................................

Joel Reyes Zobel (right) in dzBB booth

Winnie Cordero (middle) and Ariel Ureta of dzMM


station follows three timeclassifications: Prime A, 5 to 10:30a.m.; Prime B, 4 to 7 p.m.; andPrime C, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Theiradvertisers prefer the tandem ofmorning primetime and Prime Cwhich has the usual advertisingrate of P22,000.

Meanwhile, dzRH chargesP28,000 for every 30-secondadvertisement on primetime.Morning primetime is from 5 to10 a.m. and in the afternoon, from4 to 6 p.m. Placing advertisementsin dzRH also means placing adsin two other FM radio stationsunder MBC. What they have is anetwork-wide sale.

The three radio stationsfollow a 70-30 proportion ofcontent to ads. Over the years, thisratio has sustained the operationof the stations.

Commercial breaksSeva said that “from a

marketing standpoint, as asalesman, I’d rather have morecommercial minutes. But I alsounderstand the importance ofwhat you call the programmingload and our responsibility to thelisteners…so we have publicservice also, not just business.”

According to Seva,advertisements are limited to 18minutes per hour. The AdBoardmust approve all ads before theseare aired. But, he explained, anAdBoard clearance does notguarantee airing; the editorialteam of dzBB can choose not torun an ad.

DzMM and dzRH aremembers of the Kapisanan ngmga Brodkaster ng Pilipinaswhich limits to a maximum of 15minutes the commercial load fora one-hour radio program inMetro Manila.

Five commercial gaps areallowed for every hour in dzMMprograms. In the case of dzRH,there are usually fourcommercial breaks per hour,none of which should exceedthree minutes. And if there aremany advertisements, there maybe six breaks per hour.

Occasionally, the radiostations exceed their commercialtime limits. Because dzMM anddzRH follow KBP rules, theycould be sanctioned. DzBB, a non-member, has to answer only toitself, its clients, and the public.

Naku po!DzBB and dzRH allow their

broadcasters and commentatorsto serve as voice talents foradvertisers by reading ads on air.This is known as announcer-on-board (AOB) advertisements.

DzBB broadcasters andcommentators are allowed toendorse products as long as the

credibility and integrity of thestation “are not sacrificed.”According to Seva, the station hasvery strict policies in the sensethat broadcasters andcommentators do not dealdirectly with the advertisers. Alladvertisements have to gothrough the marketingdepartment. But in the end, it isstill up to the broadcasters andcommentators to accept the offeror not. If they do accept, thestation negotiates with theadvertisers.

DzBB and GMA-7 broadcasterMike Enriquez is one of the topchoices of advertisers to endorsetheir products. While otherbroadcasters merely read theadvertisements, Enriquez“personalizes” his AOBs. Heinserts a few quips and adds thefamous term of endearment of hishome network, “Kapuso.”

Monitoring the 8 to 10 a.m.programs of the three stationsfrom Sept. 19 to 21 and Sept. 24 to27, PJR Reports observed thateven when Enriquez was on leaveduring this period, his AOBswere still aired over dzBB.

This is an example of an AOB:“Mga kapuso, si Mike Enriquez

po ito. Aba, hindi n’yo ba alam natayong mga Pilipino kilala bilang isasa pinakamalinis na tao sa mundo.Ho? Insulto ’yung mapagsabihan tayona hindi tayo naliligo. Naku po!Parang gumuho na ’yung mundonatin, ’di ba? Kilala tayong naliligohindi lang araw-araw, eh ’yung ibanga sa ’tin dalawang beses pa. Kaya,mga misis, sinisiguro nating mayshampoo ang pamilya ninyo, hindiba? O eto, mga kapuso, mas abot kayana ngayon ang (name of theproduct) shampoo. P3.50 na lang.Three-fifty. P3.50 bawat sachet.Yung ibang shampoong mabibilin’yo d’yan, P5. Pero ang (name ofthe product), ngayon P3.50 na langpo, mga kapuso. Kaya mas maramikayong mabibili. Ah sigurado, mgakapuso, ‘di kayo mauubusan sa mgabata, sa lahat ng miyembro ngpamilya. May shampoo na kayongpanligo. Araw-arawin n’yo ’yan paraang buhok n’yo parating malusog,parating shiny, parating soft. Mgakapuso, hindi ba? Bandilang Pinoyang itataguyod natin, (name of theproduct) shampoo para malusogang buhok n’yo parati. Buongpamilya, P3.50 na lang per sachet,mga kapuso. ’Yan po ang suggestedretail price (Friends, this is MikeEnriquez. Do you know that weFilipinos are known to be amongthe cleanest people in the world?It would be an insult if anyonewere to tell us that we don’tbathe! Our world would comecrashing down, wouldn’t it? Weare known to bathe not justeveryday but even twice a day.So, housewives, you make sure

that there’s shampoo for yourfamily, don’t you? So here now,friends, is a shampoo [names thebrand] that you can afford. It’sonly P3.50. Three-fifty per sachet.Other shampoo brands cost P5.But [name of the product] costsonly P3.50. That’s why you canbuy more of it. There will beenough for your children and allmembers of the family. You willnow have shampoo for bathing.Use it everyday so your hair isalways healthy, always shiny,always soft. Isn’t this so, friends?Let’s support Filipino products,[names shampoo brand] forhealthy hair all the time. For thewhole family, only P3.50 persachet, friends. That’s thesuggested retail price).”

For dzMM, Tadeo says ABS-CBN 2 has a rule that prohibitsbroadcasters and commentatorsof the news and current affairsdepartment from endorsing anyproduct except their shows, thenetwork, for public service, andfor “the national interest.”Entertainment anchors, however,may advertise. Talents, except fornews broadcasters andcommentators, may voice theAOBs which are taped or pre-produced.

Questions, questionsDoes a broadcaster put his

credibility and his station on theline when he endorses a product?Can conflicts of interest arisewhen broadcasters andcommentators are allowed toadvertise products? Are newsbroadcasters and commentatorsnot bound to the principles oftruth-telling, fairness, andbalanced reporting when theyendorse a product? Does theaudience separate anchors andnewscasters from theirpersonalities when they are not

reporting the news?Seva sees nothing wrong with

broadcasters and commentatorsendorsing products. He saysEnriquez has been doing it for sixor seven years now and hisprograms are still among the top-rating shows of the station. ForSeva, Enriquez’s numerousendorsements only mean that hehas credibility and this works totheir advantage.

But dzMM’s Tadeo thinksotherwise. “They (ads) can bebiased. At the same time, theycannot maintain the integrity ofthe newscasters.… If you endorse,definitely you favor the (product)you are endorsing,” he said.

DzMM station managerAngelo Palmones explains thatbroadcasters and commentatorsespecially of the news and currentaffairs department shouldobserve a high level ofprofessionalism because theyowe this to the public. He saidthat using the credibility ofbroadcasters to sell a product is away of manipulating theaudience and taking advantage ofthe latter.

When advertisements usetestimonials, these becomeeffective when they use crediblepersons like news providers.

Palmones said the audience couldnot easily see or could not evenknow that these testimonialswere paid for and scripted toserve the interest of a client. Hesaid this situation couldeventually lead to a possibleconflict of interest if a productbeing endorsed is later found tobe defective or problematic.

In addition, broadcasters andcommentators are paid talentfees for AOBs and endorsements.Vital said this is why manage-ments allow their broadcastersand commentators to advertise.“It’s also an additional income forannouncers,” he admitted.

Spot the differenceRadio stations make use of

sound effects, banter, station IDs,and lead-ins to introduce com-mercial gaps and get back to thenews/commentary proper. Butsometimes, these are not appliedin the case of advertorials.

Seva said that dzBB is carefulwhen it comes to advertorials. Hesaid the station airs scriptedannouncements and endorse-ments but not news itemsdisguised to promote products.He added that it is also the policyof the station not to accommodatepaid interviews whether forpolitical or commercial reasons.

But in the one-week periodwhen PJR Reports monitored thestation, dzBB’s morning trafficreport seemed to be a paidsegment to promote a five-yearwarranty by a car company. Afterthe traffic report, the broadcasterwould do an AOB advertisementof this product before signing off.

Meanwhile, Palmonesexplained that in dzMM,advertorials usually appear ininterviews and plugs. He saidadvertorials like these gothrough the sales department andthe editorial board composed ofthe unit managers of the stationwhere the stories, concepts, andscripts to campaign for clients aredeveloped. He added that theseplugs and interviews are notaired in the news programs. Hesaid anchors can only provide alead-in and branding shouldcome from the interviewees.

Vital said that advertorialsappear once or twice a week inthe news and commentaryprograms of dzRH. Everything inthe news and public affairs ismonitored. If problems arespotted, the station calls theattention of whoever isresponsible for the mistake. Theeditorial team tries to talk thingsout with the sales department orthe person involved so that in thefuture, the advertisement couldbe put in its rightful place—thecommercial block. n

Does theaudienceseparate anchorsand newscastersfrom theirpersonalitieswhen they are notreporting thenews?...........................................................

GMA-7’s bombastic anchor cum product endorser, Mike Enriquez


THE SIEGE O

n By Booma Cruz, Junette B. Galagala, and Hector Bryant L. Macale

A confrontation on basic issues

REVIEWING THE video footage that shetook while talking to a Magdalo soldier onthe balcony in the Manila Peninsula duringthe siege, Probe producer Zanneth Tafallafroze for a few seconds and gasped. She

called her colleagues to look at the tape.On the television screen, the soldier—who was

wearing the red and white armband that was the symbolof the Magdalo group—was calmly telling Tafalla,“Umiwas na kayo (Save yourselves).” Until the producerreviewed the tape, she did not notice that a red dot fromthe gunsight of a sniper stationed somewhere was beingaimed between the eyes of the soldier who was askingher to leave.

With reports from Melanie Y. Pinlac and Kathryn Roja G. Raymundo

If the sniper had pulled thetrigger, Tafalla knew that shewould never get over the horror ofseeing a man killed right in frontof her.

Tafalla and about a hundredmembers of media were inside theManila Peninsula when formerNavy Lieutenant Senior GradeAntonio Trillanes IV, now anelected senator, and Army Brig.Gen. Danilo Lim led a few dozensoldiers in calling for thewithdrawal of public support fromPresident Gloria MacapagalArroyo. Many other journalistscovered from outside the hotel.

“It seemed like a regularcoverage… until the intermittentgunshots (were fired) and the teargas (was lobbed). You didn’t fearfor your life when you wereholding your camera. But there wastension all throughout,” said HeraSanchez, senior producer-

reporter of Probe.

Sanchez was stationed at thehallway of the second floor whereTrillanes, Lim, and their supporterswere holed up in a roommonitoring the situation.

Before the stormEveryone wanted to get the news

and to send it out to a citizenry thatwas at least curious about this latestevent in the unstable politics of theRepublic. Whenever Trillanes orLim went out of the room, therewould be a mad scramble for anyword from the two rebel leaders,who were, however, quiteparsimonious with their statements.The two rarely left their room,whetting media’s appetite all themore for the latest developments.

The civilian personalities whowere with Trillanes and Lim thus

became the media’s alter-native sources. Some who

were just too willing to beinterviewed gave kilometric

statements. But the Magdalosoldiers were mostly silent.

Journalists asked them anythingand everything they could think of:Are you ready to die? What’s yourname? Do you have a message foryour family?

Sometimes, without asking anyquestion at all, reporters would justshove a microphone in front of anofficer or a personality in the hopeof getting a statement. Most of thetime, however, their questions weremet with a shrug or a glance at ahigher officer.

No doubt, competition was aliveamong the reporters and photo-graphers at the Peninsula. Tele-vision reporters seized everyopportunity to bring the news livefrom any corner of the hotel. Whenthe central news desk of onenetwork hesitated to interrupt theday’s regular programming tomake way for the breaking story, areporter snapped: “No, you have toput me on right now!”

(Clockwise from left, top) PNP Brig. Gen. Geary Barias is disallowed by Trillanes’s men from seeing him; a brooding Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is caught on camethe Pen’s lobby, with space for more; and a tear-gassed 81-year-old Bishop Julio Labayen (in white), along with Fr. Robert Reyes (face partly covered), is escA soldier carefully aims his gun at the

hotel and its unexpected guests.


GE OF THE PENsic issues

Tears and fearsA CNN reporter gave his

network a blow-by-blow account ofwhat was happening from a fire exitto which media members hadwithdrawn to avoid the blindingtear gas that had wafted to the hotel’supper lobby. Every so often, theCNN journalist would open thedoor and take a peek at what wasgoing on inside the hotel. Everytime he did, the other journalists

with him would grumble becauseof the irritating smoke thatassaulted them.

No one had any idea how longthe standoff would last. Everyonebraced for a long weekend of non-stop work when Trillanes andcompany ignored the 3 p.m.deadline set by the PhilippineNational Police. Hungry reportersfeasted on the Skyflakes crackersthat the rebels shared with them.

They drank water from hotel taps.Before government troopers

lobbed tear gas into the hotel andstormed the place, PhilippineNational Police (PNP) chief Gen.Avelino Razon had called up ABS-CBN’s Ces Drilon to convince herto pack up and go. The televisionanchor told Razon that she wasstaying put. At about the same time,Susan Enriquez of GMA-7 wasinstructed by her bosses toimmediately pull out of the place.Several Filipino correspondents ofwire agencies were given the sameorders.

“Bakit naman ako paiipit d’yan?Naku, istorya lang ’yan (Why shouldI let myself be trapped there? It’sonly a story),” said a veteranreporter for an internationalagency who sneaked out of thehotel minutes before he was

informed by his office about theplanned assault.

Outside the hotel, a group ofphotographers near the Peninsuladriveway chided their colleagueswho were rushing out andscampering for safety.

“O, nasaan na ang tapangn’yo ngayon? Akala ko pa namanang tatapang n’yo (So, where’syour courage now? I thoughtyou people were brave),” aphotographer shouted, hisvoice almost drowned byautomatic gunfire fromthe tank along thedriveway. His com-panions laughed as theyclicked their cameras.

The best during the worstLike any tragedy the media

have covered, the Peninsula siege

brought out the good and bad sidesof the press. Some reports weremisleading. For example, onereporter claimed that his colleague,a female television reporter, wasamong those arrested by the police.The truth was that his colleague justgot into the bus going to Bicutan soshe could interview the journalistswho had been picked up by thepolice for “processing.”

But there were many anecdotesabout how competition was set asidefor the common good. Reporters andphotographers from different mediaoutfits looked after one anotherbefore and during the assault. Packedlike sardines, journalists nearest thenews source didn’t mind holding arival station’s microphone or givinga nameless colleague a copy of therebels’ statement.

“I was so thirsty and was lookingfor water. A cameraman gave mewater. I didn’t know who he was. But,

him; a brooding Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV is caught on camera; three tanks and dozens of policemen easily fit into), along with Fr. Robert Reyes (face partly covered), is escorted out by policemen from the hotel.

The elegant ambience of the hotel is literally broken by a tank that rammed throughthe entrance. Photos by LITO OCAMPO

All geared up for her own battle, afemale journalist pauses to rest.

Policemen and the press take shelter beside a GMA-7 van during the siege while Magdalo soldier Navy Lt. James Layug (right photo) watches steadily inside the hotel.

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS16 DECEMBER 2007

of course, when pandemoniumbroke loose and there was thetear gas, it was every man forhimself,” said Sanchez.

Footage of the siege showedsome members of the presscalling out the names of theircolleagues from time to time justto see how each one was doing.Later, they helped one another inresisting police attempts tohandcuff them.

Many of the arresting officerswere courteous, but some wererough and disrespectful. A policeofficer tried to grab andconfiscate the camera of Probeproducer Lucille Sodipe, but shefought back. Another policemanpolitely intervened before thesituation could turn ugly.

At the Manila Pen driveway,a police officer accosted Probeproducer Macky Fernando anddemanded the tapes that hadbeen passed on to her by fellowproducer Kala Reyes, who wasable to slip away from the firstbatch of media people who wereescorted out of the hotel. Theofficer got a blank tape.

As the drama was about toend, policemen picked up twojournalists for “processing” fromthe first batch of mediapractitioners out of the hotel.Tafalla was one of them. Withtwo other co-producers, Tafallaargued with the police until theylet her go. Other members of thepress were not as lucky.Handcuffed and escorted by thepolice, they boarded a bus thatwas to take them to CampBagong Diwa.

By any measure, it was noordinary day.

What was it? The Manila Peninsula event

caught the media by surprise.Throughout the coverage andeven afterwards, journalists werenot even sure what to call it.

The Manila Bulletin and ManilaStandard Today used the terms“coup d’etat,” “rebellion,”“mutiny,” “standoff,” “siege,”

“putsch,” and “takeover” to referto the incident. The Manila Timesdescribed it as the “Peninsulasiege,” “a failed mutiny,” “thefailed Makati revolt,” “a failedrebellion,” and “a caper.”

The Philippine Star referred tothe event as a “coup” in itsheadline. Most of the time in itsstories, however, the Stardescribed it as “Trillanes’ caper.”The Philippine Daily Inquirer calledit a rebellion and a coup attempt“staged amid fine dining.”

The Inquirer sought the viewsof University of the Philippines(UP) political science professorFelipe Miranda and politicalanalyst Jose Abueva on thecorrect term to be used. Mirandasaid it was a “critical situation”because the impact “would notbe so much on the civilianpopulation but on those withinthe military.”

Abueva said that whatTrillanes and Lim did could beconsidered a mutiny “in a sense”because the two were stillmembers of the military. Headded that it cannot beconsidered a coup d’etat “since acoup required an armed attemptto remove an official.” Mirandaagreed, saying that a coupinvolves “sudden and swiftaction.” He noted that both Limand Trillanes “had repeatedlybeen voicing their grievances andtheir call for the resignation ofPresident Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for some time now.”

The Inquirer also providedreaders with definitions of a coup(“a sudden and decisive action inpolitics, especially one resultingin a change of governmentillegally or by force”), a putsch(“a plotted revolt or attempt tooverthrow a government espe-cially one that depends uponsuddenness and speed”), amutiny (“concerted disobedienceor seditious action by persons inmilitary or naval service, or bysailors on commercial vessels”and may range “from a combinedrefusal to obey orders to active

revolt or going over to theenemy on the part of two or morepersons”) and rebellion (“open,organized, and armed resistanceto one’s government or ruler. Inthe most general sense, a refusalto accept authority and mayinclude a range of action andbehaviors from civil dis-obedience to a violent organizedattempt to destroy establishedauthority”).

Writing for BusinessMirrorfive days after the Inquirer reporton the term usage, PhilippineGraphic editor Inday EspinaVarona also reviewed the termsbeing used to describe the event.She decided it was a coupattempt, albeit a failed one.

“About the only elementmissing in this most recentepisode of military adventurismwas swift and decisive action,”Varona wrote. “Only because therenegade soldiers failed to musterthis are Filipinos lucky enough tocall their action a coup attempt.”

Media as the newsThe name of the event was not

the only problem with theManila Peninsula story. Theincident started out as a protestaction by Trillanes, Lim, andtheir followers, with the policecoming in to quell thedisturbance. By late afternoon,however, it had become a pressfreedom issue.

The Center for MediaFreedom and Responsibility(CMFR), the National Press Club,the National Union of Journalistsof the Philippines, and thePhilippine Press Institutedenounced the arrest of themedia members. In its statement,the CMFR said, “The arrests canonly be interpreted as one moreattempt, together with libel suitsand other harassments, tointimidate the Philippine pressinto either minimal or lessaggressive reporting of politicalevents. Media practitioners willremember this incident well, andsome are likely to be affectedenough to soften futurecoverage.”

The police insisted thatmembers of media leave the

hotel so they could do their jobof arresting the mutineers. Thepress—or those of them whochose to stay—said they, too, hada job to do and that was to coverthe news.

Days after the incident, therole of the police and the presswould continue to be the subjectof debate. A dialogue was heldon Dec. 5 between the Kapisananng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas(KBP) and representatives ofmedia outfits on one hand andthe PNP and governmentofficials on the other, supposedlyto draw up rules in covering crisissituations such as the one thathappened at the Manila Pen.

The meeting ended withoutany agreement. The mediaasserted their duty to report thenews as they saw fit.

KBP executive director ReyHulog said in a subsequent forumat UP Diliman that thegovernment believed that themedia was obstructing justicesince the police were kept fromserving a warrant on the“mutineers”. The PNP claimedthat it was only trying to separateparticipants and non-participantsin the crime which it describedas sedition and said that the arrestof media practitioners was partof standard operating procedure.

That procedure, as stated inthe PNP’s manual, was to gather,process, and question civilians incrime scenes to check theirinvolvement. The PNP also saidthat the media had beensufficiently warned to vacate thePeninsula. The arrest of thejournalists should therefore notbe blamed on the police sincethey were instructed to detainwhoever was left in the hotel, thePNP said.

Hulog said the media, on the

From left, Ateneo’s Chay Hofileña, GMA-7’s Malou Mangahas, and KBP’s ReyHulog in a forum at the University of the Philipines.

National Press Club president Roy Mabasa files a complaint against the police for curtailing press freedom during thesiege of the Pen.

From left, ABS-CBN’s Gin de Mesa, Luchi Cruz-Valdes, Charie Villa, and MariaRessa attend a dialogue between the KBP and the PNP.

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS 17DECEMBER 2007

LESSONS FROMCOVERING A CRISISn By Ellen Tordesillas

AMID THREATS that reporters who had covered the ManilaPeninsula incident would be charged with obstruction ofjustice, the joke went around that Ces Drilon of ABS-CBN

should be charged with “wearing improper attire”...........................................................................................................................................................

Drilon was wearing three-inch high heels when she wentto the Makati City Hall thatmorning for the hearing on thecase of coup d’etat against theMagdalo officers led by Sen.Antonio Trillanes IV and Brig. Gen.Danilo Lim of the Scout Rangers.

She said she had flip-flops inher van but it was only afterwalking for more than 30minutes and reaching Paseo deRoxas that she was able tochange footwear.

There were more lessons forjournalists to remember besideswearing sensible shoes.

Always bring not just one ballpen but a stack of them. Onereporter lost his only ball pen. Ilent him my extra pen. Later on,I too couldn’t find my pen amongthe garbage in my bag. A ManilaPen waiter had to lend me his.

Another important lesson:always bring cell phone chargersand a laptop electrical cord.Better yet, like reporters from theinternational news agencies whoare used to covering conflictsituations, make sure you havemore than one cell phone.Malaya reporter Ashzel Hacheroand other reporters exhaustedtheir cell phone batteries by earlyafternoon. They were forced toqueue for the hotel phones whichtook them away from thecoverage site.

From Makati City Hall toManila Pen, it was more or lessa 45-minute walk. More reportersand photographers had caught upwith the march. It was raining andeveryone was getting wet. I

noticed that someone with a blueumbrella was interviewingTrillanes. Photographers beganswearing as her umbrella blockedour view of the Magdalo leader. Itook a closer look at her. It wasTress Reyes of Nikkei Shimbun.She had to leave her coverage atthe NEDA office to rush to wherethe action was. Having anumbrella on a rainy day is often agood idea, but when covering acoup, one had better be preparedto get wet.

While it was sad that policearrogance showed in the way thatmedia members were hand-cuffed, there were acts ofkindness by some membersof the police force.

Policemen who arrestedTrillanes and Lim and made theirway through the throng of mediamembers were surprisinglypolite as they said, “Mawalang-galang po (Please excuse us).”Some reports later said thatNational Capital Region PoliceDirector Geary Barias hit thesenator, but we did not see that.

When we got to the lobby, thepolice gave us plenty of bottledwater with which to ease the stingof the tear gas. Some evenpoured water on us. They also toldus to keep low on the floor wherethe tear gas fumes were not asbad.

A final lesson: in toughsituations, be prepared for somerough play—and hope for randomacts of kindness. n

Ellen Tordesillas is a Malayacolumnist.

...........................................................................

other hand, insisted that theywere only doing their jobs, werenot participants in the crime, andshould not have been arrested inthe first place. Media repre-sentatives added that the decisionto leave or stay should be left tothe journalists. Furthermore, thejournalists said that policeprocedures—which includedarbitrary arrests and curtailmentof the public’s right toinformation and the freedom ofthe press—constituted aviolation of constitutional rights.

Find a compromiseAteneo de Manila University

instructor and journalist ChayFlorentino Hofileña—who wasamong the panelists at the UPforum—said there were threeactors in the Peninsula incident:the media which focused on thepublic’s right to know; the policewhich wanted to ensure publicsafety; and the military that waskeen on maintaining democracyand securing the state.

“If you look at the threeinterests, they are all equallylegitimate. (They are) notnecessarily competing inter-ests.... If all three are equallyimportant and legitimate, whotakes precedence? Which is themost important value that shouldhave prevailed there?.... Couldthere have been a possiblecompromise among the threeactors and the three interests sothat each would allow the otherto do their job?” Hofileña said.

She added that the policerequest was legitimate and thatthere should be a balance ofinterests. The press, she said,shouldn’t always get what itwants since reporters are alsocitizens after all.

Hofileña added that, “We alsosaw that the media took centerstage at a certain point... Thedanger of reporters or journalistsbeing part of the story is that theylose objectivity. (They) becomepartisan... no longer an objective

observer and reporter of what isgoing on.”

She also said that the pressbecame distracted and Trillaneswas forgotten in the coverage.“And we all shifted to pressfreedom; that again is verydangerous... It’s not the media’sjob to report on itself,” she said.

Another panelist in the UPforum, Malou Mangahas, GMA-7vice-president for research andcontent development, said, “Iwould not discount the fact thatthe police probably went over-board when it handcuffed thepeople of the media who went outof the main gate. But it must bestressed as well that there werepeople who came out from theother side or doors of the hotelwho were not prevented fromleaving and they’re alsojournalists.”

Stressing the importance ofindependence for media,Mangahas said that while beingan eyewitness is the best meansto cover a story, it is not the onlypath.

Hofileña also said that theadversarial relationship betweenthe government and the press isalready an old paradigm. “If thiscountry is to move forward...thereare instances when there wouldhave to be critical engagement,when media and government willhave to work together because attimes, their interests and agendado converge,” she said.

No to compromiseVergel Santos, chair of

BusinessWorld’s editorial boardand a CMFR board member, toldPJR Reports there was no need formedia to reach a compromisewith the authorities regardingnews coverage. “The militaryshould strategize around us andwe should strategize aroundthem,” he said.

He warned that “if you showany sign of compromise, orwillingness to compromise, taposka na (you’re dead).”

Santos did not share Hofileña’sconcern that media had becomethe story in the Manila Penincident. He said, “It’s not that wewanted to be the story. Webecame the story because we wereput in that situation.”

Replying to the observationthat an adversarial relationshipbetween government and mediaconstituted an old paradigm,Santos asked, “So now we mustbe conspirators?” He said thatwhenever journalists decide tocover an event, they do so withfull knowledge of the risks.

Santos also dismissedMangahas’s claim that there hadbeen journalists who wereallowed by the police to leave thehotel. “She missed the point,” hesaid, adding “they should havelet all media go.”

CMFR deputy director Luis V.Teodoro said the concept ofmedia’s “critical engagement”with the government should takeinto account the current contextin which the press operates.

“What kind of government dowe have in the first place? Is thisgovernment willing to listen toreason?” he asked.

“Critical engagement” itselfis not a new concept. “It was atthe heart of the martial lawregime’s effort to coopt the mediainto becoming its collaborators.The situation today is in manyways similar to the martial lawperiod—which means thatcritical engagement can only leadto collaboration,” Teodoro said.

Journalists should askthemselves whether this can beapplied in countries like thePhilippines “where the govern-ment has been systematicallyassaulting press freedom foryears, and constantly looking foran excuse to shrink the space inwhich journalists can freelyfunction,” he said.

Teodoro agreed with what GilSantos, former publisher andeditor with the PhilippineJournalists Inc. group ofnewspapers, told PJR Reports:that one cannot compeljournalists to adopt an inflexibleset of guidelines for covering thenews. “No two events are exactlyalike,” Santos said.

“In any case, the newsperson’sactions and reactions on the spotis purely his own judgment call.He alone will be the oneresponsible for his own safety orsurvival,” Santos continued.

Whatever decision a journalistmakes, he “must be loyal to thetruth and he must get the story,”said Gil Santos. “If he cannot dothat, then he has failed in his joband as far as I am concerned, thatis enough reason to fire him,” hesaid. n

The PNP, led by Brig. Gen. Barias, is surrounded not by rebels but by the media.


WHO DOESN’T like Christmas? In thiscountry, everyone celebrates theoccasion—rich and poor, soldier andrebel, religious and non-believer. Inthis season, there is a pause in nearly

every activity, a truce in every battle, an exception toevery rule.

n By Junette B. Galagala

A SEASON OFChristmas time in the newsroom

GIVING—ANDACCEPTING

Rules like giving gifts tojournalists.

In the Journalist’s Code ofEthics (which was formulated bythe Philippine Press Institute),Rule No. 5 states: “I shall not letpersonal motives or interestsinfluence me in the performanceof my duties, nor shall I accept oroffer any present, gift or otherconsideration of a nature thatmay cast doubt on myprofessional integrity.”

In a culture where Christmasmeans gift-giving, does this ruleget a little bent during theholiday season? Like the electionperiod, Christmas is also the timeof year when news sourcesblatantly woo the press—whichleads to an interesting question:how do journalists and theirmedia offices respond?

Ding Marcelo, sports editor ofthe Manila Bulletin, says thatduring the holidays, the Bulletinis typically deluged with gifts—from friends, clients, andpoliticians—”in the spirit of theseason.” As a media practitioner,he says that he looks at suchpractices with skepticism. Henotes that while it is almostimpossible to know whathappens in the beats gift-wise,editors reprimand reporterswhen they receive complaintsabout reporters asking for gifts.

Asking for gifts is a no-no,despite the season of cheer. Buthow about accepting?

The answers would vary.Marcelo says that money is either

returned to the giver or donatedto charity. Gifts, while generallydiscouraged by management, areaccepted when these are small,inexpensive items. Television

sets, which clearly do not fallunder the latter, are returned tothe sender.

A Bulletin reporter says thatthe paper has not been explicitabout its policies on gifts; thereis no overt ban. Reporters aresupposed to exercise their ownjudgment. Since gifts are givento the reporters in their beatsrather than in their newspaperoffices, such judgment is freelyexercised. In the hierarchy ofprohibitions, she adds that theBulletin management is not asparticular about journalistsaccepting gifts as it is aboutemployees writing for otherpublications.

Philippine Daily Inquirercorrespondent Tonette Orejasmakes sure that the gifts shereceives are passed on to others,such as the Malaya Lolas, anorganization of World War IIvictims of sexual exploitation.These gifts include rice, wine,cake, and clothes. She says sherefuses money and expensivegifts, like DVD players.

Three years ago, however,Orejas says she was shocked bythe presents that flooded theInquirer main office lobby. Therewere television sets andrefrigerators. However, shepoints out that she doesn’t receivetokens, even T-shirts, from theInquirer during Christmas.

The Philippine Star has notresponded to requests for aninterview by PJR Reports.

Karl Wilson, Manila bureauchief of Agence France Presse(AFP), says that while tokens likepens or wine are accepted duringthe holidays, the office draws aline when it comes to moreexpensive gifts like a five-starhotel accommodation.

No gifts are given to newssources but the AFP would sendT-shirts to their stringers, clients,and newspaper editors.

The Daily Manila Shimbunmanaging editor YoshihikoSakai says that as early asNovember, his office is alreadypreparing Christmas gifts fortheir contacts. It is important,

he says, that reporters are ableto establish good relationshipswith their contacts to ensure thecontinuous flow ofinformation.

The company asks itsreporters to submit a list of theircontacts or sources. The reportersthen determine the type of tokenthat will be given to theircontacts. Class A gifts, the nicest,are usually umbrellas orplanners; Class B are T-shirts orwindbreakers; and Class C areballpens marked with thecompany’s name. Other gifts arelighters and pencils. Sakai notesthat these giveaways are alsogiven to their employees. He,too, receives tokens, usually anairline calendar.

The Daily Manila Shimbun doesnot have a written rule onaccepting gifts but Sakai makesit clear to his reporters that theyshould not accept money.

The Associated Press, Reuters,and Tokyo Shimbun declined tocomment on their practicesconcerning giving or receivinggifts. n

............................................................................

Asking for giftsis a no-no,despite theseason ofcheer. But howaboutaccepting?

LITO OCAMPO

HTTP://BLOGS.IONA.COM/NEWCOMER

Orejas

DECEMBER 2007 19PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS

Gains and setbacks in the

DO FEWERfight for media freedom

DEATHSMEAN

PRESS?THE STATE of

press freedomin the Philip-pines has beenmostly evalu-

ated through the lens ofstatistics, specifically onthe number of journalistskilled.

When the Philippines sprangto international notoriety in2005—after being tagged byvarious international mediawatchdogs Committee to ProtectJournalists, Reporters WithoutBorders (RSF), and theInternational Federation ofJournalists as the second mostdangerous place for journalistsnext to Iraq—it was because of aspike in the number of journalistskilled. From the count of theCenter for Media Freedom andResponsibility’s (CMFR) Free-dom Watch desk, the number ofjournalists and media practi-tioners killed in the line of dutymore than tripled in 2003. Fromtwo in the year 2002, those whowere killed in the line of dutyrose to seven. The numberincreased to eight in the year2004, and went down to five thefollowing year. Although thenumbers fluctuate, such scale ofjournalist murders has not been

n By Jose Bimbo F. Santos

A FREER

the improvement ofthe Philippines’ranking was becausethere were “fewermurders than inprevious years. AndPresident GloriaMacapagal Arroyo’sassociates broughtfewer defamationactions againstjournalists and

news media.”So was it a good year then for

press freedom in the Philippines?

Security consciousThe significant decrease in the

number of journalists killed inthe line of duty this year is anunquestionable improvement inthe press freedom situation in thecountry. But aside from the slayattempts and libel suits filedagainst journalists, there havealso been a number of attacks andthreats against press freedom in

seen in the country since 1980s.In the year 2007, one journalist

has so far been killed in the lineof duty as compared to six in 2006.Would this be sufficient reasonto say that the state of pressfreedom in the country hasimproved?

The Philippines, in fact,moved 14 places higher in thepress freedom index of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders(RSF) this year, placing 128thfrom last year’s 142nd. Under theclassification, “UnexpectedImprovements,” RSF noted that

Advocates of press freedom deliver a message big enough for the governmentto see. Photos by LITO OCAMPO

A forum is held todiscuss the new law .


‘The truermeasure ofpress freedomis freedom ofinformation.’

other forms.National Union of the

Journalists of the Philippineschair Jose Torres Jr. said that itwould be “superficial” to say thatthe state of press freedom thisyear has improved based solelyon the decrease in the number ofjournalists killed. This, alone, hesaid “does not reflect the realsituation.”

“Even though there werefewer killed this year, there arestill a lot of threats andharassments against the media,”Torres said.

For BusinessWorld editorialboard chair Vergel Santos, itwould be a “misreading” toequate press freedom with thenumber of journalists killed.

This year, a correspondentfrom a national daily became thetarget of a slay attempt, a tellingindicator of how brazen thekillers have become as attacks inthe past have mostly been againstcommunity journalists in theprovinces.

Delfin Mallari Jr., SouthernLuzon correspondent of thePhilippine Daily Inquirer, was shotand wounded by an unidentifiedgunman riding pillion on amotorcycle last April 19. JohnnyGlorioso, publisher of thecommunity newspaper AngDiyaryo Natin, was with Mallariat the time of the incident but wasnot hurt.

“The prevailing sentiment, Ithink, is that if it can happen tosomeone from the Philippine DailyInquirer, the country’s leadingnewspaper, it can surely happento journalists from any of thelesser-known papers andcommunity newspapers,” LuzRimban, freelance journalist andjournalism instructor at theAteneo de Manila University,wrote in her blog Journ Classroomshortly after the slay attempt onMallari.

After the attempt on his life,Mallari noted a “chilling effect”on the press community as newsreports and commentaries

..................................................................

became more subdued. Mediapractitioners also became more“security conscious,” avoidingtraveling alone as much aspossible.

“Up to now there is still theclimate of impunity because notmany of the killers have beenpunished,” Mallari said.

Then, after surviving theambush, Mallari, and Gloriosowere both sued for libel by theman whom they suspected ofbeing behind the attack.

Quezon Province Gov. RafaelNantes sued Mallari and Glorioso,saying that both journalists hadmaliciously tagged him as a druglord as well as the mastermind inthe attempted murder.

“I don’t really know how toexplain it. It can happen only inthe Philippines,” Mallari said ofthe libel suit lodged against himand Glorioso.

A month after the attempt onthe two, television reporter RickyCarandang and radio reporterNoel Alamar of the ABS-CBNnews network both received deaththreats in Lanao del Norte afterreporting election irregularitiesin that region.

According to Carandang, hisguides in the province receivedcalls from people inquiring abouthis whereabouts. Armed men,whom Carandang suspected ofbeing members of privatearmies, were said to be roamingthe province looking for him andAlamar.

Legal threatsIn addition, two radio

broadcasters were also sent to

Families of slain journalists link arms to oppose the killings.

The list of slain journalists becomes even longer.

DECEMBER 2007 21PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS

prison this year after beingconvicted of libel.

Alex Adonis, who used to bea commentator for dxMF BomboRadyo, was arrested on Feb. 19 andsent to jail for libel while Alegre,who used to report for dzRHBicol, was arrested last April afterbeing convicted for a 10-year-oldlibel case.

Lawyer Harry Roque willfile an information with theUnited Nations (UN) HumanRights Committee to bringattention to the plight of Adoniswhile another lawyer,TheodoreTe, will appeal the case of Alegreto the Supreme Court (SC).Davao First District Rep.Prospero Nograles filed the libelcomplaint against Adonis afterthe latter reported that thecongressman was seen runningnaked in a Manila hotel afterbeing chased by the husband ofhis alleged paramour. Nograleshas denied the allegation.

Alegre, meanwhile, wasconvicted on a libel complaint fora report he did about an officialin an electric cooperative.

Aside from libel threats, theHuman Security Act (HSA),signed into law by PresidentArroyo last March 6, is the objectof journalists’ criticism for its direimplications for the press.

“The assault on press freedomhas been institutionalized thisyear in our country through thepassage of the Human SecurityAct which has huge implicationsfor journalists,” Torres said.

Justice Secretary RaulGonzalez himself told reporterslast July that HSA permits thewiretapping of journalists.

Aside from the possibility ofbeing wiretapped, media couldalso be crippled by the HSAthrough the sequestration orfreezing of one’s assets on meresuspicion of violating that law.

Aside from local media andhuman rights groups thatcondemned and filed petitions atthe SC, Martin Scheinin, UnitedNations special rapporteur forhuman rights andcounterterrorism, also issued astatement six days after HSA’spassage. Scheinin stated that“many provisions of the HumanSecurity Act are not in accordancewith international human rightsstandards,” and urged thegovernment to amend, if notrepeal, the HSA.

Access to informationAn executive order (EO)

issued by Mrs. Arroyo last April20 has also further restrictedmedia and public access togovernment information.Through EO 608, a NationalSecurity Clearance System has

been created which will “protectand ensure the integrity andsanctity” of classified informa-tion against “enemies of thestate.”

EO 608 directs “all govern-ment departments, agencies andoffices to implement securitymeasures that will protect andensure the integrity and sanctityof classified or sensitivematerials or information theyhave access to or (are) in theirpossession (of).”

Under the EO, unauthorizeduse or disclosure of classifieddocuments will be considered a“grave offense” and shall bepunishable in accordance withcivil service rules and regu-lations.

Santos, also a CMFR boardmember, said that suppression offreedom of information, morethan the killing of journalists orfiling of libel suits, is an indicatorof the extent to which pressfreedom is being violated.

“The truer measure of pressfreedom really is freedom ofinformation,” he said, adding, “Itseems to me that the setting issuch that it is becomingincreasingly difficult for themedia to get enough facts thatwould make for a story that canbe aired or published accordingto the prescriptions of theirprofession.”

GainsDespite the drawbacks,

however, there have also beenquite a few gains for pressfreedom this year.

After slumbering for morethan half a decade, the case ofRolando Ureta was reopenedearlier this year through aDepartment of Justice resolutionoverturning an earlier dismissalof the case. Ureta was murderedon Jan. 3, 2001. He was criticizingillegal gambling, illegal drugs,and local government corruptionat the time of his murder.

Intervention by internationalorganizations this year, which

include the European Union, theHague Permanent People’sTribunal and the UN, has nodoubt been instrumental instemming the tide of extrajudicialkillings in the Philippines whosevictims include not onlyjournalists but also activists,lawyers, doctors and judges.

The most comprehensiveassessment of the extrajudicialkillings situation in thePhilippines came from UNspecial rapporteur Philip Alstonwho released his final reportrecently after conducting hisinvestigation from Feb. 12 to 21.

Alston outlined in his 66-pagereport the counterinsurgency

policy of the military againstrebel groups and the failure ofthe country’s justice system tobring justice to those responsiblefor the executions. He attributedthis situation “to a distortion ofpriorities that has lawenforcement officials focused onprosecuting civil society leadersrather than their killers.”

The initiatives of the SC underthe leadership of Chief JusticeReynato Puno have also beeninstrumental in arresting theproblem of extrajudicial killings.The SC, through AdministrativeOrder 25-2007 issued last March,has created 99 special courtsacross the country which will trycases of extrajudicial killings ina marathon hearing of 60 dayswithout postponements. Deci-sions are be issued no later than30 days. The Ureta case has thepotential of being tried in aspecial court should it proceedto trial. The high court also helda two-day National ConsultativeSummit on Extrajudicial Killingsand Enforced Disappearances onJuly 16-17, with the intention ofdrafting recommendations to thethree branches of governmentthrough the inputs of variousstakeholders. CMFR was invitedto the summit to present themedia perspective.

Much work leftTorres, however, noted that

despite some improvements,much work still needs to be doneto improve the state of mediapractice in the coutry.

“The only difference reallythis year was that there werefewer journalists killed, but thesituation remains the same, andhas even worsened, becauseharassment has beeninstitutionalized,” Torres said.

According to Santos, thepeculiarities of Philippinedemocracy have made it hard toeven practice “textbookjournalism.”

“Textbook journalism doesnot apply today becausetextbook journalism presup-poses a mature and democraticsociety, a government that isopen, or a government that willshare with the public throughthe media the information thatthe people have a right toknow,” Santos said.

He asked, “On top of theabsence of a truly free and opensociety, we have a situationwhere a journalist operates at therisk of life and limb, so where isfreedom there?”

Torres also noted the case ofthe National Press Club (NPC)mural, where certain elements inthe painting were altered becausethe NPC didn’t “want to bepoliticized.”

“The NPC’s censoring themural does not help thepromotion of press freedom inthe country, as it is proof thatpress freedom is really not thatalive and well, because somemedia practitioners are afraid tooffend the president,” Torressaid.

And with the year just aboutto draw to a close, a seemingrepresentation of thegovernment’s attitude towardpress freedom has been madeevident with the wholesale arrestof more than 30 mediapractitioners who were coveringthe standoff led by Sen. AntonioTrillanes IV inside the ManilaPeninsula Hotel in Makati lastNov. 29. A host of mediapractitioners, including someprominent ones, werehandcuffed and transported toCamp Bagong Diwa in Taguig for“processing,” and to ensure thatno Magdalo soldiers werecamouflaged as media. ABS-CBNis reportedly planning to sue thepolice for the arrest.

Like the other incidents beforeit, the experience of media in thePeninsula incident showed thatpress freedom is constantlyunder threat and must beresolutely defended andadvanced. n

UN’s Philip Alston lends his voice to the clamor for government action on thekillings.

Candles are lit to remember those journalists who passed away.


THE ROLE of media as an agent of changehas been growing and changing from era toera. In itself, the term media has come to beassociated primarily with the disseminationof information and only secondarily with the

particular technology it uses in such dissemination. Butundoubtedly, the advent of new technology has causedmedia’s power to grow exponentially since the creationof paper, the invention of the printing press, the discoveryand application of the wave theory, and now theharnessing of light.

The role of media in

LIVING INestablishing a just society

OF TRUTHTHE LIGHT

n By Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno

“Media can serve to repress as well as to liberate, to unite as well as fragmentsociety, both to promote and to hold back change.”1

The Kapisanan ng mgaBrodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP)plays a lead role in preservingand promoting our undilutedvision of a society that is just.Your organization provides theshield to protect the sanctity ofthe independence of thebroadcast media from forceshostile to freedom of the press;but, more importantly, yours isthe self-regulating entity thatensures that your members donot themselves desecrate thissanctity. More than anybody else,you in the KBP have theopportunity and the duty totransform this power into aconcerted force to enable theFilipino people to live in ademocracy directed by the lightof truth, however inconvenientit may be.

Looking back, we know thatthe application of radiotechnology in the Philippinesbegan in 1922, with a testbroadcast using a five-watttransmitter in Nichols Air Base.Since then, the broadcast mediahas continued to play asignificant part in our bumpytrip to democracy. One of themost dramatic examples of the

which we are expected to befamiliar is also increasingrapidly. The complexities ofthe politics of Afghanistanwere not a key issue in theWest a few years ago; nowthey are. The issue of drugsand the related gang violencein inner cities was not anurgent issue 20 years ago;now it is. But as the range ofissues grows, the number ofthem that we can learn aboutat first hand declines.

So, if we need to knowabout these places and issues,and if these are outside thescope of our personalexperience, how do we findout about them? The answeris through the media. Radio,newspapers and televisioncarry information to usabout events that we do notwitness personally and thathappen in places to whichwe have no access. Throughthis they make us indirectwitnesses of the events ofthe world. In this way, therole of the mass media incontemporary society is thatof information delivery.

In this capacity theybring us two types ofinformation. The first isabout events outside ourown society. This is thesense in which MarshallMcLuhan claimed that themedia made the world intoa “global village.” We arenow familiar with a range ofcountries, and of issues andthe lives of the people inthese countries, thatprevious generations werenot. The time taken forinformation to reach us hasalso been significantlyreduced. It took three weeksfor the details of the Chargeof the Light Brigade in 1854to reach London (Knightley,1975). Nowadays it would

be live on our televisionscreens.

The other type ofinformation they bring us isabout our own society. Thereare many places wheresocially significant eventsoccur and in which importantissues arise, are debated andare resolved. For the mostpart we do not have easy androutine access to them. Theseinclude social and politicalinstitutions such asParliament, the law courts,and the boardrooms ofpowerful corporations, andalso geographic locationssuch as urban ghettos andrural farmyards. The mediaincrease the visibility of theseinstitutions and locationsthrough the coverage thatthey give to what happens inthem. (Media Power, ASociological Introduction, pp.13-15)

This is the historical functionof media in a free society; it isalso their continuing challenge.By no means is this an easy,problem-free burden.

Truth to tell, in the battlebetween truth and falsehood,which is critical to the warbetween democracy andtotalitarianism, it is the membersof the media who have incurredthe greatest number of casualties.The tragedy is that, oftentimes,they die in silence—unsung andunwept. Let me quote the prefacewritten by Anderson Cooper inthe book entitled “Attacks on thePress in 2006,” which accuratelychronicles assaults on mediapractitioners all over the worldincluding the Philippines, viz:

Silence. When a jour-nalist is killed, more oftenthan not, there is silence. InRussia, someone followedAnna Politkovskaya home

contribution of media to theresuscitation of our democracy isthe Radyo Veritas real-timeaccount of the 1986 EDSARevolution. When the trans-mitter of its radio station wasbombed by the deposed admin-istration to stop the people’srevolution, the task to tell thepeople of the realities on theground was taken up by RadyoBandido. Doubtless, the station’sblow-by-blow, no-holds-barredaccount of events and its appeal

to the people to resist theunwanted government accele-rated the slide to oblivion of the20-year authoritarianism.

If I extol the role of media tohigh heavens, it is because mediadeserves all the encomiums. Theimportant role of media inestablishing a just society is wellestablished. I can do no betterthan quote the writer CiaranMcCullagh, to wit:

The range of issues with

Chief Justice Puno in the SC Summit on Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (above left). Edita Burgosmarches for her missing son, Jonas.

Journalists mourn for their slain colleagues. Photos by LITO OCAMPO


and quietly shot her to deathin her apartment building.The killer muffled the soundof the gun with a silencer.Her murder made headlinesaround the world in October,but from the Kremlin therewas nothing. No statement.No condolence. Silence.

When Vladimir Putinwas finally asked byreporters about the murderof one of his nation’s mostprominent investigativejournalists, he saidPolitkovskaya’s influence inRussia was “insignificant.”Anna Politkovskaya wasanything but insignificant.Her reporting on humanrights abuses in Chechnyahad upset many powerfulpeople. Threats against herlife were nothing new. Shewas an award-winningwriter for Novaya Gazeta andhad been named byCommittee to ProtectJournalists (CPJ) as one of themost prominent defenders ofpress freedom in its 25-yearhistory. She deserved morethan silence.

According to CPJ,Politkovskaya was the 13th

journalist killed in Russia ina gangland-style hit sincePutin became president in2000. Guess how many of thepeople responsible havebeen brought to justice?None.

As CPJ documents inthis important book, all toooften, attacks on journalistsgo unsolved. Authoritieseither refuse to investigate,or refuse to acknowledge thepossible link to thereporter’s work. When abomb exploded outsideYelena Tregubova’s Moscowapartment in 2004, policesaid it was an act ofhooliganism—nothing to dowith her reporting.

In Turkmenistan, thereis silence surrounding thedeath of OgulsaparMuradova, a radio reporterarrested in June 2006.Branded a traitor byTurkmenistan’s president,she was imprisoned formore than two months andwasn’t allowed contact withanyone. Then she was put ontrial. It lasted all of a fewminutes. She was sentencedto six years in prison, andthree weeks later she wasdead. Authorities refused tosay what happened whenthey handed her body to herfamily on September 14.They would not allow anautopsy or an investigation.

Silence.x x x

In Pakistan, especiallyin the tribal areas along theAfghan border, journalistsare under constant threat.While Pakistani authoritiesmade arrests in the 2002killing of Wall Street Journalreporter Daniel Pearl,investigators have producednothing in the slayings ofseven journalists since.

Iraq, of course, remainsthe most dangerous placefor journalists, but...thereare many countries whereeditors and writers, corres-pondents and photo-graphers risk their livesdaily to report the truth. InEthiopia, more than 20journalists are in jail. OnlyChina and Cuba imprisonmore members of the press.

In the DemocraticRepublic of Congo, massivecorruption and a completelack of judicial protectionallow gunmen to operatewith impunity. Tens ofthousands of women havebeen raped, and rarely arethe attackers arrested.Journalists are killed orthreatened, and there is noinvestigation, no justice.Silence.

It would be easy topretend that all these attackson journalists do not have animpact, do not stop reportersfrom pursuing importantstories. But, of course, theydo. In the former SovietUnion,... that attacks on thepress have a “chilling effecton media coverage of thesensitive issues of corrup-tion, organized crime,human rights violations, andabuse of power.” In coun-tries around the world, thechilling effect is the same.

RP ranks 5th

It will interest you to notethat this worldwide survey madeby the CPJ also reveals that thePhilippines ranks fifth in thenumber of journalists killed from1992 to 2006. We ranked behindIraq, Algeria, Russia, andColombia. It will also interestyou to know that broadcastreporters occupy the secondplace in the number of mediapeople murdered. The mostnumber of media practitionerswho lost their lives were theprint reporters and writers.

In the local front, statisticstell us that since 2001, 33 of ourjournalists have been killed inthe line of duty—29 of them wereexposing corrupt governmentpractices in their home provinces

or illegal activities such as drugtrafficking and gambling.2

It is chilling to think that thelives of so many brave souls havebeen reduced to mere statistics.It is even more painful to knowthat only one of these cases hasseen a court’s conviction. InOctober 2006, the assassins ofMarlene Esperat, an investigativejournalist killed in May 2005, weresentenced to life imprisonmentby Judge Eric F. Menchavez ofBranch 21 of the Regional TrialCourt of Cebu City. Still, thislone conviction hardly counts asa significant victory, as a greatmajority of the other casesremain unsolved, the killers stillstalking this land of vitriol andviolence.

The problem of extralegalkillings and enforced disap-pearances has become endemicand remains one of the gravestthreats to our democratic society.It is a deplorable reality thatmocks the Rule of Law, for itnullifies the mother of allhuman rights—the right to life,which no man can dilute withoutdue process of law.

We in the judiciary are asheavily invested in putting anend to these atrocities as you inthe media are. We cannot, nor dowe wish, to wash our hands ofthe responsibility of putting anend to extralegal killings, despitehow easy it is to lay the blame onanother branch of government.We cannot in good conscience usethe passive excuse that we areonly empowered to decide casesbrought to us by the prosecution.The Constitution has em-powered the Supreme Court,through the grant of an expandedrule-making power, to addressthis problem. And so, with thehelp of the other sectors of oursociety, we have seized thisopportunity to do our part inputting an end to this horror.

Using this expanded rule-

making power, we havepromulgated the Rule on theWrit of Amparo to provide aremedy to any person whose life,liberty, and security has beenviolated or even threatened to beviolated by an unlawful act oromission, whether committed bya public official or a privateperson or entity.

When Latin America wasbesieged by the same problem ofextralegal killings and enforceddisappearances in the ’70s and’80s, during the successive reignsof military dictators, judges wereable to use the writ of amparo tostop those killings anddisappearances. It is our ferventhope that we can achieve thesame success here and now.

Due courseThe Rule on the Writ of

Amparo took effect on Oct. 24. Inthe Supreme Court alone, fourpetitions have been filed, and allof them have been given duecourse on the day after they werefiled. They were given due courseeven if the high court wasofficially in recess.

The first successful use of theWrit of Amparo was effected in thePhilippines on Nov. 7 by JudgeReinerio B. Ramas of Branch 18of the Regional Trial Court ofPagadian City, Zamboanga delSur. On that day, he ordered therelease of 33-year-old RuelMuñasque, leader of theChristian Youth Fellowship ofthe United Church of Christ inthe Philippines, upon findingthat the military had no reasonto detain him. Mr. Muñasque’sfamily had filed the petition onOct. 30, after the 53rd InfantryBattalion’s failure to release himfrom custody. He was releasedat 5:30 in the afternoon, on thesame day the order was issued.

We now have reason to hopethat these extralegal killings andenforced disappearances will

dissipate from our landscape.The writ of amparo addressesmany of the problems thatpreviously prevented cases ofthis nature from seeing judicialconclusion, such as lack ofwitnesses and insufficiency ofevidence. But most importantly,it gives expedient relief to thosebeing victimized and preventsthe victimization of those beingthreatened.

Let us not bewail that we, inthe media and the judiciary, haveno physical weapons to use in thefight against those who seek todestroy democracy, against thosewho undermine the society weall covet.

Let all beware that themedia and the judiciary have themutual duty to hold high thetorch of truth for the people tobehold, for it is truth that is thebedrock of democracy; it is truththat is the touchstone of justice; itis truth that sets men free—freefrom man-made chains, free evenfrom their self-made spiritualchains. The media provideinformation and data to ourpeople to enable them to have anenlightened participation in ourdemocratic process, for ademocracy in which the peopleare kept in the dungeon ofignorance cannot last. Thejudiciary dispenses justice on thebasis of truth, for justice based onfalsity is injustice in disguise.

Let it be known that todischarge the duty ofpreserving the sanctity of truth,you in the media and we in thejudiciary do not need the powerof coercion or the power topurchase. We need no morethan a clear conscience, no morethan an incorruptible com-mitment, and no more than thecourage to translate our creedsinto deeds.

Finally, let all rememberand let all be warned that thelight of truth has never beenextinguished, not by any man, notby any might; and that those whotry to bury truth succeed only indigging their own graveyards,for truth is eternal—it cannot beextinguished; it is beyondmurder. n

This was from a speech deliveredby Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno atthe 33rd Top-Level Conference of theKapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ngPilipinas on Nov. 15, 2007.

1 Dennis McQuail, Mass CommunicationTheory (1991).

2 Rachel E. Khan and Jose Bimbo F. Santos“The Deadly Journalist’s Task ofExposing Corruption,” Center for MediaFreedom and Responsibility (2007).

Relatives and supporters of victims of enforced disappearances continue tohope for justice.

...................................................................


MELY URETA will never forget that day. Shehad noticed a man eyeing her husbandRolando and had called his attention to it.

Rolando responded with a joke: “Bakanagu-guwapuhan lang siya sa akin (Maybe he

STILLA widow’s long wait

n By Jose Bimbo F. Santos

CRYINGFORJUSTICE

The Ureta caseis just one ofthe manykillings ofjournalists thathave beengoing on buthave beenmostly ignoredby both thejustice systemas well as thegeneral public...................................................................

EThe incident happened at a

gasoline station in Aklan on NewYear’s Day 2001. Emely recalledthat prior to the incident, herhusband had expressed alarmover the recent murder of aMindanao journalist.

The journalist Rolando wasreferring to was Olimpio Jalapit,Jr., a radio commentator for dyKRin Pagadian, Zamboagan del Sur,who was assassinated bymotorcycle-riding men on Nov.17, 2000 along Purok Esmeralda,Sabate St, Pagadian City. Jalapitwas slain for his commentarieson government irregularities.

Two days after the incident atthe gasoline station, on Jan. 3,Emely’s husband suffered thesame fate as Jalapit. RolandoUreta, a radio commentatorknown for his criticisms againstillegal gambling, the illegal drugtrade and government corrup-tion, was assassinated along alonely highway in Aklan.

just finds me handsome).”Ureta was on his way home

onboard his motorcycle in Lezo,Aklan, after his evening newsbroadcast when an assassinriding pillion on a motorcycleshot him three times.

Ureta was 30. His son withEmely, Kent Christopher, wastwo years old then. He is noweight, but his father’s killer is yetto spend a day in jail.

Dismissed twiceThe Ureta case is just one of

the many killings of journaliststhat, as Chief Justice ReynatoPuno has pointed out, have beengoing on but have been mostlyignored by both the justicesystem as well as the generalpublic.

In a conference hosted by theKapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ngPilipinas (KBP) on Nov. 15, Punosaid that it is “painful to knowthat only one of these cases (ofmedia killings since 2001) has

seen a court’s conviction.”Puno was referring to the case

of Marlene Esperat, a columnistfor the community paper TheMidland Review, who was killedon March 24, 2005, while she washaving dinner with her childrenin their home in Tacurong City,Sultan Kudarat. Suspects GerryCabayag, Randy Grecia, andEstanislao Bismanos wereconvicted for Esperat’s murder

on Oct. 6, 2006 and sentenced tolife imprisonment.

The Center for MediaFreedom and Responsibility(CMFR) has recorded 33 cases ofjournalists and other mediapractitioners killed in the line ofduty since February 2001, and 70cases since 1986.

The Esperat and EdgarDamalerio cases are the only twowork-related media killings

since 2001 that have resulted in aconviction. Damalerio, who wasa radio, TV, and print journalistand a vocal anti-corruptioncrusader, was gunned down inPagadian City, Zamboanga delSur, the same province whereJalapit was killed. Damalerio’skiller, police officer GuillermoWapile, was convicted on Nov.29, 2005, and sentenced to lifeimprisonment.

Puno, noting a recent CMFRstudy, said “It is chilling to thinkthat the lives of so many bravesouls have been reduced to merestatistics.” (See pages 22-23 for thetext of Puno’s speech.)

There’s hopeLike many of the journalists

slain since 1986, Ureta was acritical journalist who made it hislife work to campaign againstillegal gambling, the illegal drugtrade, and government cor-ruption. His evening radioprogram Agong Night Watch inradio station dyKR, where he wasprogram director, was the vehiclefor his blistering reports andcommentaries.

Half a decade after his deathfor his work, Rolando may yetfind justice. Early this year, on Jan.16, the Department of Justice(DOJ), acting on a motion filedby Emely, released a resolutionto reopen the case after it wasdismissed in 2004. It was exactlysix years and 14 days after thebroadcaster’s assassination.

The Jan. 16 DOJ resolutionoverturned the dismissal ofcharges against suspects AmadorRaz and Jessie Ticar by ThirdAssistant Prosecutor ApolinarBarrios on Dec. 6, 2004. The

Ureta’s widow Emelylongs for judgment dayfor her husband’skiller.

Ureta Esperat: Another victim


defendants’ alibis were in-sufficient, said the resolution,which also directed the Aklanprosecutor to file the appropriatecharges against Raz and Ticar.

Barrios had earlier dismissedthe case for lack of probablecause. He rejected the testimonyof the eyewitness, a balut vendornamed Gerson Sonio, whoclaimed he was ten meters fromwhere Ureta was shot. Sonio’stestimony was contradicted bythe testimonies of Perlito Sonio,his father, and of Diego Ma-sangya, his uncle, who contendedthat Sonio was in Iloilo City atthe time of the killing.

Supt. Odelardo Magayanes,who was then the Aklan policedirector helping Emely in thecase, was quoted as saying thatPerlito Sonio and Masangya mayhave been pressured by powerfulindividuals to contradictGerson’s testimony.

Grave abuse of discretionGerson’s testimony was

corroborated by his employerAnthony Tolentino, who said thatGerson was in Lezo when Uretawas killed. A certain Dindo delaCruz also manifested that he hadbought balut eggs from Sonio atLezo on the night of Ureta’sassassination.

Ticar and Raz had questionedSonio’s credibility, noting thatthe latter did not indicate in hisaffidavit that he was a balutvendor.

After Barrios dismissed thecase on Dec. 6, 2004, the localpolice and Emely filed a motionfor reconsideration on Jan. 4,2005, which contained theaffidavits of additional witnessessupporting Sonio’s claim. Barriosdenied the motion on Feb. 10,2005.

The local police and Ureta

then filed a petition for reviewbefore the DOJ on April 27, 2005,alleging that Barrios “gravelyabused his discretion indismissing the complaint formurder based merely on theconjectures of Sonio andMasangya who alleged that thelone witness was in Iloilo Cityand was not at the place wherethe incident happened.”

On July 7, 2005, Senior StateProsecutor Leo Dacera III wrotea letter to Chief State ProsecutorJovencito Zuño of the DOJrequesting that the case be givenpreferential attention.

After the case was reopenedlast Jan. 16, Raz and Ticar filed amotion for reconsideration to theDOJ asking for the retention ofthe case’s earlier dismissal. Thedecision has since been pendingbefore the DOJ. If the DOJdismisses Raz and Ticar’s motion,the case will then proceed to aspecial court designated in Aklan,the first media killing to be triedin such court.

On Nov. 27, despite thepending DOJ resolution on thedefendant’s motion forreconsideration, Raz was arrestedon the strength of an arrestwarrant issued by AklanRegional Trial Court (RTC)branch 4 Judge Marieta JomenaValencia dated Nov. 16, 2007.

Long, trying years“The last six years have been

a long and trying time, waitingfor justice in my husband’s case,”Emely said.

The case had moved at asnail’s pace from the very start,with the local police onlymanaging to file the case on 2004,or three years after Ureta’sassassination. It was in 2003 whenthe number of journalists killedin the Philippines escalated,

spiking to seven from 2001 and2002’s two each.

The Freedom Fund forFilipino Journalists (FFFJ) wasformed in 2003 in response to therising number of attacks andthreats against journalists. FFFJwas formed by six mediaorganizations: CMFR, thePhilippine Center for Investiga-tive Journalism, the PhilippinePress Institute (PPI), the Centerfor Community Journalism andDevelopment, the KBP, and theUS-based newspaper ThePhilippine News.

FFFJ has since then providedfinancial assistance to thefamilies of slain journalists, aswell as in the prosecution of casesinvolving work-related mediakillings. Individually, each FFFJmember organization has alsobeen active in advancing pressfreedom and working against thekillings.

FFFJ contacted Emely in 2004.In January 2006, FFFJ com-missioned a study on the statusof six cases of journalists’ killings,including the Ureta case, todetermine the specific needs ofeach one. One of the findings ofthe study was the need for legalsupport, specifically the servicesof a private lawyer. To address

such needs, a Memorandum ofAgreement (MOA) was signedbetween the Integrated Bar of thePhilippines (IBP) and CMFR,which serves as the FFFJsecretariat, on Dec. 5, 2006.Through the MOA, the IBPprovides free legal services tojournalists being harassed orthreatened, as well as to therelatives of those killed becauseof their work.

FFFJ also helped in securingthe Damalerio and Esperatconvictions, by amplifyingpublic awareness of the issuethrough campaigns, andlobbying for both the case’stransfer to Cebu in order to havea more neutral hearing and alsoto address security concerns of thewitnesses.

Aside from being the first caseto be potentially tried by a specialcourt, the Ureta case is the first tobe taken up by the IBP throughthe MOA. After the case wasreopened last Jan. 16, IBPassigned a lawyer who will serveas the private prosecutor in thecase once it proceeds to trial.

“We are committed to thiscase in the same sense that asjournalists, we have beencommitted to uncovering thetruth. As long as there is nojustice, as long as the truth hasnot been told and honored, wewill continue to support thiscase,” Jose Pavia, executivedirector of PPI as well as boardchair of FFFJ, said.

A good man“Prayers. Just prayers. I just

prayed, daily,” Emely said whenasked of how she had coped withher husband’s death.

“I pray, even thoughsometimes, I still ask why myhusband, who was really a goodand kind man, was the one who

had to die in such a manner,”Emely added.

Ureta in fact seemed to havebeen more than just a “good andkind” man. His involvement withthe media began in the late ’80s,when he took a vocational coursein radio operation at the PanayTechnical Institute from 1989 to1990. In 1990, Ureta went toManila and worked as amessenger for differentcompanies. He went back toAklan in 1993 and enrolled at theNorthwestern Visayas College(NVC), while at the same timeworking as a reporter for radiostation IBC-dyRG and The DailyReporter and Panay News(community newspaperscirculated in the Visayas).

Despite his many activities,Ureta graduated ahead of timeand with honors from NVC in1996 with a degree in English,cum laude. After graduation, hewas immediately accepted as apart-time teacher at NVC,teaching English, Math,Psychology, and Social Sciences.His students remember him as acaring teacher who would go outof his way to look into theirconcerns.

As a broadcaster, Ureta wasknown to be very vocal about theproblems that troubled his homeprovince, among them cor-ruption and criminal activities.

Gus Tolentino, who was thestation manager of Ureta indyKR, said the fallen journalistwas really passionate in his jobas a broadcaster.

“He was balanced in hisreporting (but) when it came toissues like illegal gambling,drugs and corruption, he reallyhad a tendency to be fiery in hiscommentaries,” Tolentino said. n

..................................................................

Chief Justice Reynato Puno: Extrajudicial killings must stop. Photos by LITO OCAMPO

“I pray, eventhoughsometimes I stillask why myhusband, a goodand kind man,had to die in sucha manner.”

Many of the journalists killed reported corruption, illegal drug trade, and illegal gambling.

CRiSiSNATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL

DECEMBER 2007 PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS26

Protests in Malaysia rolldespite gov’t threats

THOUSANDS OF Malaysiansjoined a rare rally in KualaLumpur on Nov. 10 to petition tothe Agong (Supreme Monarch),Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, forfree and fair elections, theSoutheast Asian Press Alliance(SEAPA) reported. The Center forMedia Freedom and Responsi-

NATIONAL

Politician, family attackbroadcaster

A RADIO broadcaster claimedthat he was attacked in his ownbooth by a local politician, hiswife, and his daughter last Oct.24 in Compostela Valley. Thebroadcaster was airing hisprogram at that time.

Roel Sembrano said he was inthe middle of his radio show, AngHaring Lungsod, Ikaw Nasayod(Nation, You Are the One WhoKnows), over MBC Radyo Natin,when provincial board memberNeri Barte barged into his boothallegedly armed with a gun.

Sembrano’s radio show is apublic affairs program in whichhe airs political commentaries.Sembrano said that Barte punchedhim in the right cheek, grabbed awooden trophy, approximately afoot in length, from one of thecabinets in the booth, and hit himon the forehead with it.

Barte’s 21-year old daughterfollowed a few minutes latertogether with her mother,according to Sembrano. Shegrabbed a cup of water whichwas on Sembrano’s desk andpoured it on him, after which shethrew the cup at the broadcaster’sface.

Barte’s wife, Sembrano said,was at the same time pulling hisshirt while slapping andscratching him. Barte, along withhis wife and daughter, wereshouting at him while theprogram was on air, promptingsome members of the municipalgovernment, located a fewkilometers away from the station,to go the station, according to thebroadcaster.

“What is your problem? Whatdid I do to you? You jerk! Youbastard!” Barte allegedly shoutedat Sembrano in Filipino.

Barte, however, has a differentaccount of the incident. Accordingto him, it was his daughter andwife, both of whom upon hearingSembrano criticize Barte on air,who went to the station fromtheir house, which was about 500meters away.

Barte said he onlyaccompanied his wife anddaughter to “pacify them.”Barte also added that he did notlay a finger on Sembrano. Headded that he was not carryingany gun.

But according to DaisyAlejandro, who was then beinginterviewed by Sembrano, itwas Barte who first came toradio booth shouting andcursing at Sembrano, and it wasonly after around 15 minutes

when his wife and daughtercame to the station to join theprovincial board member inshouting, cursing, andharassing the radiobroadcaster. She said she didnot see any gun, but that sheleft the booth to look forsomeone who could mediatebetween the two. Alejandro didnot see any police official whocould intervene, so she wentback to the booth after around15 minutes, and it was then thatshe saw the wife and daughterof Barte in the booth.

Barte told the Center forMedia Freedom andResponsibility that he was angryat Sembrano because the latterwas a “fake journalist” who hadno right to criticize him. Barteadded that Sembrano had noright to say he was a good-for-nothing government officialsince he had already garneredmany awards. He also deniedlaying a finger on Sembrano,because according to him, he is amartial arts expert and if heindeed punched the broadcaster,the latter would now be incritical condition.

Police Inspector LeopoldoMantilla, who came to the radiostation after being called by aconcerned citizen, said that hedid not see any gun. Mantillaadded that when he came to theradio station, the situation wasalready calm as Barte had alreadybeen pacified by Juncel Taquio,the station manager of RadyoNatin. He said that he did not friskBarte since he did not have asearch warrant.

2 broadcasters escapeambush

TWO RADIO broadcasters wereshot by a gunman riding pillionon a motorcycle last Oct. 25 inDigos, Davao del Sur.

Block timers MarlanMalnegro and Ruben Oliverio,who had both just finished theirradio programs in dxDS RadioUkay (Dig), were riding on theirmotorcycles on their way homewhen an unknown man on amotorcycle drew a handgun andfired at them. The incidenthappened at about 8:15 a.m. onGumao-as street, about 200meters away from the radiostation.

Malnegro told the Center forMedia Freedom and Respon-sibility (CMFR) that he andOliverio were not hurt. Thewould-be assassin, according toMalnegro, tried to fire a secondshot but the gun apparentlyjammed.

“After the first shot was fired,

Ruben and I sped toward themayor’s office. I then saw them(the would-be killers) retreat toa nearby compound,” Malnegrosaid.

Malnegro and Oliverioproceeded to the office of DigosCity Mayor Arsenio Latasa, whois the sponsor of their blocktimeradio program. Oliverio hoststhe 7-7:30 a.m. block timeprogram Gabayan (Guide) whileMalnegro hosts the 7:30-8 a.m.Dangpanan (Grievance Desk), bothsponsored by the localgovernment. Gabayan, which hasbeen around since 2001, is aboutdevelopmental news about localgovernment projects, whileDangpanan focuses on politicalcommentaries.

After seeking refuge in theoffice of Latasa, the twobroadcasters proceeded to thelocal police precinct to file acomplaint. The police afterwardsprovided them with onebodyguard each.

Malnegro, who serves as theconsultant on media and publicrelations of Latasa as well as thechairman of the tri-mediaassociation in Davao del Sur,believes that the attack waspolitically motivated, triggeredby the then ongoing campaignfor village elections.

Digos police chief MajorCezar Cabuhat, who said thatthey are already closing in oncertain suspects, told CMFR thatthe attack may be related toMalnegro and Oliverio’s work inthe media.

Days prior to the incident,Malnegro told CMFR that hehad questioned in his radioprogram the provincialgovernment’s scholarshipprogram, saying that it was notwell explained to the people.Oliverio, on the other hand,said that he is not aware of anyissue he may have tackled in hisradio program that might haveprovoked the incident.

Out of the 70 journalists killedin the line of duty since 1986 inthe Philippines, about 42 workedfor radio.

INTERNATIONAL

bility is a founding member ofSEAPA.

Braving heavy rain, policeroadblocks and riot policebeatings, tear gas and chemical-laced water jets, governmentthreats of action against the“illegal” rally, and even PrimeMinister Abdullah AhmadBadawi’s warning the day beforethat he “will not be challenged”by the defiant organizers, mostof the participants succeeded inreaching the National Palace todeliver the memorandum to apalace aide and make their pointen masse, if not in themainstream media.

The need for one of theirdemands—equal access to themedia—was proven by thedearth of coverage of the eventthe following day in themainstream media, which arelargely controlled by thegovernment through ownershipand legislative restrictions. Asper a government order prior tothe rally, their reports quotedonly the authorities—police andgovernment officials—con-demning the rally as “illegal” fornot having a police permit, andeither denying police high-handedness or justifying it, in aclash with participants at one ofthe meeting points.

Wearing yellow, the rallyparticipants numbering about40,000 flooded city streets,according to the organizer, theCoalition for Clean and FairElections. Yet none of suchpictures made it in themainstream media, which merelyquoted the official count of 4,000participants instead of makingtheir own assessment. None ofthe thousands who dared defy theban on the gathering was heardin the mainstream media as towhy they took to the streets.

Instead, eyewitness ac-counts were found on blogs andwebsites of participants, theopposition party andindependent online dailyMalaysiakini, most of whichrecorded high traffic on the dayof the rally, to the point thatvisitors had to be diverted toalternative sites. Amateurvideos and pictures of the rallywere also uploaded on popularonline networking utilityFacebook and video-sharing siteYouTube.

Rally participants and an Al-Jazeera journalist reported howan initially peaceful scene atone of the gathering points nearthe Jamek Mosque turnedchaotic when scores of riotpolice aimed jets of chemical-laced water at hundreds ofpeople and tear-gassed themabout a dozen times, allegedly

without warning. About 4,000police personnel werereportedly deployed to seal offroads and prevent rally-goersfrom reaching the intendedstarting point at IndependenceSquare in the heart of thecapital city. The day before,roadblocks had already been setup on major roads into the cityto screen out participants.

Police said 245 people hadbeen arrested, with all releasedthe same day after theirstatements were recorded.However, the rally organizerssaid only 34 had been arrested. Aflawed electoral system hasresulted in legislative rep-resentations that are grosslydisproportionate to the popularvote and a one-party state sincethe country gained independencein 1957. Sixty-seven civic societyorganizations and oppositionpolitical parties thus cametogether to form the coalitioncalling for electoral reforms, andwent ahead with the rally despitebeing refused a police permit onfears of public disorder.

The 1967 Police Act stipulatesa permit for gatherings of morethan three people. Oppositionand civil society groups,however, have consistently heldup the Constitution’s guaranteefor freedom of assembly underArticle 10 and insisted onexercising their right to peacefulassembly as a means of freeexpression, given the lack ofdemocratic space in themainstream media.

FFFJ hits media crackdownin Pakistan

THE FREEDOM Fund forFilipino Journalists (FFFJ) hasprotested the crackdown onmedia in Pakistan following thestate of national emergencydeclared by President PervezMusharraf.

The statement was issued onNov. 15, Global Day of Action,by the organization which iscomposed of six media groupsformed in 2003 to address thenumerous attacks againstjournalists and news or-ganizations in the Philippines.

Since the declaration of anational emergency in Nov. 3,the Pakistani government gaveitself excessive powers, includingthe power to suspend newspublications for up to 30 days,confiscate media equipment, andimpose stiff fines on violators ofthe new regulations. Thegovernment has also suspendeda number of local andinternational news channels andblocked news websites. n

PJR PJR PJR PJR PJR REPORTS DECEMBER 2007 27CHRONiCLEFilipinos top Asian TV Awards

RIVAL NETWORKS ABS-CBN 2 and GMA-7 were both recognized atthe 12th Asian Television Awards held in Singapore last Nov. 30.

GMA-7’s documentary program Reporter’s Notebook bested entriesfrom Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan to take home the Best CurrentAffairs Program category for its coverage of the war in Lebanon.

ABS-CBN 2’s late-night newscast Bandila won Best News Programfor its coverage of the promulgation of the Subic rape case, toppingentries from Malaysia, Taiwan, and India, as well as GMA-7’s 24 Orasand ABS-CBN 2’s primetime news program TV Patrol World. Bandila’swinning entry was also nominated in the Emmy Awards last September.

Community journalists top 3rd Annual PopDevAwards

THE COMMUNITY press, led by Sun.Star Cebu, swept the awards inthe print division in the third Annual Population Development MediaAwards last Nov. 27.

A Sun.Star Cebu team of reporters, including managing editorCherry Ann Lim, won the top prize as well as the two runner-uppositions in the investigative category. The team’s winning entrywas a four-part series on the plight of the elderly in the province.

Linette Ramos, also of Sun.Star Cebu, was adjudged best in newsreporting for her articles on the local government’s efforts andshortcomings in addressing the province’s problems in education,sanitation, and health. Declared as best opinion writer for print wasThe Mindanao Times’s Rene Ezpeleta Bartolo.

Baguio-based reporter Frank Cimatu was best in investigativewriting for his i Report article examining Ifugao’s new ReproductiveHealth Code and the changes it could bring to the remote town ofTinoc.

Samira Gutoc was best online opinion writer for her i Report pieceon how she became a peace journalist in Mindanao. GMANews.tvwas best in new writing for articles on how issues were tackled duringthe campaign period.

A sweep for Inquirer, GMA-7 at CMMA

GMA-7 and the Philippine Daily Inquirer bagged six awards each in the29th Catholic Mass Media Awards last Oct. 28.

Among the awards Inquirer won were Best InvestigativeReport for a series on the state of education in the country andBest News Coverage for their reports on the Guimaras oil spill.The paper was also cited best in editorial cartoon and newsphotograph while columnists Michael Tan and Nestor Torre, wererecognized, together with The Philippine Star’s Bum Tenorio andWilson Flores, for their opinion and entertainment columnsrespectively.

On the other hand, GMA 7’s 24 Oras and its election special PhilippineAgenda were recognized as the best news and adult educationalprogram, respectively. The network also topped the categories: publicservice (Wish Ko Lang), the adult educational magazine (Kapuso Mo,Jessica Soho), children’s program (Mga Kwento ni Lola Basyang), anddrama (Magpakailanman).

2nd win for Filipino journalist in New Zealand

AN AUCKLAND-BASED Filipino journalist has won the New ZealandHi-Tech Journalist of the Year award for the second year in a row.

Divina C. Paredes, editor of CIO New Zealand magazine, wasnamed the Fronde Hi-Tech Journalist 207 during thePricewaterhouseCoopers New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards inWellington on November 3.

Paredes was the inaugural Fronde Hi-Tech Journalist in 2006 forher articles in MIS magazine, which has since merged with CIO NewZealand (http://www.cioco.nz/).

CIO, published by Fairfax Business Media, is a monthly magazinefor information and communications technology executives.

The judges, composed of ICT leaders from New Zealand andoverseas, said of her entries: “Her distinctive articles focus on themanagement challenges IT executives face. Meticulously researched,Divina’s interviews provide insights from New Zealand and offshoreIT directors, analyst firms and management experts.”

Paredes was also named 2007 Qantas Media Awards magazinefeature writer for information and communications technology. n

OBiT

I NEVER met Claude Jean Bertrand in person. We corresponded when hesent me his questionnaire on the state of media accountability systemsoperating in the Philippines. While this task took some time, I found the

experience instructive as the questionnaire introduced me to more developedstrategies and mechanisms than those that the CMFR had started in thecountry, such as the media monitor and journalism review. It was encouragingto know that someone like him was pushing the frontier in this very difficulteffort of promoting responsible journalism.

Claude Jean Bertrand, pioneer in theadvocacy of media accountabilityBy Melinda Quintos De Jesus

I felt privileged to be linked to hisinternational effort and the briefexchange of views reflected his warmpersonality and sense of humor,making it terribly sad to hear later onthat he was stricken with lung cancerand that the illness forced him to movethe project to a university in the UnitedStates. I felt sorrier still that I did notkeep up the conversation through theperiod of his illness.

To honor the man and his work,CMFR reprints the information culledfrom various Internet sites:

Claude Jean Bertrand, a mediaaccountability pioneer and an expertin the fields of global journalism andmedia ethics, died of cancer last Sept.21 in Paris, France.

Bertrand promoted media ethicsand accountability systemsworldwide. In the website www.media-accountability.org, he cataloguedover 100 media accountabilitysystems (M.A.S.) in use by individuals,groups, and media outlets around theworld.

Bertrand defined an M.A.S. as anynon-governmental means of “inducingmedia and journalists to respect theethical rules set by the profession.”

Explaining his decision to createa website dedicated to media ethicsand M.A.S., Bertrand wrote: “Newsmedia, in order to serve the public well,must be free, free from distortingpressure exerted by political oreconomic forces. To obtain, keep,increase their freedom, media need to

be trusted and protected by the generalpublic. To gain that support, media needto inform readers/listeners/viewersproperly—but also to listen and renderaccounts to them.”

According to Bertrand, all M.A.S. aimat improving news media—but they areextremely diverse: documents (codes ofconduct, for example); people,individuals (ombudsman or reader’sadvocate) or groups (media advocacygroups); and processes, long (such asacademic research) or short (like anethical audit).

Bertrand added: “Some are bornwithin the media (like a correction box);others develop outside (like a journalismreview); and then some involve thecooperation of media and public (like apress council).” Among the best knownM.A.S. are “correction boxes,ombudsmen, journalism reviews andpress councils,” he wrote in anotheronline piece in July 2001. “Among theleast acknowledged: readership surveys,awareness programs, higher educationand non-profit research. Among theleast used: in-house critics, ethicalaudits, and associations of mediaconsumers.”

Among the M.A.S., Bertrand believedthat a press council is not only the mostpopular but the best M.A.S. available.The press council is a permanentautonomous institution and has thecapacity to be multifunctional andadapt to various cultural contexts atvarious levels of society. Mostimportantly, in its ideal shape, a press

council is “the only one that (mostoften) gathers and represents all threemajor actors of social communication,the people who own the power toinform, those who possess the talentto inform and those who have the rightto be informed. Proprietors, reportersand public.”

His advocacy of mediaaccountability highlighted theimportance of media’s role in ademocracy and the public’s role indemanding press transparency andaccountability.

“Half-British, half-French, he wasalways an advocate of ethicaljournalism,” wrote veteran Americanjournalist Juan Antonio Giner in his blog(www.innovationsinnewspapers.com)when he learned about Bertrand’spassing. “Being ethical is goodbusiness,” he remembered Bertrandsaying often.

Bertrand had taught in variousuniversities in the United States,France, Spain and Africa. He wasprofessor emeritus at the French PressInstitute at the University of Paris 2,where he specialized in the fields ofglobal media and media ethics. Since1990, he had participated in variouspress councils, journalism orga-nizations, and media ethicsconferences worldwide. He had alsolectured on media ethics in more than50 countries.

He wrote, co-wrote, and editednumerous books on media ethics thathave been published in numerouslanguages. His last publicationsincluded Médias: introduction à lapresse, la radio et la television (2000)and Media Ethics and AccountabilitySystems (2000). He edited a 2003publication on M.A.S., An Arsenal forDemocracy: Media AccountabilitySystems.

He is survived by his wife Michele,four children, and five grandchildren.

Trinidad, 71

JESUS V. Trinidad, station manager of FM radio station dwYC, died of multiple organ failure last Nov. 9 at the SillimanUniversity Medical Center, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental. He was 71.

Trinidad was also the project officer for Panamin, a non-government organization that protected cultural minoritiesin the Philippines for ten years. He also served as a councilor and a barangay chairman in Guinhulngan City.

Norman Mailer, 84

AMERICAN JOURNALIST and novelist Norman Mailer (born Norman Kingsley) died of acute renal failure on Nov. 10.Known for applying techniques in writing novels to journalism, he co-founded one of the United States’ undergroundnewspapers, the Village Voice. A prolific essayist, he won the Pulitzer Prize twice for pieces that mixed fiction andnonfiction.

Among his novels that ushered in the “new journalism” is The Naked and the Dead, which tackled World War II,when he served in the US army as a rifleman in a reconnaissance platoon in the Philippines. n


BEING THEREOOKING BACK on the events ofthat rain-soaked Thursday, itembarrasses me to report that Iwas scared as hell.

n By DJ Yap

LI was crouched on the carpet of the second

floor lobby of the Peninsula Manila wonderingwhat was going to happen next. Sen. AntonioTrillanes IV and company were holed up in the

Rizal boardroom a few steps from us.The 3 p.m. deadline the

authorities gave them hadlong passed, and the police

had requestedthat all re-porters leave.

Q u i t e

naturally, we felt obliged to stay.At past 4 p.m., gunshots

sounded from the lobby below.In the next few minutes, more ofthe shots—actually they soundedmore like crashes—boomedacross the hall. Each shot drew agasp, or a shudder.

Everywhere around me,people were going about theirbusiness, chattering, walkingaround, talking on the phone. Onthe surface, it seemed everythingwas fine, but the air was thickwith tension. (Now, I knew verywell the authorities couldn’tpossibly open fire at us. Butknowing the military…some-how logic didn’t work.)

Somebody said the policewere going to use tear gas to tryto flush the rebels out. A whitetable cloth was passed around,and the reporters tore strips out

of it using thesharp edge of

a key, or a nailcutter. I cut a

long strip,doused it in

water,

and hung it around my neck.People were joking around.

“It’s been nice knowing you,”one broadsheet reporter said toanother. “Ay, walang ganyanan(Please don’t say that),” the otherreplied.

From out of the blue, an onlinenews reporter said: “Picture,picture.” In one instant, all thetension dissolved in the laughterthat followed as we took groupphotos. Say what you will abouthow unprofessional that was, orhow juvenile. But that momentdid a lot to soothe our frayednerves.

At 4:50 p.m., somebodyshouted, “Tear gas!” just as myeyes began to sting. I wrappedthe cloth around my face,covering my nose. We ran towardthe enclosure where the functionrooms occupied by Trillanes’sgroup were located. (Previously,we were barred from goingbeyond the entrance to thehallway.) We searched for exitsand found none.

The fire exits were blocked,and all other doors were locked.

Trillanes declared they werecoming out, out of concern for thesafety of the civilians present. Wewaited for the tear-gas todissipate. At 6:20 p.m., we walkedout of the Rizal boardroom withhim. There were about 30 of usreporters and cameramen. Therest were Magdalo soldiers, civilsociety and church leaders, andsome civilian supporters.

With tear-gas fumes stillwafting in the air, we filed outon the steps of the main staircase.The Special Action Forces (SAF)troops in gas masks ordered usto sit down. They offered bottledwater to those who could nottolerate the fumes.

After several minutes, wewere asked to stand up. Theyseparated the media from

the rest of the civilians. Bythen, Trillanes and all theMagdalo soldiers had beenescorted out, almost bodilycarried.

An SAF member came upto me with the plastic clampto tie my wrists. I asked:

“What’s that for? Am I asuspect?”

He replied, “Sir, parasa lahat po ito (this is for

everyone).”I shook my head, no, and

moved to the side. He made nofurther attempt to bind mywrists.

At this point, the otherreporters had started raisingtheir voices, objecting to thehandcuffs. The journalists beganjeering the soldiers and thepolice. Finally, Senior Supt.Asher Dolina said, “Nohandcuffs.”

To this, everyone cheered.It seemed a small battle hadbeen won.

The next day, the paperswould headline our arrests. Itwould seem we were victims.Or maybe we were but I neverfelt it. That moment was onereason. We weren’t victimsbecause we never allowedourselves to be.

We were asked to line up ina single file. We boarded a busthat was to take us to Bicutan.They said it was standardprotocol for any witness orsuspect in a crime scene.

The mood on the bus wasjovial. To onlookers in thestreets, reporters screamed:“We’re journalists. Look at whatthey’re doing to us.”

The trip took more than anhour, and I took the chance tocall up the desk, trying to makesense of my notes as I dictatedmy story off the top of my head.

Finally, we reached thecovered court of the NationalCapital Region Police Officewhere a policeman took ournames and the details on ouridentification cards. We werereleased several minutes later.

I got home 15 minutesbefore the 12 midnight curfew.I couldn’t sleep.

I told friends via text: “It wasmildly traumatizing butdefinitely a good topic forfuture conversations.”

A part of me felt relieved weall came out of it unharmed. Abigger part felt proud that Iwas right there, in the middleof everything, as historyunfolded in a hurry.

These are interesting timeswe live in. n

DJ Yap is a reporter for thePhilippine Daily Inquirer.

Somebodyshouted,

“Tear gas!”We searchedfor exits andfound none.

............................................................................

A coverage leads to an unexpected trip

..................................................................

pjr reports december 2007

Documents

camp bagong diwa

zamboanga del sur

loop system pipeline

motels reception desk

human rights violations

davao del sur

human security act

standard operating procedure