No other news on TV but Poe

From the time Fernando Poe Jr. had a stroke, to his death, and now internment at the Sto Domingo Church, the TV media reports almost no other news. Both ABS-CBN and GMA7 covers the FPJ story from all possible angles. They compete on all sorts of interviews, ... all that would say FPJ is indeed "Da King". Last Wednesday, I watched both GMA7's 24 Oras and ABS-CBN's TV Patrol World who covered this story almost exclusively. Their news program is now turned into an FPJ special.

As far as TV is concerned, there are no more other news. To them, the rising deathtoll from landslides in Quezon and Aurora and more recently Bicol are not of equal worth. The threat of a new typhoon is no news. The continued decline of the US dollar which currency to which our own Peso is sticking to did not deserve attention. The recent GenSan bombing is also no news. There are no more coverage on the illegal logging front. The sin-tax bill is now just mere gossip. Even the bus hijacking in Athens just passed us by without us noticing, while the Filipino nanny of the lover of a UK official who was given special privileges escaped our attention.

Yes, TV is just giving their viewers what they want. And if viewers are more interested on FPJ, TV gives them that. TV is like a parent to a spoiled brat. When we wanted only candies for dinner, only candies would indeed be on our plates. No one cares whether we die of malnutrition and tooth decay.

Shame on this news report

I thought that the Ayala Alabang Village is one of the safest place in the country to live in. I did not realize that one can go on strafing your house with bullets there and get away with it. Of course I was wrong. We all know that rich kids from influential families can do anything they want. The more influential your family is, the more you can do anything.

And when this rich influential kids did something wrong, then the police is there to protect them, rather than protect their victims. Even the newspapers will try to protect their identity. This seems to be what is happening with this news report at the Philippine Daily Inquirer on influential kids gone bad. The newspaper named the victims, but witheld the names of the suspects. Maybe, the Inquirer editors and reporters just wouldn't want their homes riddled with bullets by these punks. Well now, there is nothing wrong with that.. but if the newspaper is frightened, who wouldn't be?

What is more frightening is the fact that in a few years from now, these gun-toting punks could very well even become public officials. Well, good luck to the rest of us.

We understand the Philippines society we live in. We know we are ruled and destroyed by a few competing clans. If this go on, no amount of invitation to foreign investors, or improved tax plans and revenue generating policies could uplift our country.

The Better Pacquiao Report by Today/ABS-CBN

I would like to congratulate Mr. Domenic Menor of Today for writing a better report on Pacquiao's boxing match this afternoon. Mr. Menor told the news as it is, and from an angle that pictures the correct pulse of the people for this fight, that of excitement although everyone believes that it is a mismatch. He noted the huge preparations, and rightfully called it as just a tune-up fight for Pacquiao - a tune up for the coming real fight, his return bout with Juan Manuel Marquez in February, 2005.

Mr. Menor's report is definitely better than the Inquirer's Recah Trinidad, who by her report seems to be working in behalf of the promoters of the fight. Ms. Trinidad tries to build up more excitement by quoting the trash talk usually made by the fighters days before the match. She employed the usual He-Said-She-Said technique, balancing the news by getting the press releases from two sides, without much of a care about their significance or truth.

Her colleague at the Inquirer, Mr. Manolo Inigo, commented of the mismatch - which I saw from the Inq7 website he did twice (here and here). MannyPacquiao.ph even ranked Pacquiao as world #2 (in IBF featherweight), while his opponent is measely #65. The international sports press is not covering much of today's fight. Ms Trinidad herself commented on the mismatch (but with a twist that Pacquiao may have been taking this fight too lightly and by that may lose), in her sports page opinion column on the Inquirer.

Today's fight is significant only if Pacquiao loses. Until that happens, the fight should not have been given any exciting coverage so far by the press. Ms. Trinidad's report is obviously in the category of an advertisement.

On GMA7's and ABS-CBN's Good Hearts 2

Mr. Conrado De Quiros saw it too. In his column today entitled "Giving" at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, he said :

"...I've only three suggestions to add to the spirit of giving that fills us during these times.

The first is that we may do with rediscovering the spirit of humility along with it. I address that particularly to the networks, politicians and business associations that like to draw attention to their magnanimity. I find it irritating when TV hosts in particular take on the attitude that you find in the regular TV shows that offer to ease the pain of the needy and afflicted, one that half-expects the beneficiaries to fall on their knees and kiss the hand of their benefactors in eternal gratitude... "

He further said that

"... the givers can do as well with being more self-effacing. True giving is one where the giver disappears. The kind of giving where the giver looms larger than life is called PR..."

So, what can we call GMA7's and ABS-CBN's relief efforts to help the flood victims?

Still, everyone agrees that the flashfloods happen because of illegal logging - an issue sensationalized by the media just to generate headlines rather than find solutions. It is so bad that many of our people are now dead or suffering partly because our press did not do its job well. Now, the same media, led by GMA7 and ABS-CBN, make it worse by using the victims plight for their own selfish ends.

Marveled and Proud

Often, it is sadly ironic how our leaders speak of devastation that befall our country. I am often amazed by their point views such in the following quotes from todays' Inquirer headline news.

Quoting from former President Aquino:

"... "I have seen our people come together during disasters in the spirit of Bayanihan -- I recall the [1990] earthquake, the Mount Pinatubo eruption, the Ormoc flash floods during my watch -- and I have marveled at our sense of community and volunteerism," Ms Aquino said in a statement..."

At the same news piece, the PDI reported that Pres. Arroyo:

"...said the government's resources and manpower were spread thinly but she was proud that volunteers and the private sector had filled the gap..."

With the above, I cannot help but be amazed that Mrs. Aquino was "..marveled by the sense of community and volunteerism" rather than be embarrassed by the fact that she has not instituted any long-lasting solution to the problem of illegal logging. I am equally amazed that Mrs. Arroyo is proud "that volunteers and private sector had filled the gap" rather than be put to blush by the fact that her government is failing miserably and need the private sector to step in to help those affected by the floods.

On ABS-CBN's and GMA7's Good Hearts

I watched yesterday's edition of ABS-CBN's TV Patrol World and GMA7's 24 Oras alternately. The big news of the day is the flashfloods' davastation of some towns in Quezon, Aurora and Nueva Ecija. However, the main focus of both network's news report are not on the victims but on their own relief efforts to help the victims. They focus on their own good hearts, rather than those who suffered.

Now is there something wrong with this?

Helping flood victims is surely a good thing. Bringing them food and clothes and help to bury their dead and maybe even just provide a shoulder to cry on is praiseworthy. It is indeed the least they can do at this time. I agree, those relief operations are themselves news and must be covered by the press.

But rather than just airing the news, GMA7 and ABS-CBN are more of aggrandizing the good deeds they are doing. They glorify themselves and for what purpose? I suspect, marketing. For if they are just delivering the news and help at the same time, why is GMA7 not covering the relief operations being done by ABS-CBN and vice versa?

The question is why there are flash floods in the first place? Typhoon season after typhoon season, we know the lessons that illegal logging and government corruption teach us. We know that corruption results in death of many people - corruption that happen right before ABS-CBN's and GMA7's noses.

Illegal Logging

Everyone knows the reason for the recent flashfloods that happened in some places in Quezon province, and which killed hundreds if not thousands of poor people. The country experiences more than 25 typhoons per year and we are supposedly experts by now in dealing with it, yet this tragic events happen everytime.

The first time I heard this week's flashfloods, I hear people on the streets talking about illegal logging as the culprit, again. The mayors of the towns affected by the flashfloods says the same. Even President Arroyo says so which BBC reported:

"...President Gloria Arroyo visited some of the worst-affected areas on Friday, and blamed illegal logging for leaving the landscape more prone to storm damage.."

So everyone knows about it, but nobody seems to know what to do about it. I am resigned to the certainty that there'd be more deaths from flashfloods in the coming years.