Mareng Winnie comments on the Media

This is what I have been trying to tell everyone a long time ago. The Philippines do not need "people power revolutions" anymore if there are responsible mass media entities.

As Mareng Winnie said in her Inquirer July 22 column:

...I am sorry to say, the media, which, more often than I am comfortable with, cannot seem to distinguish between generating news and reporting it.

Unless our country has a responsible mass media, we will never be able to swim out of this mess we are in.

Angara tells Noli: I want to be your VP

Or did he?

The Manila Times article of the above title is quite misleading. Did Angara ask Noli to be his VP (in case the latter takes over from PGMA)?

Well apparently, we cannot be sure. The article title is actually according to Serge Osmena whose information came from an undisclosed "reliable source".

Hmmm, so the title of the article should have been:

Osmena Says a Reliable Source said that Angara asks Noli to be his VP.

If I tell the press that the wife of the cousin of my friend tells me that a reliable person's friend who is also reliable says that Bishop Capalla called on PGMA to appoint him chairman of the Truth Commission, could this get to the headline, too?

Who has bought this paper recently?

Why would media want to cover Ely Pamatong?

Is he going to jail? Has he been at the center of a crime scene? Is he dead?

Oh yes, he filed an impeachment complaint in Congress versus the vice president. If I did that, will I be in the news also?

OK, so it is news worthy. Yes, perhaps, even more now that the VP could very well be the next President should the current occupant in Malacanang resigns (which is next to impossible, by the way).

But of all people, why should it be Mr. Pamatong who would do this? Is he not the one whose hobby is throwing spikes around Metro Manila as form of protest? Is he not that one disgraceful individual who want to give all of us US visas, and as if he can do that?

If I was a journalist (I am not) and I stumbled across this character, what would my reaction be? Will I ask him about how good his impeachment complaint is and how confident he is that someone will endorse it (as Inq7.net did)?

Pamatong said he was confident that he would be able to find an endorser for his complaint.

Why the hell should media cover this character?

Adult Unemployment?

I read from abs-cbnnews.com about SWS survey on "adult unemployment" (this link). It was said that it is now at 20%+.

Unemployment among Filipino adults, especially women and new graduates, has reached a new record high of 20.3 percent last May, results of the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed Thursday.

Hmmm, this is the first time I have heard of this. I am not sure but aren't we constantly hearing something like unemployment many times in the past, already? How does this term differ to "adult unemployment"? Is this referring to employment of people in the adult industry (joke)?

The opposition just don't get it.

Yesterday, there was a huge crowd in Makati that gathered in a demonstration to call for President Arroyo to resign. The demonstration was organized by the local government of Makati, headed by Mayor Jejomar Binay, and was joined mostly by FPJ and Erap supporters, some militant organizations (more commonly known as leftist organization), and other opposition groups.

The Inquirer estimated the demonstrators to number around 40,000, a paltry number, even with the presence of celebrity, and is not enough to topple a president. (Note that the Inquirer is now staking their reputation by calling the number of demonstrators, good move for the PDI! Meanwhile, ABS-CBN.com can only quote the estimates by the PNP.) I am sure, the opposition will claim it as a show of huge force even when many of their ranks are as they say were prevented from coming, by the PNP. They claim that busloads, yes busloads, of their supporters from the provinces are being stopped even before they enter Metro Manila.

It is very obvious what kind of spin the opposition is now doing in the media. Whereas before, it is embarrasing (really embarrasing) for organizers to admit that they are bus-sing-in those busloads of supporters (remember the term "kahakot-hakot"?). Now, they spun the situation and cry (even shout) foul that their buses are being prevented to come in. I even saw Cong. Chiz Escudero on TV mouthing that they will file charges versus the PNP for doing that, hoping everyone will forget how shameless their hakot tactics were. Not amazingly, mainstream media (TV and Radio) had itself used again, concsiously I believe, for such brazen propaganda.

The opposition's choice of venue, Ayala Ave. in Makati, also ran smack with propagandists tone. Before, the same venue was used primarily because of the fact that that is the heart of where the most of the protestors are - business people and middle class employees. Now, the opposition brings in their people from all other places to Ayala, to try to show that they can duplicate the past. Yes, a show - and that is mostly what they are trying to do.

I am not sure why, but the opposition just don't get it. All of them, JV Ejercito, Susan Roces, Jejomar Binay, Ernesto Maceda, even Panfilo Lacson - they just don't get it. They do not know, that protests versus Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo cannot gain enough ground precisely because of them.

It has been said by the polls that more than 70% of Metro Manilans want the president out, but where are they in the rallys? I am sure most of the people working in Ayala also want the President out, but they are not there. They are not joining, because they know that the opposition will use them, those opposition figures that looked like vultures waiting for the bloodied president to die.

Come to think of it. Had the opposition figures kept silent after the initial rush of demands for the president to step down, even the CBCP could have chorused the call. This is quite obvious. All statements made, even by Cory Aquino, the bishops of the CBCP, even the 10 resigned cabinet secretaries all say that they do not want to be used and that people should try to discern not to be used by other forces with dark intentions.

Knock knock to the opposition..., anybody home?

Media Rebuked by the CBCP

There are many comments and reactions already made on the recent CBCP pastoral statement, but none touched on the way they try to clarify their stated position and how they rebuked the media for quoting them "out of context" "too often" "in the past".

I was driving that Sunday afternoon, listening to political developments on AM radio, when the bishops held their press conference. I was not surprised at the position the bishops made, a position that did not ask the President to resign. The bishops ought to issue guidelines and not a direct how-to-deal-with-whatever-political-issue-there-is statement. They have to be a bit vague, but not too vague, as their positions are ought to be read (clearly) between the lines.

But there is where the problem is, media read too much between the lines, as what is happening now. Close to inventing situations, media highlight what has not been said, and discredits statements by angling from even a discredited point of view.

For example, it has been said that the papal nuncio had a hand in the supposedly tempered CBCP statement as he allegedly tounge-lashed the bishops (confirmed by two unidentified bishops) prior to the issuance of the statement. I would not be surprised if the two bishops quoted were Bishops Labayen, Iniguez or Tobias, for I am sure that even a gentle reminder to them could be interpreted as a tounge-lashing. When one is guilty about something, even the smallest amount and kindest of words would be grave enough. I would not even be surprised had the three bishops been quoted as being crucified during the CBCP conference and them show their bleeding palms to prove it.

I am not sure if it was Bishop Legaspi or Quevedo or Capalla who made the appeal to the media people present during their press conference, but the appeal they made is more than appropriate: that media must "also" "use their conscience". When said right after the bishops reitirated their call for the President Arroyo to seek her conscience, the appeal to the media generated laughter among those present. Laughter that, in this case, obviously means guilt.

FVR versus the VP

Now it seems clear that former President Fidel V. Ramos' group which forms majority of the party aligned with President Arroyo will not let her be swept by calls for her resignation. They are using their entire political machinery to deflect the effects, if any, of the earlier calls (to resign) made by former President Aquino, the Makati Business Club, the Liberal Party leaders, and the 10 resigned cabinet officials.

And I believe that FVR succeeded in balancing the situation. The calls for resignation has lost their momentum. We are again where we are prior to the resignation of the cabinet secretaries.

Some are speculating on what is the cost of FVR's support to Mrs. Arroyo, to the point of saying that it is the former who is now in-charge (of running the government). It seems that FVR's agenda is to transform the goverment from democratic to parliamentary form, and in which form some say he could still be prime minister (to me, a long shot, given his age).

But what is more importantly evident in FVR's move is the fact that he is not keen on allowing VP Noli De Castro to sit as President. As with most of us, I think the former President does not know the current Vice President, and he would be in an uncertain position when the VP takes over.

At this time, the Presidency seems to be very close to Noli De Castro and, naturally, he must have already conjured in his mind some images of himself sitting on the Presidential chair. As such, he will feel insulted by any (however slight) insinuation that he is not suited for the Presidency, moreso if such insinuation comes from a very important person such as FVR.

Has FVR thought of this? Did he do his assignment and made the necessary preparations? Well I could only hope he does, for if not, FVR would have made a disservice to the country by alienating the VP and pushing us from around this heating furnace directly into the fire.

Will the President Resign?

There were growing calls for President Gloria Arroyo to resign. The latest and the most important of these calls came from former President Corazon Aquino, who made the call right after at least 7 of Mrs. Arroyo's cabinet secretaries (who also tendered their irrevocable resignations), the Liberal Party (headed by Senator Franklin Drillon), and the Makati Business Club (through businessman Raul Concepcion), all made similar calls for Mrs. Arroyo to resign.

But will the President resign? I do not think so. I think that it is NOT in the culture of a Filipino elected official to resign. I do not remember reading or knowing or have seen anyone of them politicians resigning from office in, say, the past 30 years. It is a miracle if Mrs. Arroyo will resign.

So, is Mrs. Aquino doing us a favor? I am sure Mrs. Aquino knows the Filipino politician - so what was she thinking when she made her call? Is she expecting some kind of a miracle?

There is only one remaining argument for Mrs. Arroyo not to resign. She is now being called to resign even while the charges and proofs of her wrong-doings are still easily refutable (this is where our media should have done a better job). She maintains that she is indeed elected by the people, and she could very well be (there is still no proof that she did not win the elections). Could anyone just level an accusation, grow the accusations big enough through our inept and questionable mass media, and bring down the President? If this is true, then every sitting president, even the good ones (which I hope to see in my lifetime), will be vulnerable. A good president will never resign when thrown with accusations (I am not saying and I do not believe that Arroyo is a good President, though). Instead he/she will or should fight for the sake of the people.

So, where is all these leading us? I am sure yesterday, the stock markets are down. The peso tumbled to 56.06 to the US dollar, even after aggressive support from the Central Bank. Indeed, our future is dim.

Well, we have been down here all of our life and it doesn't make so much a difference anymore.