Media on Elections and Violence 2016
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| Lanao del Norte (including Iligan City)
The stories on the incidents in Kauswagan town clearly painted the perennial tension in the town which dated back to the results of the 2010 polls that swept a person with dual citizenship status to power. This context was neatly reflected in the reports. However, the coverage missed a key story: why it took a long time for the Department of the Interior and Local Government to enforce the Supreme Court ruling. The story on the attack in Salvador lacked context. Prior to attack, both camps—which are relatives both by blood and affinity—have led to tensed relations owing to the contest for elective seats. Usually, clan feud ensue among relatives in the town due to unsettled differences in their political ambitions. The stories on Election Day incidents in Salvador and Tagoloan were only spot reports that provide only very basic details, not even hints of how this affected the voting process in the said towns. The one on Munai incidents described how the incidents of violence, which shaped up a day earlier, affected the balloting exercise. Except for TV and radio, print and online media no longer chronicled the obtaining tensions in Iligan City between supporters of re-electionist mayor Celso Regencia and outgoing Rep. Vicente Belmonte (who is supporting a rival of Regencia). These date back Dec. 11, 2014 when Regencia’s men supposedly ambushed Belmonte who mysteriously escaped unscathed while three of his men were killed. Media attention to the shaping political scuffle may have helped tone down the respective camps’ actions on each other, which also led to a ‘boring’ assignment. The regional newspaper Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro had a good tracking of the twists and turns of the incidents in Lanao del Norte, especially Kauswagan town. Misamis Occidental The news stories of these incidents were merely spot reports and never contained any context and deeper information. For instance, there was failure to explore the possible connection between the killing of Don Victoriano town’s deputy mayor last December 2015 and the January 25 ambush. Reporting on the ambush also lacked attention to basic details like which part of the body Hamoy’s aides were hit, if only to help ascertain that this incident, in a remote part of the province, was not made up for voters’ sympathy. Zamboanga del Norte In all, the news media was able to report the death of one and the wounding of another in poll-related violence in the province. The stories on the alleged attacks against Rep. Jalosjos and a Dipolog City broadcaster lacked verification from authorities or witnesses, which could have clarified some of the questionable claims: (1) Jalosjos was very exact in his count of 40 gunshots unleashed at them; (2) no one was injured despite the barrage of bullets and the throng of people gathered for Jalosjos’ miting de avance when they were supposedly attacked; (3) Carbo was very quick to name a re-electionist politician as suspect in the shooting of his car. Elections is a really bizarre exercise in the Philippines in that incident of this nature—whether made up or real—are employed as part of the tricks to sway voters’ sympathy. Zamboanga Sibugay The violence in Tungawan town has caught the continuing attention of journalists, especially those in nearby Zamboanga City. The string of incidents has the making of a traditionally interesting coverage: it started with the spilling of blood through the ambush-slay of the outgoing Tungawan mayor. But not many followed the non-violent aspects of the Tungawan drama—the filing of cases against suspects in the October 2015 ambush, and the efforts to prevent more violence which figured in a Zamboanga Times story on the signing of peace covenants among political camps and candidates. The Zamboanga City-based newspapers have a good tracking of the twists and turns of the incidents in Zamboanga Sibugay, especially Tungawan town. |
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