Media on Elections and Violence 2016
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Western and Central Visayas Scope and Time Frame The report for Visayas took note of violent incidents in reports from January 10 to May 8. Western Visayas, Negros Island Region (NIR) and Central Visayas. Western Visayas includes the provinces of Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras and Iloilo, while Negros Island Region is composed of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental (the NIR was created in 2015). Three provinces comprised Central Visayas. These are Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor. Eastern Visayas covers the provinces of Leyte, Biliran, Northern Samar, Samar, Eastern Samar and Southern Leyte. In 2013, the PNP had identified 173 cities and towns in the Visayas as EWAs in relation to the May 13 elections. The towns and cities were categorized as areas of concern because these were affected by the communist insurgency, intense political rivalry and had a history of election-related violence. Most of the incidents involved shooting (5 of 9) and almost all the victims (6 of 7) were supporters of candidates. The Philippine National Police has, however, confirmed only the following number of incidents as election-related: Western Visayas (1-Balasan, Iloilo) and none for Negros Island Region. The other incidents have been categorized as non-ERI as these purportedly did not meet the parameters for the declaration of an incident as ERI. Supt. Gilbert Gorero, spokesperson of the PNP in Western Visayas, said the ERI are crime incidents occurring within the election period “which could affect or disrupt the electoral proceedings or create a form of political tension that could eventually upset the electoral process.” Gorero said that the mere involvement of candidates or supporters in crime incident does not automatically categorized the incident as ERI. Nor does the presence of New People’s Army rebels or other threat groups in an area automatically make a city or municipality as an EWA. The categorization is stricter and narrower compared to previous elections. Evaluation of media coverage The coverage of media focused on basic details of the incident based on police reports and on interviews with victims or candidates they were supporting. These included the date, place, time and nature of the incident, casualties, victims and perpetrators and actions taken by law enforcement agencies. The follow-up stories delved into updates on investigation being conducted by the police, statements and reactions from officials of the Commission on Elections and on identification of perpetrators. There was hardly any focus on providing context and historical background on the violent incidents and political records of contending candidates and if they belong to political dynasties. The PNP has highlighted the much lesser number of election-related incidents compared to previous elections. Supt. Moises Villaceran Jr., spokesperson of the Police Regional Office-18 (NIR), said the significant reduction of ERIs was due to the pre-emptive measures conducted by the police including holding of dialogues between rival candidates and the requesting candidates who are holding licensed firearms to deposit these before police stations. The significant number of unopposed candidates was also cited as one of the probable reasons for the dropped in the number of violent incidents in during the election period. In Western Visayas and NIR, many candidates were unopposed due to the thrust of the Liberal Party to consolidate their base to help in the candidacy of former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and other LP national candidates. But the lower figures of the PNP compared to incidents reported by the media showed the drop in ERIs was not necessarily because of a significant decline in incidents but due to the categorization and evaluation of these incidents. There was minimal media focus and critical reporting on the evaluation of the PNP and the setting of much stricter and even limiting parameters. For example, physical violence among supporters of rival candidates which were categorized as election-related in previous elections were dismissed as due to personal reasons, according to the new criteria set by the PNP. The assessment on the peace and order situation was limited to the data provided by the PNP and/or Commission on Elections. There was little or no independent analysis based on data in previous elections. This raises questions on the conclusion of the PNP that the 2016 elections were significantly much peaceful based on a much lower number of violent incidents. |
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