Hits and misses in the coverage of “creeping martial law”
September always reminds Filipinos of martial law and coincidentally close to the end of the said month an alleged Malacanang plan to place the country under military rule or a state of emergency reached the front pages.
The plan was supposedly slowly being implemented, according to the opposition. “Creeping martial law”, it has been called, and media have been buying the line. A string of pronouncements, measures, and events in September and October has been offered as proof: the calibrated preemptive response or “CPR”, which is the government’s latest policy toward protesters; Executive Order 464, which prohibits public officials to appear before congressional inquiries without the President’s permission; an alleged plot to assassinate President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo supposedly traced to former president Corazon Aquino and Senate President Frank Drilon; a warrant for the arrest of Jesus Is Lord leader Eddie Villanueva; the alleged railroading of the anti-terror bill; suspected destabilization attempts against the government; and a secret draft prepared by justice secretary Raul Gonzalez for a government takeover of public utility firms in the case of “national economic emergency.”
Media fed the public with daily updates about these moves. Surprisingly, for all the attention showered on politics, a major daily missed out on a big story.
Star’s pro-Arroyo bias?
The Philippine Star failed to report the October 14 dispersal of a prayer-cum-protest rally in Mendiola. The rally was supposedly on its way to the San Beda church, but the marchers were stopped at the historic Mendiola bridge by a strong blast from water cannons. Among those hosed down were former Vice-President Teofisto Guingona, running priest Fr. Robert Reyes, Sen. Jamby Madrigal, and TV host Oscar Orbos. The Palace and the Manila government had declared Mendiola a no-rally zone.
The dispersal made it to the early Friday evening television news and morning edition of daily newspapers, except the Star.
The Star’s failure to report on the October 14 rally was interpreted as a blatant display of bias for the Arroyo administration. Text messages calling for a boycott of the newspaper quickly circulated. The paper had been supposedly “bought” by Malacañang. The text reached Star publisher Max V. Soliven, who was then in Europe. In his October 18 “By The Way” column, Soliven said he was embarrassed that his paper did not run the story. He called the Star editors, sought for an explanation and asked who was responsible for the big blunder. “The following day, a day too late, was a follow-up headline: ‘Guingona III: Rally dispersal form of tyranny, oppression’,” Soliven added.
Soliven’s reaction to the boycott call seemed indifferent: “Oh well. Those who believe that stupid canard must already be readers of the other newspapers anyway. Truth will prevail, as our masthead says. No more excuses.”
Faulty reports
The Daily Tribune has been carrying alarming stories that needed follow up, if only to determine the veracity of information passed on to readers. On October 8, the Tribune headline said that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) issued a “shoot-to-kill” order against those caught recruiting soldiers to destabilize the Arroyo government and resisting arrest. Other newspapers reported on the AFP directive but were silent on any “shoot-to-kill” order. If the Tribune banner were accurate, how come other papers missed the story?
On television, comments dished out by news anchors sometimes bordered on insensitivity to unawareness. Former vice president Teofisto Guingona, who absorbed the impact of the water cannon blast during the dispersal of the protest rally in Mendiola, was consoled by GMA-7’s Mike Enriquez at the end of his interview with the line, “Buti na lang, hindi kayo nasaktan (It’s a good thing you weren’t hurt). Enriquez apparently didn’t watch his network’s own video of the dispersal, which spoke volumes.
The Manila Times columnist Dan Mariano gave a lecture to those who insinuated that the protesters were not really hurt because the police used water, instead of batons, during the dispersal. In his October 17 “Big Deal” column, he said: “It may have been ‘just water’… but with enough pressure any liquid can develop sufficient force to demolish even the hardest solid. In many modern metallurgical workshops, for instance, high-pressure water is now used to cut metal, including steel and titanium.”
He added: “Just water, ha? Members of my generation who, in our youth, took to the streets by the tens of thousands against another power-hungry president are all too familiar with the kind of pain high-pressure water can cause. At full blast, a fire hose requires the muscle power of several burly firemen to control. In fact, a wayward nozzle could quickly turn into a deadly weapon.”
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