This Week in Media (December 6 to 10, 2021)

DURING THE WEEK of International Human Rights Day, on December 10, the Supreme Court ruled en banc on the highly problematic Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) enacted by Congress more than a year ago.  

The High Court released its ruling on December 9, declaring as unconstitutional two provisions of the law: first, the definition of terrorism which includes expression of dissent; and second, the provision that empowers the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) to designate a person or a group as terrorist when responding to request of other countries.

Media reported correctly that the justices retained and upheld the rest of the law with all its more contentious provisions, among them the 24-day detention following a warrantless arrest and even without charges, as well as the power of the ATC to freeze the accounts of those it designates as suspected terrorists.

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Media woes

At another level of the judicial system, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Udenna Corporation chair Dennis Uy filed before city prosecutors of Taguig and Davao separate libel and cyberlibel suits against 21 journalists, editors and media executives for reporting on a graft complaint filed against them. The graft complaint, which was filed by private citizens, questioned Uy’s acquisition of a 90 percent stake in the Malampaya gas project, and Cusi’s alleged lack of due diligence in his approval of the deal.

Coverage quoted statements from journalists’ groups decrying the charges. In an interview on ANC’s Rundown, Ruy Rondain, Cusi and Uy’s lawyer, claimed he did not see an actual copy of the graft complaint. Rondain said the media only reported that there was a complaint based on the announcement of its filing in a press conference, but he also acknowledged that media tried to seek the side of his clients.

Broadcast reports pointed out that prior to the press conference, the actual graft complaint had been filed and received by the Ombudsman’s office. A TV5 report also pointed out that the libel and cyberlibel suits did not identify which parts of the news reports Cusi and Uy considered libelous. 

Still on the media, Jess Malabanan, a Manila Standard correspondent based in Pampanga, was fatally shot in his family’s store in Calbayog, Samar on December 8. Pulitzer winner Manny Mogato said in a Facebook post that Malabanan assisted the Reuters team in its award-winning coverage of the drug war. Inquirer reported that Malabanan was provided government security in 2017 due to concerns that he was being surveilled. The Presidential Task Force on Media Security said they are looking at all possible angles in this case, but said the killing might not be work-related as Malabanan “wrote feel-good stories.”

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On the COVID front

The threat of the Omicron variant remains in limbo as far as the government is concerned. News accounts cited South African health experts, the World Health Organization and Dr. Anthony Fauci who all said that evidence so far has shown patients affected by Omicron have been showing mild symptoms and did not require oxygen support. The Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Genome Center announced that no confirmed case of the Omicron variant has so far been found in the country. 

Media referred to the DOH report that at the national level, the Philippines is at minimal risk for COVID-19 “with a negative two-week growth rate at negative 57 percent and a low risk average daily attack rate at 0.67 cases per every 100,000 individuals.” From 103^rd, the country also jumped up to 57^th place in Nikkei Asia’s Recovery Index due to “a significant increase in its infection management scores.”

But CNNPhilippines.com and Inquirer flagged the belated reporting of COVID-19 fatalities as far back as 2020 due to DOH’s own admission that it is experiencing encoding delays. Media have so far not published any information about how and if the DOH has done anything about the delays, and may have failed to inquire more persistently about it. 

CMFR has always pointed out that the failure of government to provide information is part of the story of government’s pandemic response. There may be a clear and significant decline in cases, but delayed encoding casts a shadow of doubt on the wisdom of lowering Alert levels and fewer restrictions on public activities.  

Meanwhile, some public elementary and high schools in Metro Manila have begun pilot implementation of face-to-face classes. Journalists covering on the ground noted measures in place to observe safety protocols, but did not point to the inconsistency of these. For instance, not all schools installed plastic barriers in the classroom, and only a few had antigen testing available onsite, a service that is funded by the local government. Media did not compare and contrast safety measures to point out the uneven implementation. 

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Elections

Media reports have so far kept up with the campaign trail and the candidates. A long-standing staple of news, these themes yield the news agenda to the manufactured messages of campaign managers. 

But two developments reflect on substantive questions about the candidates and their character. This week, another petition to disqualify Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. from the presidential race was filed by no less than his fellow Ilocanos, bringing a total of eight complaints because of Marcos’ failure to pay his taxes from 1982 to 1985, for which he was convicted. The majority of complaints see this as automatically disqualifying the candidate from running. Three of the petitions have been raffled to Comelec’s Second Division, while one has been raffled to the First Division. A 24 Oras report said that should there be no decision on the petitions by December 15, Marcos can still be included in the final list of candidates. Media should flag such a failure as a reflection of the lack of independence or partisanship of the body assigned to conduct and oversee the electoral process.