Print Monitor
Go figure
LAST DEC. 30, The Manila Times reported on Malacañang’s commitment to a “stronger” political climate by 2007 that would “cement economic gains and bring the Philippines to First World status by 2020.” The Palace’s big words came after a Social Weather Stations survey showed that nine out 10 Filipinos awaited the new year with hope (“Malacañang sees stronger political climate by 2007”).
The report quoted Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita who said that local and foreign investors have remained bullish “despite repeated attempts to destabilize the government.” He also said that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had directed the Cabinet to focus on the government’s antipoverty program.
The Times likewise noted the statement of Palace spokesman Ignacio Bunye, who said: “The eyes of the world are all set on us now and we must keep the momentum on all fronts—more investments, better-paying jobs, enhanced social services, more micro-enterprises and reduced poverty.”
Unfortunately, the extensive quota-tions were not matched by supporting details.
An earlier Times report had the same treatment. It reported on Arroyo’s Christmas message that the nation “grew stronger in 2006” and that the reforms initiated by her administration would bear fruit the following year.
What reforms the President was referring to, the Times left its readers to figure out for themselves (“GMA says reforms to bear fruit in 2007,” Dec. 26).
THE JAN. 9 issue of the Manila Standard Today reported that a plan to launch a second people’s initiative to amend the Constitution has lost steam “after failing to gain support from Malacañang.”
The report quoted various govern-ment officials as well as Raul Lambino, spokesman of the pro-Charter change Sigaw ng Bayan (Shout of the Nation) who, in effect, were saying that they had nothing to do with the fresh attempt to start a people’s initiative campaign because of the forthcoming May elections. The first people’s initiative launched by Sigaw ng Bayan had the full support of government and local officials.
Standard Today left a very basic question unanswered: Why was the Palace cool to another people’s initiative? (“Palace puts re-launched initiative on back burner,” p. A1)
Very Deep Throats
A THREE-PART report of The Manila Times about terrorist organizations was very interesting and informative, but was hobbled by a weakness common among such stories—a lack of identifiable sources.
The first part, which came out last Jan. 7, discussed the increasing dependence of terrorist groups on criminal activities such as smuggling and the manufacturing of counterfeit products to fund their operations. Quoting an unidentified “official of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines” and “AFP officers from different service units,” the report said some groups have stopped tapping legitimate front associations and are now using unsuspecting middlemen to raise funds.
A senior police official was the main source of the second part of the series, which was published the following day. He explained the difficulties encountered by the authorities in fighting terrorists as well as the problems posed by the limitations of the country’s anti-money laundering law and the absence of an anti-terrorism legislation.
The Jan. 10 conclusion of the series assessed the effects of a so-called Muslim diaspora to urban centers in the different parts of the country. The story was based on a 2005 Human Development Report on the Philippines. The Times did not say who commissioned and made the study.
Interesting story
MALAYA RAN a three-piece story from Jan. 15 to 17 on a special unit of the US Armed Forces lingering in Mindanao and allegedly participating in local military operations. Herbert Docena of the policy research institute, Focus on the Global South, wrote the series, which is part of a longer report that the organization published.
The first part, “US troops’ ‘uncon-ventional’ presence,” revealed that a US Special Operations Forces contingent—which is not part of the Balikatan exercises—has been in Mindanao for the past five years.
There are no specific figures on the number of soldiers or delineation of activities by the group known as the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines (JSOTF-P). Claiming to have no “specified targets,” the unit has admitted to be part of the US-led “global war vs. terror.” They also claim to be “advisers” of the local military.
The second portion, “US forces join operations vs Abu,” told of eyewitnesses who had observed the American troops taking part in the Armed Forces of the Philippines’s campaigns against the Abu Sayyaf. The report also alleged that JSOTF-P activity was part of a larger plan to make the Philippines an “intelligence fusion center” as a “special vantage point” for the US government. Their humanitarian projects are not only supposed to gain the local residents’ sympathy but also to “extract information necessary for combat.”
The final segment, “RP as US supply base” alleged that the US might be using the Philippines, via the JSOTF-P, as a military installation by which the US will have access to Asia. It also expressed concerns that these forces are “maintaining a long-term, low-visibility presence in many areas of the world where US forces do not traditionally operate,” and may actually be embedding another form of US military bases in the country.
Another angle
THE PHILIPPINE Daily Inquirer did a good job in zeroing in on a different and very important angle in the custody issue of Daniel Smith, the US Marine convicted of raping a Filipina.
On Dec. 27, the Inquirer reported on how the cancellation of the RP-US Balikatan joint military exercises due to the custody issue would affect the economies of Clark and Angeles City in Pampanga and Subic Bay Freeport and Olongapo City in Zambales (“No RP-US war games? ‘Minimal to significant losses’ expected”).
The report sought the views of businessmen and local officials who predicted a decline in the income of tourism-related businesses in those areas. The Balikatan exercises, which were unilaterally cancelled by the US on Dec. 22 but later restored after the transfer of Smith to US custody, would also have an impact on the sex trade in Zambales. The paper quoted a women’s group in Olongapo that said the Balikatan suspension “would spare bar workers in the city from sexual exploitation.”
Not exactly news
The Jan. 18 report of the BusinessMirror on the government’s plan to enter into new contracts with independent power producers (IPP) to raise money for the forthcoming elections was more of an opinion piece rather than a news report.
Part-list representatives Teddy Casiño (Bayan Muna or Nation First), Emmanuel Villanueva (Citizens’ Battle Against Crime and Corruption), and Crispin Beltran (Anakpawis or Toiling Masses), all identified with the opposition, claimed that the fund-raising scheme would be preceded by a scenario where the President would declare the existence of a power crisis. The supposed crisis would be used to justify sweetheart deals with favored IPPs.
Quoting Casiño, BusinessMirror pointed out a statement by Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla who reportedly said that a provision in the Energy Power Reform Act empowers the president to seek emergency powers from Congress and secure new power contracts in case of a power shortage situation. Villanueva and Beltran echoed the same suspicions.
Sorely lacking in the BusinessMirror report was a reaction, even an expected denial or no comment, from the administration, which could have provided the story with the needed balance.
Tracing a failure
THE PHILIPInquirerPINE Daily ’s three-part report on the modernization program of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was a well-done in-depth study. (“Program setbacks: AFP modernization drive sputters,” Jan. 8; “Favored suppliers bag AFP deals,” Jan. 9; and “RP peacekeepers dealt ‘unkindest cut of all’,” Jan. 10).
The report noted that with the AFP Modernization Act (Republic Act 7898), the Armed Forces now “should have been a modern, professional force capable of dealing with both external threats and internal security concerns.”
But this has not been the case as there had been little acquisition of new equipment for the AFP, said the report, which revealed the “culture of inefficiency and corruption that plagues AFP.”
Tracing how the AFP spent its modernization fund, the series cited reports from the Commission on Audit and Department of National Defense that showed how the money was spent on items that had little to do with the modernization program.
The articles also exposed the procurement malpractices in the military. “While the AFP top brass wrangle over knotty contracts, equipment on which the lives of ordinary soldiers depend remain lacking in the field,” said the report, giving credence to the issues raised by the Oakwood mutineers in 2003.
In-your-face photo
Perhaps attempting to establish the identity of slain Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Solaiman, Malaya printed a clear headshot of the dead bandit group officer on the front page of its Jan. 18 issue. Guilty of the same insensitivity was The Manila Times. Other papers opted for less crass when they used photos of Armed Forces of the Philippines officers presenting a picture of Solaiman’s body instead.
And so?
IF A statement is significant enough to be reported, shouldn’t a journalist take the extra step to have it explained?
The Philippine Daily Inquirer picked up the statement of Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez that Malacañang’s decision to transfer Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith to the US Embassy last Dec. 29 was better than pardoning him.
In the Jan. 4 report, Gonzalez implied that the government had only two options in dealing with Smith’s case: transfer the Marine to American custody or grant him presidential pardon.
But the Inquirer did not pursue the angle. Gonzalez was not asked why the government had only two alternatives in addressing the issue and what the legal bases were for his assessment.
Completing a story
THE PHILIPPINE Daily Inquirer ran articles on the World Bank-funded textbooks that would be used in schools when classes open in June this year (“12M textbooks out of storage, set for distribution,” Jan. 3 and “Supplier asks SC to lift textbook TRO,” Jan. 10). The Inquirer reported that while the social studies textbooks had undergone quality inspection, there remained printing and binding errors.
Unfortunately, the paper forgot to tackle one significant detail—the quality of the textbooks’ content. It merely quoted an education official as saying that the books “underwent a four-level content evaluation by experts on the subject.” There was no mention of the results of the evaluation, or any indication if the books contained factual errors. There was also no explanation of how the evaluation was done.
These details are important since the P800-million textbook contract was awarded to Vibal Publishing House, the company involved in the distribution of the Makabayan textbooks in 2004, which were ridden with errors and which the new textbooks will replace.
Freaky report
A PAIR of conjoined twins had died and the Manila Bulletin tossed all sensitivity to the wind as it reported, “A freak baby with two heads and three legs was born on the feast of the Three Kings in a farming town in South Cotabato…. What was surprising was that one head was that of a baby girl, while the other was that of a boy. Both were good-looking with fair complexion.” (“Freak baby born in South Cotabato,” Jan. 11) n
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