Media’s coverage of ArroyoReporting trivia

By Fernando R. Cabigao Jr.

IN REPORTING the release of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo from hospital arrest after the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) ruled favorably on her bail petition, the media’s coverage, although generally fair, lacked context and was sometimes irrelevant.

Arroyo was able to leave the Veterans Memorial Medical Center last July 25 after posting a P1-million bail. Arroyo had been detained in the hospital for almost eight months due to an electoral sabotage case filed against her by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) which alleged that she ordered former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. to manipulate the 2007 senatorial elections results in his area in favor of her senatorial candidates.

Andal Sr., a political ally of Arroyo, supposedly helped her party’s senatorial candidates sweep Maguindanao. Andal Sr. is one of the principal accused in the Nov. 23, 2009 Ampatuan Massacre in which 58 people were killed, 32 of whom were journalists and media workers.

Pasay City RTC 112 Judge Jesus Mupas granted Arroyo’s petition for bail because, he said, the only evidence linking Arroyo to the alleged conspiracy was the testimony of former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas. The court said it had doubts about Unas’s testimony.

In his testimony, Unas said he overheard Arroyo during a dinner in Malacañang in 2007 instructing Andal Sr. in front of other government officials and administration’s senatorial bets to manipulate the election results in his area to let their senatorial bets win in the 2007 senatorial elections.

Being a capital offense, Arroyo’s electoral sabotage case is non-bailable under Rule 114 section 7 of the Rules of Court: “(N)o person charged with a capital offense, or an offense punishable by reclusion perpetua or life imprisonment, shall be admitted to bail when evidence of guilt is strong, regardless of the stage of the criminal prosecution.”

The press did not provide this information as well as follow-up or in-depth reports on the granting of Arroyo’s petition. But it reported every bit of information related to the former president. In most news reports, the press only quoted the court’s resolution and the parties involved. The news media failed to explain to the public why the court thinks the evidence against Arroyo was weak.

PJR Reports (PJRR) reviewed the media’s coverage of the release of Arroyo after being granted bail from July 25 to July 31. PJRR reviewed the coverage of BusinessMirror, BusinessWorld, Malaya, the Manila Bulletin, Manila Standard Today, The Manila Times, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Daily Tribune, and The Philippine Star. Coverage by TV news programs 24 Oras, Aksyon and TV Patrol during the same period were also monitored.

Trivial reports

Plenty were trivial reports in relation to Arroyo’s release from jail. The news programs gave  detailed reports on Arroyo’s daily activities such as the former president’s trying alternative treatment in Tagaytay City following her release, Arroyo visiting her parents’ grave, Arroyo visiting her constituents and giving raincoats to children in Pampanga, Arroyo planning to run again for the House of Representatives.

After Arroyo’s release, the news programs 24 Oras and TV Patrol also interviewed Arroyo’s relatives and allies who were emotional during the interview. In a report from 24 Oras, Candaba, Pampanga mayor Jerry Pelayo was on the brink of tears while explaining how Arroyo’s health had allegedly deteriorated. TV Patrol reported that Luli-Arroyo-Bernas was emotional while explaining how hard it was for her to bear her sick mother’s being criticized.

In print, the Inquirer ran headlines such as “GMA to try alternative treatment in Tagaytay”, “GMA looks happy at Tagaytay spa”, and “GMA gunning for second house term,”. Other newspapers like The Daily Tribune, Malaya, and The Philippine Star published similar headlines.

The Star ran headlines like “GMA returns to VMMC for physical therapy”, “Palace: GMA can run but…”, “GMA to participate in House sessions soon”, “GMA resorts to Facebook to reach out to constituents.”

The Daily Tribune published an article titled “Cabalens egging GMA to seek re-election” while Malaya published an article titled “GMA eyes stem cell therapy for ills.”

Providing context

Most of the newspapers and television programs did not explain how the evidence against Arroyo was deemed weak by the court, resulting in her posting bail. And yet Unas was the only witness of the prosecution linking Arroyo to the manipulation case and his allegedly weak testimony the reason for the decision.

Most of the news reports from the newspapers only described Unas as the former Maguindanao provincial administrator, but forgot to include his alleged ties with Andal Sr. and his alleged involvement in the Ampatuan Massacre.

Unas’s credibility was doubted by the court despite his alleged involvement in the planning and cover-up of the Ampatuan Massacre. Unas was alleged to be the right-hand man of Andal Sr. According to court spokesman Felda Domingo, the court doubted Unas’s credibility because he said he decided to testify against the former president in order to be exempted from criminal charges in the massacre.

Analyzing facts

The media also failed to inform the public of the status of the other complaints against Arroyo, which include human rights violations, graft and plunder cases.

No newspapers and news programs except for Aksyon reported that aside from the electoral sabotage case, Arroyo was still facing one human rights violation case and one graft case while there are six plunder cases against her in the office of the Ombudsman. The plunder cases are related to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Funds anomaly, the Fertilizer Funds scam, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) anomaly, and the NBN-ZTE deal.

The media reported that the allegedly hasty filing of the case was one of the reasons why the prosecution’s case is weak, but failed to explain how it was rushed or how long it took for the prosecution to prepare the case. In response to the media’s report, Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. was quoted in several news reports as denying that the case was rushed because, he said,  it took the COMELEC four months to put the case together.