Print Monitor

A unique retirement plan
NEWSBREAK REPORTED an interesting trend in the May 2007 elections—an increasing number of former military and police officials were seeking public office.
The April 13 report identified 27 retired police and military officials running for public office and the positions they were eyeing. Their number is the highest since the phenomenon was first observed in 1987. A total of 47 former policemen and soldiers have ventured into politics from 1987 to 2001, but only 10 percent have succeeded.
Still, according to political science professor Raymond Quilop of the University of the Philippines, it’s better to see retired police and military men running in the elections rather than having them simply appointed  to government positions.

Go and ask
THE MANILA Bulletin missed an interesting angle in its story about this year’s local elections in Mandaluyong (“Opposition to boycott Mandaluyong polls,” April 3).
The Bulletin reported that the opposition would not field any candidate in Mandaluyong City to protest “alleged political maneuvers of Comelec (Commission on Elections).”
The article was based on a statement by the United Opposition and Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban on the candidacy of Benhur Abalos and his brother Jonjon, who are running for mayor and councilor, respectively. Benhur and Jonjon are sons of Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos Sr., who is in charge of overseeing the elections in the National Capital Region, including Mandaluyong City. Arsenio Abalos, brother of the Comelec chair, is a nominee of the party-list group Biyaheng Pinoy.
Raising the issues of fairness and conflict of interest, the opposition asked a legitimate question: Can the Comelec chair be expected to rule against his sons and brother? That would have been a good angle to explore. Unfortunately, the Bulletin asked neither Comelec nor Abalos how they would handle possible cases against the politicians in the family.

Loren’s ‘sinta’
THE MANILA Times was giving Loren Legarda’s campaign such a big boost during the campaign it could have been mistaken as a public relations arm of the senatorial candidate.
When Legarda topped the trust ratings in a Pulse Asia survey (Feb. 28 to March 5), the Times went all-out for the senatorial aspirant in the story, “Legarda humbled and honored by people’s trust” (March 31).
It used the candidate’s quotes extensively: “To be trusted by the people in this age of cynicism and skepticism is the best compliment an aspiring public servant can hope to get,” and “Trust comes to those whose acts are in keeping with what’s right and proper for all concerned.”
The article also cited a list of the trust rating surveys that Legarda topped when she was at the Senate and in her current comeback bid.

What Nikki did
THE DAILY Tribune article “Nikki exposes overpriced computers at DepEd” last April 15 was more confusing than informative.
The headline made it appear that Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate Nikki Coseteng was the one who exposed the alleged overpricing. Yet the lead of the story established that there were existing reports about the case and that Coseteng was merely reacting to the story.
The report did not get the side of the Department of Education.

The problem with predictions
IT WAS an interesting story, except that it didn’t have solid ground to stand on.
Reporting on the predictions of the administration and opposition about the outcome of the senatorial elections, The Daily Tribune came out with a story titled, “Tamano: Mike D to win via ARMM ‘fraud:’ Palace: GMA foes ‘cowards’ sure to lose” (March 21).
The article started by pointing to the administration’s Team Unity (TU) senatorial candidate Michael Defensor as “the chief beneficiary of dagdag-bawas (vote padding-vote shaving) that is now in place in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.”
The article did not have the side of Defensor and focused mainly on the statement of Adel Tamano, Genuine Opposition (GO) spokesman, who quoted anonymous sources.
According to Tamano, his sources told him that an ABC (Anybody But Cayetano) movement had been “founded by Malacañang allies in the region” to make sure that GO senatorial candidate Alan Peter Cayetano would lose. The move is meant to score brownie points with First Gentleman Mike Arroyo.
The same sources reportedly said that “votes intended for Cayetano will go to Defensor through dagdag-bawas.”
The story did not say why “GMA’s foes” were described as “cowards.” It merely said that Malacañang had “maintained that the TU senatorial bets will sweep their GO rivals because the latter are ‘cowards’ whose defeat, it said, is a foregone conclusion.”

Intriguing information
The Manila Standard Today has given the administration a platform from which to bash the opposition.
Team Unity Spokesman Ace Durano had a field day sowing intrigue in the opposition (“Opposition heading for breakup,” April 11) as he said that “junking” would “become the name of the game” in the latter stage of the contest.
The reporter added fuel to the fire with his own assessment which had no attribution.
“Another factor that confirms the row within the Genuine Opposition was the insistence of former President Joseph Estrada to hold a big rally in Cagayan de Oro City, which some Genuine Opposition campaign strategists have privately dismissed as ‘personally motivated,’” the reporter said.
Only Durano was quoted in the report.

Tell us how
Genuine Opposition senatorial candidates Aquilino Pimentel III and Nikki Coseteng got a lot of media mileage from Malaya courtesy of a news story from the administration (“Diversion of P1B to campaign kitty feared,” March 27)
Reacting to the P1-billion anti-hunger fund ordered released by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Pimentel and Coseteng warned that the money “could be diverted to the campaign kitty of Team Unity (TU).” They did not say, however, how this was going to be done.
The article included the opposition’s various theories regarding TU’s source of campaign funds and its reading of what might go wrong in the administration’s projects based on past events. This enabled the GO candidates to present their platforms and outline their plans should they win the elections.
The story was based on the statements of Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Manuel Villar, and Alan Peter Cayetano, which did not add to the credibility of the allegations in the story.

Context equals clarity
IT COULD have been just another story about party politics, but Malaya wrote the story on the leadership problem of the Liberal Party (LP) with the clear aim of making the reader understand what was going on.
The newspaper gave a detailed account of the Supreme Court’s (SC) affirmation of Sen. Franklin Drilon’s leadership of the LP (“Tribunal upholds Drilon as LP prexy,” April 18).
It also outlined events that led to the leadership struggle between Drilon and Manila Mayor Lito Atienza and the eventual split of the party into two factions. It included the reactions of both camps to the SC decision as well as the options available to the Atienza camp.
The article discussed the LP charter which weighed heavily on the high court’s decision.

Exposing without proving
TWO STORIES from Malaya, which came out on March 26 and April 19, raised more doubts about the credibility of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) without presenting proof of malfeasance.
The article, which accused the Comelec of manipulating campaign paraphernalia to swing votes in favor of Team Unity candidates, were both based on statements made by Genuine Opposition (GO) bets who, in turn, cited reports from unnamed sources. No evidence was presented.
GO candidate John Osmeña claimed that the errors committed by Comelec in printing election returns were a prelude to massive cheating.
Osmeña alleged that the production of multiple copies of election returns would lead to confusion and allow Comelec officials to cheat. According to law, the second copy of election returns should be final. But Comelec had already printed seven and marked the seventh copy as the one that would be posted come election day.
The fears of cheating raised by Osmena were based on his interpretation of what could happen. Fellow opposition candidate Loren Legarda agreed with Osmena’s allegations.
In the story “Rigging of soldiers’ ballots bared,” Legarda accused the Comelec of printing ready-made absentee ballots with TU candidates’ names on them, waiting only for the signatures of soldiers in Bukidnon to make them valid.
Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro, Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman, denied the report. Legarda’s accusations were based on claims of alleged unidentified soldiers stationed in Bukidnon. She did not present copies of the questionable ballots.

On handling propaganda
THE MANILA Times yielded premium space to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) report on crimes allegedly committed by the New People’s Army (NPA) against the Filipino people (“More NPA abuses seen early this year, says AFP,” April 11).
On the basis of data from the AFP, the story listed the atrocities allegedly committed by the rebels against the military such as “harassment, liquidation, and ambuscade(s),” and against “hapless civilians and private citizens” like “arson, shooting, and liquidation.”
The report cited cases for each month from January to April. It ended with hints of more violence and bloodshed: “The NPA terrorists continue to indiscriminately use force to spread fear and panic (among) the populace, however, the military has been successful in neutralizing the said terrorist activities and are always ready to repel the attacks made against its facilities.”
It continued: “To put an end to the atrocities being inflicted by the NPA terrorists, the Philippine Army relentlessly conducts operations to neutralize all terrorist groups in order to establish a secure environment that is conductive (sic) to national development.”
There is no problem with having the AFP—or any government agency—have its say. But it is an entirely different matter to let the AFP alone have its say  without the benefit of context.

Plugging leaks
THE DAILY Tribune did the public a favor when it reported on April 20 about Executive Order (EO) 608, which was issued by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to plug leaks of classified state information. The report was comprehensive and backed up by background information.
According to the report, the EO was issued because the government was always at risk of being infiltrated by groups or individuals with unlawful intentions.
It said a national and uniform Security Clearance System would be established to conduct background checks before any classified information is disclosed.
Unauthorized disclosure or use of certain classified documents is considered a grave offense punishable in accordance with civil service rules and regulations.
The report also discussed the role of National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales. Under EO 608, he has the power to approve or reject the institutionalized clearance system procedures submitted to him.
The Tribune cited incidents where government information was supposedly leaked to the public. The paper was reported to have obtained a document on Mrs. Arroyo’s plan to declare a state of emergency months before it was actually imposed. The “Hello, Garci” tape and the fertilizer funds scam were also said to have been exposed through leaked information.
The Tribune report, however, was weakened by its use of anonymous sources whose insights sounded suspiciously like the newspaper’s own opinions.
“Palace sources” were quoted as saying that the EO was “created to facilitate cover-up operations of whatever illegal acts that may have been committed” and “to bar political foes or their groups from succeeding in obtaining ‘sensitive documents’.”
“Malacañang sources” were supposed to have said that the President has learned her lesson and did not want to see a repeat of any leakage of sensitive information that occurred a year after the 2004 presidential polls.

Details, details
THE APRIL 19 banner story of the Manila Bulletin was headline material but lacked the data that would justify its prominence.
The report was about a committee formed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in her Cabinet to investigate graft charges against Cabinet members that have not been acted upon by concerned agencies.
The President’s move was supposedly prompted by allegations that the Philippine Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) had been protecting high-level presidential appointees accused of graft.
According to the report, the so-called committee of peers would have “more power than the PAGC in probing graft cases against Cabinet members.” The story did not say what powers the newly formed investigating body would have compared to the PAGC.

Unfinished report
HOW FAR can a story with incomplete details go?
The Sunday Punch reported alleged “midnight appointments” in Dagupan City, but the article did not go beyond the head of the story (“150 ‘midnight appointments’ at Dagupan City Hall bared,” March 25).
The story was based on a complaint filed by Councilor Teofilo Guadiz III before the City Ombudsman against City Administrator Rafael Baraan for alleged abuse of authority. Baraan supposedly made 150 “midnight appointments.”
Apparently satisfied with the complaint of Guadiz, the Punch did not get the side of the city administrator.

Early conviction
FORGETTING THAT suspects must be presumed innocent until proven guilty in court, the Sunday Punch’s April 9 headline declared, “Slay of dad’s son solved.” This, even as the arrested suspect denied having a hand in the killing and had yet to be convicted.
Vicente Simon, alleged hired killer and gunman of Rene Parayno, a son of Dagupan City Councilor Julio Parayno, was arrested on April 5 following a dispute with the victim’s brothers. A murder case was filed against him by  Task Force Paraynoy.

Rooting for JDV
THE Sunday Punch played cheerleader for Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. in a single-source story last April 21 (“Alvarez to Pangasinan voters: Think big and beyond”).
Playing up the pitch of Heherson Alvarez for De Venecia, the paper reported on the former senator’s visit to Dagupan City. There Alvarez reportedly said “the whole nation will suffer” if De Venecia is not reelected as representative of Pangasinan’s fourth district.  He added that incumbent Mayor Benjamin Lim, De Venecia’s opponent, did not have what it takes to become a national leader.
The paper agreed with Alvarez and said, “It is not easy to produce a Speaker of the House.”

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