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The missing story
SOMEONE WAS sleeping on the job at the Philippine Daily Inquirer last June 15.
The Inquirer story, “Ping seeks revival of Jose Pidal probe,” had nothing on Sen. Panfilo Lacson and his plans to reopen the Jose Pidal case. The report was all about Sen. Rodolfo Biazon’s proposal to create an independent committee to investigate “erring officers of the COMELEC during the 2004 and 2007 elections.”
‘Terrorists’ with fishballs, pirated DVDs
THE PHILIPPINE Daily Inquirer’s citizen complaint section was right in calling attention to sidewalk vendors holding court along the University of the Philippines Manila in Padre Faura. But the June 11 Metro Citizen’s Call entry might have exaggerated the situation when it tagged sidewalk vendors as “sidewalk terrorists.”
Reporting a reporter
THE PHILIPPINE Daily Inquirer did it again—reporting about its reporter in the news pages. The paper published a front-page account of how its reporter was moved to tears during an overseas assignment. This time, the story was about Juliet Labog Javellana’s experience in Rome as she covered the trail of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Javellana revealed how she was affected by her emotions as she monitored the president’s activities in the Vatican, especially when the Pope spoke to her after she lost her belongings. She narrated how the other reporters were also moved when they met the Pope (”PDI reporter teary in Rome for losing bag, meeting Pope”).
The race for a story
THE RUFFA Gutierrez-Yilmaz Bektas break-up has sparked fierce competition among media organizations.
Hungry for a scoop, the Philippine Daily Inquirer took the bait from one of its readers who had sent in a photo of Gutierrez’s alleged first husband, Richard Daloria. The photograph was sourced from MySpace.com, a social networking site. Inquirer used it on its front page last June 10.
According to the caption, an Inquirer reader’s daughter got the photo from the alleged MySpace account of Daloria. It gave some details about the garishly attired Daloria such as his age (47), job (works in the entertainment industry in US), and the most important detail: his connection with a Sharmaine Ruffa Gutierrez Daloria.
A few days later, Gutierrez announced on television that the Inquirer had gotten the wrong Daloria. Relishing the thought that she had caught the newspaper with its facts all wrong, the actress said she would never get involved with a man who is much older than she is—and had poor sartorial taste at that.
Half an answer
SOMETIMES A vague answer can be worse than no answer.
In its story last June 19, The Manila Times reported that convicted child rapist and former congressman Romeo Jalosjos was now entitled to move to the minimum security compound after his sentence was commuted by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The Times reported that Bureau of Corrections director Vicente Vinarao preferred to keep Jalosjos, a former Zamboanga del Norte representative, in the maximum security facility for security reasons. But the story did not say what the “security reasons” were.
The minimum security facility houses inmates who are no longer considered as escape risks as they are only a few months away from liberty. Adding to the confusion was the detail in the report which said that Jalosjos was popular among the other prisoners for his generosity.
So if Jalojos is not considered an escape risk and is not in any danger from other prisoners, what was the security problem that Vinarao was talking about? The Times did not ask.
Show us the money…or anything
INNUENDOS, NOT sources or proof, were all that Malaya came up with in its story on the battle for the House leadership between Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. and Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia (“It’s Christmas in June as Speaker race heats up,” June 12).
The front-page report said money was flowing in the House of Representatives as both De Venecia of Lakas-CMD (Christian-Muslim Democrats) and Garcia of Kampi (Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino) were “offering hefty amounts to ‘buy’ support.” Citing unnamed sources, Malaya reported that De Venecia’s camp was offering at least P250,000 for every vote in his favor.
Parañaque Rep. Eduardo Zialcita, a Lakas member and De Venecia supporter, was sought for comment, but instead of providing proof, Zialcita just heaped more accusations against Garcia. Quoting Zialcita, Malaya reported that Garcia’s speakership bid was “heavily aided” by funds from the Government Service Insurance System, where his son, Winston, is president. Garcia was allegedly willing to pay P300,000 to P400,000 per vote.
Looking for the ‘why’
MALAYA PLAYED up the accusation of Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte that Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno was plotting to unseat him as national president of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) party (“Kampi prexy says Puno out to oust him,” June 18), but provided neither enlightenment nor logic in what would have been an interesting story.
Both from Kampi, Villafuerte and Puno were supporting different contenders for the speakership race. Villafuerte is rooting for partymate Cebu Rep. Pablo Garcia, while Puno is supporting Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. (Lakas-CMD). Puno is on leave as party president because of his Cabinet position.
In the report, Villafuerte twitted Puno for acting “mysteriously” by supporting the bid of De Venecia whose leadership he (Puno) used to criticize. Villafuerte then recounted how Puno was so against De Venecia in the past. Puno was not given the chance to react to Villafuerte’s charges. The connection between the supposed plot to oust Villafuerte and Puno’s support for De Venecia was not established.
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