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Clearing up a clean-up
Well done. This much can be said of the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Sept. 25-26 report on Guimaras island’s prospects of recovery from the oil spill of Aug. 11.
Based on a study done by Silliman University, the first part of the report described the chemical dispersants used in the initial clean-up efforts and showed how they might cause more damage in the long run than the oil spill itself. It noted that oil, being biodegradable, would naturally and eventually break down. But the dispersants were being used to speed up the degradation process.
The Philippine Coast Guard, the agency in charge of the clean-up, justified the use of the dispersants. The Inquirer report explained how dispersants help in cleaning up oil spills.
The second part of the report focused on the recommendations of the researchers on how the island could be rehabilitated. It noted the need for legislation to declare the island’s uncontaminated areas as sanctuaries to prevent them from being damaged. A periodic survey of the wildlife on the island was deemed necessary to assess the rate of Guimaras’s recovery.

Cold reception
What’s a cold chain system? In its report, the Philippine Daily Inquirer explained what it was and showed how an experiment in its use was faring in Northern Luzon (“The long and short of cold chain,” Oct. 18).
The cold chain system is a storage and delivery system that allows produce from northern Luzon farms to stay fresh and be sold in high-end markets. It is part of the government’s plan to make northern Luzon an agribusiness super region.
But in La Trinidad, Benguet, where the system is being tested, the Inquirer reported that the provincial government is losing P2 million in maintenance costs. The facility is underutilized because of the lack of market for products that could be delivered by the cold chain system.

Divine interpretation
It could have relied on the numbers in previous games but the Philippine Daily Inquirer chose to look heavenward. In analyzing how and why the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) beat Ateneo de Manila University in this year’s University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) championship game, the paper reported how prayers became a decisive factor in the match.
The Inquirer’s Oct. 4 report said: “And so it came to pass. The (UST) Tigers, of all teams, brought down a powerhouse and overwhelmingly favorite Ateneo squad, 76-74, armed with nothing more than heart and a sense of belief (in) what they could do. They did not just win a title; they revalidated people’s faith in faith.”
The article went on to describe how the players prayed as they were aiming for the basket and how their schoolmates prayed until they “ran out of mysteries” in the rosary. One UST student was even quoted as saying, “Just this one, Lord, before I graduate.”
Did Inquirer keep a score card on which team prayed hardest? If the paper wanted to do a story on how the students and players believed in prayers, then it can do so. But to go with the flow as if it were, uh, gospel truth may be too much.
Poor Lord. In addition to answering the millions of prayers for deliverance from hunger and war, He had to decide which basketball team gets to win the UAAP championship.

Not God but the bench
BusinessMirror’s post-game analysis of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines basketball championship was a cut above the rest as it veered away from the “divine intervention” angle that some dailies like the Inquirer capitalized on.
In a well-written analysis of how University of Santo Tomas (UST) defeated the heavily favored Ateneo de Manila University, the BusinessMirror on Oct. 4 said, “At the end of the series, what killed the Ateneo Eagles primarily was offensive rebounding. In the decider, the UST Tigers pulled down 18 offensive rebounds that gave them a 13-7 edge in second-chance points. The critical play of the game—Mark Canlas’s putback that tied the game in regulation and sent it to overtime—was off an offensive board courtesy of a Tiger.”

Losing balance
Is The Philippine Star rooting for the people’s initiative advocates?
The paper’s bias was so obvious in its Oct. 1 story, “Sigaw: 6.3 M ‘initiative’ signatures gathered legally.”
In substantiating its lead that the six million signatures in the petition calling for Charter change (Cha-cha) were legally gathered, the Star quoted pro-people’s initiative groups led by Sigaw ng Bayan. At least five Sigaw advocates were quoted in the report. Not one personality or group from the anti-people’s initiative or anti-Cha-cha, which has been questioning the signatures gathered by Sigaw ng Bayan, was interviewed.

Is it a news story or an analysis? In its report on the appointment of Sergio Apostol as the government’s chief legal counsel last Oct. 5, Malaya said, “It was not clear why the office was revived with the appointment of Apostol.” (The last to hold the position of chief legal counsel was Merceditas Gutierrez, who was appointed Ombudsman in November of last year.)
Malacañang, Malaya noted, had considered the office of the legal counsel “as good as abolished.” But the paper did not ask the Palace if the office had been really abolished and, if true, why it was being revived.
“Sources said the reason could be the Palace’s seeming inability to immediately respond to legal issues,” Malaya wrote. “They said the battle for turf among the close advisers of Arroyo has led to flip-flopping and conflicting positions.” (italics by PJR Reports)
The same sources, the report said, expressed doubt that Apostol has “the stature or the closeness to Arroyo that would enable him to override the positions of senior Cabinet officials like (Eduardo) Ermita and Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez.”
“They [the sources] added that Arroyo’s ‘hardheadedness’ is the main reason for the legal missteps dogging her admi-nistration,” said Malaya (“Arroyo names Apostol as chief legal counsel,” p. A1).
The Malaya report had no byline.

When it comes to sensational headlines, The Daily Tribune can give tabloids a run for their money. Last Oct. 19, the paper screamed, “Senate declares ‘war’ vs GMA.” The headline was not substantiated by the story.
“We will not allow the continued clipping of powers of the Senate. Whenever our authority as an institution is being put to a test, we will defend it in a proper forum,” was all that Senate President Manuel Villar said in response to the Supreme Court (SC) ruling that the Presidential Commission for Good Government (PCGG) enjoyed no immunity from Senate investigations.
The SC ordered PCGG chair Camilo Sabio and other commissioners to heed the Senate’s subpoena. The summons was issued in relation to a Senate inquiry on the alleged mismanagement of funds by the Philippine Communications Satellite Corp. (Philcomsat).
Reactions were reported from Sen. Richard Gordon, the chair of the Senate committee on government corporations and public enterprises that is conducting an inquiry into the Philcomsat, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, and Commissioner for Legal Affairs Narciso Nario. No one seemed to be in a war-like mood.

Unnamed source, unverified report
The Daily Tribune’s penchant for reports based solely on unidentified sources was again seen in its Oct. 17 story, “Palace bribing Joc-joc scam witnesses to recant.” The story’s unnamed sources said the Palace was trying to bribe witnesses into recanting their sworn testimonies against former agriculture undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante who figured in the alleged fertilizer fund scam.
One of the supposed witnesses, who was unnamed, claimed that the administration offered him a US trip and a share in a P400-million textbook contract with the Department of Education.
A “ranking Arroyo administration official” was then quoted as saying that the government was “engaged in back-channel negotiations for a possible trade-off on the case involving Bolante and that of the four US servicemen accused of raping a 22-year old Filipino woman in Subic.” The story did not have a reaction from Malacañang.

A hidden angle
Most reports on the alleged P728-million fertilizer scam have focused on Jocelyn “Joc-joc” Bolante and his immigration case in the United States.
Bulatlat.com looked into another angle and came up with a very disturbing report, “Witnesses to Fertilizer Scam: Killed, Hunted.” The report detailed how suspicious-looking men believed to belong to military and police forces were allegedly hunting down farmers who were witnesses in the case. One of them, a 61-year-old woman, had been killed, according to Bulatlat.
The story, published in Bulatlat’s Oct. 8-14 issue, was written by Dabet Castañeda, a finalist in the non-daily category of last year’s Jaime V. Ongpin Awards (http://www.bulatlat.com/news/6-35/6-35-scam.htm).

Please, oh, please buy the Star
Talk about hard sell, in-your-face self-promotion.
On Oct. 11, The Philippine Star featured 92-year-old Rev. Monsignor Leon Ver Bitanga, a priest in Pangasinan. The front-page article on the nonagenarian Catholic priest’s devotion to his flock does deserve space.  The reason for the publication, however, becomes suspect as one reads the article.
Buried in the story was an unabashed promotion of the Star and its publisher: “(Bitanga) said despite his age, he can solve his problems easily, has strong faith in the Lord, has many friends, watches the basketball games of Purefoods Hotdogs (sic), goes downtown daily to buy flowers and a copy of The Philippine Star.”
“Asked why he likes reading the Star,” the report said, “it’s because of Max Soliven, who is his favorite columnist.”
Star continued: “Bitanga said he knew Soliven’s father, Benito Soliven, a former congressman of Ilocos Sur who is ‘one of the best we ever had.’” (“Priest, 92, still celebrating mass in Pangasinan’,” p. 1)

Wreck, wreak, wrought
On Oct. 3, BusinessMirror reported: “The havoc wrought by Typhoon “Milenyo” on Thursday has apparently led government officials to consider tearing down billboards, dozens of which were toppled by the typhoon, killing one person and injuring several others.” (Italics by PJR Reports)
There is a lot of confusion in the use of “havoc wrought,” “wreck havoc,” or “wrecked havoc.” Addressing the question in the June 1991 issue, the Philippine Journalism Review quoted veteran journalist Yen Makabenta as saying: “In (‘wreck havoc’), havoc is redundant because wreck causes damage enough. The past tense of ‘wreak,’ however, is ‘wreaked,’ not ‘wrought.’” He added: “Some writers have been known to use the form ‘wrought havoc.’ But wrought here is the past tense (archaic) of work, not wreak.”
If you don’t believe Makabenta, look it up in the Oxford dictionary.

Stinking photo op
On Sept. 26, the Manila Bulletin used a photo of five persons suspected of using and selling drugs who were presented by the police. Two of the suspects, who were arrested in a buy-bust- operation in Parañaque City, were women. Declaring the suspects as drug users and pushers was bad enough but the Bulletin photo even had a caption that cited Mayor Florencio Bernabe Jr. as “(giving) a tongue-lashing” to the suspects.  What ever was so special about the suspects that merited attention from the city mayor and the Bulletin was not stated in the caption. Readers can only guess.

Not answering the ‘why’
Reporting on the economy is not just about presenting numbers, but also explaining what the numbers mean. The Manila Standard Today report, “Only half of remittances coursed through banks,” last Sept. 25 missed this point.
Citing a survey by the National Statistics Office, Standard Today reported that only 53.3 percent of the P85.414 billion sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) last year was remitted through banks. The story did not explain its impact on the economy and why many OFWs were not using the banking system to send remittances.

Hasty conclusion
Manila Standard Today’s headline immediately blamed terrorists for the Oct. 11 bombing of a commercial building in Cotabato City (“Terrorists blast building,” Oct. 12). The story quoted a police official pointing to terrorists as the perpetrators of the bomb explosion even before any investigation could be made.

Wet blanket
The Daily Tribune seemed to have mastered the art of giving stories an unnecessary spin. In its Oct. 20 report on Go Teng Kok’s denial of a supposed “blanket authority” given to him by Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, the Tribune lead said: “Go Teng Kok, the controversial track and field chief who is now accused of meddling in another association’s affairs, doesn’t need a ‘blanket authority’ from Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose ‘Peping’ Cojuangco to settle problems other than his own. What he needs is a dictionary to know its meaning.”
Go’s denial of having “blanket authority” came on the heels of allegations that he was lobbying for the possible reinstatement of the expelled Basketball Association of the Philippines. Instead of reporting the denial, the article lambasted Go and quoted him, “Hindi ko maintindihan e, mahina ako sa English.”

A reader-friendly story
The Manila Times gave readers an in-depth report on the telecommunications war among cell phone companies and its implications on consumers. The Oct. 1 report gave readers a comprehensive profile of the three big telecom companies—Smart, Globe, and Sun—that included subscriber counts, market shares, subsidiaries, and the different strategies each network employed to entice consumers.
Made reader-friendly, the report defined business terms by explaining jargon such as predatory pricing. It also spelled out the implications and benefits consumers get from the network competition.

Interpreting numbers
The Manila Times noted the discrepancy in the passing rates between rural and urban high school and elementary students who took the recent National Achievement Test. In its Oct. 14 report, the paper called attention to the top 10 schools that passed the tests and noted the consistent top performance of Southern Leyte in the elementary and high school divisions.

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