This Week in Media (August 15 to 19, 2022)
Sugar issue poses early challenge to President Marcos as COVID, poverty linger
PRESIDENT MARCOS added his voice to the anti-COVID booster shot campaign by joining the PinasLakas vaccination program launch in Manila by the Department of Health (DOH) on August 17.
In getting his second booster, he encouraged the public to do the same. TV Patrol reported that the COVID positivity rate had slightly decreased this past week, as data analyst Edson Guido continued to remind the public to observe the usual health protocols
During the same event, Marcos also told the media that he is not yet lifting the state of public health emergency declared by former President Duterte. Doing so might halt the supply of vaccines and other supplies from the international medical community.
However, it was not the pandemic front that consumed the President’s time this week. So far, he has yet to appoint a new DOH Secretary.
Last week’s news was mostly on the country’s problems with sugar. A memorandum order to import 300,000 metric tons to help keep sugar prices down was issued August 9. Such an order would have required the President’s approval. Marcos Jr.’s serving concurrently as Agriculture Secretary should have ensured that he was engaged in the decision.
With complaints coming from local sugar producers, the Palace displayed a disturbing tendency to resort to a communication ploy to protect the President from the controversy.
Media did not review the background and context of the issue, mainly sugar importations; but fixed attention on the insistence of Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles that Marcos did not approve the importation order. She promptly passed the buck to an Undersecretary, suggesting that the brouhaha reflected a turf war among the President’s officials.
Print gave front and banner treatment to the Palace’s assurance of a probe and Cruz-Angeles’ denial, with reports echoing her statement that “heads will roll” for the incident. The Manila Bulletin even included in its report Sen. Imee Marcos’ saying that people should stop fooling her brother.
There was no skepticism about Angeles’ claim, a disturbing journalistic failing as accounts mainly repeated her words. Absent from news reports were knowledgeable views which could have noted how the Palace was handling the policy misstep primarily to defend the President from flak of his own making.
Several resignations included DA Usec. Leocadio Sebastian and Hermenigildo Serafica, chief of the Sugar Regulatory Administration. Congress promptly held hearings, adding more noise to blaming the culprit. Rep. Florida Robes stressed that their resignations did not protect them from accountability for their actions.
The Inquirer editorial on August 16 did not take the Palace narrative at face value, finding it incredible that a mere Usec would so boldly issue an order without the approval of the President. Manila Times columnist Rigoberto Tiglao pointed out that the sugar controversy “could dent the public’s confidence” in Marcos’ leadership.
Marcos Jr. soon backpedaled. At the same PinasLakas event, only six days after Cruz-Angeles’ briefing, he said that a shortage would make it necessary to import sugar. In a press briefing on August 18, Cruz-Angeles confirmed Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri’s statement that the President met with sugar stakeholders who agreed with the importation of 150 thousand metric tons, half of the original amount stated in Sugar Order No. 4. Indeed, the compromise avoided the not-so-sweet sulk of the local sugar industry, which has not received much media attention.
A new administration is expected to make policy missteps at this stage. On this point, there was really no need to cover up the order to import sugar as this has been done in the past.
Journalists must learn to take official talk with a measure of skepticism. Developing background knowledge about issues also prepares them to ask the pointed questions. Unfortunately, the press corps was not ready to do so.
The Palace scramble relates to all kinds of shortages of farm crops. The Philippine Star’s editorial last August 16 called on the DA to provide a publicly accessible and centralized inventory and database on agriculture production that would make it easy to check whether imports are warranted. The recently reported shortage of white onions cannot be ascertained without data from the ground, the editorial argued. Indeed, sound policy formation cannot be spun out of thin air.
In appointing himself Agriculture Secretary, President Marcos must realize the demands of the sector and its operations. Media must similarly do the job of understanding the many industries which time and again may call for quick policy shifts and adjustments to serve the public interest. Nowhere is this more urgent than when it involves food.
Back to school
The date marked on most home calendars signals the resumption of classes in public schools — Monday, August 22. But the gloom that hovers over the opening of schools has deepened with news of the closing of the Colegio de San Lorenzo (CDSL), a private tertiary school in Quezon City. Media reported that only on the school’s scheduled opening on August 15 did students find out about the closure. The pandemic and Duterte’s blanket order to keep schools on digital mode forced numerous private institutions at all levels to close down.
It is a landscape that media have failed to map. There has been little discussion in the news of the grave losses suffered by the national education system, both private and public schools. The case of CDSL exemplifies the larger landscape of devastation, with so many institutions left to fend for themselves.
Government seemed blind to the long-term damage to learning institutions that received no guidance nor subsidies during the crisis. Both the DepEd and CHED failed to identify what steps could help alleviate the effects of remote learning caused by the government dependence on lengthy lockdowns.
An indication of the shortsighted leadership on this front: While the two bureaucracies say they will investigate, the Mayor of Quezon City had a quick answer—the college had no building permit.
Cheers
Media also called attention to other issues. CMFR cheered TV5’s two-part special report that presented a balanced analysis of the use of nuclear energy in the Philippines. The series expanded the discussion from the latest development: the House has created a committee for nuclear energy.
CMFR also cheered ANC’s interview with the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino regarding its stopping the publication of books it claimed to be “subversive.” The interview focused on the mandate of the commission, which does not include censorship or any measure to control publication.
Poverty incidence
In reporting poverty, the media did what they could about the latest count in 2021 that almost 20 million Filipinos considered themselves poor. The three leading Manila-based broadsheets published on their front pages data from the Poverty Statistics report of the Philippine Statistics Authority that recorded the rise of poverty incidence to 18.1 percent last year, compared to the 16.7 percent recorded in 2018.
In a news briefing, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan acknowledged the challenge of inflation in reducing poverty rates, raising the idea of reexamining the poverty threshold for a family of five which is currently at PHP 12,030. Balisacan talked about the reduction of poverty incidence targeted for accomplishment in 2028.
Inflation does not have to be explained as ordinary people have their restricted food lists to demonstrate its reality. Media’s challenge is compounded when dealing with statistics. Journalists need to understand the numbers. Then they must make these meaningful and relevant to the public. But apart from statistics, the news must also tell the stories that will help the people judge for themselves: Is Marcos Jr. doing enough to improve the lives of the people, especially those most in need?
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