This Week in Media (JULY 26 to 30, 2021)
Duterte plays second fiddle to Olympic champion Hidilyn Diaz; Delta threat means lockdowns again
Hidilyn Diaz’s Olympic gold
IT WOULD have been an entirely different week without the country’s first ever Olympic gold win by athlete Hidilyn Diaz. In a week darkened by storm clouds and drenched with rains from monsoon rains, President Duterte’s lengthy SONA alone would have moved Filipinos to copious tears.
Instead there was this great surge of gladness. The country celebrated the victory of another Mindanaoan in a wave of feeling that eclipsed Duterte’s last hurrah. The journey of the woman weightlifter from Zamboanga speaks volumes of so much that is wrong in this country. But her triumph held Filipinos in thrall.
Media knew which story should lead. CMFR’s content analysis showed that Diaz easily set aside Duterte in the news on all platforms. Reports of her win took over print and broadcast. Monday night, Diaz quickly trended online as netizens called her win an inspiration in comparison to the rather underwhelming SONA. Online news sites were profuse with features, milking the story for every delightful drop.
News organizations were quick to point out the irony of Diaz’s win’s happening on the same day as the president’s last SONA. Reports recalled how in 2019 the Palace had made much of an unverified ouster plot, including a so-called “matrix” that included the athlete among personalities involved in the alleged conspiracy. TV reports re-aired file clips of Diaz denying any involvement in politics, replaying her soundbite saying that her sole focus was her sport. In her immediate interview in Tokyo with former athlete and now sports reporter Gretchen Ho, who was also included in the matrix, Diaz recalled that episode as one of the challenges she faced as she moved forward to fulfill her dream in the Tokyo Olympics.
All this brought to the fore the counterpoint that the nation’s euphoria had nothing to do with the claims made by the president in his SONA; that in fact, the cause of so much public cheer had been the object of Palace intrigue, of false charges made public without sufficient evidence, of officials bullying and hectoring a citizen who had already made the country proud with her win of a silver medal in the 2018 Rio Olympics.
Karmina Constantino’s interview on ANC’s Dateline Philippines pressed Salvador Panelo into a corner. As presidential spokesperson at the time, it was Panelo who in 2019 presented the “matrix” to the Malacanang press corps without checking its veracity. Currently holding the post of chief legal counsel, Panelo did “apologize” for hurting Diaz’s feelings, but insisted he was not at fault for her inclusion in the matrix. Constantino went in for the finish with her question: “Shouldn’t the lesson here — to be more circumspect before you present anything to the media?”
This is a question that could have been addressed to President Duterte himself as his SONA was filled with falsehoods and questionable claims that provoked real time fact-checking on Twitter by Rappler, Philstar.com and VERA Files.
A forgettable address
Critical accounts led public discourse before the president took the podium in Congress. Two weeks before the July 26 event, news organizations had been reviewing his policies and their implementation in the last five years in preparation for his annual State of the Nation Address (SONA). These pre-SONA reports took up the hallmarks of the Duterte administration, his war on drugs and his promise to end corruption, his lack of resolve on the West Philippine Sea, and ongoing issues in the government’s pandemic response.
Duterte’s sixth and last SONA will be remembered as directionless, meandering and uninspiring. The record length of 2 hours and 45 minutes rehashed tiresome tirades against perceived enemies such as drugs, communists and the United States, his annoying praise of China and his insistence that he can do nothing about the arbitral ruling except provoke the giant neighbor to a war the country could not fight.
Quite without reason, he brought up getting the Balangiga bells back which had been restored to the Diocese of Borongan in Eastern Samar in 2018. He felt obliged to recall the scandal of Canada’s trash sitting in container vans in Manila’s Port Authority, a private transaction that embarrassed Canadian authorities to do what was necessary to retrieve the garbage.
Despite the primacy of public concern about how the government would act to mitigate the impact of the local cases of the Delta variant, the president had little to say about the matter, saying only that he had to wait and consult with his advisers.
He could offer little comfort, nothing at all to boost the confidence of a country still ravaged by COVID-19. Typically, Duterte even contradicted himself, saying the country could not afford any more lockdowns, only to say after a few minutes that the infectious Delta variant might warrant a reimposition of it.
No one in media’s post-analysis coverage was impressed outright, as the sources in panel discussions and immediate interviews largely pointed to the things that Duterte forgot to say and the issues that lacked clear solutions. The lackluster address included misinformation and disinformation, including the false claim of ABS-CBN’s “tax violations” costing “billions.”
Vice President Leni Robredo’s 15-minute “Ulat sa Bayan” issued the next day provided more substance, detailing her office’s COVID response and highlighting the support of the public and private sectors. Except for Daily Tribune, Manila Standard and The Manila Times, Manila media took note of Robredo’s effort to provide a comprehensive report.
Media pick up voices of the people in the streets
Despite the continuing pandemic, President Duterte’s last SONA drew more numbers to the protest front than in 2020. As reported by AlterMidya and Rappler, rallies were held in major cities outside Metro Manila on July 26: Naga, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Kalibo and Duterte’s hometown Davao.
More than a dozen groups were represented by speakers in a program in UP Diliman. They represented the most marginalized sectors of the population and among the most targeted by police and military violence, especially under pandemic conditions. Journalists stationed in UP reported the two-hour program, which heard the voices of minorities, human rights defenders, peasant groups from Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog, jeepney drivers’ associations, health workers, priests and church workers, urban poor contingents and youth groups.
Online news of Inquirer, Rappler, CNN Philippines and GMA News reported on the protesters’ demands and presentations. Other news accounts hardly mentioned the messages of solidarity with minorities, as well as the outlining of grievances under the Duterte administration—including the lack of adequate funds for social amelioration for those devastated by pandemic lockdowns and Duterte’s probable bid for the vice presidency in 2022.
The groups marched to Commonwealth Avenue before noon. As in every SONA, the protesters and the police differed in their estimated number of participants. Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, was quoted in reports as saying there were 6 to 7,000 in attendance. Meanwhile, the PNP placed their estimate at 2,750 protesters in UP Diliman as of noontime and “at least 3,000 by early afternoon.” At 12:13 pm, GMA News Online posted a photo headlined “Hundreds join protest ahead of Duterte’s final SONA.”
Protesters said they observed individuals who were unknown to the participating groups and were presumed to have been assigned by police or military to do crowd surveillance. They were driven away by the organizers, but no clashes between uniformed personnel and civilians were reported.
Crowds dispersed at 1:30 pm. Media picked up PNP Chief Guillermo Eleazar’s claim that “SONA 2021 was generally peaceful.” The counter-SONA event, which articulated the people’s voice, was much shorter than the time the president spent on his final SONA.
Leave a Reply