This Week in Media (October 25 to 29, 2021)
Pandemic funds widen opportunities for corruption
PRE-CAMPAIGN events and government hype about the country’s return to normalcy should not distract the media from the revelations of the Right to Know, Right Now Coalition (R2KRN). Everyone knows that the Bayanihan 1 and 2 laws provided huge amounts of money to enable the Duterte government to respond effectively to the pandemic. The corruption scandal involving the DOH, the DBM and Pharmally Pharmaceuticals is an example writ large of the cronyism and gross misuse of pandemic funds. But in reviewing government’s own records, R2KRN found the same waste of resources in various agencies, as officials spent public funds on questionable purchases, among other anomalies. Pharmally is only one of the favored companies of the current regime. There are many more like it, dubious recipients of multimillion and billion peso contracts from their patrons in government.
R2KRN reported on October 27 that a total of PHP65.19 billion in supply contracts was awarded by more than 1,000 government agencies in the last 21 months of the pandemic. Those funds were allotted under the Bayanihan 1 and 2 laws. The coalition examined 22,000 rows of data enrolled in the Government Procurement and Policy Board (GPPB) database, which indicated the failure of public officials to observe due diligence, awarding contracts as though Bayanihan funds were intended to benefit companies like Pharmally.
Media should check this information and build on this reference to show up the corruption that has overtaken Duterte’s COVID response. From 2020, the lack of “ayuda” and of vaccine supplies, among others, raised questions about where the money released by Bayanihan 1and later 2 had gone. People deserve to know the answer.
R2KRN is not a news organization; it advocates free, unhampered access to information, especially information held by government. But this report has done journalists the yeoman service of digging a trail through official documents and providing gold in terms of evidence of government corruption. People have a right to know how public officials have shamelessly betrayed the public trust, and exploiting the crisis and the people’s misery.
COVID-19
As daily tallies show the decline of COVID cases, news highlighted public response. People seem completely convinced that there is no longer any danger in crowds, dispensing with measures such as social distancing. More people are trooping to the “dolomite beach” and traffic is almost back to pre-pandemic levels.
Understandably, people are eager to get back to normal — and they followed government’s lead.
With the downgraded alert level in Metro Manila, the Department of Transportation asked the IATF to allow public transportation to operate at 100 percent capacity. Meanwhile, the Department of Tourism has released a list of LGUs no longer requiring negative test results upon entry. Vaccination cards or certificates suffice.
Media even picked up without question the projection of increased earnings by the National Economic and Development Authority once Metro Manila further downgrades to Alert Level 2.
Ahead of the observation of All Souls’ Day, the IATF issued a closure order on cemeteries from October 29 to November 2. Reports took note of the increased visitor count to beat the deadline.
Most accounts and reports on TV which announced government’s decision to ease up on restrictions were devoid of reminders of the continuing peril of COVID-19.
Media coverage of these activities did not question the wisdom of official policy. Without warning about the need for safety measures and the still persistent threat of contamination despite the drop in cases, showing crowds on the dolomite beach seemed to invite people to do the same.
Journalists seemed oblivious to the counter narratives that questioned the official projection of normalcy. CMFR’s In Context documented enough precautions issued by physicians and other experts who were interviewed in talk shows and who all maintained that the decline in new cases does not mean the pandemic is over. In fact, the level of cases now remains higher than during the pre-Delta surge, thus the need to maintain safety measures in all areas of public life. It is irresponsible to report the situation otherwise.
CMFR also cheered Rappler and Inquirer’s closer look at other problems confronting the vaccination program, now that vaccine supply shortfalls are no longer a problem.
The DOH confirmed on October 25 the country’s first case of the B.1.1.318 variant, which was first detected in Mauritius. Media reported that the sample was taken in March and only sequenced on October 22 as part of the Philippine Genome Center’s “retrospective” sampling to trace how Delta’s spread began. There was no further question to determine how prevalent this new variant is.
After almost 21 months of the pandemic, the lack of follow-up, scrutiny and questioning raises questions about how journalists understand their role and the purpose of their work. It would seem from news accounts that journalists have contented themselves with simply recording what public officials have to say.
Meanwhile, on the campaign front…
So far, media have shown themselves to be willing followers of events mounted by candidates to get media’s attention. With four months to go for the official start of the campaign period, every single event attracted news coverage this week: the meet-and-greet of Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte Carpio, Manny Pacquiao’s cash doleouts in Benguet, Ping Lacson’s consultations with drivers in Batangas and Leni Robredo’s online dialogue with a group of kasambahays.
CMFR noted the exceptional shift of TV5’s late-night newscast Frontline Tonight which produced explainers on partisan political activity, premature campaigning and vote-buying this week, pointing to rules and laws governing these issues and the loopholes that make them weak. Media would do well to follow this lead in coverage. Placing such reports in primetime would also reach more viewers.
Public education officials on critical thinking
It is unfortunate that the value of critical thinking seems lost on government agencies in charge of education.
Rappler and the Inquirer reported that CHED-Cordillera issued a memorandum circular instructing private and public educational institutions to remove “subversive” books from their libraries. Both accounts cited criticisms from teachers and student groups who decried the move as another attack on academic freedom, referring to earlier incidents of three state universities pulling out books supposedly espousing communist ideology. CMFR previously cheered reports which flagged the military’s censorship of books in two universities in northern Luzon.
The problem gets worse when education officials cannot uphold free expression and divergent political views among those assigned to teach the young. A BusinessMirror report quoted Education Secretary Leonor Briones’ instructing teachers to remain nonpartisan. But she continued to say that teachers are not supposed to share their political views on social media. Quoting parts of the report, the Facebook page DepEd Tayo published a social media card with the title “DepEd reminds teachers to remain apolitical.” So the official stand is to curtail the free expression of teachers even on their own FB pages.
There is little surprise in all this. When education becomes ruled by bureaucrats who are more concerned about pleasing the president, what can we expect?
It took the Inquirer’s October 28 report to cite teachers who said being apolitical is “theoretically impossible” and that speaking out on issues is a constitutional right. The Inquirer referred to the joint circular of Comelec and the Civil Service Commission, which state that public expression of views on political matters cannot be considered partisan. Rep. France Castro of ACT Teachers Party-list echoed the same view in an online report by the Bulletin. Prof. Mary Grace Golfo-Barcelona, dean of the UP School of Library and Information Studies, also told Philstar.com that removing books from libraries is an “assault” on students’ right to read and on their right to information.
The quick turn around deserves a resounding Cheer!
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