Media fixated on Duterte-Pacquiao word war; ignore corruption issues

JEERS TO the media for getting hooked on the verbal tussle between President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Manny Pacquiao, and for ignoring the opportunity to follow through on the senator’s allegations of corruption in the current administration. 

There was no letup in media’s coverage of the brewing tension within the ruling PDP-Laban party. The conflict first surfaced on May 27 when Pacquiao, the party’s acting president, called for a boycott of the political party’s scheduled national assembly on May 31 that President Rodrigo Duterte himself had ordered.

The political feud heated up when Pacquiao talked about corruption under Duterte’s term in an interview with Radyo 5 on June 22. He claimed that the current administration was three times more corrupt than its predecessor. 

On Monday, June 28, the news media picked up Duterte’s demand that Pacquiao name names. The following day, Pacquiao declared in a statement that he would name corrupt government agencies in the current administration. Pacquiao immediately named the Department of Health (DOH) in the same statement, urging investigators to inspect inventories of rapid test kits, personal protective equipment, masks, and other pandemic-related items purchased by the department.

Over the next few days, Pacquiao added the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to his laundry list of agencies.

Much of the coverage was limited to  citing Pacquiao’s accusation and Duterte’s dismissal of the same. No other relevant information was provided to add to the appreciation of the truth of Pacquiao’s allegations. Reporters failed to note whether any of the named officials or agencies had already figured in the news in connection with corruption. 

Media should have recalled Duterte’s repeated statements vowing to end corruption. Pacquiao was the one to recall Duterte’s own assessment that corruption in the government was growing stronger. “In his own words sinabi niya na (he said that) ‘I will concentrate the last remaining years of my term fighting corruption kasi hanggang ngayon hindi humihina lumalakas pa lalo’ (because until now, it has only strengthened). Mr. President I feel the same way,” the senator said.

We can only hope some journalists today can do as others have done in the past: provide the public with investigative reports on cases of corruption independent of any partisan interest.