Media let pass Go’s lies on extrajudicial killing

JEERS TO media outlets for failing to fact-check Senator Christopher “Bong” Go’s two false claims on the Duterte administration’s war on drugs.  Media reports also missed the opportunity to establish the context of violence in the implementation of Duterte’s illegal drug policy.

In the ongoing House of Representatives Quad Committee hearings, Retired Police Colonel Royina Garma alleged that there was a “reward system” for police who killed drug suspects. She said that it could go as high as PHP1 million for every kill. She also linked Dutere’s former executive secretary, now senator, Bong Go to the state-sanctioned drug war killings. 

In an ambush interview on October 14, Go defended Duterte against Garbo’s exposé denying the existence of such a reward system, also asserting that the former president did not authorize the killings of drug suspects. Addressing allegations of his involvement in the drug war, Go maintained that he had no role in the former administration’s daily operations after resigning in October 2018 to run for the Senate.

On the same day, newscasts TV Patrol, 24 Oras, and Frontline Pilipinas, and GMA News Online reported Go’s denial. The reports recorded Go’s statement without recalling previous statements from Duterte and Go alluding to a reward system policy nor the violent implementation which caused so many killings during the period. There was no reference to Duterte’s repeated public threats to kill drug suspects, nor to the occasions when Bong Go, already a senator, spoke on Duterte’s behalf about the drug war.

Past coverage of killings

In 2016, the media described Duterte’s supposed reward system: PHP2 million for capturing or killing a drug lord; PHP1 million for a lower-ranking drug suspect; and PHP50,000 for an ordinary citizen.

In September 2019, media reported that Go,  already a senator then, assured the continued policy for “rewards” for killing, as former President Duterte promised in 2016. “Nabanggit niya na nandiyan pa rin ‘yong reward na kaniyang sinabi noon. PHP1 million sa mga ninja cops na patay, ‘pag buhay kalahating milyon lang, ‘pag lumaban, PHP2 million,” Go said. (He [Duterte] mentioned that there is still a reward for those who will hand over ninja cops to authorities: PHP1 million for ninja cops who are killed, only half a million if alive, and PHP2 million if they fought.) “Ninja cops” referred to police officials involved in selling confiscated illegal drugs.  

While current coverage carried Bong Go’s denials, reporters in general not highlight these as a key development in the discourse – that Go was backpedaling and contradicting what he had said about the use of incentives. 

Media reports basically passed on Bong Go’s change of tune without any question, accepting the shift as though it was a logical and truthful claim. 

Journalists missed the opportunity to point out that Go was contradicting his own statements  that described the incentives when he was right hand man of Duterte and even after he was elected to the Senate.  Without this background, media presented the lie as a truth.

Such coverage also dismisses the need to establish responsibility and accountability for the death of so many citizens in the hands of police. Hopefully, this was not the intention. 

It is important then for journalists to bear in mind that the Quad hearings are designed to probe one of the darkest periods of history; a history recent enough for easy verification. Journalists should be quick to check falsehood shared by those under investigation. 

Without this orientation and commitment to truth and justice, journalists can contribute to the lies, by giving these time and space to spread. 

Again, hopefully this was not the intention.