Monitors: Print

Jueteng blues
In its report on Aug. 12 (“PNP now controls jueteng”), Malaya let out a mouthful about the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Relying on interviews with Lingayen-Dagupan Bishop Oscar Cruz and Boy Mayor, the Senate witness and self-confessed jueteng operator, the Malaya report said PNP provincial directors have taken the place of governors as patrons of the illegal numbers game.

Mayor was quoted as saying that “jueteng has returned and operates whenever the police want it.” Cruz said it was “impossible” for new PNP Chief Dir. Gen. Oscar Calderon not to know the involvement of police officials in the jueteng pay-offs.

And what did the PNP have to say about these? Malaya didn’t ask.

Crying ‘Coup!’
Yes, yes, everybody now knows that something more than a military parade was to have taken place last Feb. 24 at Edsa.  But for Armed Forces chief Hermogenes Esperon, the plot gets thicker. In a BusinessMirror story on Aug. 1, Esperon claimed that blood would have been spilled within the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) because of an alleged threat by Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim to fight back if his group was barred from joining the protest march to Edsa.

Alas, media organizations only have Esperon to quote. The target of the AFP chief’s tirade, Lim, is tucked away somewhere, unable to give his side.

Ash to cash
The Philippine Star found an unusual angle for the stories on the impending eruption of Mayon volcano. In a report on Aug. 17, it said pyroclastic materials released by the volcano are good quality construction materials (“Mayon boulders, sand worth millions,” Aug. 17). It noted that the Albay provincial government has started to earn millions in quarrying fees and other related activities in the area.

Thanks, Meralco, but…
Malaya’s report on the reduction of electricity costs in August taught readers how their electricity bills are computed (“Power users serviced by Meralco get a break,” Aug. 5).

The report said Meralco subscribers will get a discount on their electricity bills because of two reasons: the lowering of energy costs at the wholesale electricity spot market and the company’s reduced systems losses. The latter refers to electrical power that is lost during transmission as well as those stolen through illegal connections.

Furthermore, consumers’ electricity bills are heavily affected by system losses because Meralco only shoulders 9.5 percent of such losses and passes on the rest to clients.

The ‘Reds’ did it?
Even common sense can be sequestered. Teledyaryo, a news program in the government-controlled television station, echoed the line of the Philippine National Police (PNP) that communists are responsible for the increase in the number of journalists and leftists killed in the country.

Part of the Aug. 4 report was the story on the arrest of four suspected killers of RPN-9 cameraman Ralph Ruñez.

Teledyaryo interviewed PNP Deputy Director Avelino Razon, head of Task Force Usig, who blamed the New People’s Army (NPA) for the spate of killings. Razon, who did not bother to distinguish the reasons behind the killing of journalists and militants, made it appear that the NPA was also behind the systematic killing of journalists.

Interestingly, two of Ruñez’s suspected killers were policemen who allegedly wanted to rob the victim.

Overlooking the locals
Reportage on the Guimaras oil spill focused mainly on two fronts: the efforts of the national and local governments to clean up the slick and the socioeconomic and environmental impact of the disaster.
The reports were based on statements of local officials and residents as well as representatives of environmental nongovernmental organizations such as Green Peace. However, views of the local scientific community such as the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center or University of the Philippines-Visayas were mostly overlooked.

To the victors belong the newspaper space
Is the Manila Standard Today showing its bias? The Standard Today’s headline story about the junking of the impeachment complaint filed this year against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was based mostly on statements of administration congressmen like House Deputy Leader Edcel Lagman, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, and Davao del Sur Rep. Douglas Cagas. Minority Floor Leader Rep. Francis Escudero was interviewed but his views were buried in the middle of the report (“House kills impeach rap,” Aug. 17).

Sufficient in confusion
The Aug. 10 report of the Manila Standard Today about the eighth impeachment filed against Mrs. Arroyo  this year was confusing. It reported that the House committee on justice declared the complaint to be “sufficient in form.” The headline, however, said the panel ruled that “the eighth complaint (is) sufficient in substance.” At the time, the sufficiency of the complaint’s substance had not been decided yet.

So who was confident?
The Manila Bulletin also had a confusing headline last Aug. 18 (“Impeach case goes to plenary: Majority solons confident they will be upheld”). But contrary to what its headline said, the report did not mention any such confidence from administration solons. The details of the report were, in fact, sourced from the opposition: House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, Bayan Muna Reps. Teodoro Casino and Joel Virador, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos, and even opposition leader Teofisto Guingona III. No administration ally in or outside the House of Representatives was interviewed.
The month before, on July 29, the Bulletin used a press release from the camp of Manila Mayor Lito Atienza, a staunch Arroyo supporter. The report, “Atienza’s LP: Impeach attempt losing steam,” had members of Atienza’s breakaway Liberal Party (LP) group downplaying the latest impeachment attempt against the president.
The story was based on inputs from Atienza’s group—Reps. Eric Singson, Rodolfo Valencia, Sol Chungalao, Lawrence Wacnang, and Harlin Cast Abayon. Criticized in the article were Reps. Nerio Acosta, Noynoy Aquino, Dina Abad, and Manuel Mamba—LP members who all signed the eighth impeachment complaint filed against Arroyo this year.

What went wrong
Last July 23, The Manila Times analyzed for the public why and how the opposition bungled in its latest attempt to oust President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and what Arroyo had to do to keep the presidency. The paper also discussed the political repercussions of the case of former agriculture official Jocelyn Bolante (accused of diverting agriculture funds to Arroyo’s election campaign kitty in 2004 and now detained in the United States for visa infractions) on the Arroyo administration.

Be wary of surveys, especially this one
A July survey by the Center for Issues and Advocacy, a political think tank, was given space in the  Manila Standard Today. The report said there’s “a growing distrust by Filipinos of the bicameral presidential system of government, reflecting a shift in favor of a unicameral parliament.” The think tank is said to have links with former president and Charter-change advocate Fidel Ramos.

Results of the think tank survey showed that 48.25 percent of 1,200 respondents nationwide favored a shift to a parliamentary system while 43.75 percent were against it. About eight percent were undecided. This contradicts earlier polls done by respected survey firms like the Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia.

Apart from indicating the scope of the polls (July 11 to 15), survey results per geographical divisions in the country were also noted by Standard Today. Unfortunately not included in the report were very important survey details such as the study’s margin of error and method used (“‘Bicameral system untrustworthy’,” Aug. 3, p. A1).

In writing about surveys, a helpful guide for reporters is the one used by Time magazine in the 2004 elections in the United States. Here are some of the things one should look for when reporting about surveys:
• What is the purpose of this poll?
• Who sponsored the study?
• Who was interviewed?
• How large was the sample?
• How was the sample chosen?
• What is the margin of error?
• What questions did interviewers ask and in what order did they take them?
• How was the survey conducted?
• What is the track record of the group conducting the survey?
• Was anything going on in the nation or world that might have influenced results?

Check these guidelines at http://www.time.com/time/classroom/glencoe/election2004/election.pdf.

Loren’s press release
Aside from one-sided reports, Manila Bulletin runs a number of obvious press releases on its news pages. On Aug. 12, it reported that former senator and 2004 vice-presidential bet Loren Legarda emerged as the top senatorial candidate in the June 24-July 8 survey of Pulse Asia. Getting 48.6 percent among the respondents, Legarda emerged as the top choice in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and the National Capital Region. But instead of focusing on the survey results, the rest of the Bulletin report just provided background information about the 15 million votes Legarda secured during the 1998 senatorial elections, her record in the Senate, and other achievements. The front-page report had no byline (“Loren Legarda No. 1 in Pulse Asia survey”).

A purpose defeated
The Philippine Daily Inquirer also looked into the controversial OWWA funds. Citing reports from the Commission on Audit, the Inquirer reported how the OWWA incurred losses in the Smokey Mountain project in 1995 (“OWWA loses millions to Smokey Mountain,” Aug. 13). The report noted that the Smokey Mountain case defeated OWWA’s main objective of ensuring the “efficiency of collection and sustainability of the fund through sound and judicious investment and fund management policies.”

An unanswered question
Is the President seriously ill?

The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried to answer the question in its front-page report, but failed (“State of health: No, GMA does not have a ‘fatty liver’,” Aug. 4).

It got the reaction of Presidential Management Staff chief Arthur Yap, who denied claims of an unnamed Palace official and a doctor that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had a fatty liver. Speculations as to why Malacañang was allegedly hiding President Arroyo’s true state of health followed.

The next day, the Inquirer carried a report on the rumors about the President’s health, the denial, and the calls for the disclosure of her true state of health. Still, there was no solid report about the President’s health.

An incomplete report
A report in The Daily Tribune cited the findings of a study that said political harassment and fear of reprisal prevent potential whistle-blowers from reporting corrupt practices (“Whistle-blowers fear harassment, threat of reprisal,” Aug. 7). The Tribune did not indicate what kind of study was done, who did the study, and when it was done. It simply said the study prompted the Office of the Ombudsman to launch a citizen’s primer on whistle-blowing.

Wanted: News
The Daily Tribune picked up Sen. Franklin Drilon’s claim that former elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano might run for congressman in Bukidnon (“’Garci’ for Congress?” Aug. 1). In its front-page story, the Tribune offered possible explanations why Garcillano would want a seat in Congress: 1) he could be tired of being grilled and now wanted to do the grilling himself; and 2) he wanted parliamentary immunity—a privilege given to members of the House from being prosecuted.

The Tribune would have been more helpful to the readers if it tried to confirm the story rather than offer speculation as news.

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