Standing by: DZBB fails to verify Marcos, Jr.’s claims during Interview

JEERS TO GMA’s flagship radio station dzBB for an interview which failed to check false statements made by Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. on the program “Ikaw Na Ba?: The Presidential Interviews on DZBB”. The fifth installment of the presidential interview series featured Marcos Jr. in an hour-long segment that can only be characterized as passive and soft.

The presidential interview series began airing two weeks ago on January 24, 2022, and has since hosted four other presidential bets on separate occasions: Lacson, Pacquiao, Robredo, and Moreno, in that order, with senior dzBB broadcasters Melo Del Prado and Kathy San Gabriel as anchors, simulcast on Dobol B TV and GMA radio stations nationwide.

The interview was originally scheduled a week earlier, on January 28, 2022, but thirty minutes before airing, it was announced as postponed because Marcos could not be contacted by his team. The delay provided enough time to do background research and to prepare questions and follow-ups to establish the facts as necessary.

Marcos has been criticized for his refusal to engage in other election specials held by media. A statement from his spokesperson Vic Rodriguez on February 9, 2022 reiterated that he  would  accept invitations from the media only for interviews  and not debates.

As in previous installments, the program opened with the hosts’ presenting the candidate’s personal history, educational background, and previous government experience, followed by a question-and-answer segment  in Filipino.

As the introduction to Marcos included the “Special Diploma in Social Studies” he received from Oxford University, Del Prado asked Marcos to differentiate between his “Special Diploma” from Oxford  and a regular diploma from the same institution. Marcos answered in a mix of Filipino and English: “Naipakita ko na ang diploma ko, it is a degree course. So yeah, nag-graduate ako sa Oxford,” (“I’ve shown my diploma, it is a degree course. So yeah, I graduated from Oxford.”).

Marcos‘ supposed degree had been questioned as early as 2015 when the now presidential hopeful was still a senator. In October 2021, several news organizations—ABS-CBN News, GMA News Online, and Inquirer.Net— reported that Oxford University said that the “Special Diploma in Social Studies” that Marcos obtained from their institution was “not a full graduate diploma”. Using documents found in Malacañang after the Marcos family fled the country in 1986, independent media organization VERA Files ran a comprehensive fact check on the claim and came to the same conclusion. But the hosts did not bring up any of this information to clarify the truth of Marcos’ claim.

Other media also picked up on the unchecked claim about his academic degree. The rest of the interview showed up Marcos’ attempt to distance himself from the period, while maintaining  that charges against his father have yet to be proven, saying that history should set the record straight, in keeping with the  historical revisionism peddled by his supporters on social media.

The hosts seemed unaware that in the course of almost forty years, enough historians, academics, and journalists here and abroad have described the regime’s use of propaganda and a controlled press to highlight unproven economic gains, even as reports from the period had already begun to document human rights violations and other abuse of the government’s unchecked power, including economic plunder.

The hosts were unprepared or unable to cite other sources which  established his record of absenteeism as Vice-Governor (1980-1983) and Governor (1983-1986) of Ilocos Norte. At least two extrajudicial killings were documented by the Martial Law Victims Association of Ilocos Norte (MLVAIN) during the same period.

In asking about these problematic concerns, the program yielded the time to the candidate to brush them aside. When asked about the families seeking justice for  human rights violations suffered during the Martial Law years, the candidate said if he had hurt anyone or made any mistakes, then he would gladly apologize. Similar to earlier questions, both hosts chose to remain silent rather than press further.

The failure was obvious on the part of the program. Hopefully, other interviewers will do better in presenting the facts. In the case of Marcos, the questions should focus on character and integrity. But this means having to know much, much more than what the campaign provides them on the record.

Other questions were asked on the presidential candidate’s platforms and plans for his term if elected. The interview ended after the hosts asked the titular question: “Ikaw na ba ang nararapat na sumunod na pangulo ng Pilipinas?” (Are you worthy of being the next president of the Philippines?”), Del Prado asked in Filipino.

Given Marcos Jr.’s well-documented avoidance of media, journalists should be prepared to check the candidate’s tendency to dodge tough questions. Journalists should aim to establish a candidate’s credibility—or lack thereof —the foundation and vital prerequisite for asking about plans and platforms. When media stands idly by, disinformation reigns. The hosts’ repeated refusal to call out Marcos Jr. sends a clear signal to their listeners that the airtime of the “award-winning election information and advocacy program” aiming to give candidates “the opportunity to be heard, present their platforms, discuss issues, and answer questions” was nothing more than free publicity for someone seeking the highest post in the land.