Media on Elections and Violence 2016
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Central Luzon Provinces in Central Luzon include Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales. The incidents in Central Luzon involved long standing rivalries among political families and the patronage these have bred among their followers. This is very marked in the incidents in Apalit (Pampanga) Olongapo City and Limay (Bataan). In Apalit, the victim was a leader of Pampanga Rep. Juan Pablo Bondoc whose father Emigdio has always won against the Tetangcos since the 1980s in hotly contested fights. In Olongapo City, the newbie Paulino displaced the Gordons, which explained why tensions radiate down to their followers. In the Limay case, Mayor Lilver Roque has monopolized power that thrives on the support of coal plants. Any challenge to his political leadership would effect the sustainability of the coal plant. The six incidents in CL were reported in local tvs (CLTV36, GNN), local radios (Brigada, dwRw, Radyo ng Bayan, dzMM) and local dailies (Sun.Star, tabloids in Bataan, Nueva Ecija) Evaluation of Media Reports Interviews with media practitioners revealed that news reports on election-related violence were mainly dependent on the pronouncements of the PNP, their main source of information. Even as media had initially thought that one case should fall as election-related, if this is negated by the police, such finding prevails and journalists had “no choice but to abide” by them. Conflicting pronouncements from PNP officials have led to inaccuracies in news reports. In one case in Abra, a Manila Bulletin report http://www.mb.com.ph/tineg-vm-faces-murder-raps/ quoted a police official that the Tineg incident was not politics-related. But a PNP report later listed the same case as an ERI. No clarification or rectification was ever reported in media. Media reporting has also been limited by the lack of witnesses that can provide supplemental information on the cases of election-related violence. In areas where political tension is high, journalists say they run the risk of being tagged as sympathetic to one political group should they bring up one case as politically motivated, without “ample” proof. Thus, reporting will be based only on official sources, such as pronouncements from the PNP. |
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