Capitol-run cable TV channel suspended; Former TV head, reporter file charges vs acting gov

THE TEMPORARY shutdown of a government-run cable channel in the province of Cebu has led to the filing of administrative charges against the acting governor, a lawyer, and two other officials last 02 January 2013.

The complaint

Rowena Zulueta, former head of Sugbo TV, a 24-hour cable channel owned and operated by the Cebu Provincial Government, and Rufo Carzano, one of the channel’s reporters, filed an administrative case with the Ombudsman against Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, acting governor of Cebu, and three others for alleged grave abuse of authority, grave misconduct, oppression, conduct unbecoming of a public official, grave coercion, and violation of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, in connection with Magpale’s 21 December 2012 order to suspend operations of Sugbo TV.

“By directing and causing the closure of Sugbo TV and Sugbo News for the whimsical reason that it merely promotes the personal interest of Governor (Gwendolyn) Garcia, respondents have unduly and illegal restrained the Constitutional Freedom of the Press WITHOUT ANY FINDING OF VALID REASONS TO DO SO, MUCH LESS A WRITTEN ORDER to that effect, save for the subjective and highly debatable imputation by respondent Vice Governor alone that the subject media outlets are only promoting the interests of Governor Garcia,” read their complaint.

Zulueta and Carzano also criticized the alleged manhandling of Sugbo TV staff last Dec. 21. The complaint stated Sugbo TV’s staff was forced out of their office and frisked by the police. The office was then padlocked to keep the staff out.

Zulueta who worked for IBC-13 for many years was invited by her friend Garcia to work for Sugbo TV.

Charged with Magpale were: Police Inspector Marcelo Garbo Jr., director of Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Visayas; Leopoldo Cabanag, chief of Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB)-Central Visayas; and lawyer Czareem Joseph Estella, an ally of Magpale.

Temporary suspension, not closure

Arleigh Sitoy, a provincial board member who is now in charge of Sugbo TV and a political ally of Magpale, said that their primary reason for suspending Sugbo TV’s operations was because of its use for personal political ends, specifically those of the suspended governor’s.

Based on CMFR’s preliminary survey on the state of press freedom in selected Philippine cities, Sugbo TV started as a 30-minute news magazine show in 2008 and was launched as a 24-hour cable channel in April 2010. In 2012, the Capitol allocated P14.3 million as its budget. In the same year, the Capitol allocated P24.2 million as the budget for the publication of Sugbo News.

Sitoy denied any allegations of harassment during the “closure” of Sugbo TV’s office and studio. He also clarified that Sugbo TV is only “temporarily suspended” as part of their review and examination of the province’s annual budget.

He added that the unusual high expense for the cable channel, as well as Sugbo News, its print counterpart (a full-color, bi-monthly magazine that stopped coming out approximately five months ago), incurred debts for the provincial government. The financial discrepancy had already reached the Commission of Audit (COA), Sitoy said.

However, Zulueta told CMFR in a phone interview that the order to suspend the whole operation of SugboTV came as a surprise. She claimed that during a meeting on the same date of the “closure”, staff of Sugbo TV and Magpale already talked and agreed to just remove the 30-minute news program being criticized as biased for the suspended governor.

“Kung nag-aaway sila hindi sana kami dinamay. (If Garcia and Magpale are feuding, Sugbo TV shouldn’t have been involved.)”

Press freedom violation?

Francia said that Sugbo TV had been created under Garcia’s good governance agenda to promote tourism and publicize the government’s achievements that private TV stations fail to cover due to their limited timeslots. It is owned by the province under the office of the governor with pending plans for its institutionalization, Francia explained. (Without being institutionalized, Sugbo TV is directly under the supervision of the Office of the Governor.)

“It’s insulting when they say we’re not members of the media,” Zulueta said in addressing claims that Sugbo TV is not part of the mainstream media because it is government-run. “Is not what we’re doing part of the media?”

Zulueta said they were largely independent in choosing what to report; the suspended governor would make comments only on how the program looks; production values such as the font used. Zulueta further explained the perceived bias for Garcia may have come from the coverage given to Garcia who “happened to be very active in going around the province.”

Pachico Seares, veteran journalist, executive director of the Cebu Citizens-Press Council, and Sun.Star Cebu Public & Standards Editor, told CMFR that he believes the issue does not involve press freedom.

“Sugbo TV and Sugbo News were government media which you and I know don’t have the freedom of regular media since they’re controlled by whoever sits at the top of the government unit … Magpale doesn’t have trusted people to run them, so she merely suspended (its) operations,” Seares said.

“The dispute is more on the politicians’ desire to control the information/propaganda outlets,” Seares concluded.

On Twitter, Ritche Tribo Salgado of the Cebu-based The Freeman and a Graciano Lopez Jaena Community Journalism Fellow said “Sugbo TV and Sugbo News are projects of the Cebu Provincial Government. I am not sure if it has been established as a self-sustaining entity. Until such time, the Provincial Government has the prerogative to close the program, especially if it believes that the program is no longer relevant and is eating much needed government funds.”