SEEING RED. The UP Fighting Maroons' relevance in the season is heavily dependent on defeating the University of the East Red Warriors tomorrow. Both UP and UE have sustained 0 wins, and 4 losses for the season. (University of the East)

On Saturday, the match between the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons and the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors will be a battle for the first: a first victory, that is.

And for the struggling Maroons, beating UE with fashion may be the perfect time to finally gain momentum halfway through the first round of UAAP Season 73.

Before the start of the season, the Maroons were considered a dark horse with 11 returning players led by Woody Co beefing up the team, the entry of rookie Mike Silungan, and a revitalized team fresh from a two-week training camp in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Expectations were high for a team that remained in the cellar for years. Some analysts even said that UP could be a strong contender for a Final Four slot this year. However, the team has not lived up to this pre-season prediction. Still winless in four outings, UP is tied with UE at the bottom of the standings.

In their last four games,  the Maroons failed to gain the momentum that they needed to bolster their Final Four bid. If ever they did, they failed to sustain it.

Going up against the De La Salle Green Archers in the opener, UP was heavily favored to win against a young DLSU team. Both teams managed to maintain a close-fight game in the first half but UP’s fate was sealed when the Archers triggered a scoring run in the third quarter after UP’s defense started to collapse and their rotation went awry.

The heartbreaking overtime upset over the UST Growling Tigers was another case of momentum lost. Team captain Woody Co missed two crucial free throws that would have given UP a 71-68 lead. However, UST still managed to force to game into overtime after a Mike Silungan foul sent Jeric Teng to the line and split his charities. During the extra period, the Tigers sizzled from beyond-the arc to finish the game, 87-81.

Sustaining the momentum

In another game, when Martin Reyes scored back-to back triples and led UP to a scoring run that cut the FEU Tamaraws’ lead to eight, RR Garcia scored a three-pointer and Pipo Noundou scored a one-handed dunk off a steal to recover their double-digit lead. Again, UP seized the momentum but they failed to sustain it.

How, now, do they seize and sustain the momentum that they need to win?

First, Beat UE. Start getting it on Saturday. Beat UE and beat them hard. The Warriors lost their last four games by a margin of 12.25 points. Winning against UE in double-figures will gain them both the momentum and the morale that they need when UP faces its Katipunan neighbor Ateneo on Thursday. A victory over the Blue Eagles will further boost their drive for a winning skid when they wrap-up the first round against the National University Bulldogs.

Paint points in the paint. Most of the Maroons are shooters. Thus, UP loves shooting from beyond-the-arc but their three-point shooting are dismal. The team averages 23.58% in three-point field goals. The big men need to post up more inside the paint especially Magi Sison. He can create space inside and elude his defenders for an easy lay-up. Properly executing the game plays and deceiving the defense are the keys to paint more points in the paint.

Invest on defense. Once the lead starts to widen, UP’s defense starts to collapse. Terrence Romeo, the sharp-shooting rookie from FEU who scored 83 points in a juniors match for the Baby Tams, was able to show his shooting skills in the UP-FEU match when the Maroons’ defense plummeted down.

Surge and sustain it. When Martin Reyes fires back-to-back three-pointers or a similar event happens, the Maroons should also solidify their defense. RR Garcia managed to answer with a triple over a loose UP defense and Pipo Noundou deflected the ball off UP and finished with a dunk.

Today is Monday, exactly a week since the presidential election. I woke up at 2 p.m. because I slept at 7 a.m.. Obviously, I haven’t recovered from my graveyard shift during the Halalan 2010 coverage. I feel so jetlagged, except I’ve only been traveling from my home in Ortigas to the ABS-CBN War Room in Quezon City.

Reversed body clocks because news never sleeps (and neither should you), stark eyes from staring into computer screens for hours, coffee, cigarettes or whatever food is free at the office for fuel, fingers tapping and jabbing at keyboards 24/7, executives arguing with their editors, editors screaming at their reporters, people generally screaming… The place isn’t called War Room for nothing.

This is journalism in the 21^st century and, as mentally and physically exhausting as it is, I cannot be prouder to be part of the Halalan 2010 team. The first automated election wasn’t the only historic highlight of May 10. Local news agencies saw the dawn of a new day in news coverage, thanks to technologies like Augmented Reality and Social Media Sites. New Media has finally tapped into mainstream media in the Philippines and this is only the beginning of the transition from traditional to online journalism.

Not shoes and lipstick

From day one, I knew I was in for something big. Nothing at all like the fashion or lifestyle writing stints I’m used to and I cannot tell you how much the orientation for ABS-CBN’s Halalan 2010 Cadetship Program scared me. There were students and fresh grads from other universities and they were all so excited to be there and eager to start working. I wasn’t even sure if I was ready to commit. We were being briefed on how the Newsroom works, what kinds of technologies we’d be using, where and who we’d be working with and all the tasks we’d be doing. Basically, we had to brace ourselves for the most important event of the year: the country’s first automated general elections. I was beyond intimidated.

Just when I assured myself I wasn’t ready, that I should go back to writing about shoes and lipstick, that I should run for the exit immediately, abs-cbnnews.com’s Gemma Mendoza told us that we wouldn’t be diving headfirst into this political pool. She told us we would be undergoing a crash course on journalism, the way the Philippines’ top broadcasting institution has been doing it for over 50 years. I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking if I’m not ready, ABS-CBN will make me.

And it did. Come Monday morning, talks, discussions and workshops were given by the likes of Charie Villa (former News Gathering Head and now Social Media Head), Glenda Gloria (ABS-CBN News Channel Head) and TJ Manotoc (ABS-CBN anchor). By noon, I (along with 29 other volunteers) was already saturated with all the information, tips and tricks they gave. Self-doubt started setting in again. Was I going to survive the harsh and hazardous world of journalism?

Facing the music

As the briefing closed, Maria Ressa (Head of News & Current Affairs) told us that her approach to the election coverage was realistic. She reminded us of Murphy’s Law, that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. And then, she uttered words that resonate to me to this very day: “We’re hoping for the best but we’re preparing for the worst.” There’s only so much we can do as newspeople to get ready so I thought to myself that maybe we were all in the same boat of insecurity. We just have to suck it up and face the music when it’s there. We were given fair warning for violence, corruptions and anomalies. I should be, somehow, ready for this.

Once you’ve started with the actual work, gotten to know your co-workers and superiors and tasted the fruits of your labor (I’m talking about seeing my byline as well as getting free meal vouchers), it’s actually not that terrifying. Stressful? Yes. Grueling? At times. Undoable? Of course not.

Twitter, Facebook, and Social Media

As a Halalan 2010 cadet, I have to research, write spot reports, cover certain events and write some more. Pre-election, I had to build an extensive candidate profile database for abs-cbnnews.com. Post-elections, there’s a lot of promises to monitor for fulfillment.

As a Social Media intern, I have to be ahead of Twitter trends and monitor what everybody is saying. During elections, I had to keep my eyes peeled for people’s thoughts on #halalan in the Twitterverse. It entailed constant refreshing of my Hootsuite tab, hundreds of tweets coming in every couple of minutes.

I always knew Filipinos were opinionated, I just never thought they’d be so relentless in expressing them. That’s the great thing about Social Media: practically anyone can eavesdrop and join the conversation, it’s fast and live, which makes for a very fascinating pool of ideas. Besides allowing users to give their two cents, Twitter and Facebook have enabled ordinary people to become citizen journalists via uploading multimedia. What began as Social Networking Sites are now called Social Media Sites because of the content its users have been able to share. Social Media has made reporters out of everyone. The information gateway is wide open and its headlines and archives are for the consumption of all.

Elections may be over but my work as a cadet is definitely not over. Is a journalist’s job ever? And now that reportage is civic task, you should do your part as well. Coverage doesn’t end when the final polls are counted, not even when the winners are officially proclaimed. We will all be on our toes (and fingertips), hanging on to every word that these officials promise they would accomplish, keeping an eye on them until they get settled (or when they seem unsettled) and long after that, telling viewers, listeners, readers and tweeters worldwide everything as it is.

San Jose is interning for the summer as a Halalan 2010 social media cadet for abs-cbnnews.com.

Many interns from our batch looked forward to covering the elections. The opportunity comes only once every three years and the first ever automation of the nationwide polls was a chance only few were willing to miss. It felt like being part of history, a giant leap for a country believed to be falling behind its neighbors in just about every mark of development.

Luckily for me, my internship with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) gave me a front seat in the polls at the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela Cities) area, home to the Oretas of Malabon, Tiangcos of Navotas and the infamous Asistio-Malonzo and Asistio-Echiverri rivalries of Caloocan. Election Day was a day of firsts for me—first election coverage, first time to vote and first trip to Malabon and Navotas, areas less frequented by the media on election day.

The areas were practically conjoined. Our team, made up of myself, senior researcher Annie Ruth Sabangan and junior researcher JC Cordon, ended up crossing Caloocan, Malabon and Navotas territories in a ten-minute tricycle ride. (The driver himself got lost.) If that happened on May 10, we would have gone home empty-handed. Important lesson number one: Visit the area you were assigned in before the big day comes.

Out on the field

The two-day visit did more than familiarize us with the area. Two days before 13,000 Navotas residents swarmed one of the schools electrical wiring was still being fixed. The sleek, high-tech PCOS machines seemed so out of place in the dilapidated rooms. As Sabangan put it, it was like modern equipment in a “Jurassic” setting. A part of the second floor, made of wood, felt like it would fall apart.

The final testing and sealing in one Malabon school might have had better rooms and electrical wiring, but everyone was still grappling with the system, including the supposed IT technician. In Navotas, the final testing was delayed by almost three hours. When nine PCOS machines hung up on the teachers, we thought we already had the scoop of the election season.

Apparently, the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) simply put in the wrong CF cards in the wrong slots in the PCOS machines. It was just a matter of knowing which parts go where, something the technician—the only technician assigned to that school—should have known immediately.

(For the in-depth article on the schools we covered for this year’s elections, visit http://www.pcij.org/blog/?p=5448 and http://www.pcij.org/blog/?p=5427)

These little boo-boos, which might have been catastrophic mishaps had the machines not been cooperative on Election Day, were important details we found out two days prior to the elections. While the government was reassuring the public that any problem on Election Day was negligible, the stories we found in Malabon and Navotas reiterated that the possibility of failed automation was very real.

The challenge

The BEIs found the solution to their problems through trial and error troubleshooting. The Filipino attitude of making do with any situation served them well. They would employ the same skills in policing crowds of voters eager to experience the new system and eager to get out of the humid, jam-packed rooms.

Anyone who voted that day knew of the unbearable heat, but imagine being a BEI member forced to check name after name in a list of a thousand voters or an unlucky voter waiting four hours just to vote. Foreign groups may have lauded the country for successfully holding “smooth” elections, but they were not there to wait in long lines or to plow through the sea of campaign fliers left on the school grounds. They did not see the children giving away campaign materials on Election Day, when campaign season and all forms of campaigning should have ended on Saturday.

The automated elections, mired with suspicions of rigging and entrenched in a political system of fraud, violence and impunity, has been guarded by the media since its conception. To partake in this watch, no matter how small the contribution, takes public participation to the next level.

Francisco is interning for the summer at the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

The winners, from left: Jhec Delos Angeles, Billie Bautista, Shielo Mendoza, Abigail Robles and Chino Testado. | Photo by Ian Vincent Imperial

Four journalism majors bagged seven awards at the annual AdSpeak Values Advertising Contest (VAC) held at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran last Feb. 12

Among the winners were Chino Testado, whose print advertisement won both 1^st place in Student’s Choice Category (SCC) and 3^rd place in the Values Advertising Category (VAC), Billie Bautista whose print ad won 2^nd place in SCC and 1^st place in Online Votes, Abigail Robles whose print campaign won 3^rd place in VAC, Shielo Mendoza whose television advertisement won 1^st place for Online Votes, and Jhec Delos Angeles, of the School of Economics, whose print campaign won 2^nd place in SCC.

The UP delegation was composed of students from journalism Professor Eleanor Agulto’s Journalism 151 Advertising class.

AdSpeak also featured a Values Advertising Seminar with speakers like Bong Osorio, ABS-CBN corporate communications head, Emily Abrera, McCann Worldgroup chairperson, and CNN Hero of the Year, Efren Peñaflorida.

The delegates from UP were pitted against delegates from top schools such as Ateneo de Manila University, De la Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, Far Eastern University, University of the East and Collegio de San Juan de Letran.

Amid the rise of citizen journalism, ethics cannot be phased out, said gmanews.tv head Howie Severino today in a forum on social media organized by Yahoo! Philippines at the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati City.

Without foolproof ways of “policing” net content, it is up to the citizen journalist to practice ethical journalism, said Severino.

“We still need to have ways to safeguard the truth and making sure that what we write and what we distribute to the public are factual and relevant and significant,” said Severino.

Veteran reporter Ellen Tordesillas of VERA Files said citizen journalists should still verify before posting, ask permission before reposting other people’s post, and link sources to corroborate their stories.

“’You should conduct yourself in social media forums with an eye to how your behavior or comments might appear.’  In other words, don’t behave online any differently than you would in any public setting,” said Tordesillas, quoting from the National Public Radio guidelines on social media.

Severino said part of the duty of “policing the Internet” falls on professional journalists, citing how gmanews.tv verifies the information it receives from citizen journalists and filters the questions sourced from viewers.

Joey Alarilla, Social Media Editor of Yahoo! Southeast Asia, said the challenge for online media is to be ‘a friend in (people’s) social network,’ with established media needing to gain the trust of the people.

“It’s not that (media institutions) have built-in advantage,’ said Alarilla.

Alan Soon, Managing Editor, Yahoo! Southeast Asia said the task of the online journalist is to build dialogue on relevant issues using different platforms.

The “multimedia storyteller” should be adept with using photo, video and other medium and be ready to adopt new tools, said Soon.

The Internet, where print, radio and television will converge, will eventually be accessible virtually everywhere in the country, although it will not replace traditional media, Severino said.

He was smiling.

“Darling, I wish you were here,” said the song that played as people wearing brightly colored shirts poured into the College of Mass Communication Auditorium yesterday for a service for Adrian Olympia, a senior film student who passed away last Friday.

An image of a bespectacled Adrian was flashed on the wall of the auditorium’s small stage, causing sighs from people who opened the doors and saw his smiling face. Some covered their eyes and ears so as not to see his face or hear the song lest tears betray the happiness they promised.

The service began with a Catholic mass presided over by former University of the Philippines Chaplain Fr. Jessell Gerald Gonzales who encouraged Adrian’s friends to live his legacy. “What makes us immortal is the fact that people remember us. Of you want Adrian to be immortal, tell people how great he was and how he loved much,” he said.

True enough, after the mass, the audience that overflowed to the lobby outside the auditorium stayed to listen to stories about Adrian.
“Nobody’s allowed to cry, that’s our rule for tonight,” said Candice Perez, president of the UP Cineastes’ Studio, who was first to deliver a eulogy for their organization’s beloved member.

Despite this rule, those who shared their favorite memories of Adrian Olympia did so in between deep breaths and with failing voices.

Aside from Perez, among those who gave eulogies were his best friend Jann Mikhail Lecaros, currently Playboy Philippines’ managing editor; his housemate Filipino fashion designer Santi Obcena; his partner Jan Pineda; and Frances Grace Mortel, who discovered his body in the apartment they shared together. They have just arrived from Mindoro where they attended Adrian’s funeral last Tuesday.

Members of UP Cineastes’ Studio fondly remember Adrian as the person most feared by applicants of the organization. “Every applicant experienced his bullying,” a member said.

Perez, in her eulogy said that all the members have memorized Adrian’s full name and, at her prodding, they chanted, “Adrian Solomon Benigno Zerubabel A. Olympia.”

“In the same way that we have memorized his name, we shall remember him as a friend,” Perez added. She also encouraged her members to think of their efforts for “Haute Auteur”, a silent film festival sponsored by the organization, as their gift to Adrian who was to head the activity.

On his Facebook profile, Adrian described himself as “a sucker for the little things, movie marathons, jumping up and down, crossing bridges, long walks in silence, romantic cheesy things (and) not giving up.”

His friends, meanwhile, addressing Adrian directly, said that he was “his greatest art.” Some, over bursts of laughter, said they would not call Adrian a good person or a bad one. “He was who he was, and we loved him for it,” they said.

After the service, sky lanterns were lit from the UP Media Center grounds and released into the pitch-black sky. Asked to send their messages to Adrian, with voices from which tears can be heard, his friends cursed and shouted as they did when he was alive.

On their way home, those who loved Adrian stopped to look at the evening sky and some can be heard singing, “I could have told you, Adrian, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.”

And as the flickering lights floated in memory of Adrian Olympia, one can say for certain that once again, he was smiling. Immortal, he shall smile eternally.

CMC Student Council, AY 2009-2010

The two competing parties at the College of Mass Communication will share seats in the next academic year’s student council, seven to six, in favor of the college chapter of the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP (Stand-UP).

While rival party Interdependent Student-centered Activism (ISA) got the CMC representative to the USC post, top seats at the council went to Stand-UP.

CMC students elected incumbent council vice chair Rupert Francis Mangilit of Stand-UP as the new chair and his running mate Paula Bianca Lim as vice chair. Candidate Jihad Karlo Mariano won as council secretary.

ISA’s Jo Javan Cerda won as CMC representative to the USC, and Michelle Miranda as the new council treasurer.

The eight seats for department representatives were equally shared by the two parties. Representative bets of Stand-UP both won in the Journalism department, while ISA bagged both seats for Film Institute representatives.

The parties shared one representative each for the Broadcast Communication and Communication Research departments.

Stand-UP held the majority last year with eight seats, including the top posts from college representative to treasurer. Outgoing council chair Marian Kris Santos ran this year for USC councilor under Stand-UP but eventually lost.

The last time the CMC-SC had a similar party division was in 2007, when ISA first ran in the elections. ISA then held the top posts in the council with college representative Anne Kathleen Malolos and chair Karol Mark Yee.

Voter turnout this year was 57.22 percent, which edged last year’s 56.88 percent and 2007’s 55.96 percent. Data from the College Student Electoral Board showed 655 students voted out of the 1,144 population, with more than half of the voters coming from the Journalism and Broadcast Communication departments.

College of Mass Communication Student Council winners

CMC Representative to the USC:
Jo Javan Cerda, BA Journalism (ISA)
Chairperson:
Rupert Francis Mangilit, BA Journalism (Stand-UP)
Vice Chairperson:
Paula Bianca Lim, BA Broadcast Communication (Stand-UP)
Secretary:
Jihad Karlo Mariano, BA Communication Research (Stand-UP)
Treasurer:
Michelle Miranda, BA Communication Research (ISA)
Broadcast Communication Representatives:
Micaela Faeska Salonga (ISA)
Athena Keziah Chavez (Stand-UP)
Communication Research Representatives:
Claire Pantoja (ISA)
Michelin San Diego (Stand-UP)
Film Institute Representatives:
Grace Simbulan (ISA)
Thesa Tang (ISA)
Journalism Representatives:
Kelvin Paulino (Stand-UP)
Judy Ann Espiritu (Stand-UP)

Updated Feb 27 to correct last year’s turnout to 56.88%, not 55.96% -Ed

Just this semester, the UP administration implemented a stricter smoking ban in all its systems throughout the country. For the administration, it aims to promote awareness about the health risks that can be gotten from smoking tobacco.

In the memorandum distributed among all colleges of the UP system, the policy is in accordance with the three “legal obligations:” 1) the Constitution declares states universities to “instill health consciousness among the people,” 2) in response to the WHO Framework convention on Tobacco control where the Philippines is a state party, and 3) to implement R.A. 9211 or the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003.

The new policy has given the Chancellors, deans, heads of offices, faculty administrators and security personnel the authority to fully implement and observe total smoking ban. It also forbids business concessionaires, big and small, in selling and advertising any tobacco product within 100 meters of the campus’ outer perimeter.

Given these restrictions imposed by the administration, it still gave consideration on the part of those who smoke. However, the deal is conditional. Based on the memorandum, one is free to smoke outside the building except from “entrances, exits or close to any place where non-smokers will pass.” Even waiting sheds, sidewalks, parking spaces, parks and similar places were prohibited for smoking. Proper signs are also emphasized to ensure if the objectives of the policy are met.

Sacrifice has to be made

This situation is what every student is experiencing as they face a day in the campus. Mina (not her real name) is a 3^rd year Communication Research student. She admits she had gained addiction to smoking.

“I officially started smoking last sem dahil sa pressure sa school, mga personal problems, at exposure sa smokers,” she said.

In a day, she takes only five to seven sticks. But she already considers herself as a person addicted to smoking. She personally buys a pack of her favorite cigarette than getting or sharing a stick from someone. For her, the policy on smoking ban has motives or hidden agenda that have to be disclosed.

“Although naglagay sila ng smoking area, inconvenient siya kasi di ka naman makakaupo, so yung comfortability of smoking wala. Smoking kasi it’s a personal choice. We should not impose total smoking ban and say to someone to stop smoking. So in a way it is propaganda—to forcefully stop the students to smoke,” Mina said.

The kind of behavior that Mina is showcasing can be traced through our sociological roots. Filomin Gutierrez, a professor in Department of Sociology in UP Diliman believes that smoking has become pervasive in the Philippine society because it is a solitary habit. She said since humans are naturally social, they want to fit in any group. The pressure to appear “cool’ to other people sends a sense of belongingness and affirmation of being part of a particular group.

Furthermore, history has detailed accounts on how addiction of smoking propagated in Filipinos’ social and cultural being. In the 19^th century, tobacco was a key product of the Philippines. The Spanish government then controlled and extracted revenue from the tobacco production. As one of the main crops back then, Filipinos got dependent on the components of tobacco.

“We can treat [smoking] as an indigenous practice kasi marami talaga ang nagssmoke ng tobacco pero nareinforce ito nang nagkaroon na ng commercialization ng tobacco as a product,” Prof. Gutierrez said.

The commercialization of tobacco began in Canada. Trades made the proliferation of the tobacco consumption throughout the globe as the 19^th century progressed. When the Suez Canal was opened for ships to pass, the Galleon Trade started to change the lives of the people especially the Filipinos. Tobacco products that are coming from the Philippines gained popularity in some nations. In 1880, the monopoly of the government on tobacco had ended but the country has remained as one of the consistent exporter of tobacco in Victorian parlors in Britain, the whole Europe, and North America.

Growing Figures

At present, tobacco seems to maintain its position as one of the most wanted commodity of the Filipinos. Based on the WHO report, tobacco companies are among the top 10 advertisers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines. As a result, among WHO Regions, the Western Pacific Region – which covers East Asia and the Pacific – has the highest smoking rate, with nearly two-thirds of men smoking.

Tobacco smoking has really altered the way people live their lives. Approximately, about 60 percent of Filipino men smoke according to the 2002 WHO report. This number undermines the potential risks that the addiction of smoking can bring to their health. As for the UP administration, it is a responsible action for them to implement total smoking ban.

Gutierrez echoed this standpoint. “I think the administration has seen the general trend in science through the reality of lung cancer and the harmful effects that smoking brings to the passive smokers,” she said.

The administration reasons thatthe no smoking ban is in compliance with the national objectives. However, it keeps mum about the questions that have arisen with the policy’s implementation. Uncertainties will continue to linger throughout the university.

References:

World Health Organization’s Smoking Statistics http://www.wpro.who.int/media_centre/fact_sheets/fs_20020528.htm

http://www.history-of-tobacco.com/index2.shtml

http://www.delapaz-ewf.org/History.htm

The Philippines climbed higher in the World Press Freedom Index, from 142^nd last year to 128^th, according to the organization Reporters without Borders (RSF). These words must have painted a better and freer press but the real image of the present condition of media in the country is yet blood-stricken. The fact that the Philippine press stays suffering from repression and violations still remains.

The RSF website reported that the recent ranking was based on questionnaires distributed to 15 freedom-of-expression organizations, 130 correspondents, and journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists all over the world. The questionnaires contained 50 questions about the press freedom of 169 countries.

The country’s improved standing, said the RSF, was because of fewer journalist killings and less cases filed against media men. It was cited as one of the “unexpected improvements” in the ranking.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) recorded five murder incidents which the organization said was the lowest tally since 2002. However, the number pertains only to “reported” cases of murder. It does not include victims of enforced disappearances and other unreported harassments.

RSF also said there were “fewer defamation (libel) cases against journalists and news media.” Seven months ago, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo withdrew the multiple libel suits against more than 40 journalists. The threat, however, lingers.

The president received recently a “medallia de oro” from Spain for her alleged outstanding efforts to fight for human rights. And yet, only we can see the irony of the stark contrast between the country’s achievements and the reality.

Op(press)ion

Just recently, the National Press Club defaced a press freedom mural created by the Neo-Angono Artists Collective depicting the current situation of press freedom in the Philippines.

NPC, which commissioned the mural for 900,000 pesos, altered the art and its symbolisms to make it less “anti-government,” according to Richard Gappi, president of the artists’ collective.

The mural, officially titled “Sangandaan sa Kasaysayan ng Malayang Pamamahayag sa Pilipinas” (Crossroads of History of the Free Press in the Philippines) shows a street scene which Gappi said connotes the idea of upholding press freedom as “everybody’s concern since this is the right of the people in a democratic society and an integral part of the freedom of expression which the Constitution guarantees.”

Jerome Aning of the Philippine Daily Inquirer described in an article the original mural and the symbolisms in it.

He wrote, “The center image shows a man reading the editorial page of a newspaper that tackles the latest killings of journalists. In the man’s immediate background is the NPC building, which, according to the artists, also serves as a sort of rotunda and suggests ‘the intersection and meeting point of the past and the present.’

“The left side of the mural is a street scene ‘culled for an idyllic community’ while on the right is a busy Manila street. The men on the streets bear the faces of media figures, press freedom icons, presidents of the National Press Club, national heroes who were prominent as writers, and ordinary folk.”

The painting features a cartoon of Joaquin “Chino” Roces preventing a child (America’s symbol) from shooting a bird on a street sign labeled “Kalayaan” (Freedom). Marcelo H. del Pilar and Mariano Ponce also appear in the mural under a “La Solidaridad” sign.

Andres Bonifacio is illustrated as a cigarette vendor with a tattoo–a character in the alibata used by the Magdalo soldiers in 2005–on his arm.

Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino is also shown with Dr. Jose Rizal reading a news article on abduction and the desaparecidos.

The original mural was copied to an 8-by-32-feet tarpaulin and was presented in the 4^th Neo-Angono Public Arts Festival, an exhibit of art pieces by local artists. The copy was turned over to the College of Mass Communication on Dec. 18.

“If the NPC officials would just hide the defaced mural and would not restore it to its original beauty, then the painting would just suffer the same fate as the desaparecidos,” Gappi said.

Culture of impunity

Of the innumerable reported and unreported harassments, disappearances and murders of journalists, there have been very few investigations done, if there is truly any. Hiring killers and gunmen have become easy solutions in terminating explosive mouths and pens. Consequently, justice hardly surfaces. It finds the hired assassins difficultly, even more so the big men who hire them.

After the Radyo Cagayano incident, Jose Torres, Jr., NUJP spokesperson appealed to the government to punish the persons behind the crime, even if their group blames the incident and other attacks on the press to the present administration.

According to NUJP, 54 journalists have been killed under the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), on the other hand, counted 33 killings since 2001.

Of these 33 reported crimes, only those of Edgar Damalerio and Marlene Esperat have convicted the killers. Aside from the two, only five cases are in court.

Luis Teodoro, CMFR deputy director, said the resolution of crimes against journalists is made arduous by lack of witness and because of the Philippine National Police’s idea that cases filed in court are cases “solved.”

Atmosphere of fear

The present administration has undoubtedly created an atmosphere wherein people, especially those in the media, feel intimidation in knowing and expressing truth. There have been plenty of violations to our Constitution and even to the universal notion of right to freedom of expression.

The current government, according to activist groups and human rights parties, is undoubtedly far worse than a declared martial law. It has desperately made moves to suppress all kinds of resistance from students, farmers, workers and other sectors.

Malacañang announced on September 2005 the implementation of the Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR) policy which bans rallies without prior permits and authorizes police to disperse opposing parties accordingly.

The policy clearly violates the provision in the Section 15 of Batas Pambansa 880 which reads:

“Every city and municipality in the country shall within six months after the effectivity of this Act establish or designate at least one suitable ‘freedom park’ or mall in their respective jurisdictions which, as far as practicable, shall be centrally located within the poblacion where demonstrations and meetings may be held at any time without the need of any prior permit.”

As if this wasn’t enough, months later, the president declared a National State of Emergency through Presidential Decree 1017 which enabled her to “command the Armed Forces of the Philippines to maintain law and order throughout the Philippines, prevent or suppress all forms of lawless violence as well any act of insurrection or rebellion and to enforce obedience to all the laws and to all decrees, orders and regulations promulgated by me personally or upon my direction.”

This happened shortly after the explosion of Gloriagate controversies and the filing of a presidential impeachment case which Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo described as “a clear and present danger to the safety and the integrity of the Philippine State and of the Filipino people.”

On July 2, 2006, the station of DWRC Radyo Cagayano, a community radio station in Baggao, Cagayan, was burned by eight armed men wearing masks.

The station blamed the soldiers of the 17th Infantry Battalion whose unit was only one kilometer away from the fire. Susan Mapa, DWRC station manager, also questioned the late reaction of the Philippine National Police (PNP), which was only 300 meters away. The investigators went to the site seven hours after the incident which started at around 2 a.m.

Mapa said the suspects, some of whom were in camouflage, combat boots, and M-16 armalite rifles, called their leader “Sir.”

On November 29 this year, the government’s arms proved their disrespect to media. During the coverage of the standoff at The Manila Peninsula hotel in Makati City, the police arrested, cuffed, and charged them with obstruction of justice.

Ellen Tordesillas, chief of reporter of Malaya, was one of the 30 reporters brought to Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan for “processing” – a euphemism which means arrest.

Tordesillas said in a talk for a journalism class that it was the first time in more than 30 years of practice that she was brought to a precinct for mere coverage.

“Endangered talaga ‘yung press freedom natin,” she said.

Needless to say, the government’s efforts to repress, instead of uphold, the freedom of the press continues. Although the RSF proclaims that conditions have improved, the climate of repression proves otherwise.

By Neil Jerome C. Morales

The battle continues for the Sumilao farmers and their call for the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). The farmers reached Manila on December 3 after a 1,700-kilometer march from San Vicente, Sumilao, Bukidnon to personally voice out their grievances to the Department of Agrarian Refom (DAR) and to Malacañang.

The Sumilao case

Higaonons were early settlers of a piece of agricultural land in Sumilao. In 1940, the Higaonons were forcibly evicted from a 243.885-hectare part of their ancestral land, which was converted into a cattle ranch by the Angeles family.
In the 1970s, Salvador Carlos owned 99.855 hectares of the ancestral land while Norberto Quisumbing held 144 hectares. It was Quisumbing’s land that raised controversy.

By 1988, the 144-hectare ancestral land was covered by the CARP and was set for distribution among 137 Mapadayonon Panaghiusa sa mga Lumad Alang sa Damlag (MAPALAD) Higaonon farmers.

Quisumbing and the Sangguniang Bayan of Sumilao conspired in 1994 to issue Resolution No. 24, converting the land of the Norberto Quisumbing, Sr. Management and Development Corporation from an agricultural to an industrial/institutional area.

However, the move ran contrary to 1993 Malacañang-issued Memorandum Circular No. 54 which gave guidelines for local governments converting agricultural lands for non-agricultural use. The circular stated that lands suitable for agricultural production were “non-negotiable for conversion.” Agriculturally suitable lands are those with irrigation or available for irrigation by the Department of Agriculture or the National Irrigation Administration.

The non-conversion rule was reversed by former Executive Secretary Ruben Torres, approving Quisumbing’s application for land conversion in 1996.

Torres said the land “would open great opportunities for employment and bring about real development in the area towards a sustained economic growth in the municipality.” However, he said giving out the land to non-tenant beneficiaries wouldn’t assure such benefits.”

President Fidel Ramos, through Deputy Executive Secretary Renato Corona, issued a “win-win solution” in 1998, where the farmers would get 100 hectares while 44 hectares would be retained for Quisumbing. In 1999, the Supreme Court (SC) ruled the Sumilao conversion case based on technicalities. The SC said the DAR failed to question the Torres conversion order on time.

According to the farmers, the Bukidnon Agro-Industrial Development Association (BAIDA) project that promised museums, libraries, and housing projects did not deliver at the end of the five-year conversion period.

Instead, Quisumbing sold the land in 2002 to San Miguel Foods, Inc., owned by businessman Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., which converted it into a livestock farm for subsidiary Monterey Foods Corporation.

The Sumilao farmers are now petitioning for the cancellation of the 1996 conversion order. They said Quisumbing did not comply with the order’s conditions since he failed to begin development work in the land a year from the finality of the conversion order on August 25, 1999. Quisumbing, they said, wasn’t able to complete the development plan for the property in five years since 1999 and also submit a written request for extension within six months before the lapse of the five-year period in 2004.

The charges violated provisions in the DAR Administrative Order No. 1 of 1990, or the “Revised Rules and Regulations Governing Conversion of Agricultural Lands to Non Agricultural Uses.”

The verdict for the Sumilao case is still pending under DAR. Until the case is solved, the Sumilao farmers will keep on airing their calls for their ancestral lands.