EJKs and tourism

“If you feel like there’s something out there that you’re supposed to be doing, if you have a passion for it, then stop wishing and just do it.” -Wanda Sykes, comedienne

LAST week, Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo zeroed in on the media for making it hard for her to sell the country to tourists by the latter’s “pesky” reportage of the extrajudicial killings. To be fair to her, she also mentioned Vice President Leni Robredo for mentioning the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs in a taped video message to the United Nations.

I say Teo zeroed in on media because Robredo only mentioned this administration’s bloodlust once in that taped message while we, the media, apparently won’t stop reporting on the killings.

In an interview, Teo asked media to “tone down statements and coverage on EJKs… It’s making my job of selling the Philippines more difficult.”

I commiserate with the good secretary. I can only imagine the difficulty of the position she’s in. How do you entice tourists to visit the country when Filipinos are getting killed left and right? So, let me extend an olive branch then.

Since the good secretary has identified the media as the culprit, methinks it’s only befitting that we in media should help her out. I launched a crowd sourcing of sorts on Facebook. I asked colleagues how they would sell the Philippines to tourists through an advertisement pitch or blurb.

Mine was, “Philippines: Where you can rest in peace.”

I even posted a caveat telling them that by posting on my crowd sourcing post, they give me expressed permission to quote their ad blurbs on my next column. So here are what my colleagues in media offer:

“We’ll love you to death.” –Nonoy Espina

“Live your (after) life to the fullest in the Philippines.” – Chino Gaston

“There’s more fans in the Philippines, where people can easily rest in peace.” – Chris Panganiban

“Enjoy Boracay! It’s (war) free.” – Froilan Gallardo

“Come to the Cordilleras and have a taste of heaven.” – Kimberlie Quitasol

Meanwhile, Erwin Mascariñas took it to another level and submitted a suggested copy for an entire brochure: “Up for an adventure? Experience real-life death-defying tours. Join our Tokhang urban slum adventure raids and get a chance to see and experience a turkey shot like no other. Book now and avail our special riding in tandem promo.”

Meanwhile, Rigoberto “Bobi” Tiglao just commented that “actually our infrastructure can’t accommodate any tourists anymore.”

The one to beat, however, was from my igso Elson Elizaga – “p***ng ina, bumalik kayo dito!” It encapsulates the kind of vocabulary the president uses and it has a macho ring to it, much like the president’s default posture.

I know the ad-blurb suggestions are sarcastic and borders on snarky. But what kind of answer does one get with a ridiculous request?

In that same interview in Thailand, by the way, the good secretary also mentioned that her department is finding it hard to sell the country because of the President Digong Dada’s proclivity to bash the major sources of tourists – the United States and the European Union.

Teo admitted in the interview that they get nervous “every time he (Duterte) opens his mouth.” She said every time that happens “they release a press statement on the developments in our agency, just to distract the public from what the President said.”

I actually feel sorry for Teo. I know how it’s like to have a lippy boss who is not afraid of running it to the chagrin of the subordinates.

So, what she’s actually requesting media is not only to “tone down” reportage of the killings but to “distract the public” from what is really happening across the country.

Nobody is painting anything. It’s this regime that is painting itself into a corner. Journalists are not out to “destroy” this country’s reputation. This regime is doing a banged up job all on its own.

I’d like to end by quoting the statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines: “It would be better if, instead of asking us to ‘tone down’ the killings, you ask the President to order an end to them. That way, we could truthfully report that the killing season is over and the Philippines is, well, ‘more fun.’”

Skating on thin ice

“Don’t be surprised when a crack in the ice appears under your feet. You slip out of your depth and out of your mind with your fear flowing out behind you.” -The thin ice, Roger Waters (Pink Floyd)

THE animosity on social media has really taken off. People whom I thought I knew to be discerning and critical are sharing obvious propaganda passing off as journalistic work. Even people who are close to me by blood have been espousing hatred towards political dissenters of the republic which he based on an article written by paid hacks of the “fifth column.”

It pains me to see government employees, career bureaucrats, and academics swallow President Digong Dada’s hate rhetorics–hook, line, and sinker. Hasn’t it occurred to them that hate escalates? It’s like wildfire. You keep fanning on the flames of hate, you will get burned eventually. When it does, please don’t act surprised, aghast or scandalized at the level of hatred floating around because we did our part in it.

How do you think the Rwanda genocide started? It started with hate propaganda against an entire class of people broadcast on local radio over and over until the collective psyché of the people snapped. Hate took a life on its own. Interesting sidebar to this is that it was fanned by religious people. Just like what the fictional international crime lord on the TV series “The Blacklist” said: “Hell hath no fury than a fundamentalist scorned.”

Trolls and even actual people who behave like trolls on social media have been fanning this great ball of hate. With all the available information online, methinks these people consciously choose to be ignorant like fanatics in a cult. I agree with Prof. Ben Domingo when he posted online: “Trolls do not deserve an explanation.”

I mean what can you really do or say when the person you are trying to reach out to has decided to believe in the alternative reality this regime has whipped up. I used the word: decision, because it is exactly that–a conscious choice to shut out dissenting opinions and perspectives. One cannot even call for sobriety online without being branded as either a “dilawan” or an “adik.”

The “us and them” tactical narrative is as old as time. The generals and czars used it to divide and conquer. It even has a biblical version: “If you are not with us, you are against us.”

As for me, I take solace in the thought that the age-old primeval law of self-preservation will ultimately kick in. Human beings can only eat so much bull crap in their lifetime.

Mob anger

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, Fellowship of the Ring (Gandalf’s Advice)

LAST week, the city was overwhelmed with anger when the Balinado house on JR Borja St. near Burgos St. was burglarized. Thirty-year-old graduating education student Cherrymae Dayo was allegedly raped, and then stabbed. Dayo managed to run outside the house to call for help but later died in the hospital. The main suspect, Warren Amarga, 24, admitted to stabbing Dayo to the chest but denied having raped her.

Within minutes after the police announced that they have arrested five suspects hours after the crime was committed, a mob started to form outside the police station in Divisoria. A radio reporter asked one of the kibitzers outside what he hoped to accomplish by joining the mob outside the police station. The kibitzer answered he wanted to punch or at least scratch the face of one of the suspects.

Meanwhile, local social media groups overflowed with angry posts. Most posts wanted death to the suspects. They want the recently approved Death Penalty Bill (House Bill 4727) to be applied on the five suspects.

First, death penalty cannot be applied on the suspects yet since it is still a bill (read: proposed law)–senators have yet to vote on it. Second, the members of the Lower House, in all their “wisdom,” only arrived at a consensus after the House Speaker removed the heinous crimes of rape and plunder in the list of offenses punishable by death. HB 4727, should it pass the bi-cameral session, will only cover drug-related offenses.

That’s the problem with most netizens these days. They read less than their comments. Perhaps, these “righteous” people should direct their anger at our congressmen who were among the majority in the Lower House to delist rape in their Death Penalty Bill.

Some asked why the human rights advocates, specifically the Commission on Human Rights, were silent. That rhetorical question is really dumb. This argument, if you call it that, has been going around social media since the start of President Digong Dada’s campaign last year. The CHR is not a law enforcement body.

It bothers me that in this supposed information age, many netizens choose ignorance.

Look, I understand anger. What I don’t understand is why there was no public outburst of anger in the Jamaca case or the Fernandez case? Is it because the suspects in these cases involved were police officers? Where was the people’s “righteous” anger then?

I agree that whoever raped and killed Dayo should be punished with the full force of the law. Such crime was incorrigible. However, if the mob insists that these five suspects should be killed and that their anger is “righteous,” I dare them to go to the police station now. Go and grab the gun of the officer-in-charge, and pull the trigger to kill the suspects even before their guilt could be established in court. Go put a hole in each of the suspect’s head.

Go ahead, make Cocpo’s day.

Fake obituary

OF all the clauses in the code of ethics in journalism, the most memorable one for me is: “Do no harm.” I know it is more of a guideline than an actual rule but you can understand the damage you could do to your fellow human beings when you broadcast or publish just about anything without the checking the facts before reporting it.

Humans as we are, we are all bound to commit mistakes.

I once inadvertently “killed” an associate justice of the Court of Appeals by choosing the wrong photo to go with the banner story of a judge who died. The associate justice was so mad that he sent me a letter. I remember becoming a bit nervous because it was written on his official stationary. You know the kind that starts with “from the desk of associate justice…” He asked me to explain within 72 hours why he should not sue me in court.

I explained that it happened because his photo was erroneously filed in a folder under his name. After asking for an apology, profusely, we published an erratum the next day explaining that the photo was not of the judge who died, and that we committed a mistake.

In my 10 years or so in the print medium, I have made mistakes. However, it is another thing when you willingly lie or quote imaginary sources or text messages sent by who-knows-who.

Over the weekend, President Elipe broadcast over Magnum Radio that he received text messages about Opol Mayor Maximo Seno supposedly passing away. Seno subsequently told this paper that it was a lie, and that, obviously, he is alive. He went to the US for a three-month medical leave. Imagine what the false information has done to his family, friends, and worse, his constituents in Opol.

Just so the ex-councilor would understand, let’s turn him into an example. Again, this is just hypothetical. How would Elipe’s loved ones feel if a broadcaster, quoting an imaginary source, falsely reports that he was abducted by the Maute group and then beheaded? Of course, the broadcaster could, like him, hide behind the Sotto Law that allows him not to divulge the identity of his news source. But wait, I recall Prof. Chell Diokno teaching us that the Sotto Law (Shields Law in the US) only protects journalists in the print medium. Sorry, I digressed.

Going back to the Elipe's lie, because he broadcast the terrible rumor passing off as a “news item” over a radio station, his listeners could have taken it as a legitimate news. What if a close relative of Seno with a medical condition keeled over after hearing Elipe’s fake news? Would Elipe be responsible for such death?

It was like Martin Andanar quoting an “intel report” that the journalists who covered the press conference of Sen. Antonio Trillanes III were given $1,000 each.

Working in mass media should not be taken lightly. There will consequences to everything you publish or broadcast. Andanar got demoted for maligning the Senate press corps. What do you think will happen to Elipe?

Just recently, this paper erroneously accredited a photo to our correspondent although it was not his. We have since admitted our faux pas, apologized, took down the photo and article, and published a clarificatory article the very next day.

Still the group felt pissed off. But that’s another story all together because it turned out their beef was misdirected at us when they were really pissed off with another group with the same name.