On bread, butter, and the myth of the envelope

THERE is a pervasive, cynical whisper that floats around political circles — and sadly, sometimes echoes even within our own ranks.

It goes something like this: these politicians wonder if media practitioners could even eat regularly if they didn’t receive anything from them.

It’s a statement dressed up as a noble critique of corruption, but let’s be real: it serves as a lazy, blanket insult to a profession and a convenient erasure of actual hard work.

This is disconcerting. It betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of what the news media community actually is.

We are not a monolith.

We aren’t a hive mind where every worker drone operates on the same frequency of compromise.

We are a motley crew of workers with divergent beliefs, various political colors, and different economic realities.

To assume that a journalist cannot feed their family without the patronage of a politician is to assume that journalism itself has zero market value. It ignores the reality of honest-to-goodness hard work.

This editorial cartoon was created by Gemini Pro.

In my 28 years in this community — 10 of which were spent grinding as a freelance correspondent for international news wires — I have a newsflash for the cynics: Nakapakaon pud baya ko sa akong banay gikan sa akong hinaguan.

International wire work is not for the faint of heart. It is paid in sweat, strict deadlines, and blood pressure spikes. It does not pay in favors; it pays in output. And believe it or not, that output puts food on the table.

More importantly, it paid for tuition. To date, I have sent my children through school on this income alone. I have seen them graduate, one by one. Isa na lang kulang.

That is the ultimate receipt.

When you raise a family on honest money, the food tastes different. It tastes like dignity — with a side of clear conscience.

To suggest that we need a politician’s “blessing” just to survive is to discount the thousands of column inches written, the photos filed, and the deadlines met by honest workers in this industry.

We are not all the same. And for those of us who have ground it out for decades, we don’t need the handout. We have the receipt.

The news media has a social contract with the citizens of the republic. Our role is to hold the powerful to account. That is why we are called the Fourth Estate — we are the check and balance to the other three.

Here’s a wild idea for the onion-skinned politicos: How about you do your job, and we’ll stick to ours?

A tale of two Uys

IN the political theater in this particular corner of Northern Mindanao, one surname looms large with an almost gravitational pull toward centralized authority: Uy. Specifically, we speak of two distinct, yet strangely mirrored, figures: Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy and Misamis Oriental Governor Juliette T. Uy. They are not related by blood, but they are bound by a shared political DNA marked by a distinct brand of micromanagement and a fascination with control. The uncanny parallels begin with their respective bureaucracies. It’s a running gag — or perhaps a grim, perpetual reality — that government workers under both administrations have experienced the peculiar stress of delayed salaries. One might imagine this isn’t due to poor budgeting, but rather a final, meticulous check by the top, ensuring every single peso aligns perfectly with the executive vision. After all, if the Mayor or Governor hasn’t personally approved the decimal point, is the salary truly earned? This penchant for control extends effortlessly to the information highway. Both Uys have nurtured their own in-house “news media” outlets — a perfectly normal exercise, of course, for public servants who wish to ensure their good deeds are reported with maximum, unfiltered clarity. The city has its “Barkadahan,” and the province, the more formal “Capitol Press Corps.” It’s an efficient system: why bother with the messy objectivity of independent journalism when you can have a dedicated channel broadcasting the official narrative, complete with complimentary photo ops? Ultimately, the tale of the two Uys is a definitive study in control issues. From the specifics of delayed paychecks to the macro-level of media messaging, their shared approach suggests that governing is less about strategic delegation and more about being the sole conductor of the orchestra, the lead actor, and the script supervisor. One can only hope that, for the sake of efficient public service, their commitment to control doesn’t accidentally extend to controlling the release of the next batch of employee paychecks.

Goodbye, George

“In the fear and alarm, you did not desert me, my brother in arms.” ― Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms [1985]

 I LOST a dear friend. George Bagsic, one of the popular folksingers in the city died of cardiac arrest on Friday night.

 He told me his family was into folk music in Olongapo. His partner, who had since become his intimate partner, is a resident here. He relocated here in Cagayan de Oro after a contracted gig in South Korea.

 We first met under competitive circumstances. There was an acoustic playing contest in Butuan City and I enlisted as a contestant. He wasn’t but I was determined to outplay him — in musician’s lingo — lagyan. But he rose to the challenge. He also played his best piece.

 Weeks later, I saw him fetching water in our neighborhood communal faucet. We were both surprised that we were neighbors. From then on our friendship flourished. He became my brother from another mother.

 I remember that time when we broke in my brand new component. We used an LCD projector and enjoyed a concert like we were there by sitting on the floor, with a picnic like banig with a bottle of rum, ice, and two glasses.

 The skill he taught me with the guitar will his legacy to me. I remember he taught me one particularly difficult A chord structure — A major 9th dominant +13. He also taught me the creative phraseology of certain melodies.

 His last text message to me was on March 16. It was a memo for the performers at a resto-bar he was playing at.

 “Please be advised that our acoustic (performances) will be suspended…starting tomorrow March 17, 2020. Wait for further notice (when) to resume,” the memo reads.

 He was anxious because he lived from gig to gig. He had no day job like I had when I used to “lagare” the local bars with him before. Music was literally his bread and butter.

BURGOS STREET MUSIC COLLECTIVE

 With the bars in Cagayan de Oro closing as part of the preventive measures in containing the contagion, he was clearly in dire straits. He was at his wit’s end as to where to get the money to buy their next meal. His heart gave out.

 When I replied with a sad emoticon to his text message, he replied with a smiling emoticon with a halo. Rest easy, my dear friend. You will be missed.

Defying Digong

FOR once, I fully agree with the President’s order to clear all public roads of illegal structures. It is, after all, for the good of the many. The President issued the directive during his State of the Nation this year.

Subsequently, the interior department issued Memorandum Circular 2019-121 in consonance to the President’s order. Based on this circular, local chief executives, from the barangay to the provincial levels, are enjoined to “exercise their powers essential to reclaim public roads which are being used for private ends and in the process, rid them of illegal structures and constructions.”

I do get that. It is not the usual verbal orders of the President that we have heard in the past three years. Now, we have an actual order put on black and white. What I don’t get is capitol’s contention.

It is public knowledge to motorists to avoid the capitol compound during rush hours. Why? It is because of the food stalls and the pay parking spaces that take up at least one lane of the roads surrounding the compound. It has become a virtual traffic bottleneck right smack dab in the middle of the city.

How did these to and fro between the city and capitol begin? Let’s dissect.

It started when Antonio Resma, spokesman of the city’s composite team tasked to carry out the department circular, said, “Pareho man kami [local government] nga gimando-an sa Presidente to reclaim the roads. So, ang ako lang unta niini nga sila na lang unta sa kapitolyo ang mo-demolish kon duna may mga illegal structure sa mga dalan o sidewalk diha sa provincial capitol.”

I understood this statement to be an extension of courtesy to the capitol. It’s like, please clean up your backyard so that we don’t have to. The statement acknowledges the fact that the governor is the foremost entity to carry out the President’s order.

However, the capitol, for some inexplicable reason, took this pronouncement as a threat. Through its information officer Florito Dugaduga, the capitol declared that it will protect its properties and facilities.

“Hugot ang baruganan ni Gobernador Bambi Emano nga iyang panalipdan ang mga kabtangan ug propedad nga gipanag ya sa mga katawhan sa lalawigan sa Misamis Oriental. Kini taliwala sa hulga sa mga opisyal sa syudad… nga ilang sudlon ang capitol compound aron gub-on ang mga ilegal nga struktura nga nakababag sa trapiko ug ipatuman ang Presidential Proclamation – Memorandum Circular 121-2019,” this paper quoted a capitol statement released by Dugaduga.

Right off the bat, the capitol responded to what it understood as a threat from city hall. Maybe the capitol spokesman was not listening to Resma properly. Resma did not categorically say that they will enter the compound and start demolishing the illegal structures. What Resma did was to enjoin the provincial government to clear the roads of the compound. If the latter cannot do its part in implementing the President’s order, then city hall will have no other resort but to do it for the capitol.

Remember that the city hosts the provincial compound. Ergo, all the traffic congestion it causes contributes to the traffic situation in the city.

Another thing, the fact that the capitol predicated its statement that the structures inside the capitol compound are illegal, boggles my mind. Is the capitol then saying that it will protect and defend all the illegal structures in its compound?

The capitol even upped the ante by saying: “Dili man na common road nga agianan gyud sa mga sakyanan. Kana nga mga dalan para ra man na agian sa mga empleyado sa kapitolyo.”

Curiously, I wasn’t able to see that category under the Department of Public Works and Highways’ classification of public roads. The DPWH classifies public roads as national primary, national secondary, national tertiary. provincial roads, municipal and city roads, barangay roads, expressways, and bypasses.

Under the provincial roads category, the public works further define this as local roads:

a. Connect cities and municipalities without traversing national roads

b. Connect national roads to barangays through rural areas

c. Connect to major provincial government infrastructure

On Sunday, I saw first-hand how difficult it was for an ambulance to snake its way through the food stalls to get to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center. I talked with one of its guards. He said the food stalls have been operating virtually 24/7. The operation is divided into two “shifts” of 12 hours daily.

What is it in these food stalls in the capitol compound that would push the governor to defy the President’s order? There is even a makeshift motorela terminal beside the row of food stalls in front of the regional hospital. These motorelas ply the city streets and do not go as far as Opol. My point being is that the terminal is operating in the city under what Dugaduga called as a road only for capitol employees. Are these motorelas owned by employees of the capitol?

Whatever the capitol’s answer to these queries, it is clear that the coming days will surely be interesting, to say the least.

Oh, I almost forgot. Didn’t the governor declare that he may run for city mayor come 2022? If he does get that seat, will he issue the same pronouncements Resma did?

It’s like what we say in chess parlance: It is neither a stalemate nor a draw. It is checkmate, Sir. Pfft.

Fabilioh!

“Fabilioh! Halikinu.” — Ateneo traditional cheer

I AM an Atenean although I would rather call myself a “Xavierian” for emphasis. These insecure sphincters hate that. What with all the “branding” this certain university president wants and all.

But for all intents and purpose, I am an Atenean at heart. I bet even the national hero Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda yelled that same cheer above when he attended the Jesuit-run school in Manila.

Look, I understand where these people are coming from. Heck, as I’ve said, I have spent most of my formative years in Xavier-Ateneo — that’s what they want to call it now, not Xavier University, as it should. Pabalik, yes. Fabilioh, no.

Here’s the skinny, in its July 17 statement, the Cebu Landmasters Inc. received a “notice of interest” from Xavier University for “the development of the latter’s Manresa, a 63.5-hectare property. The Jesuits in Cagayan de Oro wants to build the “campus of the future.”

One, it is their property. Two, it is their property.

By the way, a cursory check on Google about the impending sale of the Xavier University-Corrales campus will show you how it is supported by a number of groups. Many of my “Spartan” batch mates support it, too. Mind you, we were not mere “transferees.” Most of us in Batch ’91 started our Jesuit education since Kinder 1.

However, when you include a troll in your advocacy to oppose the sale, you can be sure your campaign will fail. Its very presence reeks of bovine excrement and political ambition. Believe me, because I have been at the worst end of this thing’s social media drive in the midterm polls.

I mean, the thing is the very textbook definition of a pathological liar.

Saying that this piece of excrement is an Atenean and that it has every right to express its thoughts on the matter at hand is naive at best. Women and men for others can, certainly, do better than this. It has already announced its ambition for the mayoral seat only months since its spectacular loss in the midterm polls.

Saying that this advocacy transcends political lines is way worse. I have been told that the organizers have been able to enroll a few politicos in their cause. But why was it the only one given the podium to speak last week? Its foul mouth will spell the failure of this advocacy. Even its own batch mates know why it is riding the opposition of the XU sale — to earn political brownie points. It will create more enemies than allies to the cause.

I know my agaw Antonio Montalvan II does not support this sale as is evident in his series of columns, but I know he will agree that he would not want to trek this campaign with the main architect of the deluge of fake news online since 2016.

So, good luck with who you go to bed with on this journey, my beloved Atenistas. Have a field day in getting alums to support the cause with this sorry excuse of an Atenean at your side. Pfft.

At wit’s end

I AM tired of being wary. I am tired of my “new reality” in light of this incessant red tagging. For context to people who don’t realize what it is to be red-tagged, it is being in a virtual hit list but not knowing who will assassinate you. Everyone is a suspect — from the innocuous-looking guy selling candy or ice drop on the streets to the notorious duo riding a motorcycle.

Fortunately, I have had training from the International News Safety Institute. We were trained at the Army’s 4th Infantry Division here. We were the first batch that used “live fire” during the training. We were trained how to react in different scenarios — from abduction to being tailed or to counter surveillance.

No less than an agent of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces taught us tips on counterintelligence. He taught us how to “burn” those who are tailing us. I have since shared my training with my family. Looking back, sharing the things I learned from the safety training would prove useful now.

So, when my family and I were tagged in February this year, I gathered them for a huddle to refresh them of the things I shared to them years ago.

Since the first red tagging incident, my “new reality” consisted of me flinching whenever a “motorcycle riding in tandem” whiz by me. Walking the streets or inside the malls, I would maximize every reflective surface to be able to see who has been following me or what people behind me are doing. If there is one particular person who I think has been following me, I would automatically do the “jackrabbit walk” to steer the person off my trail.

But doing this every single day since February is tiring and has taken a toll on my nerves. It angers me that I am constantly afraid when I walk the streets of a city where I was born, grew up, got married, had children, and will most probably die in.

It is disappointing that I do not feel safe anymore in a city I have called home during the last four decades of my life. I am a tax-paying constituent of the city, for crying out loud.

I am disappointed at people who swore to look after my welfare and safety. It does not even help that I’m a director of the oldest press club in the country since it is so busy with some personal problems. Until only over the weekend, city hall has been deafeningly silent on the red tagging of its constituents.

Last Friday night, another local journalist was red-tagged online along with a Davao-based columnist who was abducted at the Laguindingan Airport late last month. A meme red tagging National Union of Journalists in the Philippines’ chapter president here, Pamela Jay Orias, and Margarita Valles was posted on a Facebook group “Quiet No More PH.”

However this time, colleagues were fast in condemning the incident. Taking it a step further, my editor-in-chief, who is also an NUJP long-time member, did a digital forensic work on “Quiet No More.” He traced the post to a military unit that is tasked, ironically, to do “civil relations” work.

He posted his findings on his wall. Although the findings were circumstantial, apparently, it was enough to push the military agents to take down their red tagging meme by Saturday evening.

Erstwhile Alagar spokesman Surki Sereñas reacted to my post of a screen-captured photo of the red tagging meme that was not “available” anymore, that although it was taken down, the damage has been done. I replied that while it is true that they have already damaged the reputation of the Pam and Manang Ging, we still have the consolation that now we know the people behind the online red tagging. It is a unit of the Army based in Davao City.

On Saturday, members of NUJP’s directorate held an audience with Mayor Oscar Moreno and Vice Mayor Raineir Joaquin Uy to discuss our concerns on the red tagging of local media workers.

I was told that Moreno said he would look into the matter. He also asked for “proof” of the red-tagging incidents in the city. Why would he ask for proof — doesn’t he read the newspaper or listen to the radio? Where has he been living all these years? From his house, does he go to work passing through a portal that leads directly to his office?

To be fair, I know the mayor has a lot on his plate right now. But I don’t believe he lacks resources and logistics to address these life-threatening incidents because aside from being the mayor of the city, he sits as chairman of the Regional Peace and Order Council of Northern Mindanao.

He can just easily get to the bottom of this. Say, easier than what my editor-in-chief did in digging into who is behind the incessant red tagging in the city.

The mayor also chided local reporters for not doing anything when he was a subject of a smear campaign that started months before –and even after — the mid-term polls. Now, this is dumb. Unlike him, we did not run for public office. Being a veteran politician, he should know that smear campaign during election season comes with the territory.

Our task as members of the fourth estate is to advance the right of the people to know the current events of government — for them to reach informed decisions. It is hardly a task that merits red tagging.

Anyway, I find solace in kindred spirits who continue to inspire their colleagues by being with them in times of state repression.

I admit that I am scared out of my wits — I’m on my wit’s end here. But apart from being scared, I will still not be cowed into silence. I will continue with my task to inform the people as accurate as I can.

‘Fight for love’

JULY is the birth-month of Mindanao Gold Star Daily. Thirty years ago yesterday, the very first copy of GSD circulated in the city and gave Cagayan de Oro City its very first daily newspaper that defied the one-year test.

Frankly, I really didn’t know the more intimate details of the paper’s history until my return to it on June 27, 2015, and served as its associate editor. Years before that, I used to be a staff reporter of another daily newspaper in the city. That didn’t pan out well because that paper had a penchant for delayed salaries and payments of my social remunerations.

So, I decided to be a freelance news correspondent.

Like all fledgling news correspondents, I was struggling to make ends meet. But as a freelance news writer, I could sell my stories to any news media organization, be it domestic or international.

Herbie Gomez, this paper’s editorial jefe, offered me to submit stories to GSD since I’m not officially connected with the other paper anymore. He had only one request, though, that I submit my story first to GSD before I submit it to other media outfits I was writing for. Well, at least three hours of lead time from other outfits. The day I started contributing stories to GSD was the day my journalistic career turned serious.

Before, with the other paper, I had 50 percent of my story is the paper’s banner story. It was not because I was an enterprising or “Boombastic” writer. It was because there were only two of us as staff reporters in the other daily. Being one of many correspondents across the island, in GSD, you had to battle it out to byline the banner story.

Don’t worry, it was a friendly competition. Each correspondent had to out-scoop each other. The end result was we had the most comprehensive banner story on any given subject because at least two correspondents worked on the same story. The story would have covered all the bases, so to speak.

Also, if I was struggling to make ends meet before, now I can make ends meet on time, albeit still struggling. But I was paying my bills on time, this time. This is because in all my years working with GSD, it has always made it a point to pay its people on time, a thing that I, unfortunately, could not say for the other outfits I wrote for before, be it domestic or international.

It was when I worked as a correspondent for GSD that I learned how to view news events more critically. I wasn’t going to slack off and submit a haphazard article and be relegated to the inside pages. I concentrated more on the whys and hows. In other words, I was more invested in the context rather than the political intramurals on the surface of an event. I shied away from the “he said, she said” or more popularly known locally as “sabong” journalism.

It was because of this internal competition in GSD that I dare say I improved my writing. At least, it caught the attention of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, for one. I owe a lot to GSD to my journalistic career.

So, after a four-year stint with PCIJ, it was only proper to return to the paper that gave me my break into serious journalism. Not “new,” but just serious journalism. The decision was fairly simple to make. I wanted to apply all the learning I acquired from PCIJ to THE paper that gave me the opportunity to have opportunities opened to me.

It was at this time that I got to know GSD a little more. I did not know of it in a classroom sort of discussion, mind you. I learned about the paper’s history through informal chats with president emeritus Ernesto Chu.

He would tell us about the days when he drove across the island to personally establish the paper’s bureaus. Yes, you read it right. Imagine, establishing your paper’s presence in at least 20 cities and 24 provinces. He was on the road most of the time. And does he rest on his laurels? No. Now, he wants to establish a strong presence on the internet superhighway. And we will be right there beside him in that undertaking.

When you get to know what the paper has gone through to get where it is at right now, you simply feel pride and love. I am proud and grateful to be with Gold Star Daily.

This paper is a product of love and perseverance. Marketing executive Amor Barlisan suddenly blurted in the middle of the newsroom years ago: “Fight for love!” It has since become the paper’s unofficial motto.

Here’s to 30 years more. “Fight for love!”

The Ocon-hate bandwagon

THIS will be my second column on Councilor Zaldy Ocon. But this will be the first time for me to name him. This column, however, is not an attempt to ride the Ocon-hate bandwagon.

The first time I alluded a column to the councilor cum radio anchor was when he dismissed a friend’s explanation on air because my friend “sounded gay.” My friend happens to be the information officer of Northern Mindanao’s social welfare office.

My friend was trying to explain the delay in the payout of a dole-out program of the social welfare office. However, Ocon interrupted him by commenting that my friend sounded gay. It was uncalled for.

This incident was brought up again during Cagayan de Oro Press Club’s lecture series on ethics in commemoration of the Press Freedom Week in May this year. The discussant reminded the participants that you should not discriminate people based on their belief, race or gender preference or orientation.

In January last year, the Office of the Ombudsman slapped Ocon with a six-month suspension for slapping a traffic enforcer.

There have also been many photos of his “parking skills” on social media. He has the penchant for parking on entrances for people with disability, double parking at the public market, and parking on a no-parking zone.

The last part was why he was confronted by the traffic aide where Ocon’s response was slapping the guy silly.

Ocon also hogged the headlines when his pick-up truck figured in an accident near Gingoog City where it was discovered to have carried sizeable board feet of illegal hardwood. He wasn’t in the truck when the accident happened but he admitted to owning the truck and its hot cargo.

A competing radio station also has a beef against Ocon. He defended Kapa Community Ministry International Inc. when a radio announcer of that competing radio station figured in an entrapment operation by the NBI for allegedly extorting money from Kapa ring master Joel Apolinario.

Earlier this month, Ocon berated former mayor Reuben Canoy in the lobby of a Canoy-owned hotel. A video clip of part of the incident has since gone viral on social media.

There is a signature campaign going on at the Press Freedom Monument that is calling for the “removal” of Ocon from the city council. The campaign spokesperson even went as far as to call for Ocon to leave the city and go back to Davao where he supposedly comes from.

I’ll be stating the obvious when I say that Ocon has attitudinal problems. I would not be surprised if a lot more people will come out to say that they have been wronged by Ocon, too.

Look, I agree that Ocon’s behavior is reprehensible. What he did to Ninong Reuben was uncalled for. As a public official, he should be held to account.

But you cannot banish him from the city for that. Just as I cannot banish you from the city for laughing and clapping your hands at every rape joke of the President.

It’s called right to domicile, you double-standard “righteous” people. Pfft.

Tagged

“‘The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable’” —  attributed to Finley Peter Dunne, “Observations by Mr. Dooley,” 1902

MY family and I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the people who supported us when we found ourselves dastardly embroiled in a vilification campaign a fortnight ago.

We would like to thank our friends and relatives in the human rights groups, Armed Forces, and National Police for their assurances to get to the bottom of the cowardly list of supposed members of the communist movement. You who did so without fanfare and communicated with us privately, thank you.

We also extend our gratitude to the support of local and Southeast Asian media community. You who issued statements and wrote news articles about the red-tagging, thank you. Even estranged friends came out and posted their support on their Facebook walls. It was a humbling experience. Thank you.

Red-tagging is one of the hazards any practicing journalist faces. So, you can just imagine how mortified I was when I saw that the cowards included my wife and son.

My wife, son, and I condemn the cowards who included us in the anonymous list of supposed Communist Party of the Philippines members here in Cagayan de Oro City.

We are not, have never been and never will be members of CPP.

My wife is a marketing executive with this paper where I am the associate editor. My son is a regular staff in the Commission on Elections in Region 10 and is currently serving in the commission’s city office. He is also currently studying at Xavier University College of Law. Our credentials are readily available.

We denounce this list as it is not only aimed to intimidate me in my work as a journalist but has endangered my family. We know full well that red-tagging is a virtual death sentence.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen cited a 2011 journal article which defined red-tagging as “the act of labeling, naming and accusing individuals and/ or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists (used as) a strategy… by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the State.’”

As if the red-tagging was not enough to mute me, trolls of a certain local political party rode on it for their own political ends — their comeuppance will come too.

On my end, I will not let this cowardly act push me to silence. I will continue speaking truth to power. I will continue to tell the story of the downtrodden, the marginalized, and voiceless people of the Republic.

#HoldTheLine

‘Unity March’

THE election period for the 2019 mid-term elections started on Sunday. Here in Cagayan de Oro, it was opened with a so-called “Unity March.” Started with a march, local candidates held an interfaith prayer rally and capped it off with a peace covenant signing at Kiosko Kagawasan in Divisoria.

The Commission on Elections in Northern Mindanao, officials of Camp Alagar and the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, and city hall employees attended Sunday’s activity. Camp Alagar spokesman Surki Sereñas posted on his Facebook wall: “United for honest, credible, and peaceful 2019 elections.”

Scanning through my Facebook newsfeed on Sunday, I saw photos of the event. I saw a picture of Centrist Democratic Party candidates posing with administration candidates of PDP-Laban.

Curiously, I did not see erstwhile political kingpin Dongkoy Emano and his supporters at the event. Now, I know you’d say to lay off him since he’s too old for such an event. But I could also return the question back to you. Why is he running if he can’t give his time for such an event?

I say that the message of the unity walk should be that even though they are political opponents this May, they are united in wanting to serve the people of Cagayan de Oro.

Are they too good for the electorate that they can’t get their butts off their stately mansions? As commissioner Luie Guia posted on his wall, the mid-term polls are first and foremost, for the voters.

I commented on Sereñas’s Unity March post, rhetorically asking if the absence of some candidates meant that they did not want an honest, credible, and peaceful May polls. First, he laughed at such non sequitur but then, good man that he is, he followed up by saying: “Of course not… ang uban basin naay equally important commitment.”

The last part of the sentence reminded me of Dongkoy’s default excuse for his absences when he served (or the lack of it) as vice mayor of the city — “attending to more important matters.”

This coming May, Dongkoy will be running again for vice mayor. I repeat my question from my September 2015 column: When you’re the vice mayor, what could possibly be more important than presiding over the city council? When he was vice mayor, he attended a total of TWO regular sessions. He attended only the inaugural and the closing sessions of the city council.

If these candidates can’t give us their time for an activity this simply because of “more important matters,” why run at all? Pfft.

Homecoming

“Woe unto you when men shall speak well of you.” — Unknown

HERE in the city, the last days of November mean a flurry of high school homecoming celebrations. Of all the high schools in the city, guess which school did not allow its high school alumni to hold their homecoming inside its campus — Xavier University High School.

We are or were the only high school alumni in the city to hold their homecoming inside a mall.

Unlike the college alumni, who spent only four to five years at the university, most of us, high school alumni, spent at least 12 years. The word “spend” doesn’t only mean time. It also means money spent on tuition and what-have-you.

The XUHS homecoming used to be held at the tennis court at the rear portion of the main campus. It was the infamous guesting of one Maui Taylor that changed all that. The priests were reportedly scandalized with the girl gyrating on stage. The crowd got so loud that it disturbed the residents at the Loyola House.

The Cambridge dictionary defines homecoming, a noun, as a “celebration at a school or college, usually including a dance, when people who were students there at an earlier time can return to visit; a celebration at a school or a college to honor people who were students there earlier.”

I understand homecoming as a way for those who (read: Jesuits) got our money to welcome us and thank us for the money well-spent in their fine educational institution.

I know the alumni association has been continuously pleading our case with the priests. I have heard that these relics, who for the most part exist because of their flock, would not budge an inch and restore celebrating XUHS homecoming in the campus. I say, shame on them.

We are asking only one night every year to use a small portion of the main campus for homecoming. For most of us who spent most our time and a butt load of money on you, Jesuits, that’s not really a big thing. Our homecoming is not even close to the kind of debauchery priests did in the Middle Ages.

If anything, these priests are ungrateful, selfish, and privileged relics.

Upping the Ante

LATE last week, a politician ranted on a live Facebook session about trolls, allegedly maintained by city hall, who were attacking him. It was surreal.

On one hand, it was interesting to see the man, fairly or unfairly referred to as the “father of trolls,” squirm at the proposition that his group is getting a dose of its own medicine — trolling. For the politician to go online and preach about the ills of trolling is nothing short of a standup comedy. It was full of irony, not to mention, nonsequiturs.

I doubt if we can trust anyone seeking an elected government position who spends a lot of time lurking on social media platforms than engaging people in the real world setting. I’ve always found that sinister. Case in point: The Donald.

On the other hand, you have a mayor wannabe who has all the time in the world to be concerned with the social media buzz about him.

I’d like to point out that the man has been referred to as the social media director the President’s cyber-troops during the 2016 presidential campaign.

No less than a study of the University of Oxford found that the President’s group spent around P10 million to hire trolls who would spread propaganda for the then-presidential candidate and to target those who were against him.

The study, titled “Troops, trolls, and troublemakers: A global inventory of organized social media manipulation,” found that the poison of choice of trolls and their handlers involve “verbal abuse, hate speech, and discrimination against the values, beliefs or identity of a user or a group of users online.” Netizens were dumbfounded and couldn’t help but be silenced online.

I found the rant of the “social media director” last week to be ironic. Given what his group’s social media operators did in 2016, he should be the last entity to lash out at trolling.

I have always believed that negative or “black” campaigning will never prosper in a relatively small town of electorates. This scheme of deception online might have worked in the national scale as we have seen in the last national elections, but I doubt it would work in a more intimate and constricted space like Cagayan de Oro, a city where almost everyone is either related or at least knows everybody in government service.

It is what I love about this city. Although it has been included in the Top 10 list of the most competitive cities in Mindanao (ranked second), it has managed to maintain its “barriotic” character. While it has become a relative metropolis, one could still ask a neighbor for cooking oil, salt, and other mundane domestic needs.

In the end, what matters is how well our politicians have presented themselves in the real world because, by now, people have realized about the machinations in the social media platforms.

The city electorate cares much more about how these candidates are going to forge a better city than to listen to or read their mudslingings. That is why we have launched the “100% Politics” in our paper.

Through that democratic space, we do not write about what the candidates intend to do once in office but their group’s representatives do. Through this space, voters would see which group has the intellectual stamina and zest for public service.

One editor puts it this way: “If the groups cannot present and articulate their ideas, more so submit articles about what they stand for and about their platforms of government, then why are they running in the first place?”

I agree with that. So far, at least two groups have articulated their visions for the future of the city and the province based on my own scorecard. The others have contained their articles to praising the exploits of their individual candidates.

The city’s or the province’s experiences have shown us that it doesn’t take one individual but a collective effort of a group to realize their vision of development. It is elementary to deduce that without a clear vision, mission, and goal, these groups could be bereft of public service in mind but individual political ambition. In both characteristics, by the way, the city or the province lose.

Ever hopeful as I am, I am looking forward to more substantial and intellectually stimulating articles in this paper’s “100% Politics.” Anyway, there’s still time to make a turnaround and show their respective constituents what they’re made of.

I’ll be crossing my fingers and toes.

Raising the level of discourse

METHINKS the biggest losers this election season will be politicos who hired trolls to either promote them or slander their opponents — like in the 2016 national elections — and ultimately, the voting public.

I admit I was among the netizens who were dumbstruck by the attack of the trolls in 2016. It was something new. People were actually silenced by the bullying of trolls.

However, more and more people, actual social media users, are getting back at the trolls. As I have observed in some city-based Facebook groups, people are directly calling out trolls.

I based this observation on the threads of local group “Bantay Kagay-an.” I have been a member of the group even when it was called “Bangon Kagay-an.” It sprang up as a direct response to the devastation of Typhoon Sendong.

I must say first that it is unfortunate that this group has become a cesspool of trolls and its owner has not been forthright with his group members. The group is supposed to be an independent group.

The owner is running for a seat in the city council. He filed for a mayoral position but withdrew and posted a statement of sorts on his reason for his withdrawal to the mayoral race. He said he was waiving his candidacy to a person who supposedly bedazzled him in a brief encounter at a hotel lobby.

In its declaration of group rules, Sec. C: Values and Principles #2, it states that members must “be fair and balanced (in contrast to lap-dogging or doing a PR for somebody).” A cursory scan of the group posts now will show that it has since broken this rule.

The group page is being held hostage by a troll named “Jose Ma. Guerrero.” Since the filing of certificates of candidacy, this troll has regularly and consistently posted slanderous statements against the incumbent administration while bolstering how immaculately clean its principal is.

The funny thing is, real users are openly commenting against the troll’s ad hominem and non sequitur posts. Before, it was unthinkable that you would berate a troll online considering they are masked in anonymity. I guess real social media users have had enough of the toxic discourse if you call it that.

Other Facebook groups are even worse. Case in point is the group called “Ang Baruganan.” If you scan the posts in the group page, you will realize that no real users are commenting or posting on the page. It has been completely taken over by the trolls of all candidates of the city and the province.

It seemed that raising the level of public discourse is becoming less likely on social media. We have to face the reality that it is a practice in futility to be debating with a person cloaked in anonymity. There is no accountability and responsibility with what they post on social media.

Fortunately, my editor-in-chief thought of something that will benefit the electorate. He decided to give all the local political parties a space in the opinion pages of this paper — one day for every group each week. He named it “100% Politics.” This new sub-section within this paper’s opinion pages aims to raise the level of issue-based and fact-based public discourse on matters of politics and governance while the competing political groups keep with good taste and propriety, things that have been lost and which many people no longer value in other public discussion social media groups recently.

All the political groups have agreed and picked a day for their group columns. “100% Politics” started yesterday with city administrator Teodoro Sabuga-a Jr. writing for the incumbent administration (as expected, of course). In the coming days, we, the electorate, would witness a battle of ideas sans ad hominems and non-sequiturs.

The political groups should be able to present their respective development plans and reform agenda. They will have to convince the voting public who deserves to be supported and why the other groups are less deserving.

In the end, the voting public will benefit from this healthy but highly competitive public discourse.

Game of trolls

I ADMIT I was overwhelmed by how troll farms and their handlers took social media platforms in the 2016 national elections by storm. It was anything short of “shock and awe.” They dominated discussion boards, bullied thought leaders and mainstream news media into virtual silence, at least for a while.

But like my friends and colleagues, I was unprepared then. I didn’t know that there were people who would go to any lengths just so their principal would win. I didn’t know they would co-opt and sully free speech on the Internet. I admit I was naive.

With the mid-term elections just around the corner, we can be sure trolls will come out of the woodwork and go into hyperdrive again as they are wont to do. Even though its main handler has yet to come out (pun intended), we need to be ready for the expected coming onslaught of trolls in our social media accounts.

So, for those of you who have been hiding under a rock, this is how these vile creatures operate on social media platforms.

Trolls and their handlers employ a two-pronged approach against critical discussions — stifling dissent through fear and scripted messaging through fake news and black propaganda.

They stifle dissent through fear and intimidation. It got to a point where people were afraid to register their critical observations lest they would be the subject of a coordinated troll attack and be branded “delawan,” “adik” or terrorist protector. Obviously, there are people who have been exempt of this fear. Some of my colleague-friends fought toe-to-toe with these trolls. Still, a significant number of them just resigned not to engage the trolls.

They drown out public discussions with their slew of ad hominems, non-sequiturs, and other fallacious arguments that don’t have Latin names.

You may be tempted to dismiss these trolls as a bunch of uncouth and unloved creatures, most of them may well be but that’s not the point. Never make the mistake of underestimating these trolls. If there’s anything these trolls have been doing, it is anything but disorganized and uncalibrated.

My friend BenCyrus Ellorin has encapsulated their modus operandi on his wall quite brilliantly.

Step 1. Trolls would populate Cagayan de Oro social media groups–they have already begun. A case in point was when a Facebook user suddenly engaged my sarcastic comment on a thread at Bantay Kagay-an Facebook group.

I got this troll’s panty in a twist because I like the critical thinking La Viña brother over its principal. For context, this troll asked me to prove that I’m a real “real” Kagay-anon because it took my sarcastic quip as questioning the lineage of its principal in Cagayan de Oro.

I replied that I didn’t have to validate my lineage to something that is called a “Flick-g Spot.” It has since changed its handle to “Taga CDO Ka.”

When I first checked out the troll’s account, I found that it joined Facebook on Oct. 7, 2018. However, when I checked it again yesterday, it somehow turned the social media clock and now appears to have joined Facebook in July of 2015. It has 119 friends, all of whom (I should say “which”) have dubious names and equally suspicious profile photos.

Of the 12 pages it “liked,” eight were Cagayan de Oro-based and one page of a government official, Pompee La Viña.

Although I have responded to his attacks about me being an “impostor Kagay-anon,” it has nevertheless used my account as click-bait to create online noise.

Step 2. These trolls will create “click-bait” posts to generate traffic. This will then lead to the propagation of fake news.

So, despite my knowledge of trolls, I admit I fell right into its trap. I am now its click-bait to generate traffic since I am a legit netizen of Facebook with real people as friends. As my friends react to his ridiculous post on my thread in the group, this legitimizes its account, and by extension its dubious network of friends.

This troll can then start propagating fake news on the different Facebook groups of Cagayan de Oro City. Aside from Bantay Kagay-an, Taga CDO Ka has now joined Ang Baruganan Region 10, Ang Baruganan Philippines, and Iligan City “a walk to be remembered” v1.

According to Freedom House, the Philippines is among the other 30 countries across the globe that has deployed “manipulation to distort online information” (read: fake news).

These trolls don’t operate out of loyalty or dedication to their principals. Troll farms are big business.

A study by Chay Hofileña entitled “Fake accounts and manufactured reality on social media” shows these trolls are getting paid.

“In one page for commercial purposes, for example, repeated call-outs were made for ‘business partners’ who were required in 2015 to spend three to five hours daily on Facebook. Payment was supposed to range conservatively from P1,000 a day to P10,000 a month, with training provided,” Hofileña’s study reads in part.

There are even reports that some trolls even get paid as much as P2,000 to P3,000 a day just to copy-paste content. As Rappler has uncovered recently, trolls have uniform posts or comments on social media platforms.

“Different versions of what is supposed to be the one true fact can be manufactured, creating confusion and deep-seated schisms among groups who get to believe that their version of the truth is what is real and correct,” Hofileña’s study further reads.

So, how do we combat these trolls and their brand of twisted reality?

• Be critical with every post on social media. Use Google to vet, validate, and corroborate what is being asserted in a post or comment.
• Expose and oppose fake accounts, trolls, and bots. Bots are bits of code designed to mimic human users. They sound high-tech but believe me when I say these have been deployed in the country’s social media platforms as early as 2014.
• Actively reclaim your social media space by using apps that automatically label fake news and fake news websites as such. Let me plug the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines’ award-winning “fakeblok.”

Fakeblok is an extension app for Google Chrome web browsers and calls your attention when links from websites that tend to post fake news appear on your Facebook newsfeed. The app uses the database by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.

Again, let us not fall for fake news and reclaim our social media space. Good day and good luck, Kagay-an.