Duterte’s dirty ploy

Decency and humanity.  They are always felled ahead of truth and fairness.  

People have always prayed for change and better government.  Present day history will tell us how the media put a good fight with tyranny. 

How the Philippine media exposed tyrants from foreign invaders to Filipino presidents after the First Philippine Independence is a shining example of the vibrancy of the free press.

Today, truth is under siege and a popular leader elected by 16 million people – less than 20 per cent of the country’s total population – is making it worse; playfully joking his way to Malacanang. 

President-elect's crass words, his disrespect for the Roman Catholic Church, its leaders, politicians, and institutions including government, its officials and employees, the police, soldiers and lately, media, is alarming.

As if corruption is not corruption because he says so.  As if it is okay to kill people; and disrespect women because he says so, too.

He attacks and malign people as if his every word is the infallible truth.  He attacks people and institutions without even offering proof - except of his sad experience and tales only he can tell whether true or not.  

He accuses those who stand in his way as either corrupt or a hypocrite. 

He catcalls women and defends the act as a mere freedom of expression when a city ordinance he signed clearly says it is an act constituting sexual harassment.

He accepts gifts as mayor and says it is not corruption.  He hits media for being corrupt but admits giving money and durian to local media who asks for it as not corruption.

His supporters are worse by saying that those who do not support him are either drug addicts or drug pushers.  

And yes, they attack without mercy through the social media, during, before and yes, after the May 9 election.

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s statement on media killings during the two press conferences in Davao City on June 1 and June 2, 2016 were horrendous. 

He spoke as if he is justifying the death of hundreds of journalists because they were corrupt, and as such, they deserved to die.

The tough-talking mayor, known for hurling invective and using inane words and the sweeping generalization of his perception about Filipino journalists – followed by a statement that he cannot protect all journalists – contradict his own policy pronouncement and promise to end crime and corruption early on during the campaign is disturbing.

During the June 1 press conferences, his statement was in response to a question that goes like:  What will he do to address media killings.  Instead of answering the question.  He went to attack the profession and said journalists who were killed were corrupt. 

The statement, apparently, earned the ire of many in the profession.  Naturally, those who reacted admitted his statement rings with truth.  There are media men who are corrupt. 

There also calls by foreign media from the group Reporters without Borders to boycott him. 

There were mixed reactions.  I personally said boycotting him is reasonable but will not be in the best interest of the general public.  It will never be in the interest of profession, journalism being a public trust. Beside, without the media acting as watchdog, who will report abuses in government and the corruption that is happening 24/7?

We are bound to do our job, Mr. President, that’s why some Palace reporters, including members of the foreign press – including Filipino journalists and stringers from Manila and other parts of the country are now in Davao City to cover your policy pronouncements as incoming president.

On June 2, 2016, during a press conference, the president-elect started hurling invective and all sort of insulting words against journalists and the journalism profession... He lumped journalists with those he regularly deal with in Davao City. 

He went ballistic when asked to comment on calls for the media to boycott him.  

His usual PI, idiots, SOBs, mother f—ker words came out of his mouth many times that I lost count while shaking my head in in disbelief.  Yes, the press conference was being aired live by television networks.   

He said there are three kinds of media in the Philippines.  The crusaders, the mouthpieces, and lowlifes.

During the second press conference.  The crusaders, he said, are those who do not accept money and are interested only in reporting the truth; the mouthpiece, who serves vested interests, which include publicist and PR practitioners; and lastly, the lowlifes - or the biyaheros – whatever that means – which I surmised to be those AC/DC who attack and collect, defend and collect money from sources. 
Mr. President, ACDCs or the lowlifes you are referring to are the most abhorred in our midst.  They are usually the fake ones, those who pose as members of the media and sometimes use fake IDs and namedrop prominent media personalities to extort money from easy targets – mostly those involved in illegal activities.

He said the lowlifes are the ones who die, because they are greedy.  They ask for money, and will not stop asking for money from their subjects or sources. 

On the contrary, Mr. President, many of those killed from our ranks were dutifully fighting crime and corruption in government.  Immorality, included.  The crooked ones are still around and some may be among the crowd around you, begging for crumbs of the appointment party, hoping to get a juicy position or yes, ask for pamasahe and durian which you usually give to crusader-journalists - an act you say is not corruption.

.The incoming president said he has been in the public service long enough to know the media, and admitted that he himself experienced being the target of lowlifes.  Mr President, not all journalists are like the ones you came to know in your more than 20 years as mayor of Davao City. 

When asked by a lady reporter:  “Sir, earlier you admitted giving money to media.  Doesn’t it make you part of the corruption?  He responded casually: “I am a politician.  I give money to media.  For PR…  But I am telling the truth.  Pamasahe… its not corruption.”

Mr. President that is precisely the reason why you hated media yet you admitted tolerating that corruption.  You even had the gall to say that you were giving money to those who ask for money “as a human being” because they needed money? 

Corruption takes two to tango, Mr. President.  The giver and the taker.

The president-elect went on to defend his action as saying that he never asked for favor from any of the media he allegedly gave money or yes, durian???  Really??? 

Is that the reason why the killings in your city was embraced by people who used to be peace-loving?  Mr. President, it seemed they have lost faith in humanity and they have approved of the vigilante method of maintaining peace and order.

Ok.  So why the hate?  Your misplaced anger against the media is confusing, Mr. President.

I believe you never really hated the media.  And I believe you never really hated religion or the Catholic Church. 

Yes.  You may have succeeded in discrediting the Roman Catholic Church – attacking the bishops with stories of your sad childhood experience and what you describe as hypocrisy of priests for their cardinal sins.  Now you are starting to kill the media. 

The church and the media - two institutions with historical records of fighting tyranny. 

The church and the media are the twin pillars of democracy in the Philippines.  No, sir.  It’s not the government.  It is not the five pillars of justice.  And definitely not the people who were catapulted to power by the multitude who were moved by their desire for change and better government.  No, the pillars of democracy and not those people who surround you now, Mr. President. In fact, those who voted for you supports your mass murder advocacy.  If that is not tyranny, it is definitely not about decency and humanity.

The church and the media will continue to be the vanguards of society, Mr. President. 

The Philippine media is vibrant.  It had fought tyrants since the time of Jose Rizal, Mabini and Luna who moved people like Bonifacio to take a stand and fight for freedom. 

The vibrant Philippine media is the reason why this country and its people freed themselves from martial law and Marcos; it is the reason for the unseating of a corrupt Estrada; exposed the corrupt Gloria; and yes, the failures of the Aquino’s too.  Believe it or not, the Philippin media is partly to blame for clamoring change which you effectively used during your campaign.

Today, Duterte’s supporters, led by his keyboard warriors are taking the social media by storm.  

 They continue to attack the institutions that can expose abuses and yes, graft and corruption in government.

Attacking the church and the media, one after the other, is a dirty political ploy.  It will not work. 

Yes, even if your supporters blindly follow without realizing the ploy, Mr. President.

It will not succeed.  The Roman Catholic Church will not be silenced. 

And so is the Philippine media. Boycotting the media, Mr. President will not work, either.   The Philippine media is committed to the profession as vanguards of society.

You can never escape the Philippine media.   

Here is a piece of advice.  Be the president for the people.  Fight corruption.  Go after drug lords.  Stop crime.  Fix government.  Those were your promised change. 

Whatever you do, just be sure it is within the bounds of the law, the Philippine Constitution, which you will soon swear to protect and uphold as the highest official of the land.