Corruption is just as bad in the media

There is no question that these are dangerous times for the media with radio broadcasters murdered left and right all over the world. That’s simply because people don’t want the media nosing around their business whether it is in Afghanistan, Liberia or Mindanao. At least in Cebu City, we haven’t had any incident involving a radio broadcaster being shot, until last Thursday, June 12th, when radio blocktimer Rey Cortes was gunned down just outside the Bureau of Customs near Ft. San Pedro, across the Plaza Independencia. As luck would have it, Rey Cortes survived this attack, because he was able to run towards his car and pull out his cal .45 pistol and ward off his attacker.

Rey Cortez and his co-anchor Lito Solon host a "blocktime" radio commentary program called "Inkwentro" (Encounter) on Bantay Radyo. A blocktimer is one who purchases radio time from a radio station so they can pursue their commentaries or propaganda for a fee, meaning, they have to pay the radio station for the one-hour time slot and in turn, sell this to potential advertisers. When block time programs are on the air, the radio station usually announces that whatever comments or opinions generated by the radio announcers are their own personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the radio station they are broadcasting from.

There is no question that corruption is the reason for the attempt on the life of Rey Cortes, who suspects that the mastermind of his assassination attempt may the a Customs examiner who was the subject of their seething commentaries. That of course has to be unraveled by police investigators. However, the two commentators themselves came under attack by no less than Presidential Political liaison officer Mr. Bert Emphasis who in his weekly Kapihan charged that blocktimers buy radio airtime and use it for leverage for extortion, and that Cortes is part of the so-called "co-media".

Indeed, the naked truth is that, corruption isn’t an exclusive domain of the government, many in the media are just as corrupt or worse… they are the ones corrupting our government officials for their own selfish reasons. So once again, the question of block timers are up in the air with this incident and I hope that my dear friend, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas (KBP) National Chairman Cerge Remonde ought to remedy this problem during his watch. While it is true that blocktimers still have to adhere to KBP rules and sanctioned by its Standards Authority… this nonsense hasn’t been stopped!

Recently, South District Congressman Antonio Cuenco denounced the activities of the so-called "AC-DC" Attack Collect-Defend Collect" radio commentators who were mulcting him. Of course, Rep. Cuenco must have succumbed to these media leeches until he got tired of paying them off and came out openly denouncing their activities. I’m not saying that Rey Cortes was extorting people at the Customs at the time he was shot. This has yet to be ascertained by investigators. In fact, we in the press all agree that an assault on the media is an assault on Press freedom! But if newspapers do not allow blocktimers… I think the broadcast industry should stop this ugly practice.

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Last week, the headlines of the local dailies in Cebu City was about that missing baby girl who was separated from her mother at the height of that strong rain where the floodwaters rose in the Guadalupe River. Yes, society and practically everyone took pity on that poor lost infant and her distraught mother Mrs. Rosario Martorillas, thus the question that comes to mind is why was Mrs. Martorillas and her baby living so close to the riverbanks?

Truth to tell, there are thousands upon thousands of people just like the Martorillas family who live on the riverbanks of the Guadalupe and Lahug rivers, including the creeks and esteros of Cebu City, squatters virtually living at the edge of danger and society really doesn’t do anything about it until children are swept away during the flashfloods make the headlines and then, nothing is being done about it, nothing!

So whose fault is it that this is happening to Cebu City? Yes the City is undoubtedly to blame for allowing this situation to continue. But isn’t the power of the government vested upon the people, by the people, for the people? Yes indeed and thanks to our political patronage system, people built their structures along the riverbanks, even occupying the three meter easement where no one should be building anything, even with the full knowledge that living on the riverbanks pose a serious threat to their families during flash floods. But these laws are defied and shanties are built where it is prohibited. So it’s everyone’s fault!

Again, I ask, when do we ever learn from the mistakes of the past? Because we don’t learn from our mistakes, it is the reason why this happens again and again and again! If you really want to know what’s really the problem of the Philippines, the very root of our problems? It is that we don’t learn from our mistakes; whether we’re dealing with a sea mishap, a bus crash or even our problems with corruption or the Communist or Muslim insurgency, or a simple problem with squatters living so perilously close to the riverbanks. In short, we Filipinos never learn from our mistakes, hence we’ve always been doomed to repeat our problems over and over and over!

Just take the news a few weeks ago as reported by CNN and BBC about that earthquake that struck Japan with a 7.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale, the same intensity and magnitude which hit Kobe years ago and not surprisingly, this time no one died from this very strong earthquake and no major infrastructure damage was reported. What does this tell you? That the Japanese learned the bitter lessons of the Kobe quake where building regulators strictly imposed higher standards to make their buildings earthquake proof.

A month ago, we saw another sea tragedy and Pres. Arroyo was fuming mad why this has happened under her watch? The truth of the matter simply is nothing, and I repeat, nothing has been done to prevent future incidents from happening! Let’s ask ourselves if we ever learned anything from the Dona Paz incident? What about that Laoag Air crash? Until now, we haven’t the seen the official report as to what went wrong with that plane.

Mind you, this is not only happening in the transportation sector. Here in Cebu City, whenever a squatter colony gets obliterated by a nasty conflagration, you can be sure that it is not the last time you’ll see this place consumed with fire. That’s because the poverty of the people living in that area allows them to get away with the rules set forth by the Building Code.

Years later, most of the shanties have been rebuilt in the exact spot the old shanty used to stand… waiting for the next fire, which of course happens again and again because the roads are so narrow, firetrucks can’t reach the area. But when the reconstruction in the burnt area begins, no one, but no one wants to widen the road because no one wants to give up space to widen the road. So when the next fire erupts, the whole barrio gets obliterated for the same reasons caused by the previous fires. So don’t you think we should start learning from the lessons of our bitter past? It’s about time!

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Birthday greetings to our dear friend and Angel radio personality and commentator Mr. Choy Torralba on his nth birthday today, which we together with Star Publisher Manong Max Soliven and Mabuhay Magazine’s top honcho Jun Ventura celebrated over a rainy weekend in Cebu City. Sir Choy Torralba is one radio commentator with an unshakable credibility, which is why his programs are so popular! Many happy returns of the day Kuya Choy!