Ate Glo’s Kapihan in Cebu: Responsible press?

Last Thursday, The Philippine STAR had an article in the front page that said, "GMA calls anew for responsible press." This call couldn’t have come at the right time… especially to us in the Cebu media who, just a couple of weeks ago, just celebrated the 12th Press Freedom Week, which media practitioners in Cagayan de Oro and Dumaguete also marked. What is fascinating with our celebrating Press Freedom Week is that for the whole week, Cebu’s media outlets participated in all the events, shows and lectures that gave us a better understanding of having a responsible press.

That the entire Philippine media doesn’t celebrate Press Freedom Week together is an enigma to many of us. If the Cebu experience has become very successful throughout the last 12 years, it is perhaps because we do not have a single media organization that virtually "lords it over" the other media groups or personalities. For instance, in Manila, there’s the National Press Club (NPC), but whenever we ask about the NPC from our Manila counterparts, you either hear a sneer, a giggle or a non-respectful remark about this media organization. If Manila’s media cannot even respect the NPC, how can we expect them to unite in celebrating Press Freedom Week?

In praising the media, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) described us as "one of the freest presses in the whole world." Well, in the Philippines, the Cebu media has been dubbed as the "freest" for there are many articles we do write, which aren’t written in Manila. GMA added, "You have the power to make or break an economy. You are so powerful that your prophecies become self-fulfilling." There’s no doubt that the media has the power to influence the thoughts of our people, that is why we need responsible people in the media.

Talking about responsible media, while we in Cebu are proud of our achievements in the media, I submit that we still have our bad eggs or "comedya" who carry press cards for their own selfish purposes. These people have been frowned upon and discredited in mainstream media circles. A case in point is a certain Bert Emphasis, who was once the partner of my friend Choy Torralba and then left the media when he worked with Atty. Norberto Quisumbing Jr. of Norkis Trading.

Later on, Emphasis became one of the two presidential assistants (the other was Tito Oppus) when President Arroyo took the reins of power from the failed Erap presidency. Because of the confusion of having two PAs, he was sent to become an undersecretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). Since he didn’t fit anywhere in the DOTC, he was moved to the ICT office, where he was truly a square peg in a round hole. Recently, Emphasis resurfaced as a commissioner of the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA).

One of the issues plaguing Mandaue City today is a one-hectare lot that Quisumbing of Norkis Trading leased from the City of Mandaue for P1,000 a year. The general idea was for Norkis to build a "Norkis children’s playground" as a way of "returning" to the Mandauehanons the support that they have given Norkis Trading. Unfortunately, that plan did not materialize and in the end, the huge property was turned into a showroom for Norkis Trading. Because they did not deliver on their promise, Mandaue City Mayor Ted Ouano started proceedings to recover the property.

But instead of returning the property for greater beneficial use (Mandaue City wants to build a college on that site), Quisumbing refused to hand over this lot, which sits on the Mandaue reclamation. We wrote about this issue in our Freeman column… but in response to our queries, I got lambasted in radio station dyLA on the "Kapihan ni Ate Glo" forum hosted by… heeellooow Mr. Bert Emphasis! Mayor Ouano got the brunt of this attack.

As we said, Emphasis is now a commissioner of the PRA and is now using his position to help his master, Quisumbing Jr., hold on to this property that rightly belongs to the people of Mandaue. But rather than help the City of Mandaue, which is a government body, he is helping Quisumbing Jr., who is at odds with Mayor Teddy Ouano.

With the President’s call for a responsible press, we therefore task the President to immediately put a stop to this "Kapihan ni Ate Glo" because Emphasis is using it for his hidden agenda, using the name of President Arroyo. If the President wants responsible media, then she can start by stopping Emphasis from continuing with his Kapihan and attacking the friends of the President, in a facility owned by the Quisumbing family.

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When President Arroyo announced that all the nursing students who took the nursing board examinations must do a retake in order to clear up the reputation of Filipino nurses here and abroad, it triggered a backlash among those nursing students who took the examinations and passed them but who were not a party to the cheating. While the President’s intentions are noble, those who passed the nursing examinations insist that the good is being punished together with the bad. Worse of all, the bad ones are a very small minority, while the great majority are the good ones.

Last Friday, there was a huge rally at the Fuente Osmeña led by the group that calls itself "Tapok-Tapok sa Nanaghiusa Batok sa Retake" led by its chairman, Lino Bautista, who plans to submit a manifesto to the President to express its opposition to have everyone retake the exams. Indeed, this is a dilemma for the President and let me just say that they really have a point. In fact, text messages have been passed around giving parallels to the presidential elections in 2004.

Here’s a good one: "Since there was cheating n d last presidential elections, even tho I am sure both sides r guilty f it should b den we O 2 call 4 another election 2 ‘restor d integrity f d presidency?’ D same holds true 4 all d senators n other elective officials f d land, so dat we can ‘restore d integrity f their respective offices.’ Dis is another point 2 ponder 4 those advocating a retake f d nursing board exam. Wat if ders another leakage, say in Manila in d retake exam, should we den punish d innocent with another retake? It is so easy 2 pontificate wen 1 s not personally affected by an adverse action… Pls pass!"

I believe that all sides ought to be heard… but the bottom line should be that the cheaters ought to be punished and the good ones rewarded. It is as simple as that, in spite of this very highly complex situation!

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns in The Freeman can also be accessed through The Philippine STAR website (www.philstar.com). He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable. Bobit’s columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com.