The word of truth

I do not know nor have ever met Nelly Sindayen. But from my on-and-off readings of Time Magazine (the continuity being largely dependent on wherewithal than interest), I know she has been its long-time correspondent.

My earliest recall of the name Nelly Sindayan was from at least the mid or late 1980s. I remember because I often mention it in reference to what I used to lecture young reporters about regarding the need to earn a byline, not demand it as a matter of course.

" Look at Nelly Sindayen, most often you see her name only as a tagline at the end of the story, " I used to tell my reporters. " With a report by Nelly Sindayen from Manila, the tagline would say. But the byline would be that of some bigshot editor sitting on his ass in New York. "

What I was trying to tell the reporters was that it had to take something extraordinary for their names to move up from the end to the front. When they get that byline in such a manner, only then should they buy 10 copies for their mothers.

And this was what I pointed out to them, that Sindayen was a true professional, who never complained, or else she would have left Time Magazine already. She understood her role perfectly, and that this was what kept her place in the sun

I have never heard of anything derogatory about Sindayen, a remarkable feat considering the swiftness with which intrigues can travel along the Philippine journalism grapevine, fuelled by Filipino journalists' natural suspicion and envy of one another.

I write this about Sindayen because, in the absence of anything derogatory about her, and the sheer length with which she has stayed with one of the world's leading news magazines, I am compelled to say she is one of the few truly professional journalists in the Philippines today.

I write this about Sindayen because it seems she has found herself in a situation where her word is being ranged against that of one of the most traditional politicians in the country, Jose " Peping " Cojuangco, younger brother of former president Corazon Aquino.

In the February 26 issue of Time Magazine, in an article entitled " Emergency Rules, " Sindayen wrote about having been at a meeting in which Cojuangco and a man named Pastor " Boy " Saycon allegedly discussed plans of a coup against President Arroyo.

The allegation was naturally denied and disputed. The argument was that it was highly improbable for anyone to invite a member of the media to a meeting where a coup plot was to be discussed.

As has become a course of action pursued with such intense passion, investigations were launched right and left. Sindayen found herself in the middle of a storm and has been asked by the NBI to sheed light on her article.

Well, Sindayen, while declining to appear before investigators, has issued a statement which she furnished all those concerned. In that statement, the Time Magazine correspondent stood by her story.

I am inclined to stand by her story as well, mainly because if it is her word against that of Cojuangco or Saycon, I would take hers all the time. To my mind, Cojuangco does not have a very high regard for truth, or for its supposed purveyors, the media.

I can still recall the time when there was this gruelling controversy between the Philippine Olympic Committee, which Cojuangco heads, and the Basketball Association of the Philippines, which he wanted dead.

To go into the details of that controversy will require more time and space. Suffice it to say that virtually all stories that came out in the media regarding the controversy largely carried Cojuangco's side.

And why would they not? The stories, after all, were invariably sourced at luncheons and dinners that Cojuangco hosted, a fact that was unabashedly acknowledged each time in the stories by clearly grateful and eager-to-please sportswriters. Sindayen, of course, was not among them.