How the world press perceives us

This country’s image was at its absolute best after the EDSA People Power in 1986, but that image has steadily deteriorated especially after EDSA 2 with the continuing political instability perceived by the world press. And now, the extra-judicial killings of journalists are contributing to that negative image of the Philippines before the world. In Edinburgh where I was a speaker at a forum dubbed, "Dying to tell the story" during the World Congress and 55th General Assembly of the International Press Institute (IPI), participants continuously asked me questions like, "How long is Mrs. Arroyo going to last?" "Is there going to be another people power?" and "Is the foreign press also in danger?" This is the kind of impression we have with the world press.

At the forum, the IPI and the International News Safety Institute (INSI) adopted a resolution taking governments to task for failing to take their responsibility seriously in solving the murders of journalists all over the world. The IPI urged media companies to support the work of the INSI and for members to display a commitment to the welfare and safety of journalists so they can do their work in often hostile and dangerous conditions. The resolution also declared it is the job of governments to bring to justice those responsible for the killings. Unfortunately, I had the unpleasant task of telling the IPI Congress participants about the alarming number of Filipino journalists getting killed. Since 1986, close to 80 have died, many of them shot gangland style.

The slow pace in solving the murders and the growing number of journalists getting killed is what is contributing to the perception that this country continues to be unstable. We’re not saying that the murder of journalists is more important, but the international news community is starting to gang up on us with their colleagues being murdered one by one. There’s nothing like a dead newsman that would motivate media outfits to band together in strongly denouncing governments where these murders occur, which is what happened at the IPI. As a matter of fact, CNN International president Chris Cramer told me that the CNN may produce a documentary on journalists getting killed in the Philippines. Chris was one of the speakers with me at the IPI forum session. The perception of political instability compounded by the murder of all these journalists is giving the international news community the impression that the situation in the Philippines continues to be precarious. Perhaps the only saving grace in the Philippines’ image is we have beautiful beaches and pristine waters. But even with that – there’s always the sinister shadow of the Abu Sayyaf terrorists, plus lingering fears that they may kidnap tourists in this country. As they say, perception is 90 percent of the game that’s why we must act now in changing that image. The international mass media is beginning to think we’re no different from Iraq and all these other countries that are allowing journalists to get killed. The growing perception is that we are such a barbaric country, killing journalists with impunity and removing leaders through coups and people power revolutions as if we have them for breakfast.

Ironically, Scotland itself is a country that has a "barbaric" history with tales of heroes and leaders getting beheaded and their heads placed on a pike for everyone to see. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots – mother of James VI who will later on become James I of England upon the death of Elizabeth – was beheaded after being imprisoned for almost 20 years. It was said that it took three blows from the axe to sever her head. Sir William Wallace, a Scottish knight popularized by Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart, was said to have murdered and dismembered the corpse of an English sheriff to avenge the death of a young maiden whom he was courting. When Wallace was captured by the English and declared a traitor to Edward, he was strangled until he was almost dead, drawn and quartered before he was finally beheaded. Scotland’s capital Edinburgh, where the IPI Congress was held, also has a bloody history especially during the long wars of independence against England. As it turns out, British author Ian Fleming’s popular secret agent "James Bond" may not be so fictional after all, because there is a real-life James Bond who went to Fettes College, a leading boarding school in Edinburgh. The real James Bond was said to be the best friend of Fleming. Scottish actor Sir Sean Connery, who was born in Edinburgh, became the first cinematic "James Bond" and it was known that he was so poor he was once the milkman at Fettes College, the same school where British Prime Minister Tony Blair finished his education before studying Law at Oxford. At the rate things are going, the Philippines may just need a James Bond to put a stop to all these killings. The government has to convince the international community that it is serious in going after the murderers. We really have to get our act together and repair the deteriorating image of this country before the world press. When "messengers" – in this case journalists – are getting killed with impunity, then there’s definitely something wrong. And until we clean up our image, you can be sure the international press will have nothing good to say about the Philippines.

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While in the UK, I dropped by the headquarters of Mabey & Johnson Ltd. just outside of London. The Mabey Group, one of the largest bridge builders in the world today, has been building bridges for a number of years now in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In the Philippines, they have built close to a thousand bridges. Mabey & Johnson director Richard Glover briefed me on the company’s operations all over the world, but the most important of all which I mentioned the other week is the scholarship fund they set up with their local partner in the Philippines, Ted Haresco, for the children of slain Filipino journalists. This is a company that, aside from building bridges, is trying to rebuild the lives of these poor, orphaned children.

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