P-Noy appeals for good news

The world we live in is evolving at an accelerated speed. Evil is abundant, righteousness is rare, crime continues to escalate, poverty is a plague, natural disaster is imminent, and mother earth is weeping. What can we do to make things right?

Last week during the Philippine Press Institute’s 16th National Press Forum on Media Accountability and Public Engagement, P-Noy told the press to write about good news not just bad news. He says that the news we are putting in the newspapers is also putting our country down and it is not helping build a good image to potential visitors. Does he read the newspapers? The Leisure and Travel sections of many newspapers give a lot of boost to the tourism industry. So what is he talking about?

News is news! How can we lie about the pathetic airports? How can we promote tourism with our bad infrastructure and facilities? How can tourists and even balikbayans come when they have preconceived notions about crime and corruption in this country? Even the locals are dismayed with the situation.

Of course, we need to help and support the President much more so our beloved country. But how can we squeeze the good news out when there is more bad news highlighted by corrupt officials and men in the military and police force. The President should expect such an outcome from the press because that is called reporting. And by the way, things apparently haven’t seemed to have changed yet on the onset.

Make big changes and the press will recognize your efforts. Make little changes and this is what you will get from us. We cannot just publish good news and sweep nasty reports under the rug. The press must tell it as it is. That’s life!

I’d also like to point out that the President’s Press Corps should also be made responsible for giving out the good news. The trouble with this group is that they preoccupy themselves with defending the President’s actions and are just reacting to news going around. Why don’t they start giving us the good news on a regular basis? The media is not privy to everything the government does so it is the responsibility of the Press Secretary to inform the public of what’s going on – good or bad.

So again, Mr. President your call is well taken but you have to talk to your staff. Make them proactive not reactive to the news. Tell them to inform us of the good things you want everyone to know. By doing so I’m pretty sure you will get what you want from the press. The only hitch here is if the government doesn’t have anything good to say or to present to the public.

* * *

I remember my late father, Maximo V. Soliven writing about how the Malaysian police was the “most corrupt” government department in that country according to a report made several years ago. What made that report more credible and painful was that it was written by a government commission appointed by no less than Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi in December 2003.

The report indicated that the police had engaged in “extensive and consistent abuse of human rights.” When former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was first arrested under charges pushed against him by then retired Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Anwar was beaten up in jail by the chief of police.

The commissioner’s panel reputedly interviewed more than 1,000 persons in preparing the report. Among the key changes proposed by it was a revision of the law inherited from the British colonial regime called the Internal Security Act (ISA) which authorizes police to hold suspects indefinitely without trial.

This has been a very useful law for Malaysia’s political chiefs. Mahathir over the years caused the arrest of high-ranking personalities as jurists of the high court, influential and popular politicians, editors and journalists, and various “dissidents” in the interest of national security. The ISA law cowed the opposition and silenced the critics of government or tamed them at least into more cooperative behavior. But then, the country’s 100,000-strong police force took advantage of their authority and utilized it for personal purposes as well.

When Badawi became Prime Minister he convened the royal commission to tackle corruption. He created a Task Force that would implement the panel’s 125 proposed reforms.

This law also proved useful to Singapore’s founding father, Lee Kwan Yew. Singapore was lucky in having honest, hardworking and dynamic leaders. Mr. Lee virtually planted every tree, cleaned up stinking Singapore River and converted that former colonial backwater into Asia’s premier port. Lee Kwan Yew propelled Singapore into the 21st century as an increasingly wealthy and powerful citystate.

The Philippine National Police must address their problem. They should wipe out all their inefficient cops and train new ones in a more rigid way. They must put zero tolerance to policemen involved in crime.

A few weeks ago PNP Chief Nicanor Bartolome mentioned bringing back the ‘death penalty’. His conviction in punishing crooks, gangsters, offenders and the likes is quite strong. He should put this vigor and might into straightening up his force.

Early this month, the Manila Police District homicide division stepped up a manhunt for a Manila policeman who allegedly killed a mechanic in Tondo, Manila; an Eastern Police District policeman and his father have been accused of allegedly beating to death a mechanic who worked for the Manila city government; 20 policemen including five senior officers of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) have been relieved for their alleged link to a series of irregularities and illegal activities; a drunk cop runs amuck and barged into two houses including that of a PNP official in Barangay Pasong Tamo, Quezon City; a policeman wanted for the killing of a member of the PNP Highway Patrol Group a couple of months ago shot dead a pedicab driver in Tondo, Manila; Manila cops ordered dismissed by Mayor Lim for robbing two Korean nationals; a Bulacan vice-mayor’s son and a retired police chief inspector linked to illegal LPG trade; and three police officers of the Manila Police District charged for robbing a Japanese man in Malate are just but a few of the crimes involving our men in uniform.

A senior administration lawmaker said that the spate of killings involving policemen is a result of their incompetence and apparent lack of apprehension of the rules of engagement. I’m sure the PNP can do better to improve this situation.

As my dad always puts it, “Gangsters you may be able to grapple with and even forcibly resist, but when agents of the law, armed and empowered by the government to determine who’s innocent and who’s a crook, gang up on the average guy, how can a civilian fight back?”