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Now, it’s media’s fault

Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay with President Duterte
Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay with President Duterte
In trying to control the damage wrought by President Duterte’s verbal rampage against the United Nations in the early hours Sunday, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay on Monday put the blame on media.

“It was done in the wee hours of the morning and he was very tired, “ Yasay said adding that the President “ already ended up the press conference … but the press were still leading him with a lot of questions, so it is in this context that he made this statements.”

Whose choice was it to hold the press conference at 1 a.m., Sunday? Why should the reporters be blamed for asking the questions at those unholy hours which the President earlier said was his normal working hours. Didn’t he say that he sleeps mornings and starts his day at 1 p.m.?

The President’s statement that made the headlines the next day was “Maybe we just have to decide to separate from the United Nations…Kung ganyan kayo kabastos eh umalis na kami diyan sa inyo.

He said as a member the Philippines contributes for the maintenance of the international organization. “You return the money to us and we’ll go out. With that amount, I can build so many, rehab centers all over the country.”

Actually, the media just picked up the milder quotes of the President’s tirades against the U.N. officials – Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on summary executions and Dainius Pūras, Special Rapporteur on the right to health, who have expressed alarm over the rising number of killings related to Duterte’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.

Duterte said it was “bastos (rude)” of the U.N. rapporteurs to criticize him publicly based on what they read in newspapers and tabloids. He further called them “Tangina mo. gago. Ulol”

Yasay said, “The president was tired, disappointed, hungry when he made the statement. We must give him leeway. He is also human.”

It was another media-bashing at the Senate with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano scoring media for the portrayal of the Philippines as ‘‘Wild Wild West” by international press.

”Grabe ang tama sa media na as if Wild Wild West tayo,” Cayetano said in his opening statement during the Senate’s inquiry into extrajudicial killings in connection with Duterte’s war against illegal drugs.

The rising number of killings related to Duterte’s intensified was against illegal drugs has been covered by international media including Time Magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, and CNN.

Cayetano blasted at media putting up “kill lists,” a daily monitoring of drug-related killings. He said media ignores the positive effects of the government’s anti-drug campaign.

The senator, who was the running mate of Duterte in the last elections cited the statement of the President and Police Chief Ronald ‘Bato’ Dela Rosa saying “Ayoko ng EJKs ” but in the report, “Pero sa interviews, mga kapatid sa media, panay ang report n’yo na gusto ng pangulo at ng PNP ng EJKs.”

“Be fair,” Cayetano exhorted media.

Sen.Alan Peter Cayetano at the Senate hearing on EJKs
Sen.Alan Peter Cayetano at the Senate hearing on EJKs

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, in a statement, said “Cayetano’s allegations that media have been playing loose with the numbers have been dispelled by no less than PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa who presented statistics showing that, if media have erred in counting the cost of the drug war, it is by being on the low and not, going by what the good senator would like to insinuate, on the high, side.”

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano protested too much when he insinuates that media have been blowing up the rash of killings that have accompanied the Duterte administration’s war on drugs or worse, are embarked on a campaign to tar the present dispensation, as he did yesterday, August 22, in remarks he made during the Senate hearing into the deaths that have accompanied the anti-drug campaign.

NUJP pointed out that, “During the August 18 hearing into the drug-related killings, Dela Rosa said that the death toll from July 1 to August 15 was 665 in police operations and 899 others ‘under investigation,’ including the vigilante-style extrajudicial killings whose victims, bodies wrapped in tape and/or with placards around their necks trumpeting their alleged crimes, have been dumped in the streets all too regularly.

“In Monday’s hearing, Dela Rosa said the death toll had risen to 1,779 (712 in police operations, 1,067 allegedly by vigilantes) as of that day, slightly more than a thousand of these ‘under investigation,’ or, going by his own figures, a jump of more than a hundred in a weeks’ time.”

NUJP Chairman Ryan Rosauro said Cayetano practically accused ABS-CBN and the Philippine Daily Inquirer of wanting to tar the administration by running the s “kill list.”

“But what would Mr. Cayetano have the media do, play blind as the bodies pile up and go along with the canard to declare all who have died, including the innocent — and yes, there have been innocents — guilty as alleged and, thus, deserving of their fate sans due process as our laws and the very principle of rule of law that this administration wishes, and rightly so, to restore?,” Rosauro asked.

“Sadly, like Justice Secretary Vataliano Aguirre before him, Mr. Cayetano also irresponsibly raises the claim, without proffering an iota of evidence, that media are among those being bought off with drug money supposedly to discredit the administration,” NUJP said.

“Again, we reiterate that such allegations, without any proof, not only serve to unjustly cast a pall of suspicion over the Philippine media and, in particular, the journalists who toil on the front lines but, much worse, put lives in danger, not only should those behind the growing plague of drug-related murders see it fit to include us as targets, but also by providing a convenient cover for those who would silence an independent press and have already claimed a horrendous toll of more than 170 from our profession’s ranks since 1986,” the journalists’ group further said.

Duterte and his officials should not give too much credit to media.

Media merely mirrors reality on the ground. Your image is your own making.

Published inMedia

27 Comments

  1. chi chi

    Spindoctor Ernesto Abella looked like an idiot when interviewed by Al-Jazeera tv. Naawa ako… 🙂

    Mang Dutz: Kayo ang may kasalanan media, P#$$@%^ niyo…magsama kayo ng P&^%$#$ UN!

    Ayaw daw niya sa nedia, and yet he enjoys every second he is acting up and showing the EQ of a toddler in front of the media ala pwet ni Clint Eastwood.

  2. olan olan

    What would Mr. Cayetano have media do?..In my view, report it factually as it is. I heard Senator Cayetano and I think how he said it is a fair assessment.

    Take a look at the issue of Marcos burial plans for example, Our current government stated many times that its not a heroes burial and when reading the two tabloids heroes burial ang message! no wonder nagkakaroon ng misinformation.

    Repercussion of twisting facts even slightly with pictures and headings in my view affects many. Parang they have a side to portray without regards to the efforts of others in our case effort of others for us to have a better living condition sans criminals. By the way, why can’t the media start looking into story of the drug lords and its links. What their contribution to the many EJK and put it in the news?

    Also, the President exchanges with the UN and US is unnecessary but i get him somehow maybe it has something to do with China and West Philippine Sea…

  3. Golberg Golberg

    Duterte said it was “bastos (rude)” of the U.N. rapporteurs to criticize him publicly based on what they read in newspapers and tabloids. He further called them “Tangina mo. gago. Ulol” O eh bakit? Hindi ba siya bastos? Ilang tao at organization na ang pinuna niya in public? Pero hindi makapagbato ng negatibong komento sa kabastusan ng China sa UN arbitration procedure at decision.

    Yasay said, “The president was tired, disappointed, hungry when he made the statement. We must give him leeway. He is also human.” Siya lang ba ang human?

    It was another media-bashing at the Senate with Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano scoring media for the portrayal of the Philippines as ‘‘Wild Wild West” by international press.
    ”Grabe ang tama sa media na as if Wild Wild West tayo,” Cayetano said in his opening statement during the Senate’s inquiry into extrajudicial killings in connection with Duterte’s war against illegal drugs. Iyon naman kasi ang nakita nila. Iyon ang binigay na impormasyon sa kanila. Nanalaban daw sabi ng mga pulis. Alangan naman ang ibalita nila eh, nanabunot at nangurot kaya binaril at napatay?

    Pero tandaan din natin na, yung mga nasawi dahil illegal drugs, (yung may mga placard) hindi iyan pinatay ng mga vigilante. Sigurado ang dumali diyan ay mga hitman ng mga drug lords/syndicates. Barya lang para sa kanila na umupa ng gun for hire at itumba yung sa tingin nila ay maglalaglag sa kanila.

  4. Golberg Golberg

    Isa pang punto ito, “It was done in the wee hours of the morning and he was very tired, “ Yasay said adding that the President “ already ended up the press conference … but the press were still leading him with a lot of questions, so it is in this context that he made this statements.” Bakit ka mag hold ng presscon ng 1am? Tukmol ka ba? Pagod ka na, gutom ka pa, malamang utak mo sabaw na. Baka pati sariling mong tanong di mo na maintindihan. Yung reporters, kung kakagising lang ng mga iyan, malamang wala pa sa sarili iyan, tapos sisisihin.
    Pagod na utak niya, at kung gutom pa, tapos di pa naka-inom ng gamut para sa bi-polar disorder niya, masisisi nga kayo.
    Sa susunod na magpatawag siya ng presscon ng ganong oras, wag na kayong pumunta. Hayaan nyo na lang siya magmukhang tanga dun.

  5. jaq jaq

    1am nag meeting sya hello tulog na lahat ano yun emergency? kasi late na sya nagigising night person sya talaga..

  6. Lurker Lurker

    It’s always somebody’s fault when Duts makes inane comments. Thing is media directly quotes him when he spews these absurd, damaging, ignorant and harmful remarks.

    Wonder how long the ever tolerant Filipino can stand this? He may have been Davao city’s best mayor ever but by the looks of it, he’s not or never going to be
    the best president of the Philippines.

    just my 2 cents.

  7. Tilamsik Tilamsik

    Masyadong local ang kanyang governance. Parang mayor parin ang dating nya. Di ko minamaliit ang tarabaho ng mayor, but once you are in Malacanang, it’s entirely different.

  8. norpil2 norpil2

    this president hurls personal insults and attack individuals whenever they cross his way. Then his defenders make all kinds of excuses which the president could not. this guy try to be macho but maybe he is the opposite.

  9. chi chi

    #4. Golberg, hahahaha!

    #8. Matagal ko ng iniisip yan, macho epek.

  10. Pero tandaan din natin na, yung mga nasawi dahil illegal drugs, (yung may mga placard) hindi iyan pinatay ng mga vigilante. Sigurado ang dumali diyan ay mga hitman ng mga drug lords/syndicates. Barya lang para sa kanila na umupa ng gun for hire at itumba yung sa tingin nila ay maglalaglag sa kanila.

    That is partly true. But if you mean that it includes scalawag policemen in service then that makes it complete. Today, active duty cops are the drug lords’ hitmen and sub-syndicate bosses.

    Again, I reiterate – a great quantity of the meth and pills are recycled, confiscated drugs obtained in legit operations. These are the drugs that are peddled in the streets. Those directly imported are usually called “High-grade meth” and may have specific flavors like grape, vanilla, apple, etc. What is sold in the streets are considered “generic”.

    Check my comment #21 here. Compare it to the testimony of Mary Rose Aquino in the Senate hearing. She was the girl from Antipolo whose parents were murdered by their police handlers the night they remitted the proceeds of their drug “recycling”. My description of how these “police assets” function and how confiscated drug becomes the source of income for many assets and their policemen handlers was spot on, at least in the case of the Antipolo cops.

    PDGen Dela Rosa said he immediately went to Antipolo right after the hearing and relieved all 40 cops of the police station. That is one class act we should commend, he looks really legit though I should say his experience as to the intricacies of the drug organizations is very limited, maybe only based on his experiences in Davao.

    He doesn’t have to look far, though. The crooks are in his organization.

  11. roc roc

    palagay ko, yong mga polis na natanggal sa trabaho, will be replaced with much of the same, mukha lang ang mag-iiba. and those mga vigilante kuno, marahil ay off duty polis sila out to make extra money, the more the merrier. it’s their turn to play criminal and played it well.

  12. roc roc

    at saka, we should not take cayetano at his words, joker din yan gaya ni digong. I think, it would be better if journalists start laughing at cayetano and say, ha, ha, ha, ang galing mong magbiro, sir.

  13. roc roc

    it’s hard to take digong and his admin seriously, cayetano and pimentel included, joke ang default nila.

  14. jcj2013 jcj2013

    Duterte is himself hooked on drugs. That’s all too apparent in his speech and manners. Adik na adik!! Duterte BUANG!! Siya ang dapat matokhang at nang lumayas na sa Malakanyang!!!!!!!!

  15. MPRivera MPRivera

    “……..Duterte’s death threats against criminals, his promise to battle corruption, his anti-establishment rhetoric and gutter humor have enamored Filipinos living on the margins of society. He overwhelmingly won the election, mirroring public exasperation over the social ills he condemns.

    Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia has said the killings “may be a necessary evil in the pursuit of a greater good,” a sentiment echoed by a deluge of comments by Duterte supporters in social media deriding his critics and defending the brutal war on drugs……….”

    http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/08/27/1617798/filipinos-seen-backing-duterte-despite-rising-drug-killings

  16. MPRivera MPRivera

    kung ako ang tatanungin ay gusto ko rin ang due process upang matukoy kung sino ang tunay na dapat maparusahan na mga sangkot sa pagpatay sa mga hinihinalang drug pushers o users na kinokondena ng CHR at simbahan PERO nasaan sila, ano ang ginagawa at sinasabi nila kapag merong mga inosenteng biktima ang mga lulong sa droga na gumagahasa at pumapatay sa mga babae, bata o matanda man? bakit tahimik sila at hindi maipagsigawang ang karapatang pantao ng mga pinatay ay niyurakan o tinapos ng mga adik sa droga?

  17. MPRivera MPRivera

    wala tayong mabasa sa mga diyaryo tungkol sa mga karumaldumal na krimeng kinasasangkutan o ginawa ng mismong mga lulong sa droga. tila ba ito’y itinatago ng media upang lubusang mabaling ang pansin ng balana sa ipinagpipilitan nilang extra judicial killings na ibinibintang sa kasalukuyang administrasyon subalit hindi nila iniisip na ang ganitong mga kaganapan ay talamak na sa nakaraang administrasyon at WALA kahit isa o sino sa CHR, simbahan at mismong sa media ang ipinagsigawang sangkot ang mga namumuno noong panahon ni ngoyngoy at maging si layla na ay tahimik sa usapin sa droga.

    hindi ba’t noong sumambulat ang pagkakaroon ng shabu lab sa bilibid resort at pagpapatayo ng mga mararangyang tirahan ng mga drug lords with matching jacuzzi, bars, record bars at maging ang pagkalat ng matataas na kalibre ng armas ay ipinagpikit mata ng kagulanggulang na kalihim ng DOJ at sa halip na ibartolina ang mga sangkot ay inilipat sa NBI hotel?

    hindi ko ipinagtatanggol ang kasalukuyang pamunuan SUBALIT bakit nanahimik ang mga kinauukulan kahit noong mga panahong iyon ay talamak na ang ipinagbabawal na gamot na nagsimulang kumalat pagkatapos ng Edsa 1?

    dahil ba nakikita natin na ang bagong halal na presidente ay walang takot kahit sino ang masagasaan sa kanyang kampanya laban sa droga? oo’t pinabalik sa tungkulin si meyor espinosa, alam ba natin ang tunay na dahilan o pakay ng pamunuan sa likod ng hakbang na ito?

  18. chi chi

    Hinahanap ko si kumpadreng Peter Lim.

    Lumayas na pala ng Cebu kasama ang buong pamilya 15 days matapos na gawing poster boy ni kumpadreng Dutz.

    Sabi ng immigration official na takot ma-ID, they boarded a private jet from Mactan, Cebu international airport en route to Hongkong.

  19. #20. Naku chi, sa ilang nakilala kong hitmen dun sa Pasay, wala akong nakilala o narinig man lang na kwento na babaeng assassin. Sa pelikula, oo – si Angelina Jolie.

    Si “Maria” ay isa nang instant celebrity sa foreign media. Bukod sa BBC, na-publish na rin yung article sa New York Times, Washington Post, Yahoo News, etc.

    Masama niyan, parang alam na natin kung ano magiging ending ni Maria. Rarampahin na rin yan after she has served her usefulness. And so will the many others like her.

  20. Tilamsik Tilamsik

    #19
    extra judicial killing is completely … Wrong …!!!

  21. MPRivera MPRivera

    #23

    tilamsik, yes, it’s wrong. pero bakit ina-attribute agad ito sa bagong administrasyon?

    hindi kaya hitmen nina layla dilimna, ngoyngoy at mar rehas ang kumakana para iligpit ang mga inaakala nilang ililigwak sila? na kaya putak ng putak si dilimna ay upang akala niya ay mailihis ang paniniwala sa papel niya sa pagkalat ng ilegal na droga? sa utos ng dalawang bugok?

    hindi kaya?

    hindi ba kayo nagtataka, dalawang buwan pa lamang sa tungkulin ang bagong administrasyon, ganyan agad kalala ang ilegal na droga? hindi ba’t ito ay patunay na basurang minana mula sa pinalitang gobyerno?

  22. Tilamsik Tilamsik

    I have no comment sir, thanks for your analysis anyway.

  23. jaq jaq

    wrong po talaga pero sa mga dutertards tama masaya sila.

  24. MPRivera MPRivera

    #26. hindi po ako kasama sa mga dutertards na sinasabi ninyo. tinitimbang ko po lamang ang mga kaganapan.

    isa lamang po ako sa mga umaasa na ang bayan natin ay maging tahimik, mapayapa at ligtas sa ilegal na droga. wala po tayong masabi noong panahon ni ngoyngoy na iniisip ninyong naging isang matapat at masigasig na pinuno PERO sa loob po ba ng anim na taong pagharap niya sa taumbayan kapag nag-uulat siya sa SONA; sa bawat pagharap niya sa anumang pagtitipong dinadaluhan ng local at foreign media ano po ba ang palagi niyang bukambibig? hindi PURO paninisi, paninira, pangako at pambobola? sa loob ng TATLUMPUNG TAON pagkatapos ng Edsa 1 mula sa nanay niya hanggang sa mismong termino niya (ngoyngoy) ANONG matinong imprastruktura ang naipatayo ng mga nagpalitpalitang mga pangulo? ano ang ginawa nila upang ang pamuling umusbong at lumalang kriminalidad ay masugpo o masawata? meron ba?

    galit tayo sa mga inutil na naging presidenteng walang ginawa KUNDI mamasyal at magliwaliw kasama ang sanrekwang mga alalay habang ang mga karaniwang mamamayan lalo na yung mga laman ng lansangan ay nagtitiyaga sa pagkaing PAGPAG; galit tayo sa mga pinunong hayagang walang ginagawa upang sugpuin ang kriminalidad SUBALIT ngayong nandiyan na ang isang taong sinsero sa kanyang binitiwang salita upang bigyang solusyon ang mga kapalpakan ng gobyernong kanyang pinalitan AY GALIT pa din tayo’t mas matimbang sa atin ang karapatan ng mga taong nagpakasangkapan sa paghahasik ng lagim sa ating kapaligiran?

    saan tayo pupunta kung laging ganito ang katwiran natin? ano ang mangyayari sa pamumuhay ng mga henerasyong susunod sa atin?

    noong walang kumikilos sa mga namumuno sa mga nagdaang adminsitrasyon ay ngawngaw tayo nang ngawngaw AT ngayong dumating ang isang taong walang sinisino upang masiguro ang ating kaligtasan, katahimikan at katiwasayan ay ganoon pa din ang ating sigaw?

    paano na?

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