Point of View

In politics, as in warfare, you can easily tell when a party is headed for defeat early in the game. This happens when confusion sets in, and its members are thrown into disarray. The result is predictable — you can safely bet that it will lose an election.

This is why in warfare, generals take pains to plot strategy that would sow confusion in the enemy camp. Winning will become a matter of course when unity and coherence vanish from the enemy ranks. This is also true in sports, and business and many other fields.

Such a situation is now apparent in the Lakas-Kampi administration party in the Province of Iloilo. The party is fielding Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro as its presidential candidate. But even before Teodoro’s name was formally proclaimed as the party standard bearer, its key leaders in Iloilo province had already maintained dangerous liaisons with Nacionalista Party bet Senator Manny Villar. These leaders — Cong. Arthur Defensor, Cong. Ferjenel Biron, Cong. Janette Garin — had struck deals with Villar, for which they received fabulous gifts, and promises of campaign expenses to come. Defensor, Biron and Garin had forged an alliance with vice governor Rolex T. Suplico, the NP provincial chairman, for them to abandon Teodoro at a critical hour.

However, secrecy is never a strong point for politicians, and these treacherous liaisons reached the ears of Teodoro after a while. After all, the military’s intelligence service is at his beck and call. And he has his own friends in Iloilo who sensed that trouble was brewing for this Harvard-educated lawyer. Teodoro knew he had to counter this internal threat. He understood that Defensor et all were unprincipled politicians who placed their personal profit above everything else. He had to protect himself from wolves inside his own party.

Teodoro hastily convened a series of meetings with his friends in Iloilo politics, notable among them former Leganes municipal mayor Josil Jaen, in Manila. It didn’t take long for Teodoro to make a decision — he tasked Jaen to be his gubernatorial candidate for the Province. Even if Jaen is a weaker candidate than Defensor, at least Teodoro figured he can count on the former not to betray him. With the entry of Jaen, the gubernatorial race is now three-cornered.

This move is a surprise for Defensor et al. None of them had anticipated Teodoro to make such a bold move. They had thought that Teodoro was their hostage. And this development brings problems for Defensor, Biron and Garin. At Teodoro’s prodding, the triumvirate will find themselves being scrutinized under a microscope by Malacanang. There are rumors that their pork barrel for the last quarter of the year has been stopped. These congressmen had looked forward to getting several millions of pesos in projects more before jumping ship. They have been pre-empted.

We can expect the situation to turn murkier in the days ahead. Defensor and company will now have to rethink about where their allegiance should go —- Villar or Teodoro? This will deepen the fissures within the party, and confusion will reign longer before the water starts to turn clear. By the time these Iloilo Lakas-Kampi leaders can sort things out, the campaign season will have started, and they will have lost plenty of territory.  It’s not easy to pick up the pieces and mount a serious battle. The momentum has been seized by the Liberal Party, and there’s little doubt victory is at hand as the Lakas-Kampi struggles with this problem.

By the Executive Committee, NUJP-Iloilo October 20, 2009

The recent incident involving Iloilo photojournalist Tara Yap of The Daily Guardian has raised issues about press freedom and ethics which the Iloilo chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) would like to address and respond to through this statement —-

Exercising the freedom of the Press and the right to information of the public is a constant balancing act between the right to gather information and to report this to the public, on the one hand, and the right of privacy of the subjects of news reports, on the other.

While the right to press freedom is a constitutionally guaranteed right, it has limitations the same way that the right to privacy of an individual or individuals can be subsumed if public interest warrants.

Iloilo Governor Niel Tupas Sr. and his family are public figures by virtue of their being politicians and as part of a political clan. Naturally, they are subjects of news coverage and reports.

Taking photographs or video footage of the governor’s residence by the media is part of the information gathering/documentation of journalists. No permission is required unless the photojournalist enters the private property of the governor’s family.

Normally, journalists need to clearly identify themselves as members of the media and their purpose in news gathering, taking pictures and interviewing. This is to afford fairness to the news subjects that the information being gathered will be used for journalism purposes.

But the use of clandestine techniques and devices like not divulging the identities of journalists and the use of hidden cameras to gather information are not necessarily unethical and in fact have been used by news organizations and some journalists in pursuit of certain kind of stories, especially investigative reports, or when the information sought is difficult to obtain through the usual means.

The taking of photographs or videos of the governor’s house or the attempt to do this by Ms Yap or any other journalist is, therefore, acceptable even without permission.

We, however, do not encourage these techniques and devices because these might intrude on the privacy of news subjects and at the same time put unnecessary risks on the journalist. As a general rule, journalists should gather information without using these techniques and devices and only resort to these means if there is no other way to get the information and if this is warranted by the significance of the story.

But if Ms Yap trespassed on private property while taking or attempting to take photos or video shots, then the Tupas family has every right to seek redress in the appropriate forum and manner.

There are, however, conflicting claims on whether Ms Yap entered the compound and trespassed on privately owned property or not.

If her claim that she did not enter the compound is true, then there was no need for her to identify herself.

If she was accosted outside the compound and brought in by the caretakers against her will, then that placed her in very serious risk and was a clear violation of her rights.

If Ms Yap entered the compound without permission, we understand the actions of the employees of the Tupas family in making her wait inside the compound while verifying her identity after they saw her inside the taxi with a camera, unaware of her identity and purpose.

But this should not be to the point of intimidating her.

We believe that the confiscation of Ms Yap’s two cellphones and camera (even if these were returned to her later) and the search conducted on her bag were uncalled for especially since she had already identified herself as a photojournalist.

Even law enforcers cannot do this except with the necessary search warrants or when they have enough proof to investigate or apprehend a person.

The allegations that Ms Yap’s actions and motivations are other than journalism purposes are allegations that we will not dwell on and is left to the parties involved to prove or disprove. But even if this is true, this does not justify the violation of her rights.

In the aftermath of this incident, we call on our colleagues to uphold the highest ethical standards possible especially with the coming election period and to remain independent, fair and balance.

We should uphold these basic ethical principles to be worthy to be called journalists.

The media and journalists should not allow themselves to be used as means of politicians to further their political agenda or to malign political opponents.

We particularly deplore the wanton abuse of the airwaves by block-timers paid by politicians whose sole purpose is to promote their clients or demolish the adversaries of their patrons.

We are alarmed that this early and months before the election season, programs specializing on personal attacks or praise for or against politicians already proliferate.

This is a slap on journalism and legitimate journalists and this kind of block-timers should harbor no illusion that we consider them as journalists. They are nothing but paid hacks.

When P/Supt. Alberto Pabalan was director of the 609th PNP Mobile Group based in Dumangas, Iloilo, he devoted most of his troops to performing security detail work for Rep. Ferjenel Biron and his father, Barotac Nuevo mayor Hernan Biron. Anywhere the Birons went, battle-ready policemen also rode shotgun for them, creating the ugly impression that this police unit had become the personal security group of the father-and-son tandem. Pabalan ignored repeated reprimands and continued to violate operational guidelines of the PNP on VIP security. it became apparent that Pabalan was beholden to the Birons, which is why they made sure he stayed on as group chief of the 609th Mobile Group even though he broke the rules.

The only rule that the Birons weren’t able to bend was the two-year maximum term for an assignment, and about two months ago, Pabalan was forced to relinquish his coveted post. He was transferred to the Iloilo City Mobile Group, his present assignment. Many thought that was the end of Pabalan’s relationship with the Birons. He no longer held the rein of leadership for the police unit which had jurisdiction over the 4th congressional district. His assignment as group director for the Iloilo City Mobile Group was certain to demand his full time and energy, as the city was beset by seemingly unstoppable criminality. But Pabalan must really consider the Birons special to his heart. He is still very much attached to the father-and-son political tandem.

This was proven correct by a special investigative team of Bombo Radyo led by reporter Peter John Beyasca, more popularly known to radio listers as “Bombo PJB”, in the morning of Monday, Oct. 19. Acting on a lead provided by listeners, PJB went to the Biron palace in the Bankers Village Subdivision in Jaro, Iloilo City to verify a report that a patrol vehicle of the 609th Mobile Group was frequently seen there. Perhaps PJB entertained the idea the tipster must have referred to previous occasions when Pabalan was still head of the 609th Mobile Group. PJB was surprised to see that the report was true, except but it wasn’t the patrol vehicle of the 609th Mobile Group that he saw. The vehicle had the markings of the ICMG!

What was the patrol vehicle doing there at 9:30 o’ clock in the morning? Was Pabalan just paying a social visit? How many policemen did Pabalan bring to the place and serve as security? How often does he send his men there? These are just a few of the questions that this discovery made by PJB should raise. Has Pabalan turned his new assignment as the new personal security group of the Birons? Who are the enemies of the Birons to require such a big well-armed security force paid for by the government? Kidnappers? Or voters?

This is definitely a serious matter that the PNP hierarchy under Director General Jesus Versoza should investigate. Everybody is aware that the city is confronted by a high incidence of crimes, and every warm body in the PNP is needed to protect and guard the public safety. Pabalan should be made to explain why he detached a patrol vehicle from its more important duties and made his policemen act as bodyguards.