Political Controversies
by Hector Bryant L. Macale and Apple Jean C. Martin
Relentless press coverage has sustained public scrutiny of the Arroyo administration as political controversies continued to hound it through the first quarter of the year.
In contrast to the dearth of investigative reports on last year’s political issues and controversies as noted by PJR Reports in its January 2008 issue was the increased number of investigative and in-depth reports during the period.
Many of these reports focused on the agreements on joint exploration among the Philippines, China, and Vietnam in the South China Sea. But the press also investigated issues involving official development assistance to the Philippines, and the conversion of agricultural lands into biofuel plantations. As part of its continued coverage of the national broadband network (NBN) controversy, both print and broadcast also issued a number of in-depth reports explaining various aspects of the issue.
Connections
A number of investigative reports looked into the link between the joint marine seismic agreement the Philippines had signed with China and Vietnam covering the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea and the avalanche of multimillion dollar Chinese loans to the country. Some reports also discussed the constitutional and legal ramifications of the agreement, and its possible repercussions on the country’s Spratlys claim as well as on regional stability.
A Far Eastern Economic Review article in its Jan.-Feb. 2008 issue, which accused the Arroyo administration of selling out to China Philippine and regional interests in the South China Sea, had rekindled Philippine press interest on the Philippine claim to the Spratlys and China’s huge financial loans to the country (“Manila’s Bungle in the South China Sea”).
ABS-CBN 2’s The Correspondents reported that after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed a joint seismic agreement with China to study possible oil and gas deposits in the disputed Spratlys in 2003, China’s official development assistance to the Philippines increased.
Of the 67 loans from China to the Philippines during the Arroyo administration—the most in any administration since the Marcos regime—57 were approved after the agreement was signed. Among the 57 loans was the Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company Limited (ZTE) deal for the NBN project. The Correspondents pointed out that while the conditions for Chinese loans were less cumbersome compared to those required by other international lenders, most of the Chinese-funded projects were tainted with corruption, the NBN-ZTE and North and South Rail projects, among others (“Kung ‘di ukol, bubukol,” Feb. 19).
VERA Files, a newly established group of investigative journalists (see “New investigative journ group formed,” p.22), introduced itself to readers with a two-part special on the country’s need for a new archipelagic baseline and its repercussions on the Philippine claim to the Spratlys. The first part detailed how Mrs. Arroyo’s alleged neglect as well as infighting among government officials over turf and money resulted in the absence of a new archipelagic baseline, possibly affecting the Spratlys claim (“Arroyo neglect, gov’t infighting jeopardize RP’s territorial claim,” http://www.verafiles.org/index.php/focus/34-top-story/46-arroyo-neglect-government-infighting-jeopardize-rp-territorial-claim, March 24). The second part discussed the country’s belated efforts to beat the United Nations deadline on territorial claims (“RP in last minute scramble to beat UN deadline on territorial claim VERA Files, http://www.verafiles.org/index.php/focus/34-top-story/45-rp-in-last-minute-scramble-to-beat-un-deadline, March 25). The VERA Files reports were also carried in several newspapers such as The Daily Tribune, Malaya, The Philippine Star, and BusinessMirror and websites such as GMANews.TV.
VERA Files had earlier reported that six of the Spratly islands group occupied by the Philippines are included in the joint seismic agreements the country signed with China and Vietnam (“6 Philippine-occupied islands covered in Spratly agreements,” http://www.verafiles.org/index.php/focus/34-top-story/47-six-rp-occupied-islands-covered-in-controversial-spratlys-deals, March 10).
Newsbreak ran a three-part investigative report that showed that “the Arroyo administration has committed a series of acts geared toward compromising Philippine territorial interests in favor of China.” In exchange for the joint marine agreement with China (and later Vietnam) which Newsbreak reported violated local and international laws, the current administration got the most number of bilateral agreements with China in the past 30 years (“A Policy of Betrayal, http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content &task-view&id=4296 &Itemid=88889066, March 14). It also pointed out that the agreement should have been covered by a treaty, and not just by an executive agreement (http://newsbreak.com.ph/index. php?option=com_content&task =view&id=4298&Itemid=88889066, March 17). Legal and territorial issues were also discussed in the third part of the series (http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content& task=view&id=4299 &Itemid=88889066, March 17).
Newsbreak also reported that energy officials had known as early as 2004 that the agreement included an area that was “within Philippine waters and should not have been covered” (“RP knew Spratlys exploration ‘too close’ to Palawan: But revised map shows survey by China and Vietnam is still within Philippine waters,” http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_ content&task=view&id =4274&Itemid=88889051, March 9). The Philippine Star and abs-cbnNEWS.com also published the Newsbreak series.
Newsbreak said that it had looked at the possible connection between the Chinese loans and the joint marine agreement with China with a special report on Aug. 28, 2006 (“Exploring The Spratlys,” http://www.news-break.com.ph/index.php?option =com_content&task=view& id=1572&Itemid=88889064) when allegations of overpricing and corruption in Chinese-funded projects arose over the North Rail project that year. With the agreement, Newsbreak said, Arroyo “could have effectively given up our territorial claim on the Spratlys, and the act could be a ground for her impeachment.”
Exploring the flood of official development assistance loans particularly from China, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) released a three-part investigative report (“The perils and pitfalls of aid,” Feb. 11-13) explaining how the government has become lax in project evaluation.
The first part discussed how the evaluation process of the National Economic Development Authority— the country’s supposedly independent economic development and planning agency tasked to evaluate proposed large-scale government pro-jects—has been undermined by political and lobbying pressures (“Oda surge sparks scandals for Arroyo, debt woes for RP,” http://pcij.org/stories/2008/oda.html).
The second explained the absence of bids and other requirements of lenders that ended favoring foreign contractors but which has resulted in cost overruns and project delays (Bids sans caps, tied loans favor foreign contractor, http://pcij.org/stories/2008/oda5.html).
Because of these problems, PCIJ found that seven out of 10 ODA-funded projects “failed to deliver the promised economic benefits, and (will) exacerbate the nation’s debt burden” (“7 in 10 ODA projects fail to deliver touted benefits,” http://pcij.org/stories/2008/oda9.html). Newspapers such as The Philippine Star, Malaya, and The Manila Times and websites abs-cbnNEWS.com, GMANews.tv and Sun.Star Network online carried PCIJ’s report.
Apart from these investigative reports on the Spratlys deal and the country’s economic and trade agreements with China, VERA Files also published a two-part investigative report last April 7 and 8 on how the sugar barons in Congress were converting their agricultural lands into biofuel plantations. By turning rice, corn, and sugar lands into biofuel plantations amid the threat of food shortages, VERA Files reported, sugar barons may possibly evade the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (“Iggy Arroyo to use biofuels law to evade CARP?,” http://www.verafiles.org/index.php?option=com_ content&view=article&id=63:iggy-arroyo-to-use-biofuels-law&catid=34:topstory&Itemid=53).
The second part of the series detailed problems with the biofuels law. It also reported that the law’s authors and their families, including presidential brother-in-law Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo and Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, own agricultural lands that may be utilized for biofuel production (“Ethical lapses mark passage of biofuels law,” http://www.verafiles.org/index.php?option =com_content&view=article&id =64:ethical-lapses-mark-passage-of-biofuels&catid=34:top-story&Itemid=53). Malaya, the Star, Times, and GMANews.TV, Sun.Star Network online also carried the series.
Special programs and reports
Given the immense amount of news and updates available on controversies such as the NBN project and Spratlys agreement, the major media organizations tried to provide the background and context readers and viewers needed to better understand them.
Last March 16, GMA-7 aired a special documentary that discussed the connections among the personalities involved in the NBN-ZTE deal as well as other issues. “Koneksyon: Anatomy of a Political Scandal” provided viewers with background information on the country’s economic agreements with China, including the cyber-education project and the NBN-ZTE project.
It also reported the relationships among the personalities involved in the issue and looked into the question of whether the country really needed the NBN project. Koneksyon also traced how the project was awarded to ZTE and provided the views of those involved, among them various government officials and experts on political and economic issues.
“The special was more in-depth than anything GMA had previously produced on our public affairs programs or newscasts about NBN-ZTE and we were proud of it,” Nessa Valdellon, GMA-7’s Vice-President for GMA Public Affairs, told PJR Reports in an e-mail interview.
ABS-CBN 2 should also be credited for airing last Feb. 16 the first special on the NBN-ZTE controversy: Harapan: the Jun Lozada controversy. The three-hour special was aired over ABS-CBN, ANC, and network’s radio arm dzMM (See “In the public eye: Heroes and Crooks,” PJR Reports March 2008 issue). There was some criticism that the personalities invited, including star witness Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada Jr., had been “set up” in the program. But Charie Villa, head of ABS-CBN 2’s news gathering team, insisted that the program had been fair to all sides. Anchors Korina Sanchez and Ricky Carandang explained during the program that it was not meant to be a confrontation between Lozada and former elections chair Benjamin Abalos Sr., merely to provide an opportunity for the guests to air their respective sides.
But not only did Harapan become a venue for the personalities to explain their side, it also gave viewers a sense of the nature and vast extent of corruption in the Philippine government.
The press was also consistent in explaining developments related to the issue, as among them the revocation of Executive Order 464 last March 5 and the Supreme Court ruling on executive privilege last March 25.
Lapses
Notwithstanding the high number of investigative and in-depth reports on the controversies, there were serious lapses in the daily coverage. Some reports showed a lack of corroboration with other sources. Others were obviously partisan. Some important issues were also forgotten along the way.
In one of the most criticized instances of media lapses, the Philippine Daily Inquirer failed to confirm the accuracy of its March 9 lead story from the main subject itself. The Inquirer had reported that Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) former president Eduardo Mañalac knew about the alleged $41-million kickback in the NBN-ZTE project. Mañalac, it added, would testify as Sen. Panfilo Lacson’s “surprise” witness on the Mar. 11 Senate inquiry (“Ex-PNOC head to testify: Spratlys pact signatory said to know of ZTE bribe advances”).
The next day, the Inquirer bannered Mañalac’s denial of both his supposed knowledge and his upcoming testimony in the Senate hearings on the deal. Although the paper reprinted his e-mailed letter complaining about the report, the damage done was serious enough for Mañalac to consider filing charges against the paper and the article’s writer for “irresponsibility in making such an inflammatory declaration without confirming its accuracy” and “for their part in this piece of fabricated information” (“A complete falsehood,” Mar. 10). The paper admitted its error—although it took three days for the paper to publish an apology (“PDI Apologizes,” Mar. 12).
“There’s a suspicion that we were given a bum steer”, or what’s known as “kuryente” in journalism circles, Inquirer publisher Isagani Yambot told PJR Reports, admitting that the reporter and some editors had somehow been negligent with the story. He said the Inquirer was conducting a fact-finding investigation on the issue.
Some reports did not provide background and context. The press dutifully and uncritically reported Arroyo’s “unity walks” in Malacañang, first with Cabinet officials, and later with local government executives and youth groups. Based on an obvious Palace propaganda ploy to show support for the beleaguered President, the reports did not ask how much money was used to host these walks (for transportation, accommodation, food, among others) and who was going to pay for these costs, among other lapses.
Again, the press also reported the graft suit filed by women’s group Babae Ka against Lozada. The group sued Lozada for allegedly using his position as former Philippine Forest Corporation (PhilForest) president to give land to his sister and paying his insurance with PhilForest funds. These reports, however, did not provide any background information on Babae Ka. It turned out that Babae Ka had been accused of being an administration front when it ran—and lost—in last year’s party-list elections.
Some reports were downright biased, especially, though not surprisingly, those from the Palace-controlled press. While covering the Feb. 29 Makati rally—the biggest since the inception of the NBN-ZTE controversy— NBN-4’s Primetime Teledyaryo echoed concerns about the occurrence of rallies in Makati, the country’s business center. Although the government-owned network dispatched two reporters to cover the Makati rally, the rest of Teledyaryo’s reports that day mostly focused on the usual affairs in the Palace and on a pro-Arroyo rally at the Manila-Quezon City Mabuhay Rotonda.
Express Balita, a news program of government-sequestered IBC-13, also highlighted the activities of pro-Arroyo groups last Feb. 29 and echoed the Palace’s negative reaction to the participation of former presidents Joseph Estrada and Corazon Aquino in the Makati rally.
Crucial allegations initially reported, such as the loss of the memorandum of agreement on the South Rail project and conversion of agricultural lands into biofuel plantations for Chinese consumption, were not followed up and were forgotten in the course of the coverage.
Views
Political experts acknowledged the role of media in these crucial times. Political analyst and former Cabinet official Leonor Briones said the NBN-ZTE controversy could have died down in October of last year when the government cancelled the project. Media’s relentless coverage of the controversy partly kept the issue alive, according to Briones, who currently serves as a professor at the University of the Philippines’ National College of Public Administration and Governance.
As other controversies arise, the continuing challenge to the press is to make issues both understandable and interesting to the public. Briones said the press could present, for example, the connection between the Spratlys deal and the country’s oil and food supply problem.
Benito Lim, who teaches at the Ateneo de Manila University and who is an expert on Chinese politics and the Spratlys issue, noted that most of the reporters covering the Spratlys controversy had no background at all on the issue. Most of them were merely getting the views of the personalities involved, and were thus susceptible to spin.
“Being the eyes and the ears of the people, reporters should do their own investigation ,” Lim said. Most media organizations tried to oblige, but with mixed results. |
