GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/21 Jan) – In this article last issue, we discussed that the November 23 historic event should be appropriately called “Masalay massacre”. We clarified the number of media victims to be 31 according to the FFFJ verified list. We wondered if all the 31 had received P140,000 each from the government.

Why did that many media people have to cover a routine exercise – the filing of a certificate of candidacy? Were they all reporters?  How many really? Not just 31 according to the FFFJ but 33 on further verification.*

*[NOTE:  Right after finishing the first portion of this article, MindaNews received a list of massacre victims from the Department of Justice. After cross-checking the DOJ list with the two other lists on hand which all had come from the same police and military sources, we found the number to be 33.]

Why did the 33 have to cover the filing of the COC for governorship of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu – not by himself – but by his wife, his two sisters and other relatives numbering 12 and two lady lawyers? Was this routine political exercise of great significance?

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the Philippine Press Institute and the Kapisansan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, as well as the Commission on Human Rights, should sift through this question. It implies professional and ethical issues – which at the moment we refrain from discussing.

Defying the Facts

Why did the vice mayor—not by himself—go to Shariff Aguak, the capital town, to file his COC? Why did he just send his wife, sisters, relatives and the two lady lawyers accompanied by so big a number of media reporters?

Zonio, in his report, “Inquirer man recounts harrowing tales of survival”, datelined Tacurong City (INQUIRER.net, November 24, 2009), provides the answer. [Zonio could have been among the victims had he and another friend not, by a stroke of luck, transferred to their friend’s car. Dropping behind in Tacurong City, the three decided not to follow when forewarned of the danger.]

Zonio relates:

A report had forewarned Mangudadatu that he would be chopped to pieces should he file his COC in Shariff Aguak. He requested for security but this was refused by Chief Superintendent Paisal Umpa, the ARMM police director.

So instead of filing his COC by himself, he formed a group of women led by his wife and sisters to do it since, he said, “Under our tradition, Muslim women are being respected (and) … not to be harmed just like the innocent children…”

Believing in the power of media, Mangudadatu asked Henry Araneta of DZRH to invite journalists to cover the event.  Araneta managed to invite 37. “Maybe, they (the women carrying his COC) will not be harmed if journalists are watching them,” Mangudadatu said.

Were the reporters aware of the danger? They were. At the breakfast table, with ARMM Assemblyman Khadafy Mangudadatu, Reblando and two other journalists discussed security concerns and the scenarios that might arise.

Despite their security concern, Zonio observed: “We were confident nothing bad would happen as some of us in the convoy had been frequent visitors to the Maguindanao provincial capitol.” Boosting the confidence was an assurance from the 6^th Infantry Division chief, Major Gen. Alfredo Cayton, by text message, that the road to Shariff Aguak was safe.

Perhaps that confidence eased the security concern. Zonio said that while inside the vehicles, the group showed no sign of fear or anxiety – apparently feeling no omen of the fate awaiting them. Knowing the Ampatuans, especially the veteran reporters, why were they so confident as to ignore the danger and the risk?

Mangudadatu knew the danger and the risk of death ahead. Yet he let his wife, two sisters and other relatives take the risk, relying on the Muslim traditional respect for women for the protection. To give his women more protection, he invited media reporters to accompany them.

The media reporters, especially their leaders, knew; yet, they defied the danger and the risk. Mangudadatu invited them through Araneta not primarily to cover the filing of his COC but to secure the women.

The crucial question: Why did they allow themselves to be used as security in Mangudadatu’s political mission? This will help explain the earlier question: Why were that many media people involved?

 Media Concern

The Masalay massacre roused local, national and international media institutions to rally for the media profession and demand justice for journalists believed to have fallen in line of duty.  Are there other concerns, as serious if not more?

These institutions are most concerned about the violation of press freedom and justice for the massacred journalists. The concern must be heeded, as well as the condemnations of the violations.

To emphasize this concern, media groups and unions in 31 countries affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists have written President Arroyo so as to pressure her to give justice to the Masalay massacre media victims (philstar, Jan. 1, 2010).

In the Philippine media, tributes have been paid to the Masalay massacre media victims. Behind the grief, bright human spirit shone.

Zonio’s November 24 report ended thus: “Once again, several working journalists shed their blood in the name of press freedom.  This, however, will not deter us or discourage us from doing our job as journalists. Underpaid and under threat, be that as it may, we will continue answering the call of our beloved profession.”

In the same philstar.com report above, Nestor Burgos, Jr., chairman of NUJP, after recounting the travails of Filipino journalists, especially under the Arroyo administration, said that these “have only served to drive Filipino journalists … to greater unity and renewed commitment to waging collective resistance”.

Of the November 23 Masalay massacre, he said “the November 23 Movement” has been organized by various media groups including NUJP and joined by newspaper publishers and broadcast network organizations.

Burgos threw a challenge: “As we pursue justice for the victims of the massacre and other murdered colleagues, we must, at the same time, work tirelessly to help uplift the working and living conditions of journalists, especially those in the provinces, and uphold ethical standards.”

This challenge leads to more serious questions to open up professional and ethical concerns facing the Philippine media – particularly those in the provinces.

Hard Facts

Zonio refers to provincial media people as “underpaid and under threat”; Burgos speaks of the need “to help uplift the working and living conditions of journalists” and to “uphold ethical standards”. Let us look at the hard facts and discern their implications on the media profession and ethics.

1. The media victims in the Masalay massacre were mostly in their 30s to 50s. They were not new in their job – some having been journalists for more than two decades. They were presumed to know well the professional and ethical demands of journalism.

2. Among the 33 victims were publishers, reporters and advertising staff members of local newspapers, correspondents of national newspapers, and local managers, reporters and crew of radio and television stations.

3. Nine newspapers had more than one representative each to cover the event. One had five; another, four; one other, three; and four, two.

4. Mangudadatu “requested several journalists – through Henry Araneta – to cover” the filing of his COC. “Araneta managed to invite 37” (INQUIRER.net, November 24, 2009) with each signing in an “attendance sheet passed around” (INQUIRER.net, November 23, 2009).

5. As John Paul Jubelag, publisher of Mindanao Bulletin and correspondent of Manila Standard Today – one of the three who lagged and stayed behind when forewarned – said in a radio/television interview, the Ampatuan-Mangudadatu gubernatorial contest would be “a surefire magnet for news coverage” (Manila Bulletin, November 24, 2009) -- implying the importance of the COC filing.

6. Widows of slain journalists revealed that their husbands’ incomes were not enough to support their families. (ABS-CBN News, January 12, 2010: After the Ampatuan Carnage: The stories of four widows).

7. Periodico Ini publisher Freddie Sulinab said that the five employees he lost were “under the marketing unit and had no business (being) there” but they had not asked his permission to join “the Mangudadatu coverage” (INQUIRER.net, November 26, 2009: Kin grieve over murder most foul).

Inferences

Apparently, the Mangudadatus are media patrons. Araneta invited journalists at the “request” of Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu and the 37 who came signed in an attendance sheet passed around. Journalists are invited to press conferences or big events. That’s normal. But they don’t sign attendance sheets. Why would they? What for? Patronage undermines press freedom.

In press conferences or big events, normally only one reporter or correspondent – not business staffers – attend for a newspaper or radio station. That was not the case in the November 23 coverage of the filing of Mangudadatu’s COC. Why?

The filing of a COC by a Maguindanao gubernatorial candidate was not that great an event as to call for that big media coverage. However, media answered the call as a duty; but the vice mayor had in truth primarily invited them to help secure the women group that would file his COC. Puzzling, isn’t it?

Granting the event as most newsworthy – as Jubelag said the political fight of the Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus is “magnet for big coverage” – professionalism dictates separate interviews of the rivals to uphold impartiality and independence. This was ignored last November 23.

What explains the apparent breach of professionalism and ethical standards? Is Zonio’s reference to provincial media people as “underpaid” part of the answer? Burgos has his own answer: he sees the need “to help uplift the working and living conditions of journalists”.

Zonio works for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the No. 1 newspaper in the country. Yet he considers himself “underpaid”. The late Bong Reblando, despite that the Manila Bulletin is the leading national daily in revenue earning, was absorbed into the regular staff to enjoy better pay and more perks only in late 2008.

The plight of other provincial media people who depend only on local papers must be worse. Publishers/editors fight for local advertisements – from the government and patrons – to survive. A big slice of their revenue goes to the printing press to sustain regularly a 500-copy circulation. How do they pay – and how much – their reporters, correspondents and business staffers?

To most, working condition is “survival”; living condition is “survival”. Under such condition, patronage is unavoidable; professionalism and ethical standards can be sacrificed; press freedom can be compromised.

The Challenge

How to uplift the working and living condition of provincial journalists was top in the agenda of the PAPI (Publishers Association of the Philippines) annual meetings during the martial years and after. That of PPI (Philippine Press Institute) since its revival after EDSA I was professionalism and ethical standards. KBP must have had the same concerns. Burgos of NUJP is still talking about the same problems.

The problems existed then when there were much fewer provincial papers and there were no television networks and internet on-line publishing to deprive the provincial papers of limited sources of national advertising. More in number and restricted to local advertisers and legal notices from the government, could the problems now be expected to have become better?

What can PAPI, PPI, KBP, NUJP as well as local media organizations do? Unless the provincial media people are helped – as Burgos has seen the need – to uplift their working and living conditions, professionalism and ethical standards will continue to be sacrificed and press freedom compromised to the imperative of survival. 

(To Be Continued)

("Comment" is Mr. Patricio P. Diaz' column for MindaViews, the opinion section of MindaNews. The Titus Brandsma Media Awards recently honored Mr. Diaz with a "Lifetime Achievement Award" for his "commitment to education and public information to Mindanawons as Journalist, Educator and Peace Advocate." You can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

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