It's too risky to be a journalist in the Philippines

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A surreal scene

By Alejandro de Rosario

It’s World Press Freedom Day tomorrow, May 3 and the National Press Club will hold its elections on May 6.

The scene at the Press Club on Sunday will be surreal as it has been the past decade. It would seem to the outside observer that the NPC elections mirror the vibrancy of press freedom in this country. Yet, the Philippines is listed as one of the most dangerous places in the world for working journalists. Justice still has to be served in the Maguindanao massacre which included 32 journalists, the murder of Doc Jerry Ortega in Palawan and other assassinations of the working press.

While the six major dailies can still feel safe because they are Manila-based, their false sense of security was shattered the other day when Inquirer columnist and University of the Philippines professor Randy David’s house was strafed by still unidentified gunmen. David, who lives within the UP compound, initially thought it was a case of mistaken identity until witnesses said the van-riding gunmen even returned to wait for people to come out of the gate. It was then David realized he was the real target. What was it he wrote to incur someone’s ire?

The atmosphere at the Press Club on Sunday will be festive. There will be the usual banners/ streamers and leaflets proclaiming the virtues of this and that candidate. The NPC election, however, is but a mirror image of the flawed political process of the country’s local and national elections.

Some NPC candidates are funded by politicians and businessmen. Win or lose, these candidates who are mostly running for “the funds of it” will come out richer from collected donations .

One particular candidate for NPC president with questionable qualifications is Percy Lapid, who press club insiders concede is the probable winner. Lapid writes a murky column in a tabloid and is a block time radio commentator who gets away with maligning decent people with impunity because we have a moribund Press Council and a useless Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas who should be policing media ranks.

Lapid’s credentials? Sixteen libel cases still pending for which he is out on bail. If elected and then found guilty by the court, the NPC would have a convicted criminal as president.

Freelance journalist Alex Allan sums it up: “Percy Lapid’s election is a foregone conclusion because of simple arithmetic. There are no longer any newsmen belonging to the respected national dailies who are members of the press club. He is being put up by a group of radio block timers and tabloid reporters who sewed up the membership a few years ago by registering every Tom, Dick and Juan in the NPC with funds collected from corrupt customs and immigration officials and the country’s top smugglers.”

It’s practically rigged because the well-funded candidate pays for the registration of many provincial correspondents who make up the majority of the NPC roster. In some instances, the billeting of a big group of correspondents from the provinces are paid for by the moneyed candidate, courtesy of his businessman or politician patron.

How can the responsible sector of the press recapture the NPC from the clutches of the entrenched group? We can’t, no matter how we shake up the poisoned tree. The usual suspects will prevail and then take their oath before the President of the Republic, through the Office of the Press Secretary. Why do elected NPC officials want to take their oath before the President when the press traditionally should have an adversarial role vis-a-vis government? The reason is to give legitimacy to a flawed election process.

The alternative is to organize a parallel press club composed of publishers, editors, and reputable columnists. So it will not look like an elite club, reporters can be members but their application for membership should be subject to screening and vetting by a publisher-editorial board. If the reporter is eligible, the newspaper which the applicant is affiliated with should pay for his membership so as not to add to his financial burden. Hopefully, such a press club could then regain the respect of the public.

Such a club was tried by Inquirer columnist Neal Cruz and the late Adrian Cristobal and Max Soliven. But somehow, Samahang Plaridel, the alternate press club, was a work in progress that seemed to have stalled.