Howard Jones,
BBC World Service.
BBC Broadcasting House,
London,
W1A 1AA
Dear Mr Jones,
I am writing to you with grave concerns over your highly inaccurate and unfair analysis of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and your implied stance of him being some sort of dictator.
I have come to this conclusion after watching your recently aired documentary on the BBC World Service, ‘Democracy in Danger’. Firstly, this documentary has been showed repeatedly recently on the BBC and I believe been given unfair airtime with no counter program to ensure fairness?
Surely the BBC is showing bias and this is a case of unfair journalism? The program In question is very critical of President Duterte and his policies to protect the Filipino public against the evils of drug dealers and crime by those addicts who are high on Shabu.
Since President Duterte took office, crime is down by almost 50% in some areas, corruption has been greatly reduced and of course the Filipino people have given the President a consistently high approval rating in various SWS polls.
In your documentary you focused on several areas where in fact the President is working hard to clean up the country.
The curfew imposed on children and those who would loiter in the streets, is not in fact a strong-arm tactic or meant to be dictatorial in any way, it merely ensures that children are getting the required amount of rest to ensure they can get the most out of the educational opportunities afforded to them and also that they are not somehow caught up in the drug trade or offered drugs. Same applies to so called ‘Tambays’. There is always a risk that people loitering around the streets could become involved in crime.
I am very sure that are many legitimate reasons why people would be on the streets as you say, but I hope you would respect that the PNP and indeed government have every right to ensure peace and order.
Then there is the matter of your almost ambush interview of Imee Marcos, daughter of former President Ferdinand Marcos, to ask her if she would compare President Duterte to her father as a dictator, is somehow asking her to insult her own father as well as President Duterte and similarly the same can be said of your questioning of Bong Bong Marcos.
Then your comments claiming that news blog website Rappler is somehow legitimate in the Philippines, one minute you liken President Duterte to a dictator, and not following the constitution, the next minute you imply that Rappler being banned from covering the President is almost an affront to democracy, yet all the Duterte administration is doing is following the constitution in banning foreign owned journalists from covering the president under the guise of being a Filipino owned news agency.
Yes, I admit, you did interview Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque briefly, yet out of at least 4 individuals who are against the President, you only interviewed one supporting him? Is that fair journalism?
By the way, Sen Leila De Lima who you portray as a political prisoner, is in fact a suspect in a drugs case, not only that, members of her family have now been suspected in being involved in the drugs trade, is she a reliable source for your report?
Also you interviewed Sen Trillanes, who you correctly identify as one of the biggest critics of the Duterte family who by the way, is currently out on bail, having also been suspected of being involved in a crime. Is he a reliable witness therefore?
Do you ever report on the good work President Duterte is doing or even highlight it in your report? How about improvements in infrastructure, reduction of red tape, the President’s support of OFW’s, the billions of pesos he brings to the national economy following his highly fruitful and important overseas visits?
I hope you will have the decency to reply and as a licence payer, hope you will respect my right to challenge you on my perception of your unfair journalistic approach.
Finally, I can categorically assure you that Democracy is safe and well in the Philippines, doesn’t a dictator ban protests and challenges to their leadership? In fact President Duterte is happy to meet his critics and ensures they are afforded maximum tolerance by the authorities.
Also please remember that President Duterte was elected by 16M Filipinos. Please don’t therefore insult them by this biased campaign against him by you and the BBC.
Yours sincerely,
Malcolm Conlan,
Concerned Netizen
London, UK
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