Category Archive for: komentaryo

komentaryo

From #WestPHSea dispute to … impeachment? #mediacrisis

Not that it isn’t being pointed out by more and more people, which has also made our mainstream media practitioners totally defensive, but there are some glaring media mishaps that seem important to mention — before we (i) forget, and just so it’s here for future reference.

The Karen Davila Headstart interview with Justice Antonio Carpio on July 14 2016 happened as expected. They talked about the West Philippine Sea dispute, the decision of the international arbitral tribunal in favor of the Philippines, and where to go from here. I will not talk about the line of questioning of Davila, or the answers of Carpio, but everyone should be reading Sass Rogando Sasot, from whom I’ve been learning a lot about this dispute and have been sent in various directions towards understanding this whole thing better. (Here’s a good start, too.)

What I will direct you to is this transcript of the Davila-Carpio interview, where you will find one question that comes from left field, and barely even make sense.  (more…)

komentaryo

From Luneta to the Hague: a timeline of the #WestPHSea dispute #mediacrisis

Still reading up — and there is a lot of reading up to do — about the decision on the West Philippine Sea, but have found it scary irresponsible that mainstream and social media have taken on this celebratory tone, with the contingent demand that we all join in with as much fervour and gratefulness to former President Aquino.

But a sense of recent history, of what brought us here, is important towards understanding why Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay is correct about handling the results of this case with calm and restraint, and pushing for bilateral talks with China after this ruling. A sense of history would reveal that this is as much the Philippines’ fault, we had our share of missteps and mishaps, which undoubtedly brought us to this point as well. (more…)

komentaryo

Inauguration day #Du30 #Day1

Today is inauguration day, the official start of Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency. Yet if we were looking at the past month or so since the May 10 elections, Duterte’s been blamed for most everything that has happened, including Abu Sayyaf’s kidnapping spree, and the spate of killings since elections.

Never mind that these crimes are happening under the Aquino government. (more…)

komentaryo

ridiculous #MediaCrisis

It has gotten ridiculous, the way this noisy elite on social and mainstream media has looked down on, put into question, scoffed at, anything at all to do with incoming President Rodrigo Duterte.

Don’t get me wrong: we should be discussing at length and in depth all his major campaign promises because he is willing to risk the presidency to fulfil these. This requires that we be on our toes, and engaging in relevant discussions about the death penalty, human rights, and federalism.

But instead of levelling up the discourse, this noisy elite is grasping at straws. Without the #Du30 press conferences that used to give them — and mainstream media! — much glee because it would give them so much to harp on (the more controversial the better), there is less to complain about now.

And so we are at the point of talking about the inaugural menu and whether or not it can be defined as simple. They are at the point of drawing connections where there are none, if only to prove that Duterte is who they think he is — whatever that might be — regardless of what he says or does. (more…)

komentaryo

Dreaming of a People’s TV

There were two dominant reactions to the proposal of a People’s Television in the last column.

One was a belief that what was meant was Marcosian Martial Law television. The other was a yawn – it has been said before, planned before, imagined before, and nothing ever came of it.

What it is not: Marcosian TV
It bears repeating that nowhere in that column about a People’s TV did I assert that it should be similar to or go in the direction of Martial Law TV, which existed primarily on censorship and the repression of free speech, and the use of culture as a way to propagate government propaganda. (more…)