Category Archive for: media

komentaryo

one month of P-Noy: notes of a Pinay

the irony should not be lost on any of them, really. after all they’re the newly-created, seemingly hi-tech, and youthful (!) aspect of the Noy government, and as the communications group, they should know of the contradictions inherent in their mere existence.

they who are tasked with “communications” different and separate and new(?) from what we’ve seen as the office of the press secretary all these years. but save for putting up twitter and facebook accounts, and a website, we have yet to hear and see why this is important at all. ironically, they speak of this as if it’s a new and fancy creature that’s all about the Noy government’s notions of change. but really.

you do not need a whole office to create websites and accounts, nor do you need a whole bunch of new people who are purportedly adept at communicating. look at Gang Badoy’s Dear Noynoy. and really Manolo Quezon III’s (now member for the communications group) websites. it seems that all it would take is to hire techies for these sites, and then have Noynoy do the good things that are worth writing about.

but talk about this communications group inevitably leads to how we, the people, are this government’s new boss, and in which case, that this is one way to connect with the citizenry. true true. but really, you will respond to each and every citizen’s complaint? that Quezon and Ricky Carandang believe they can do this is the strangest of things; that they joined government for something that has yet to be defined and constructed and proven necessary (at this point!) is even stranger.

the truth is, you don’t need a whole office of three people to do this. you need a whole fluggin’ call center. I can complain to you easily about 40 horrid things that government in this country has done to me. I bet my parents will have double that, my brother maybe 30 because he’s been gone a while. add my one barkada of 4 people  x 40 complaints, another barkada of 4 x 40 complaints, and easily that makes 550 complaints.

and I tell you that these are the valid complaints, nothing on Kris (because they deem that irrelevant don’t they), and just one each on Hacienda Luisita (lest we be called the noisy minority that is the Left when the question should be: why aren’t your activists noisy to begin with?). I can tell you that mine will range from horrible facilities in the public schools I’ve studied in to corruption in education, from the convicted Aquino-Galman boys who have been suffering in jail for far too long, for something that they insist they didn’t do, to the hazy crazy fraternity wars that are all encompassing but which we don’t know a lot about. mine will come from my experiences as a teacher across the different universities, and as an activist teacher who spoke to real live public school teachers about their impoverished lives. mine will come from the violence I’ve experience at rallies, the violence inflicted on activists, and this continued violence: P-Noy refuses to put his foot down and Free the Political Prisoners!

the one thing I wish he would take from his mother, the one thing he doesn’t seem to want to do.

where does this communications group even begin to imagine the possibility of (1) responding to these complaints, (2) justly choosing which ones are “valid”, and (3) that we, the complainants, are the bosses here?

Quezon though points out a more complex job, and this one is infinitely interesting:

“My specific functions will focus on strategic planning in terms of messaging (including market research and polling), as well as editorial aspects of official communications, which in turn ranges from editorial guidelines and policies in general, to the Official Gazette in particular (bringing it from the 20th to the 21st century), to corporate identity and institutional memory.”

if messaging is the task, then please begin with taking down those billboards and tarpaulins with Noynoy saying “Mabuhay ang Mabuting Pilipino!” it’s uncomfortable to be told by my president longlive the good Pinoy, when it’s entirely possible that i will not be considered as such given his standards. same goes for those tarpaulins with Noy and Binay saying “Kayo ang Boss Namin.” as if naman. to have these slogans on the streets makes it seem like hard sell, and really, like it is a lesson being ingrained in our heads. is it suppose to make us feel good about this government? i’d feel good about a government that wasn’t spending on billboards and tarpaulins, to tell you the truth.

too, given advertising on our streets alongside the remnants of Bayani Fernando: pink and blue fences, footbridges, toilets! they must realize that sometimes it’s a reminder of what’s just so wrong on our streets, the cleaning of which should’ve been the first thing done by government. with “Bawal Tumawid, Nakamamatay!”  or a Kris Aquino billboard selling appliances within sight, the Noy-Bi tarps and the Noy billboards just seem like advertisements too, that just might be as dangerous as crossing the streets of EDSA.

but maybe this isn’t the point? because there’s also the editorial aspect of it, speechwriting (ooh, how they celebrated after the SONA ‘no?), and the creation of identity. which seems ironic really, as we all know what kind of identity this presidency wants to establish: that of being less than liable for the state of the nation. after all they just began by pointing a finger at who’s responsible for this mess, and throwing the ball on our court: Noy can’t do this alone, we must begin with ourselves.

which is all true, but haven’t we all been helping this country all this time? i pay my taxes, follow the law, involve myself in issues in many ways all this time, and yet. it takes two years for me to get my SSS benefit, i had to put out more than an old business was earning just to renew my permits, have dealt with too many a corrupt public official. i’ve suffered in the face of the civil service code, have been oppressed by both the public and private school system, have lived with very little and delayed pay, and almost no benefits. i have suffered because of the lack of a reproductive health bill that protects the mother, that makes medical institutions more respectful of women’s rights to decide on their and their baby’s lives.

having lived through this, as many others have lived longer with it, there’s nothing in the messages that this government has sent that relieves me, or makes me hopeful. the small solutions – catch a tax evader here, a tax evader there – aren’t what will make me proud. it’s the bigger ones. revise the system, revise the aspects of it that fail to work. talk about education and what it is that two private school officials (Fr. Luistro for Dep Ed and Licuanan for CHED) would know of the public school system that is in the throes of corruption, literally and figuratively. and really, the Aquino sisters giving away school supplies doesn’t solve a thing. not one thing.

or maybe all the communications group needs to begin with is this: try and be more credible. because saying that Ricky Carandang was to begin with on Noynoy’s side, even when he was working as a journalist in ABS-CBN, has debunked altogether the whole network’s press releases about being unbiased throughout the campaign and in the present. of course that has always been hard to believe about ABS-CBN, but the Carandang question adds another layer to this judgment of the Lopez-owned media empire, and its relationship with the Aquinos. sayang talaga the credibility that Maria Ressa had tried so hard to work on for the news and public affairs division.

oh well, but that’s their loss. of credibility, i mean. and of relevance. and of being seen as objective and critical actors in the newly staged performance that is the Noynoy presidency.

a badly-directed variety show circa 1990s for the inauguration? check!

interviews with image consultants and couturiers for Noy’s outfits? check!

writing the script for this show that seems to be on technical rehearsals within its 100 days? check!

a disbelieving citizen that wants to be surprised, has no institution to answer to, and is as independent as people come: check check check.

komentaryo

anti-activism, anti-freedom of assembly: who survives?

Ces Drilon is who. And the policeman she featured on I Survived on May 13 (early morning May 14, 1t’s 12:56 am on my clock). It is also GMA who survives in this, even the next president, or every other person who says that rallies are mob rules and should be dispersed or else, forgetting that the freedom of assembly IS A RIGHT.

In the end it is all just lazy research and documentation, and irresponsible journalism.

So in the course of the show, you are made to find out that this policeman was victimized by the crowd during EDSA Tres. You find out that he was injured and all that, that he risked life and limb to fulfil his duty as policeman. Sige na nga.

But. This doesn’t excuse the fact that anti-riot policemen are alwaysthe ones on the offensive. They’re the ones with truncheons and shields. They’re the ones who are pasugod at any given point. Even this policeman Ces was interviewing and who survived said that he was victimized by the tear gas that they threw into the crowd because the wind went in the policemen’s direction. He also said that in the end, what was used against him were the things that he and his team had used against the rallyists. What does that really say about who is oppressed in a rally situation?

Obviously Ces hasn’t been part of a rally in a long time, the kind that’s about rallyists riskinglife and limb to fight for their rights? Obviously she hasn’t been on the receiving end of the police’s/military’s unjust anger.

Obviously Ces and whoever her writers are for this show, were so intent on showing the violence of EDSA Tres that they just decided to interweave videos with no dates, no indication of when and where things happened.  In fact, footage of the police’s preparations for EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres were exactly the same. Footage of rallyists were messed up. When Ces and the policeman were talking about EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres, footage showed the PMP (partido ng masang pilipino) flags that went to EDSA after Erap was impeached, yes, but this was interwoven with an organized rally that had flags of legal and valid leftist groups that are now partylist organizations, including Anakpawis and Bayan Muna.

So these leftist partylist organizations are now considered part of the mob rule, Ces Drilon? You actually are saying that these organizations, which were in fact in EDSA Dos, even on stage in those days, are a mere minority, the kind that was out to kill policemen?

How horrible this portrayal to begin with of rallies and rallyists across the board. How horrid that given the kind of military and police power that GMA has used against the people during her term, here’s a show that says, these policemen/military officers are oppressed by the people, too.  AS IF the dynamics of power between the military/police and the people, rallyists and otherwise, have ever changed.

I wonder if they realize that in the process of featuring this policeman injured during EDSA Tres, and showing undated/unverified footage that cuts across rallies by both valid leftist groups and the political organizations like PMP, that it LOOKS VERY PRO-PRES-ELECT-NOYNOY (and Kris, I dare say given the money she brings into the network). How can ABS-CBN 2’s news and public affairs even begin to say they are responsible and not for any candidate? Come on, this episode of I Survived in fact reeked of the whole Aquino discourse of the left as a noisy minority. So lump them together with the mass mob rule of EDSA Tres, and tadah! you prepare the nation for no rallies, no assemblies, don’t do that because kawawa naman ang pulis.

WTF Ces Drilon. WTF ABS-CBN’s news and public affairs. for people who insist on responsibility and being worthy of our attention, talaga naman, sometimes you just failus. In this case, you fail the freedom(s) you should be fighting for. The freedom(s) in fact upon which you stand. Ang galing. Congratulations.

kultura

hypocrisy, plagiarism, and four (not just three) plagiarized speeches from MVP’s speechwriters

Jessica Zafra posted this in her blog, thank goodness for her, as I had been putting it off, even when it has been in my public Facebook account since yesterday morning.

here is the list of three speeches and their sources that’s been going around, with an additional one — the first one — which hasn’t been posted before.

1. at the ateneo family congress, 2009 — MVP’s speech, original 1, original 2

2. at the opening of the new Ateneo lib, 2010 — MVP speech, original

3. post-Ondoy speech on corporate social responsibility, 2009 — MVP speech, original 1, http://www.google.com.ph/search?hl=tl&source=hp&q=These+trials+also+remind+us+that+we+are+tied+together+in+this+life,+in+this+nation+%E2%80%93+that+the+despair+of+one+touches+us+all.+&meta=&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=”>original 2, original 3

4. commencement speech in Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, 2007 — MVP speech, original 1, original 2, original 3

why did i think twice about posting it here? i didn’t, still don’t, want it to seem like 1) i’m out to do MVP in and 2) i’m being a hypocrite here.

the hypocrisy, I’m told, comes from my own personal knowledge of how plagiarism happens all the time, in the academe in particular, maybe within the walls of the institutions that I have served as student/researcher/writer in U.P. Diliman, and teacher/writer in the AdMU. hypocrisy has to do with this: to make MVP resign, tell him at this point to leave Ateneo, is to pretend that we — the academic community — are clean.

I beg to disagree. I don’t understand why we can’t work from the big fish that’s caught and let the smaller fish freak out and come out, of their own volition, about their own intellectual dishonesties.

i do not doubt this truth: the moment MVP’s plagiarized speeches are proven to matter because the academe kicks him out despite all his money, then every other academic and scholar will be scared shitless about his or her own intellectual dishonesties. MVP himself says it:

The challenge of leadership precisely is to create an environment where honesty is paramount, where integrity emanates from the top and builds success from the ground.

i think at this point, what would be hypocritical is to deny that money is talking pretty loudly in this case of plagiarism versus MVP. and please, read these speeches, read the originals. you will find that it isn’t true that what he was reading/saying was essentially about him. some of the more emotional/personal/beautiful lines weren’t his at all.

and now for other lessons in citing your sources, Abs-cbnnews.com, when your source quotes another source, then please revert to the primary source, i.e., me. Jessica had the grace to say that her source about the MVP speeches was my public FB note. the least you could’ve done was to cite me the way she did, diba? if not find that original site where the information first appeared.

as with MVP’s plagiarized speeches, all you needed to do was Google me.

kultura

Boob slips in the age of technology, Or the victimization of Anne

If there’s anything that Anne Curtis’ swimsuit malfunction highlights about us all, it’s that we are ill-equipped to handle the advance of technology. And I mean, all of us, those who hold cameras in our hands, and those who love being in pictures. In this sense, Anne Curtis is a victim of both the one who shoots, and she who has enjoyed being shot, and even makes a living out of it.

Because in fact, the victimization of Anne could’ve began with the fact that the show’s production allowed people to watch the show with cameras and camera-phones in hand – the more famous shot of Anne has her dancing on stage, right breast exposed, a gazillion hands with camera-phones aimed at her from the audience below. A less famous shot is one that’s taken from the other side of the stage, in a higher position, maybe a tree?,  and has Anne being carried by Sam Milby, in the same dance number.

The fact is, we have allowed cameras like these in public exhibitions such as this, because it’s free pre-publicity: in the age of Twitter and Facebook, everything is a status update and photo upload away. Propriety, obviously in this case, be damned. (more…)

komentaryo

Anong problema sa walang harapan?

Full of themselves, is what ABS-CBN seems to be, after the presidential and vice-presidential candidates cancelled on their tandem debates for Harapan 2010. In truth, if I were these candidates, I would’ve backed out too, in favor of a miting de avance or campaign sortie in a far-flung province or city. The point is simple: who watches TV, a debate of all things, and who will go out and listen to the music, watch the fireworks, see artistas on a stage?

What this points to, quite simplistically, are markets, is access, is social divisiveness.And the middle class illusion that everyone has equal access to technology.

After all, ABS-CBN’s disappointments is borne mostly of its celebration of its use of new technology that has people actively responding to the debates they have been able to mount so far.

But where I work, teachers who lost their television sets to Ondoy have yet to buy new ones – it is in fact, far down in their list of appliances to buy. Where I work, we also don’t have easy access to the internet. Where I work, a debate is the last thing that will spell the different between voting for Noynoy and voting for Gibo and voting for Villar. Where I work, what spells a difference in presence and promises.

And this is my basis for thinking that ABS-CBN is all hot air here – it cannot, will not, should not speak as if this is the loss of the greater public. There is nothing extraordinary about the debates they have come up with. It does generate interest, yes, and we do watch and make candidates’ mistakes and fab answers our status updates. But that doesn’t mean it does a lot. In fact it fails horribly at asking the right questions, or even talking at length about the more important issue that might actually solve poverty.

Instead, half the time, it’s all punchlines and laughter and sensational statements, the status quos that we live with. Harapan 2010 will not go in depth about globalization or imperialism, America’s presence or foreign ownership of land, agrarian reform or workers’ rights, because that would point a finger at the industry that it is part of, the company it is created within, ABS-CBN as cultural empire, the Lopezes as oligarchy.

If anything, Harapan 2010, while informative, yes, and interesting and fun for the social classes ready to laugh at and praise our candidates, is also about television ratings, and the social and corporate responsibility of a media organization such as ABS-CBN. That in itself is replete with meanings, and cannot be dismissed as simply about being in the service of the Filipino. Utang na loob.