Young Roots
The hoax stories
By Johanne Margarette R. Macob
GOOD news: For the past weeks, the province — our beloved Pangasinan — has been more popular, nationwide. Bad news: Those stories responsible for that ‘popularity’ were not entirely good.
As one of the thousands of proud Pangasinenses, it bums me out seeing how false (I think bad is an understatement) reports on the province have been making it to the national scene. As a struggling media practitioner, it is difficult to comprehend the motives behind these irresponsible if not, malicious, reporting.
We are still in the process of regaining our lost stature as one of the best provinces in the country and the confidence of people all over the world after that “flesh eating disease” hoax. The great thing was the culprit has owned up to its mistake. Today the network is now helping us promote Pangasinan. Indeed, all’s well that ends well.
And then without any reprieve, another unfair report surfaced. Let’s call it the “black sand” hoax. For those who are still not in the loop, here it is: some national dailies have published (again and again) stories on the alleged rampant illegal black sand mining along the Lingayen shore, particularly within the ecotourism zone site. Such stories immediately sadden me as these put the province in a bad light. I was irked as I came to know that the reports were published sans sufficient research and investigation.
The DENR, if I may reiterate, is the agency tasked to monitor these things, and it has already belied such reports. Also, the person quoted in the story, a certain Vicente Oliquino, even pointed out that he did not say those things. No wonder fabricated stories have no bylines. Oh well, who would want to stand up for a lie?
Taking pride in our province today is not at all difficult. I don’t know why others couldn’t or refuse to see the same. But don’t get me wrong, my being a proud Pangasinense does not mean believing all good news about Pangasinan even if these are not true. I would never commend a story or report that has no basis. A story need not be contrived or made up, please.
P.S. By the way, Pangasinan was recently adjudged by the Department of Agriculture, once again, as one of the top 12 rice-producing provinces in the country. Here’s a true story.
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