Punchline
No one else but Guv Spines
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
THE word war between the political family of Garcias of Cebu and the United Nationalist Alliance on one side and the Palace on the other is portent of things to happen in Pangasinan.
Note that in both cases of Cebu Guv Gwen and Guv Spines, the circumstances involving Malacanang are strikingly similar. The timing of the lowering of the boom undoubtedly suspect, 2013 being an election year. Both do not belong to the Liberal Party, and there are a hundred more politicos seeking re-election charged with similar complaints but are not called on the carpet.
Then, banking on the Aquino administration’s popularity and perceived high credibility in pursuing its reform agenda, the Palace will expectedly and summarily dismiss all allegations of politically-motivated decisions as baseless. Period.
But Guv Spines’s jueteng case has wider and bigger implications. Jueteng is not only about Pangasinan and a governor.
How far will the Aquino government go with this issue? Not very far! Wanna bet?
One issue becoming more ‘curiouser’ to me is the fact that Bugallon Mayor Rod Orduña still has not named a single mayor or police chief as a jueteng protector. Is it possible that it was only Guv Spines and he who singlehandedly run the jueteng house? Super galing naman nila!
Even more ‘curiouser’ is the fact that the governor of Pamganga, the home base of jueteng in Central Luzon, still has not been charged for operating jueteng.
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NO MORAL ASCENDANCY. If, indeed, DILG Sec. Mar Roxas has prima facie evidence pointing to Guv Spines’ involvement in jueteng, then let heads roll. But once that proverbial Pandora’s box is opened, Mr. Roxas needs to demonstrate that the same bar is applied elsewhere, from Ilocos to Bicol region, today not tomorrow. But then again, will Mr. Roxas risk making all LP candidates in the coalition bear the brunt of the backlash from non-aligned mayors and congressmen? Not on your life. I surmise it will simply be Guv Spines’ neck on the chopping block. No Singson, no Fariñas, no Pineda, no Dy, no Villafuerte, no Recto, no Umali, no former police generals, no etc…. Just Guv Spines. Tsk-tsk. Poor guy! PNoy only wants him for his friend Nani.
Moving on with the issue here, it behooves upon guv-wannabe Nani Braganza and VG-wannabe Art Lomibao as PNoy’s proteges, to now state categorically clear that once elected they will put a stop to the jai-alai betting stations, and that they will file cases against mayors and police chiefs who will not cooperate in the campaign vs. jueteng!
If they won’t, then I’m afraid they have no moral ascendance over Guv Spines whom they have labeled as jueteng lord!
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CODE OF ETHICS. I wish to end Punchline 2012 edition with a reflection on the practice of community journalism in the province. And I do this not with what could be perceived as my self-serving thoughts but those coming out from, yes, the Dagupan City Hall itself.
Early this month. Mr. Dave Paragas of the Dagupan City Information Office had this very interesting article that I thought was most unusual for someone who writes for Mayor Benjie Lim.
His article: “Ex-newspaper manager to newsmen: Revisit your code of ethics. “
If that article had not been by-lined by him, I would have thought the writer was a professional who wrote for others, not for BSL. The only giveaway was the fact that it was about Philip Soria, a former manager employed by Mr. Lim for his defunct Sun Star Pangasinan and now employed as senior administrative assistant at the city hall. Another was Mr. Soria’s context of BSL’s “shared responsibility.”
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UNUSUAL. What was unusual about his article was not the news that Mr. Lim will revive his newspaper in January (to which our Fire Player Gonz Duque had more to say about), but Mr. Paragas’ extensive quotes of Mr. Soria about the present journalism practice.
He quoted Mr. Soria to have said that there is a need for local journalists to “revisit and properly observe the Journalist’s Code of Ethics as your bible.”
“Where’s your code of ethics, when did you open it the last time my friends?” were Mr. Soria’s words per Mr. Paragas.
Quoting Mr. Soria further, he was addressing “…those who are known to be corrupt, commonly tagged as ACDCs (for Attack and Collect, Defend and Collect) victimizing politicians and even private individuals in order to make ends meet.”
“Dapat pahalagahan ang kabuhayan nila, at magsisimula yan sa kanilang pagkatao, hindi yung dating eh nabenta na pati kaluluwa”
“As I’ve said, they are our friends, but open rebuke is better than secret love, for how could we earn the respect of the people we serve when we don’t even respect ourselves?”
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TRANSPARENCY. Still quoting Mr. Soria: “Pointing out that respect earns an eternal reward, but greed only constitutes guilt and sufferings, he (Mr. Soria) said that “we in government know how hard it will be to bring about change in this city, and we know that we can’t solve every problem.”
“But as public servants, journalists know that accountability is our shared responsibility, and that is why keeping us honest will make our service more transparent and efficient,” Mr. Paragas continued to quote him.
“When we say responsible journalism, this is making sure that you have struggled for an extra-effort to verify, research and be accurate, because being fair and balanced will require some really hard decisions, and not just choosing the convenient way for you to earn money.”
“After all, we don’t base our stories on speculations or opinions, but merely on facts,” Soria said.
“This is why we love our dear journalists, they’re the reason why democracy exists, and that caring for them sincerely means that we also have to remind them of their oath to preserve the standards set by the Journalist’s Code of Ethics,” Mr. Paragas wrote of Mr. Soria.
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ACCOUNTABLE? I just wonder how many of the province’s mediamen who are mostly and currently in Mr. Lim’s payroll have reacted to both Mr. Paragas’s item and to Mr. Soria.
Of course, I don’t see how Sun Star Pangasinan (to be published by Mr. Lim and run by Mr. Soria) will make city hall accountable particularly during the campaign season. That will make Mr. Soria eating his own words especially when the paper ends up employing the same guys and gals (whom Mr. Soria admonished in Mr. Paragas’ article) to lavish Mr. Lim with undeserved praises and to attack his political enemies with venomous lies.
Whatever, I wish all my worthy and not so worthy colleagues a more self-fulfilling professional practice in 2013!
P.S. Tally ho, Mr. Paragas. (I meant Dave, not Leu).
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Let’s all wish each other good punching in 2013!
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