Inside the beltway

Inside the beltway
Rodel Rodis, Jun 27, 2007

Because I have always been interested in developments in the Philippines, it has been my regular practice to read the online Manila dailies, especially the commentaries of Manila’s columnists. What I have found over the years is that they mostly write about the same issues. It’s as if they all talk to the same sources, meet regularly with each other to discuss the same issues, read each other’s columns and then write about what has already been written.

To virtually all of them, Metro Manila is the center of the universe, not just the center of Luzon or the Philippines. Nothing else matters outside of their narrow spectrum.

Yesterday’s Manila columns, for example, were all about the disclosure by outgoing House Rep. Herminio Teves that members of the House Commission on Appointments (“Gang of 8”) regularly extort money from presidential appointees who wish to secure the constitutionally mandated confirmation from their committee. Because of this practice, we are told, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regularly extends the interim appointments of her cabinet members.

Manila’s columnists generally don’t cover what is happening elsewhere in the world except for the late Maximo Soliven who regularly traveled the world and wrote about his travel experiences.

Perhaps because they don’t have Soliven’s resources and can’t afford the luxury of travel, even within the Philippines, Manila’s columnists write only about what is around them, in Metro Manila.

In the U.S., that mindset is referred to as “inside the beltway” which is a phrase used to characterize Washington D.C. politics from the viewpoint of political insiders within the capital. It refers geographically to the Capital Beltway highway infrastructure (Interstate 495) which encircles Washington D.C.

When I complained about this myopia to friends in Manila when I was there last December, I was told that Manila’s columnists can’t survive on the salaries they receive as columnists and that many of them, not all, regularly receive subsidies from politicians who desire favorable news about them to regularly appear or who want to ensure that unfavorable reports about them don’t ever see the light of day.

I wondered why none of Manila’s columnists ever wrote about the plea bargain that Michael Ray Aquino and Leandro Aragoncillo entered into before the elections to spare re-electionist Sen. Panfilo Lacson the embarrassment of a public trial where his central role in the espionage of FBI documents would be revealed. It has also not been disclosed that Aquino may yet withdraw his plea bargain now that the U.S. Attorney in the case is seeking an eight-year sentence for his role in the espionage operation.

Google Manila’s dailies and you won’t find any mention of the Senate immigration bill that is being hotly debated in Washington D.C. right now. This is a bill with enormous implications for Filipinos and for the Philippines. At least 400,000 Filipinos in the Philippines with approved immigrant visas for the U.S. will be impacted by this bill as well as at least 600,000 “overstaying tourists” (TNTs) who are classified as “illegal aliens” in the U.S.

Even the war in Iraq is now ignored by the columnists after the Philippines pulled out of the “Coalition of the Willing” even though more than a dozen Filipino Americans have already died there.

It is only the print media that is myopic, however. The television media, notably ABS-CBN, provides the Philippines with glimpses of the outside world, the world outside the Manila beltway. Its “Balitang America”, which offers stories about Filipinos in the U.S., is not only shown to the 260,000 subscribers in North America but also to Filipinos in the Philippines. It also has “Balitang Europe” and “Balitang Middle East” which also carry news and stories about Filipinos living in those areas of the world.

One Manila columnist shared the comments of a reader, Grace Abella Zata, who wrote a six-page analysis of the Philippine media. Democracy, she wrote, “only works in a situation where people have access to information. It is in this context that we can assess if truly, media has taken on an activist role.”

“Many people, myself included, believe that Philippine media has failed miserably in this regard. In fact, media sets a mindset that focuses on little else but the skirmishes between and among the members of the political elite. Perhaps this is why people say, “pare-pareho lang naman ang mga iyan.” Media does not encourage people to go beyond the superficial and discuss the substantial issues, and to hold their leaders accountable for strategic and well-thought out plans and initiatives and results that impact on the quality of their lives…”

“I am afraid many members of media are probably lazy [do not study issues in depth] or biased, prompting one blogger to call politics entertainment about the ugly. News on the front page [and commentaries by “semi-literate” radio commentators] concentrate too much on the political angle, rather than on improving the economic literacy of people.”

“Instead of devoting 80 percent to 90 percent of the front page to the dynamics of the political power play, media’s perspective in a country such as ours should be: We are all in this together; we need to solve the problem of poverty and therefore we should be evaluating how good plans are, whether they are on track, whether they are producing desired results, whether resources are used properly. These should be the context of reports on corruption and exchanges between politicians, rather than merely playing up the latest skirmish between Ping and whoever, like it were the word war between Ruffa and Yilmaz.”

I hear you loud and clear, Grace.

Send comments to Rodel50@aol.com.

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Purita Guinto
Jun 27, 2007 11:22:37

I don't read online the Manila dailies as often as Mr. Rodis does, but I do so enough to agree, for the most part, with his opinion of the printed media there.

Two of the top columnists back home, Conrado de Quiros and Randy David, for example, incessantly bash President Arroyo while giving her no credit for her good work. And so do other opinion makers. It gets to a point where reading other pieces, as Mr. Rodis had seen, becomes monotonous. They all have a similar agenda, but nothing constructive.

There are exceptions, of course. Juan Mercado, whose columns appear in the PN periodically, writes on a variety of topics, not just on politics. So do Raul Pangalangan, former dean of UP College of Law, and Carmen Guerrero-Nakpil. They are not wedded to any narrow and constricted point of view.

If it's true, as alleged by Mr. Rodis in this column, that a number of journalists there are on the payroll of politicians, then that would explain the singular theme around which these hacks operate. That sounds like an Orwellian world, where lies are paraded as truth,
and where integrity is sacrificed in the service of political hucksterism.

We need journalists in the tradition of the late Teodoro Locsin and Jose Burgos, Jr. Both understood the role of the press, and courageously
defied the Marcos myrmidons and their bullying tactics during that brutal dictatorship. Both became icons for their bold and exemplary job in their profession.

There is a reason why the press has been called the Fourth Estate, which is that it has the power to examine the work of the government and its three branches, report it to the citizens, and offer suggestions on how to make things better for the country. It's not enough to focus on personalities and to recycle their perceived faults. Broadening that focus and eschewing the negative would be welcome changes.

All that, of course, would be meaningless if journalists continue to carouse with and remain servile to their patrons - the politicians. It's as if these opinion makers are all holed up in a gulag, which blinds them to what is happening elsewhere.

A myopic world, as Mr. Rodis describes it so well. Filipinos deserve better.