Duterte Threatens to Boycott CDO Debate if Local Media will be Barred

By Mike Frialde (philstar.com) 

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Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said he would further discuss the possible boycott with PDP-Laban president Sen. Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel III. File photo

MANILA, Philippines - Davao City mayor and PDP-Laban standard-bearer Rodrigo Duterte on Monday threated to boycott the Cagayan de Oro City debate scheduled by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on February 21 if local media will be barred from covering it.

“I will not go there also. Pagka ganun (If it’s like that) you limit the (press coverage). Why?” he said.

Duterte told reporters after his appearance at the thanksgiving prayer of his close friend Apollo Quiboloy, founder and leader of Kingdom of Jesus Christ (The Name Above Every Name) church in Davao late Sunday evening.

Duterte, however, added that he would further discuss the possible boycott with PDP-Laban president Sen. Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel III.

According to a statement sent by Duterte's camp, the Cagayan de Oro Press Club earlier said it would boycott the Comelec debate after the poll body limited the participation of the local press in the coverage of it.

“There have been many instances in the past when Manila-based media organizations have condescended on the provincial press. The Presidential Debate in the city is no (exception),” the Cagayan de Oro Press Club said in a statement issued Sunday evening. The statement was relayed by Duterte's camp.

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The debate is sponsored by media giants GMA-7, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas and Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Duterte – who is advocating the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill - said local media should be given equal treatment and be spared from discrimination.

“Kaya nga ako tumatakbong president because I want people from the provinces to be given equal treatment. Kaya ako ay for federalism,” Duterte said.

Duterte and his runningmate Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano spent the weekend in Davao City to cap their first week of election campaign sorties.

After the Cagayan de Oro debate, the Comelec will also conduct similar debates for the presidential candidates in Cebu on March 20 for the Visayas region and in Manila for Luzon on April 24.

Duterte had earlier declined to participate in any debate while the disqualification cases against him were still pending before the Comelec. He later expressed willingness to attend debates after the poll body dismissed all four disqualification petitions lodged against him.

Protect The Media

Re-published Editorial from Mindanao Daily Mirror, September 6, 2013, with friendly permission of my publisher and editor-in-chief Marietta Songco.

"The attacks on the media in the Philippines continue unabated, with a radio broadcaster getting shot dead in Iligan City last week and two Davao City media executives getting convicted of libel also last week. These two may seem to be very different cases, and in many ways they are: one was a violent crime, while the other was a long drawn-out case. But the net effect is the same: media practitioners know they live under a sword that could fall on their heads any time, in one way or another.

What confounds the media community is how indifferent government has been  to its plights. Almost three decades have passed since the 1986 People Power revolution that supposedly brought democracy back to the country, and yet here we are, a media industry constantly under threat of being killed, arrested, jailed, imprisoned. 

Of the roughly 200 journalists killed since 1986, more than 130 were murdered in the time of their duty. Most of the killers have gone scot-free, and practically all masterminds have never been arrested. Five presidents have taken residence in Malacanang, but none of them have taken concrete steps to protect the media.

As for libel, government has shown no inclination to decriminalize it, making the Philippines one of a very countries where one can go to prison for expressing oneself. Freedom of expression is enshrined in our Constitution, but as long as libel is a criminal offense, we will be merely paying lip services to it. Every single journalist lives with the thought that he or she could go to prison  for something he or she wrote or said on air, and that can have profound effects on how the truth is reported. Under threat of libel, explosive stories can have a way of disappearing from view, neer to be seen to the public.

The Aquino adminstration styles itself as the one that is walking the straight and narrow path, but it has a ling way to go to prove its commitment by way of protecting the media. Without free media, good government is nothing but fiction."

Mindanao Daily Mirror A Finalist in PPI Press Awards

The Mindanao Daily Mirror is among the six newspapers that made it as finalists in the daily category of the 2010 Civic Journalism Community Press Awards to be held by the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) on June 22 and 23, 2011 at the Traders Hotel in Manila.

The awarding night is part of the activities of the 15th National Press Forum and 2011 Annual Membership Meeting, which has the theme "Reporting Governance and Human Rights".

The other daily newspapers vying for the award are Sun Star Cebu, Cebu Daily News, The Freeman, Sun Star Cagayan de Oro and Sun Star Davao.

You can imagine, that I am really blessed and honoured having my regular column in the "Mirror" since February 2011.

Go to ARCHIVES and check it out:
http://www.dailymirror.ph 

Media Must Tell the Truth in The Philippines

Please check out this very important post and a statement, which is also coming from the bottom of my heart being a foreign journalist, living in the wonderful Philippines for good since 1999 and forever... .

Media must tell the truth, says priest

Peace Advocate Defends Closed Meeting

NO MEDIA ALLOWED!!!

Check out this post:


Peace advocate defends closed meeting