Tingin ko lang, OA sila

ABS-CBN suspends Drilon for 3 months

First Posted 19:59:00 07/05/2008

MANILA, Philippines – Broadcast giant ABS-CBN has suspended news anchor Ces Drilon for disobeying orders not to go to Indanan, Sulu, where she and her cameramen Jimmy Encarnacion and Angelo Valderama were kidnapped by an armed group.

In a statement posted on its website, ABS-CBN on Saturday said Drilon is suspended for three months as news anchor of late night newscast Bandila and as Senior Correspondent.

Citing its Standards & Ethics Manual, the ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs said: “While all reporting of conflict and other hazardous environments involves an element of risk, you must avoid obvious danger and not take unreasonable risks…You may move into a dangerous environment only with the authorization of your supervisor." (The rest at PDI.)

HAVING been an editor of few major dailies in the past, I am all for disciplining reporters. I just think three months for Ces is a bit too much. As in, OA na 'yan, just to prove a point. And especially when we all know the network is going to make a killing selling ads for the special report Ces is expected to produce about her team's ordeal.

Kudos to mader Ces for accepting her punishment like a good soldier that she has always been (well, except for that recent oversight). She would not have reached this stage in her career if she never took risks. I think being kidnapped is punishment enough for what she did, and well okay, maybe a month's suspension without pay.

(Shelby Monroe, a reporter embedded with 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division in Iraq, learns to fire an AK-47 assault rifle.Photo by Shelby Monroe in newsblaze.com)

But it is all about the news story really, no matter how you think about it. And if I were still an editor, I would rather have a masipag and thorough reporter like Ces, one who takes risks to get an enterprising story, or a scoop, than a reporter who is content on re-writing "praise" releases, and sa totoo lang, ang dami nila ganito ngayon, tamad! They are so lazy in fact, some reporters don't even bother to re-write the PRs handed to them! Just read the papers, the headlines and the stories all look the same.

ABS-CBN should know they have more value in Ces than any of their stupid talking heads who get all riled up making inane comments on radio and TV like they were the most knowledgable persons in the world, but who have never once, spent time in the trenches like the rest of us real journalists ever did. (Bato-bato sa langit...)

Are news stories worth risking one's life? If you talk to dedicated journalists here and around the world, yes, sometimes they are. 'Yun lang pow.

(Disclosure: Ces Drilon was our columnist in the old Manila Standard, and a dear colleague who has helped out in some of my environmental advocacies, by pushing a debate on our issues on air.)

Speaking of idiots...

"Ang aral po dito laging sinasabi hindi natin puwedeng i-exercise press freedom na malalagay ang [The lesson here is we can't exercise press freedom by putting] reporters or journalists in harm's way, na hawak ng terrorista or criminal elements." (Philippine National Police Director General Avelino Razon in PDI, June 18, 2008)

(AP Photo by Bullit Marquez, from www.daylife.com)
SO Razon is actually saying that it was Ces and her companions' fault that they got kidnapped?

The same can be said of all those other journalists who have been kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf, and their counterparts abroad, many of whom have been killed or maimed through the years by covering World War I, World War II, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Middle East wars, the current war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and African civil wars. They too asked for it, because they were in "harm's way"?

This is another ignorant, short-sighted comment by a person supposedly in authority who ought to know better. Should we now fault all policemen and women for getting themselves killed on the job?

In the same manner, journalists go where the news is. It is OUR job. Ces and company went to Sulu to pursue a lead. Yes it was dangerous, and they knew this. But if all journalists just stay in the office, what news will the public get? So our front pages and headlines will be like that of Singapore's newspapers...recipes on how to make Chili Crab?! That is stupid!

Some people complain that maybe the Philippines has too much press freedom. Everything is put in the papers, even the brand of panties used by Binay's daughter (this was about a corruption allegation). But think about the time the country had no press freedom. I remember reading the Daily Express when I was young and all it had was press releases disguised as news on what Marcos did for the country. Later on we found out that his regime had been responsible for thousands of deaths and disappearances. And he stole billions from the country's coffers. If we had press freedom then, I don't think Marcos would have lasted for 20 years. The citizens would have been protesting his assault on our liberties even much earlier than 1986.

Now that I am in the same profession, and have been in it for the past 15 years, I can say that I am proud to be part of it. It is a profession that tries to inform the public on matters that are important and vital to their lives. And we will keep doing so no matter the cost to us. I too have been in harm's way once, being threatened by powerful people but this didn't deter me from doing my job. If a journalist is afraid to go to the source of the news, talk to dangerous or powerful people, or being in "harm's way" just to get all the details of a brewing story, then he or she should just leave the profession.

(Or become a lifestyle and entertainment writer. No offense to my fellow lifestyle writers but we all know we have it easy, compared to Ces and her kind. We don't have to dodge bullets, only bad food. And yes, admittedly, the public will also get tired reading about terrorism all the time. They need to know where to get the best steak in town.)

One thing's for sure, despite Ces' kidnapping, other journalists will not stop going to Sulu to pursue their own leads and try to interview the Abu Sayyaf. They will keep doing so in the name of our profession and the public they serve. Bless them for going where we cannot.

Ces and companions freed

MANILA, Philippines--Kidnapped television reporter Ces Drilon, cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and Mindanao State University professor Octavio Dinampo were freed Tuesday night, nine days after they were abducted in Sulu province.

Drilon and her companions are on their way to the Sulu provincial hospital for a medical check-up, dzMM radio reported.

Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, police director for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), confirmed the release of Drilon and her two companions but would not provide additional details.

"Ces, Jimmy, and Angelo are finally all free," ABS-CBN said in a statement. "We are thankful our prayers have been answered and our efforts rewarded." (Read the rest at Ces freed.)

THANK YOU LORD!

I WAS waiting all day for news about Ces and her companions. It was scary that her Abu Sayyaf captors had given a noon deadline for ransom to be paid in exchange for their release. At the back of my mind, I thought these bandits would not be so stupid to execute their hostages because they need the publicity for their losing fight. But then again, killing innocent civilians is something they are used to.

The 12 noon deadline came and went, and by the late afternoon, the industry was abuzz with rumors that Ces and her companions would be freed. No one exactly knew when and how, but as we all know now, Sen. Loren Legarda had something to do with it. (Josh, and she makes sure everyone knows it!)

Still, I am glad Loren did what she could to get Ces and her companions released (although we will not hear the end of it 'til 2010). After all, she is some kind of honorary Muslim princess isn't she? Anyhoo, I know Ces is going to have one hell of a story to tell on TV. And I can't wait to watch it.

Welcome back, mader!

(And to all those idiots who were too early in texting the ransom-Meralco joke – your callousness truly astounds me – ngayon pwede 'nyo na pakalat ulit. Nakakatawa na sya.)

The news embargo

WTF?!?! What is all this fuss about whether or not newspapers or news organizations should have respected the request of ABS-CBN News management for an embargo on the kidnapping of its broadcaster Ces Drilon and her crew?

Look, the issue was pretty simple and straightforward. ABS-CBN's Maria Ressa requested her colleagues not to print or broadcast the kidnapping story until 6 AM Tuesday because the network was trying to ensure the safety of its missing staff and to hopefully, secure their release.

I don't think ABS-CBN was stage-handling or "managing" the news, as some pseudo-journalists and talking heads are claiming, because there was really a clear and present danger that harm could have fallen on Ces and her crew. These talking heads claim the "public interest" was not served by withholding the news of the crew's abduction. What public interest? If I were an ordinary citizen, what could I have gained by knowing a day earlier, that the ABS-CBN news team was kidnapped? That Sulu isn't a safe place to travel to? Duh.

If I were still back in mainstream journalism and still an editor, I would've also acceded to Ressa's request, not just because Ces is a friend, but because it was the right thing to do. No doubt, the story was a big scoop for anyone who published it first. But at what cost? A scoop shouldn't mean endangering the safety of the news subject/s.

So I applaud those news organizations who respected the embargo, because of your decency and humanity.

* * * *
BTW, I would like to point out that in the business media, we routinely receive embargo requests from international donor agencies or multilateral banks regarding their reports which are released a day earlier than their press briefings. Granted that these reports aren't as big a story as a kidnapping of broadcaster, to us publishing them just the same could mean a front page or banner story (which does wonders to our ego, but very little on our salary might I add).

I don't remember a time that my colleagues and I have not granted such embargo requests. Although there have been cases in the past when wire reporters broke the embargo much to the disappointment of the requesting agency and our other colleagues. (The misbehavior of a handful of these wire reporters have been dealt with severely as stories are withheld from them, or they are treated virtually as pariahs by their colleagues.)

My point being, if we in the business media can respect embargo requests on stories like these, why can't our other colleagues do the same when lives are at stake? The choice is very clear, friends. And I'm glad that many in our industry made the right one.

Pls. pray for Ces Drilon's safety

COLLEAGUE and friend Ces Oreña Drilon is currently missing in Sulu along with her TV crew. May I ask for your prayers so they will come home safely.

Ces has always been one brave gal who is willing to face the risks to get a good scoop. This case is no exception. She knows being threatened or kidnapped are just som of the hazards of the profession. But I know her boys are missing her right now. While I know Ces to be a very dedicated journalist, she is also very devoted to her children.

To her captors, pls. release Ces and her crew now.