President Aquino speaks before the 37th Top Level Management Conference of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas on Nov. 9 at the Holiday Inn Resort inside Clark Freeport Zone.
Also are KPB chair Herman Basbano, Press Secretary Herminio Coloma, KBP President Ruperto Nicdao and CDC President Felipe Antonio Remollo. Photo courtesy of CDC-PRD
CLARK FREEPORT– President Aquino said here that Philippine media has remained imperfect, but vowed that his government will never curtail media freedom.
Addressing officials of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) during their 37th top level management conference held here Wednesday, the President said that under his administration, “no one will hang a noose around your neck to make you subservient, no one will use radio and newspaper to lambast others meaninglessly.”
The President appealed to the KBP “to further strengthen measures to uphold reliable, dependable and impartial relationship between government, media and the Filipino people.”
The President stressed that “what we want is a genuine relationship between media and government”, adding that “media will remain the bulwark of democracy in the country and this administration will be your ally in preserving the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and credibility in your field.”
Aquino, however, lamented some members of the media who “seem to have forgotten their primary role to expose the truth and not guess or concoct news.”
“Yes, there are times when the public prefers exaggerated news and juicy details- on who is my latest date, how I knew the meaning of DOTA (computer game), if I believe in Santa Claus,” the President noted.
“I admit that these just make me smile. Perhaps this is how our culture is,” he said.
In the speech delivered in Pilipino, Aquino also hit “rotten tomatoes” admixed with legitimate members of the media, as he called on the ranks of the KBP and other media to guard their ranks.
“Yet, we must admit that the media industry is not perfect and like any other institutions with power and influence, also has rotten tomatoes which unfortunately have admixed with the rest,” he said.
Aquino described these “rotten tomatoes” as “those who extort in exchange for savory headlines, those who twist news to favor a few, those who spread baseless gossips and lies just to divert the focus of the people away from the truth.”
He reminded the audience that “Filipinos were victorious in restoring democracy in our country (from the Marcos dictatorship) and since then, the KBP has been unrelentless in ensuring that Juan de la Cruz would never again be kept in ignorance and fed with lies.”
“If truth and concern for the country is the measure of public service, then careful scrutiny for details and credibility must be the measure for your profession,” he said.
The President said that “if Juan de la Cruz expects that the officials he elected in the last elections would not fool and steal from him, he also keeps faith that those he patronizes as news sources would also not take him for a ride and merely make a fool out of him.”
“We both have a commitment to the Filipino people, we both have a debt of gratitude to pay to them,” he added.
“Again, no one stifles your freedom of expression but we must always remember that any form of freedom is tailed with corresponding responsibility,” he noted.
“I hope you would not take my statements as criticism. Instead, let us look at these as constructive proposals to strengthen the role of media to pave the way for the awareness of truth in the minds and hearts of the citizenry,” he added.
Aquino said that “whether a member of media, a public servant or ordinary citizen, let us let the whole world know where we stand.”
“We no longer grope in the dark, we have ended negativism in our society and the confidence and hope of our people have risen high. Upon the strength of a united nation, we continue to rise,” he also said.
