Currents & Breaking News
Volume 5, Issue No. 18
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .
The News UpFront: (TOP STORY) as of Thursday, August 4, 2011
~ Coming from a diplomat, it's probably the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Nevertheless, what's important is the demonstrated commitment by Philippine authorities to unbridled practice of freedom of the press, which, unfortunately, is lost in PIDC (Philippine Independence Day Council), the self-appointed prime mover of community festivities in Toronto's Filipino community. Irony of ironies, PIDC advocates selective censorship that favors media friendly to the organization and its officers. "Stop whining," a PIDC official barks at local journalists. To which Consul General Pedro Chan reacts: "We should give media freedom it deserves".
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"STOP WHINING," PIDC OFFICIAL BARKS AT JOURNALISTS
Top Diplomat Censures Media Censors at PIDC
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
TORONTO - Short of publicly chastising organizers for imposing on Filipino journalists, the top Philippine diplomat in Toronto said media should be given all the freedom it deserves rather than repress it.
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| Philippine Consul General Pedro O. Chan |
Consul General Pedro Chan was reacting to news reports that local reporters were protesting the imposition of a waiver by the Philippine Independence Day Council (PIDC) at last week's Mabuhay Festival at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
"When it comes to media people, there should not be any waiver," he stressed in an interview with The Filipino Web Channel.
Selected journalists were not allowed to cover the PIDC event without signing the waiver. Journalist Butch Galicia tore his press accreditation wrist band, firmly refusing to sign the paper and walked out of the event.
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| A copy of the PIDC waiver. |
Though the ranking executive officials of PIDC remained silent on the issue and did not respond to questions, one PIDC adviser has acknowledged that "mistake were (sic) done" by the organization in imposing the waiver. He then asked local journalists to "stop whining".
As the controversy over PIDC's unprecedented requirement spread in Filipino communities around the world, Chicago-based journalist Joseph Lariosa suggested that local media ask the Philippine Consulate to stop PIDC from using "Philippine Independence Day" in its activities.
"The PDIC organizers should come up with another name but not 'Philippine Independence' if the Philippine Consulate wants to promote press freedom," says Lariosa in an email to this reporter.
A waiver that PIDC required of some journalists to sign before they could cover its Mabuhay Festival last week has sparked an outcry from media in Canada and the United States.
"The waiver is destroying the image and spirit and name of Philippine Independence," Lariosa states.
In the meantime, Manuel Villamor, a member of PIDC's council of leaders, admitted the mistake. It's not clear, however, if he was speaking on behalf of the organization or of its executive officers who have remained tightlipped about the issue.
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| Manuel Villamor |
"Things happened . . . mistake were (sic) done . . . stop whining . . . get on with life . . that's the only way we can all improve and be happy," Villamor wrote in his telegraphic-style reaction.
Lariosa proposed that the consulate or Philippine embassy tell PIDC to drop the words "Philippine independence" in their undertaking because they contradict the very essence of freedom.
"If the Philippine Consulate will ignore your petition x x x community media practitioners are going to boycott the use of press releases of the Philippine Consulate, Philippine Embassy and Department of Foreign Affairs," he says. "If this does not work, then, you can write a letter to President Noynoy Aquino."
Consul General Chan said having a waiver, which amounted to censorship, and preaching independence were a contradiction.
"That's why Filipinos fought and died for because of independence and yet some people will stifle the media which are exercising it. That should never be," he emphasized.
"We are in a free society. And Philippine media is known to be the freest in the world . . . licentious even. But still we get more advantages for being that than for being restrictive . . . " Chan said.
(This Currents & Breaking News may be posted online, broadcast or reprinted upon request by interested parties. Permission by the author and the editor must be obtained before any re-posting online or re-publication in print or re-broadcast. Copyright by Romeo P. Marquez, Editor, Philippine Village Voice, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Volume 5, Issue no. 18, August 4, 2011. Email at: TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail.com, PhilVoiceNews@aol.com or CurrentsBreakingNews@gmail.com).
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For other stories, please visit:
1. http://currentsbreakingnews.blogspot.com/
2. http://torontonewsroom.blogspot.com/
3. http://timecircumstance.blogspot.com/
4. http://travelsthemes.blogspot.com/
5. http://gotchajournalist.blogspot.com/
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