It was crab talk at the two-day 16th National Press Forum of the Philippine Press Institute at the Traders Hotel. President Aquino, who was the keynote speaker, was the one who started it when he began his talk with a childhood anecdote about Filipino crabs:
“Ayon po sa kuwento, narinig ko po sa aking ama, sa loob daw po ng isang bar, umiinom ang isang Amerikano. Pumasok ang isang mangingisdang Pilipino na may dalang timba na puno ng alimango. Ibinaba niya ito, at ang sabi po ng Amerikano: “Buddy, your crabs are about to escape.” Tiningnan lang po ng Pilipino. Ang sagot ng Pilipino, “Don’t bother and don’t fret; they’re Filipino crabs. Before they get out, they’ll be pulled back in.” Walang raw pong makakaangat, kasi lahat sila naghahatakan pababa.Habang pinipilit ng ilang kababayan nating makaahon, siya namang sipag ng ilan na hilain siyang pababa.”
All throughout his speech, he was whining about media not highlighting the accomplishments of his almost two year administration. He said it seems that foreign media care more about Philippine national interest citing the Newsweek report of Philippines standing up to China on the conflicting territorial claims and Time Magazine’s article saying, “The laggard of Asia is recovering the dynamism it had in the 1960s.”
He cited specific reports which he found inaccurate and one was the erroneous tweet of Edu Manzano (he didn’t mention Edu) that he was on a date with Korean radio and TV host Grace Lee in Greenhills when the truth was he was presiding a NEDA board meeting.
The President didn’t say that Edu immediately corrected the tweet. He went on to complain about a broadcast network picking up the wrong tweet.
“Pero ano ba ang umugong sa media? Na nakipag-date daw ako. May nagkusa man lang po bang kumuha ng panig namin bago ito inere? Ang network pong nagbalita nito, may reporter na bahagi ng Malacañang Press Corps. Sana na-text man lang nila ang kanilang reporter at pinatignan at inutusang dumungaw sa bintana para tingnan kung umalis ba ang aking convoy. Kung hindi naman po, sa kabilang bintana, puwede namang tignan kung nandoon ang mga sasakyan ng mga secretary ng ating gabinete. Mukhang mas ganado silang bumanat muna, at noong nalaman nilang nakuryente sila, saka na lang sila humingi ng pasensya. May patutsada pang siguro raw ay magaan ang trabaho noong araw na iyon kaya kaya kong mag-date.
“Kayo po lumagay sa sitwasyon ko. Napakahirap ho ba n’ong may reporter kang embedded, nandoon supposed to be, tatanungin mo lang, “Nandiyan ba o wala?” Hindi na pwedeng, o hindi na kailangang tanungin—basta “ere na natin ito.” Nasaan na kaya iyong kunin ang magkabilang panig?”
Isn’t there no other media inaccuracy of national interest that he had to cite this as an example?
Aquino is acting like a spoiled brat. Doesn’t he realize that, in general, media has been good to him considering that his first two years have not really been outstanding.
The late Salvador P. Lopez, journalist and statesman, said it best about media’s role in society:
“Basically, the journalist is required to inform the people – and to inform them correctly and consistently and (as is often demanded) courageously with the end in view of enabling the people to properly understand what goes on and impelling them to act on situations and problems more than as mere individuals but as a nation.”
It is not media’s role to make the government, even though how popular, look good. The government has the resources to do that. Aquino has Press Secretary Herminio Coloma, Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang, Spokesman Edwin Lacierda to do that for him.
Crab talk continued on the second day of the forum. Wally Panganiban, director for media affairs of Coca –Cola Export Corporation said, said more than the crab mentality, he is more concerned of the culture of indifference which he said is the root of the culture of impunity that is what many are complaining about.
Rather than heaping the blame on media Panganiban, said “The media we have is the media we deserve.”
“All of us, the informed, uniformed, misinformed and wrongfully informed PUBLIC, are responsible for the state of the Philippine media that we find it in today.However, the bigger responsibility falls under those of us who are properly informed,” he said.
He said it is incumbent upon those, the informed, to challenge the media-“ demand for a better, more responsible and truly accountable press that will provide timely, relevant, and accurate information that will empower, the rest of us who are uninformed, misinformed, and dis-informed. “
Panganiban also challenged the business sector.
Ad spending for the year 2011 as compiled by AC Nielsen amounted to P 190.02 billion ($ 4.41B). He asked: “How much did these advertisers shell out to support media development programs by the UNJP, CMFR, PPI, KBP, PCIJ, VERA Files and other media development groups?”
Panganiban asked the sad question:”Could it be that they do not see any problem with the media at all? Or could it also be because in one way or another the advertisers too are INDIFFERENT to the plight of Philippine media?”
Ang masabi ko lang dito ay dapat patas ang pagbabalita. Lalo na kung patungkol sa Pangulo ng bansa. Dahil anuman ang hindi maganda na nababasa patungkol sa kanya o sa kanyang pamumuno ay kasiraan ng bansang Pilipinas.
did we elect a school boy or an adult for president?
tsk. tsk. tsk.
kuryente ako sa pangungumbinsi noon para iboto si noynoy.
mas tamang tawag ‘ata sa kanya ngayon ay ngoyngoy dahil nguynguy siya nang nguynguy(iyak nang iyak) sa konting kanti sa kanyang labslife.
ano ba ‘yan?
tetay, patahanin mo ang kuya mo!
He should really have a thicker skin. He shouldn’t let such trivia affect him. He’s being tweeted about; that’s nothing.
be like lolong?
hindi bagay.
Isang pananaw, I wish tama-correct ang sinasabi nya, ni Pangulong PNoy..Kung Ito’y wake up call, para sa ikabubuti ng bayan, dahil nga ang Media ay Dila-“tongue” ng 7,107 Island ng bansa, kailangan yata, ay iisipin ng maka-pitong ulit (7x) bago, magsalita o mag-pahayag ng mga “sari-saring balita” lalot, sangkot ang sang-kabahayan ng bansa..Pabor ako sa sinabi ni Arvin, # 1..
Sabi nga nang karamihan, ang Dila daw ay matalas pa sa isang sandata-gulok, naka-mamatay din, lalo’t kung ito’y ibabandila sa pamamagitan ng pagsusulat..Kaya, dapat ay patas, o balanse…Noong kabataan ko, di ko maintindihan, ang “Crab Attitude”..Ngayon na Senior na, nalaman ko, na buhay-na-buhay pala ito, lalo kung pupunta ka sa mga piging-o umpukan, malaki man o maliit ng mga Pinoy associations, kahit saan sulok ng daigdig..Dito lang sa lugar ko LACA, mahigit ng 50-years yata, ang grupo, lagi na lamang ma-Facla ang ang bunga, dahil, masyadong maraming “talangka”..my food for thought..
Iyan ang napapala ng mga Pilipino sa pag-elect nila ng immature na Presidente. Being a President he should learn to accept that as a public figure, and President at that, there will always be praises and harsh criticism about him. People are divided with their opinion, especially media who are not his rah-rah boys and girls. He should not expect that all of them will be singing praises for him, especially when there is nothing to praise about. Penoy is acting like a spoiled brat because all he wants to hear are all “papuri sa kanya.”…I won’t be surprised if one of these days he would sue a media personality for reporting negatively about him, similar to what his mother did to Ka Louie Beltran when the latter reported about her supposedly hiding under the bed at the height of the coup attempt of Gringo Honasan. How could the Philippines grow into a robust economy when you have a President who at 50+ refuses to grow up? Let me borrow from the words of #2 (Thank you)”Nguynguy siya ng nguynguy.”
It’s not literally about pnoy in my view. It’s about accurate reporting! Reporting without malice. Totoo naman there are media people reporting base on sensationalism instead of reporting as it is based on facts.
Statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines on President Aquino’s likening journalists to crabs in his speech at the 16th National Forum of the Philippine Press Institute)
“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” – Thomas Jefferson
And again he whines.
In his speech at the Philippine Press Institute’s 16th National Press Forum, President Benigno Aquino III again grabbed the opportunity to berate the one sector he seems to think is to blame for all the woes our country is facing – his very hosts, the Philippine Press.
We do give credit to Mr. Aquino for the courage of telling us to our faces what he thinks of us.
We do, however, take exception to his portraiture of the Philippine media as the anecdotal crabs bent on pulling him and, to his mind, the country down.
Never mind the pettiness of the actual examples he raises, never mind even that the unfortunate focus on his from regular to zero to sort of regular love life should be properly blamed on his penchant for suddenly blurting out details of what otherwise he insists are private matters.
He accuses the media of trumpeting travel advisories and terror warnings that he says drive away tourists and the millions of dollars they otherwise would pour into our economy.
Dare we ask, Mr. President, who called a hasty press conference at the Palace, complete with an array of government top brass, to announce what turned out to be a non-existent terror threat on the eve of the Black Nazarene procession in January?
Or perhaps Mr. Aquino would like to tell off those pesky foreign embassies that regularly send out the advisories he so hates as well as those in his security services with a penchant for leaks?
But what is truly worrisome about Mr. Aquino’s wholesale depiction of the Philippine media is that it is of a mindset akin to that which shut down a vibrant press in September 1972 and replaced it with mouthpieces dedicated to extolling “the true, the good, the beautiful” life under a brutal dictatorship.
Sure, we sometimes get it wrong. We never said we were infallible.
But Mr. Aquino’s whining about getting a bad press merely shows up how totally bereft he is of a sense of history.
And since he appears to be more enamored with how the foreign press regards us, notwithstanding that, however well-intentioned they may be, they are outside observers looking in and only on one area, he would do well to heed the admonition of Thomas Jefferson.
Mr. Aquino would have us trumpet his administration’s accomplishments, like improved agricultural production and an upbeat economy. How, though, to highlight these over the fact that all too many of our countrymen continue to wallow in poverty and hunger? Should this not rightly lead us to ask why, despite these seemingly glowing achievements, they remain in such dire straits?
Yes, Mr. Aquino, the press you loathe does report on the successes of the police. But how, pray, can this take precedence over the fact that far too many of our countrymen – and that includes journalists – continue to fall prey to crime and, worse, the violations of their human rights at the hands of those supposedly sworn to protect them?
And yes, Mr. Aquino, we do report on the nobility of our public servants who, in their dedication, go beyond the call of duty.
But should you really expect people to fall all over themselves to praise you for doing your sworn duty? Does this mean then that doing what you promised to is such a rarity that we need to highlight it each time it happens?
Or perhaps you would have us do as you do and look the other way when Ronald Llamas next purchases pirated DVDs, or Jesse Robredo and Edwin Lacierda knowingly defy a lawful court order to give men wanted for murder a headstart to evade justice, or as our colleagues and activists and environmentalists and lawyers and judges and religious and farmers and fishermen and indigenous people continue to be murdered and disappeared and tortured and threatened and harassed?
No, Mr. Aquino, we care about our country and people as much as, perhaps even more than, you do.
This is why we will not be a party to a whitewash, to your Potemkin. This is why we will continue to inform the people as best we can of the true state of our common lives, to question why we continue to suffer despite your promises of justice and good governance, and to hound you for failing to fulfill what you swore our people you would.
Mali yang welcoming banner sa larawan. It should be:
His Petulancy, Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
Naknampucha naman itong si presidente natin. Imbes na take media on side tactic ang gamitin niya, ina-antagonise pa niya ang media.
Ang daming puwedeng gamitin na examples in his whining speech, bakit attack crabs example ang ginamit niya. He could have enlisted media support in his upcoming battle with China for starters and by gum, perhaps even thank media for writing about the DFA efforts.
President NoyNoy… easy ka lang. You need allies not enemies. No man, no matter how powerful his position, is an island.
Ellen, is Ricky Carandang still on his advisory staff?
Yes. re #11
Most people don’t really take the local media seriously, buti ang presidente pinapansin pa at kinakausap pa ang mga to. We probably have the worst media in asia, this is reflected in how cheaply some corners view the lives of some media personnel, may peso value, chicken, kaya killed like chickens din in some areas. We may have the most media people killed compared to our neighboring countries, why? Because some have debased themselves, and some even do not want to be corrected. If most people really respected media, even the criminal elements won’t dare touch them, but some are dropping as cheaply as flies.
I met some media people who make a good living being “tiradors” and there seem to be more of them.
And it took a “President” to bring this issue into the National consciousness and debate. And many would ask, why is that the Phl other than the country at war is the most dangerous for Journalists? The President just opened the the Subject for discussion and may the Parties of Interest will find the solutions as to why? And perhaps, maybe becomes equal to their peers in the Media to bring the message to the Public as truthfully to the best of their ability and malice towards none…or the extra judicial settling of accounts will be going on…
Glad to report that today…Several Judges and Justices due to diligence by the media investigative reporting Slam and Dismissed many cases including very serious offenses, because Police Officers Lied under Oath for stopping Suspects without reason or for making up different reason for arresting and stopping suspects known to Police…another Score for the Media…and the Big one is the investigation of the Province funded Air Ambulance Service who will be the making out to be another big Scandal…this one thanks to the Access to Information Act…which surely is needed in the Phl along with very intrepid investigative Reporters…
I meant with Intrepid investigative reporting, we must recall the case of Filipino caregivers who complainst about being exploited by their MP employer…the Toronto Star reporter investigated the case which forced the Government to call an Inquiry and later resulted in an out of court settlement between the caregivers and the MP and the amendment to the Contract workers law (elimination of consultation service fee by the workers, instead be paid by the employer and many other amendments to the immigration law)and the MP lost the next election…And the Paper will stand by its reports once they published them as the evidence will be able to support all the way to the court. The Star so far has not lost many cases in court due to its exposures, but won a lot. I believe some of its reporters are former police reporters or police officers themselves..
South China Morning Post HK:
Singapore’s top university has fined a Chinese student for calling the city-state citizens “dogs” in his blog. The student ordered to pay S$3,000.00 and serves three months of community service before he graduates this year. kung ganyan kaya ka strict dito sa atin sa pilipinas, siguro magdahan dahan na rin ang mga reporters/bloggers sa pag name calling. actually ang pagkasabi ng estudyante na yun eh ganito ” there are more dogs than humans in Singapore.” anu kaya ang parusa sa pagtawag sa Presidente/Prime Minister ng ABNOY?
Eh kasi naman from the start alam na ngang kulang kulang pinilit pa ng magagaling na yellow army!
hindi pinilit..binoto ng majority!… this kulang kulang is better than previous presidents. Its high time we support our elected president..hindi siya katulad ni arroyo, corona, erap, ramos, etc..they have their chances. kung talagang magagaling sila di dapat ganito or di dapat maraming anomalyang nakawan. There is a threat sa independence ng ating bansa it this goes out of hand…dahilan sa mga mapag panggap na uri at magnanakaw di tayo handa. we may be in long dispute with china about bajo masinloc (scarborough shoal). magbago na kayo bago mahuli ang lahat.
I just hope our government will start planning to better defend our selves..we cannot rely buying hardware from others we should start mobilizing and make things here in our country…we create jobs and at the same time, we have the tools to depend ourselves!!!
#19. read this:
Lacson on Estrada: I owe him what I am now
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/180547/lacson-on-estrada-i-owe-him-what-i-am-now
erap may have had overlooked his decisions during his short stint in malacanan but he is not of same league with people you mentioned above. not even a hairline as ramos’. more so of gloria’s and corona’s.
True! With due respect, he is not same league of the current president either.
I have nothing against erap. I’m just tired of too much posturing.. Too much could have been. He had his opportunity. He made his decisions. It’s time to support others, especially when this other is doing what he can to lift us from where we are now when others turn their backs but their wallet…when our national interest and future is at stake! This yellow army, pinoys in general is but the majority who voted for erap before and now pnoy!!
I have nothing against erap. I’m just tired of too much posturing.. Too much could have been. He had his opportunity. He made his decisions. It’s time to support others, especially when this other is doing what he can to lift us from where we are now when others turn their backs but their wallet…when our national interest and future is at stake! This yellow army, pinoys in general is but the majority who voted for erap before and now pnoy!!
yes! erap had his time, opportunity but just let those fine moments slipped off from his grasp. the unsatiable goyang, the woman whose greed can not be satisfied even by the whole universe took all the advantages surrounding erap’s weaknesses with the help of her equally greedy cohorts. and, maybe chinese exploiters.
The surveys say…
http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/opinion/2256-the-surveys-say
Thanks for the link, Magno. I am totally in agreement with Jake Macasaet who says:
But unlike most Aquino critics, I am willing to accept the fumblings, underachievement, or non-achievement of this regime if only they can put in jail the Arroyos and their cohorts which to me, was the only specific promise made in the campaign. I didn’t believe then Noynoy would keep that promise so I was not convinced to vote for him.
But so far, he has stuck to his commitment and all that is left for him to prove, as Jake M. seems to encouragingly concur, is that “walang makirap kung walang kurap.”
Finally, I’d say Jake M.’s brilliant analysis of the survey results – that while there’s not enough jobs to feed the hungry, the approval numbers remain high – presupposes that hunger can wait if the people like what their leader is doing. That, to me, is a paradigm shift of our poor that they have only themselves to blame for being hungry. They know they should be prepared when the long-anticipated economic boom is finally here.
“The growth of the economy will happen and happen faster after the corrupt are punished”, he closes.
Tongue, supporting this administration doesn’t mean you don’t criticize if he is wrong. Pointing out his mistake should make him straighten his act.
Cheering a leader when he is wrong won’t do him, for that matter anybody, good.
that’s it.
dapat MULAT ang mga mata natin sapagkat ang kapakanan natin, ng taong bayan ang nakataya sa alinmang mali o tamang hakbang ng sino mang namumuno.
kasabay ng pagsugpo sa korapsiyon dapat ay may programang kaakibat upang kahit hindi man iglap ay dahan dahang madama ng mamamayan ang pagbabago tungo sa pag-angat HINDI ‘yung hindi nga lumulubog pero nakabitin sa balag ng alanganin.
at idagdag na dito ‘yung huwan lamang ang mga kalaban ang pagtuunan ng pansin KUNDI huwag palampasin ang katarantaduhan ng mga kakamping nagsisilbing lubak at tinik sa kanyang isinusulong ng “tuwid na daan”.
nabulol na!
“…….at idagdag na dito ‘yung HUWAG lamang ang mga kalaban……”
I was there when the president gave his speech. It was standard fare. Every leader in this country had always expressed they hoped we ran more good news than bad, or at the least, P-Noy was asking for a “balanced approach”.
However, I wouldn’t describe it as whining. He was just telling the truth. IN fact, in every media seminar I have attended, in this case PPI, incentives in the forms of awards for “good news reporting about children/culture and arts/biodiversity” have been coming up.
In fairness to the President, I have seen a lot of what his administration has done for us here in the province. The so-called “roads to hell” in Samar during Arroyo’s time that was once planted with coconuts and rice by disgusted Estehanons have now been cemented, drastically dropping the cost of transport for produce of farmers in the area and could be their ticket out of poverty. But this is not reported in the national level because it’s good news, and good news doesn’t sell.
NCR people complain of badly located “over pass”, here in the province, there are a lot of rivers that badly need bridges. And we are seeing them being constructed under P-NOY. Not only that, the projects are getting finished on time.
In Arroyo’s time, the mobilization funds were taken by her favored contractors and the projects left to languish. A flood control project in Ormoc was not touched for four years by the contractor during Arroyo’s time, but the mobilization fund already taken. For four years, people in the flood prone barangays of Lao, Margen, Liloan, Curva suffered from constant floodings and poor harvests. Not now, during P-Noy’s watch. Under pain of being blackballed, the contractor finished the project on 2008 prices, the time she “won” the project.
I am not a fan of P-Noy but I am happy, as a probinsyano, that he is our President because we can see his sincerity in delivering basic services to the people. Maybe if he succeeds in stirring up the economy in backward areas like Samar island, you will be rid of squatters in Imperial Manila because the Warays there will then come home. Just my two-cents
ormocnews,
nobody says PeNoy is not doing what he promised. the problem are some of his trusted people within his circle who are going against the flow of his traffic. their unsolicited statements. their glitches. don’t forget llamas.
I agree with that, too. But we know he can only accomplish so much. Unfortunately, most people look at the presidency as if it was just the town mayor, he must at all times make himself available to all the small people’s small problems. And what is sillier is that media is feeding the frenzy.
What this guy needs to keep going is a once-in-a-while symbolic pat on the back not a dagger on the side.
But ormocnews, many of your colleagues will just dismiss these accomplishments as Arroyo-initiated projects. Why should Noynoy get the credit?
Of course that’s a joke.
What I’m trying to say is that in media’s criticism of the gov’t, it is only doing half its job. The other half is reporting the bright side. Also.
Remember, “truth and justice”?
this is still about “CRABS”:
ON TARGET
Wake up, Mr. President!
By Ramon Tulfo
Philippine Daily Inquirer 10:22 pm | Monday, April 30th, 2012
“Why is it that some Filipinos look down on home-made products even if these are far superior over its “stateside” counterparts?
Is it because of our colonial mentality that makes us continue to worship our former colonial masters and their products?
Is it because of our crab mentality which makes us pull down our compatriots who are going up the success ladder? …..”
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/185255/wake-up-mr-president
ito ‘yung napakatagal nang “sakit” ng mga kinauukulan sa ating gobyerno, eh.
sa halip na linangin, suportahan, pagkatiwalaan AT ipagmalaki sa ibang bansa, INILULUBOG pa ‘yung kakayahan ng ating mga kababayan partikular ang mga imbentor na kung susuriin lamang ang produkto’t mga kagamitan ay mas nakalalamang pa ang kalidad kaysa mga “hinahabol” at tinatangkilik na tatak dayuhan.
paano nating maisusulong ang “IT’S MORE FUN IN THE PHILIPPINES” kung ganyan?
Aquino’s encounter with another kind of crabs:
P-Noy,together with Oriental Mindoro 2nd District Representative Reynaldo Umali, Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali, Jr., LLDA Chairman Nereus Acosta and other local officials, harvests king crabs at the Crab Farm, Barangay Anilao.
siguro, panahon na para bawasan ni PeNoy ang laging pagsusuot ng dilaw when appearing in public katulad nito.
his advisers should remind him that he is a president to all Pinoys and not only of those who elected him to malakanyang.
pagkakaisa ng sambayanan ang dapat maging pakay at isimbolo niya, di ba?
Sa hanay ng mga mamamahayag…Yung mga guilty lang naman na mga CRABS ang pumiyok eh