Among working journalists, we have a term “didal.” That is used when a PR (press relations officer) pockets the money intended for a reporter.
If a reporter finds out that his name was in the list and he didn’t get anything, we tease him, “Na didal ka.”
(Accepting money from a source for a story is unethical and is denounced in the practice of journalism. A reporter writes a story because he has discovered something that would be of interest and beneficial to the people and not because someone paid him to do it.
(The reality, however, is that there are PRs whose job should only be to facilitate access to his principal, who payoff media to promote his principal. This is a bad practice.)
We are told that these days the new term for “didal” is “bukol.”
We suspect that’s what happened to ABS-CBN’s Korina Sanchez and GMA 7’s Mike Enriquez.
An Inquirer report said according to the documents submitted by PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) scam whistleblower Benhur Luy, pork barrel queen Janet Napoles paid off a number of media personalities.
Mentioned in the Inquirer report were Sanchez and Enriquez who were supposed to have each been given a birthday gift of P50, 000 in cash through a certain Mon Arroyo, a former television director. This happened in 2004.
Radio announcers Deo Macalma and Rey Pacheco were also in the Napolis media list by Luy. They were alleged to have received a total of P715, 000.
Both Sanchez and Enriquez denied having received money from Napoles. In a statement, Sanchez said she only met Napoles and her family in late 2013 when she was assigned to interview the family in connection with the alleged PDAF scam.
“I had never met Ms Napoles nor had any associations with her, her family, her employees or associates before then, nor after my interview with her and her family,” she said.
“I am astounded to learn that I was supposed to have received a birthday gift from her one time 10 years ago in 2004. This never happened. I did not receive any such gift, in cash or kind, from Ms Napoles or her company nor through emissaries then and up to now, “ she added.
She said she knows a Mon Arroyo, the former husband of her high school classmate but she had not seen or heard from him he and her friend separated more than 10 years ago.
Enriquez also issued a statement “vehemently and in the strongest of terms” denying that he knew Napoles.
He also said “(I) .. just as strongly deny receiving any gift in whatever form from her. People who know me personally and those whom I associate with professionally know very well that both my personal and professional conduct is in strict adherence to the GMA code of ethics and to the values of hard and honest work, decent living and service to God and country.”
Arroyo issued his own statement: “I vehemently deny the allegations and I am willing to testify and face Mr. Benhur Luy about the reported ledger entry that I allegedly received money from anyone in the Napoles group.”
Inquirer didn’t carry statements from Macalma and Pacheco.
There’s also the problem of returning the money if you are handed an envelope containing cash after an event or money is delivered to you. If you return the money to the PR, how sure are you that he would return that to the principal?
Way back in 1987, during an election campaign, a PR of a congressman sent me a press release and attached to it was P300. I had to take a taxi to go to the candidate’s headquarters to return the money. Of course, I could not deduct my taxi fare from the P300.
The candidate was not in the headquarters so I just left the money with a note. I don’t know if the candidate ever knew that I returned his P300.
Some media outfits have adopted a policy for the reporters to get the money (so that the PRs won’t be able to pocket them) and donate it to charitable institutions, then send the receipt to the official or whoever gave the money.
Against unscrupulous PRs, who use responsible journalists to steal money from their principals, the best weapon of journalists are the truth and their conscience.
It looks like Napoles had the habit of using anyone’s name to pocket as much money as she could. Most of these so-called accused or implicated scammers do not even have a clue they even got any money. It will be a daunting task to really go thru the paper trail to see who is saying the truth about not getting any of the loot.
It is quite normal to pay for Ads, for publication of articles and other related services. How else will these media outfit make money? Not all media men are like you Ellen. In any business too, it is normal to give gifts to those whom you think have assisted you in your business. There is nothing wrong with that! It is wrong when the amount given is not commensurate to the service rendered. In the US, gifts and money received for services are regulated. These are taxed over a certain amount. If given in cash, a 1099 has to be issued so whoever is receiving the cash, can declare the amount as part of their income. In the Philippines though, gifts are given in kind and do not get traced because these are directly used to buy cars, homes, expensive bags, travel and COLD CASH in brown bags and in some instances paid to lavish the receiver’s mistress.
In some instances paid towards the lavish lifestyle of the receiver’s mistress.
Meron din atang mga media publications na under napoles’ payroll.
There’s also the problem of returning the money if you are handed an envelope containing cash after an event or money is delivered to you. If you return the money to the PR, how sure are you that he would return that to the principal?
_______
Get a written acknowledgement since denial is the norm for most everyone..
This is what I suspected happened. The question is, kung merong binukulan, sino ang nang-bukol?
Ginusto ng ilang mamamahayag na mapatalsik si Marcos dahil corrupt daw. Ano kaya ang masasabi ng ilang mamamahayag na may katulad nila na corrupt.
Napakarami ng pangalan ang nasasangkot sa Napoles scandal. Nakakapagtaka na pinag aaksayahan ng panahon. Ang daming dapat atupagin iyan pa na walang kuwenta. Kung mangulimbat man ng pera si Napoles hindi na niya iyon kasalanan. Kasalanan iyon ng mga nagpapaloko sa kanya. Walang manloloko kung walang nagpapaloko. Mula ng mapatalsik si Marcos puro na lang kalokohan ang nangyari sa gobyerno. Kurakot dito, kurakot doon. Bawat lugar halos nagkaroon ng corrupt public official. Kung corrupt man si Marcos ay maganda naman ang ekonomiya ng bansa. Ngayon ano nangyari napakarami ng corrupt, pangit pa ang ekonomiya ng bansa. Marami ang walang trabaho, marami ang nagugutom, marami ang magnanakaw, maraming masasamang tao. Panahon ni Marcos wala ang ganun dahil kayang disiplinahin ang mga tao.
Statement of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines:
Let Us Take the Bull by the Horns
We have said it before and we will say it again, there can be no denying that corruption is as serious a problem within the media as it is within government and, let us face it, society in general.
Media, after all, do not exist in a vacuum.
Without passing judgment on anyone, the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s report on media personalities who allegedly benefited from the pork barrel scam according to accounting records purportedly drawn up by whistleblower Benhur Luy comes as no surprise.
All these remain allegations, and those who raised these claims are duty bound to prove, just as those so accused have every right to prove their innocence.
Having said that, just as media should have no sacred cows, neither should the Fourth Estate be spared from scrutiny and criticism.
But it should not end there, whether these allegations are later proven true or false.
It is time that the Philippine media – and we speak not only of those who work in the news but everyone in the industry, including, yes, the managements and owners – recognize the problem and save ourselves and our people from ourselves.
It is bad enough that this plague within our ranks has time and again been used not only to justify but even to trivialize the ultimate censorship – murder – that has claimed the lives of at least 161 of our colleagues since 1986, as President Aquino did when he attempted to explain his administration’s inaction on media killings.
It is bad enough when our audiences, the people we purport to serve and who depend on us for the information they need to make decisions about their personal and collective lives, feel no outrage when one of us is murdered.
What we must fear is the day when the people finally and irrevocably decide that what the PDI reports is, indeed, what we are, when they judge us as having lost all credibility, unworthy of their trust, useful only to while their idle hours with brainless entertainment, a day, alas, that appears to be creeping ever closer to us, no thanks to the quest for profit over service.
But we are also confident that there remain more than enough among us who, despite extreme difficulties and danger, remain true to the tenets of the profession.
We call on all those who believe so to come together.
We need to take a long, hard look on where we are now – not just the problems of ethics and professionalism besetting us but, just as important, the economic and other interests that inform everything from how the industry is structured, the living and working conditions of its workers and, yes, the form in which the “truth” eventually reaches our audiences – and where we should go from here.
There is no other way.
To me as a believer of the philosophy which we founded our own basis for confronting our own devils that we can not tackle the bull by the horns unless we have no idea why we are doing the act…and it will come down to my point..
A Blameless Commission on Inquiry to Dig on all issues surrounding the allegations that beset the Media and from there measures can be formulated that will fit the situation and context where applicable in the context of Phl considering its cultures traditions and capabilities..
It will not be a shortcut or a band aid remedy..it will take quite a lot of Digging, (the Blameless type will encourage all party of interest to co-operate fully)and the Commission to be lead by an individual whose will be acceptable in regards to his or her competence, independence and impartiality and absence of personal agenda without the egoistical issue.
It may not be an all-in-one solution to the already deep seated illness and defects, but doing the same lip service remedy that prove ineffective in the past is even worse.
But there is, in fact, a smoke. It needs to be all investigated. That is where our government failed. Defenders are more vigilant and effective in their defense, in effect, since the prosecutions were more often to be over self-confident to have strong evidence on hand to the detriment of the truth and therefore, no one is ever going to jail in the history of corruption cases in the Philippines. Kawawa naman ang taungbayang Pilipino, the ultimate victims.
kahit trak trak na listahan ang ipalabas at isapubliko WALA kahit isang mambabatas o miyembro ng gabinete ang makukulong sapagkat bawat isang sangkot (may kinalaman man o wala) ay pagpapakamatayan ang pagsasabing wala silang alam at hindi kilala ang mag-asawang napoles, lalo’t higit na WALA silang tinanggap na por siento sa mga transaksiyon ni janet. idagdag pa dito ang pagsasanggalang ng mga kaalayado ng bawat isa na kahit alam nilang totoo ang pagkakasangkot ay pilit pinalalabas na inosente bilang pambayad sa utang na loob.
teka nga pala, meron bang magnanakaw na lumantad upang ipagsigawang siya ay nagnakaw? meron bang binahagihan ang nagsabing galing sa nakaw ang kanyang kinakain?
di nga ba’t totoo ‘yung kasabihan na birds of same feather group in the same table?
Cell mates daw sila Enrile,Estrada at Revilla. Hayan pwede na silang mag brainstorm araw araw kung paano sila mananalo sa 2016 elections. Di ba Vice President hopeful sila Estrada at Revilla? With the Filipino’s short memory, this is not remote, to vote one of them in office. Meron tayong “forgiving” nature and “AWA” effect.