Davao City Mayor Sebastian ‘Baste’ Duterte during his state of the city address Tuesday afternoon (6 August 2024). MindaNews photo by MANMAN DEJETO
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 23 September) – Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte defended Councilor Bonz Andre Militar, who called on the local media to “recommit to the highest standards of journalistic integrity.”
Last September 10, Militar urged journalists to practice the highest tenets of journalism as he noted that “false information had been disseminated” during the 16-day police operations to arrest wanted preacher Pastor Apollo Quiboloy at the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) compound.
“Ang intensyon maayo man, kay daghag mga walay klaro na mga impormasyon nga nanggawas ang atong panghitabo, nga medyo krisis diri sa KOJC nga sitwasyon (The intention was good because there was a lot of unclear information circulating during the event, where the KOJC crisis situation happened),” Duterte stressed.
Militar, chair of the Committee on Information and Technology, issued the pronouncement in a privilege speech.
On September 16, the local media issued a statement urging all parties – apparently the KOJC, police, and other stakeholders – “to be transparent with the facts and to respect the media’s independence to report beyond the narratives they wish to promote.”
“We want to send these people a message: It is not our role to carry your propaganda line or push your own agenda. Our role is to deliver timely, relevant, accurate information to the public, information that will allow them to take part meaningfully as citizens in a functioning democracy,” it said.
“Do not expect us to accept hook, line, and sinker whatever it is you tell us. As journalists, verification is our discipline. We verify, we countercheck, we seek various sources to try as best as we can to ferret out the Truth,” it added.
The collective media statement noted that Militar was barking up the wrong tree and that as chair of the Committee on Information and Technology, “he knew who the sources of disinformation are.”
“Let us in the media do our job and if you truly care about the public good, it would do well for the City Council to help foster an environment where journalists can perform their duties without the constant threat of intimidation, harassment, or other forms of attacks,” it said.
Duterte said in Cebuano that the collective media statement “is what he wanted to see, to show to people how the media reacts when thrown with various narratives… and if you [media] think you have a perfect institution, and if you don’t want to be told, let us rather discuss other things.”
He made the remarks in his Basta Dabawenyo podcast, which was streamed in his Facebook page CM Baste Duterte last Sunday evening.
Duterte made the pronouncement when asked for his comments to the Davao media’s collective statement on the harassment of journalists in the police operations to arrest Quiboloy and his four other co-accused. He was arrested on September 8 after 16 days of police operations inside the KOJC compound.
On August 26, following the dispersal of a crowd barricading a section of Carlos P. Garcia Highway (Diversion Road), members of the media covering the standoff were harassed by angry supporters of Quiboloy.
The harassed journalists, who reported the incident to the Buhangin Police Station, included Edith Caduaya and Eugene Dango of Newsline Philippines; Ian Carl Espinosa, Antonio L. Colina IV, and Toto Lozano of MindaNews; Arnel Rebayla and Ramel Domingo of PTV 4; and Germelina Lacorte of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. (Ian Carl Espinosa/MindaNews)
