OFF-THE-AIR

It’s been two weeks now since I had my last post here. I simply didn’t have the chance. Since Feb. 5, I was focused on the PRISAA, its coverage, specifically, and the press center that I had to help set up. The task was not as easy as we thought it was. In the accreditation of local media practitioners alone, there were some issues, such as: how many reporters will we accredit per outlet? This was crucial because the holding of the games simultaneously in different venues would need more than just one reporter per, say, radio station.

In the end, we decided to accredit everyone who has press credentials. We had feared for an overcrowded press center, with each media practitioner elbowing one another just to get a space. But in the end, there were only a few of them who came to actually cover. At any given time, there were only 10 to 12 people in the press center, including those who are from the Visayas and Mindanao.

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Konrad Adenauer Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila
University (CFJ) is accepting applications until February 13 for admission into the Diploma Program in Radio Journalism, Dr. Violet Valdez, CFJ Executive Director announced today.

The CFJ is offering this diploma program to working journalists from Southeast Asia and Mongolia. A modified distance-learning program, it consists of two online and one on-campus courses, as follows: Writing for Radio (February 27-April 8); Basic Radio Production (April 24-May 3); and Advanced Digital Audio Production (May 22-July 1).

“The program is intended for broadcast journalists who have not had formal training and wish to re-tool, as well as print journalists who plan to shift to radio or add broadcast journalism to their skills repertoire,” Dr. Valdez said.

The diploma program will accept 15 working journalists from the
Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mongolia. Those seeking financial support may apply for a CFJ Fellowship grant which covers tuition fees and international travel.

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Lucky guy, this journalist. Here’s the story:

An editor of a community newspaper in Northern Samar escaped an assassination attempt by a gunman posing as a banana vendor on Monday.

Eladio Perfecto, editor-publisher of Catarman Weekly Tribune, said he was about to board his motorcycle outside his home in Catarman, Northern Samar, when the alleged assassin approached him at around 10 a.m.

Perfecto said the assailant offered to sell him fried bananas, which he refused. The assailant then pulled out a .45 caliber pistol and shot him almost point blank.

“Luckily, the first shot missed,” he said, adding that the gunman’s firearm jammed after the first attempt. He added that the suspect immediately ran off.

This just shows that even in seemingly hopeless situations, one can still escape death and have a new lease on life. This also proves that assassins - no matter how determined they are - do miss.

I was at the National Press Club in Manila when I learned that Jaime Aquino held a press conference right at the headquarters of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, to announce, among others, that Archbishop Oscar Cruz is a gay and that he “sexually molested” him when he was 18.

At first, I could not believe that Jaime did it. But then, knowing the man, his stunt should not come to me as a surprise anymore: he has done it before; he did it now; he will do it again.

As a case in point, Laoac Mayor Gregorio Tabayoyong pointed to Jaime as the one who engineered the filing of rape charges against the poor mayor and six of his policemen at about this time last year. The woman, of course, turned out later to be non-existent.

Broadcasters Allan Sison and Rannie Manaois also point to Jaime as the mastermind in the filing of the hold-upping cases they are now facing in Villasis.

And who can forget Jaime for his story four years ago in a tabloid, where he listed the names of Pangasinan media practitioners (including this writer) who are supposed to be in the jueteng payola?

There may have been other people that Jaime had victimized. He used his paper, the Northern Star, for “demolition jobs” by publishing black propaganda using fictitious bylines. Of course, he made big money out of it and he may be the only Pangasinan newsman now with the most number of libel cases.

As I watched Jaime that day in a late night television newscast, he looked like a pathetic and a confused clown acting before an angry mob. And as he spoke about his supposed “romantic relations” with the archbishop, the more that he gave himself away, with his nose doing a Pinocchio.

Jaime’s show came to a drastic end when Archbishop Cruz suddenly appeared in the news conference and Jaime did not even recognize him!

Poor guy. He should have studied his script well. Or his director(s) should have rehearsed him many times over until he’s ready for the act. At least, by doing a perfect act, he could have convinced the whole nation that he was a credible clown.

ENDNOTES: The city government is now manned by high school students, as part of Dagupan City’s 58th anniversary celebration. This is the second year of the Ogogaw ya Malingkor program, where students are selected to assume as the city’s mayor, vice mayor, councilors and department heads. This experience should provide them good training on leadership… While in Manila, I had an opportunity to meet former Gov. Oscar Orbos. We were both so happy to see each other again and we updated each other on the country’s political situation. Well, he’s not returning to Pangasinan politics anymore.

QUICK QUOTE: True, we love life, not because we are used to living, but because we are used to loving. There is always some madness in love, but there is also always some reason in madness. — Friedrich Nietzsche

AFTER MORE than a year of hibernation, I’m resuming this column. And I hope to be able to deliver this to you regularly (Mondays and Thursdays), as I have promised our editor.

It was simply because I was too preoccupied with other tasks in the past months, especially during the months immediately preceding the 2004 elections, that I temporarily stopped writing. I had my hands full of equally pressing work then that everytime I attempted to write Windows, I couldn’t collect my thoughts and I ended up with bad copies. I thought it best to rest my keyboard for a while.

After the elections was completely a different story. After the euphoria brought about by some friends’ election victory, I went back to the academe to teach Journalism after a semester’s leave of absence. But while I was doing this and my usual office work at the Sangguniang Panlungsod of Dagupan City, I stumbled into an online journalism course offered by the Konrad Adenauer Center for Journalism of the Ateneo de Manila University. And from September to November last year, I completed two courses, both through grants.

These were what have kept me very busy. Anyway, my workload these days has not changed so much. Everyday remains a busy day for me. But I have promised our editor that never again will this column disappear from this paper, no matter where I am and whatever other tasks I’m attending to.

And to our dear readers who kept asking what has happened to this column, thank you for your support. I hope you will warmly welcome me back.

*****
It certainly was heartwarming to see Dindin Baniqued report to work at the Dagupan City hall last week as the city’s new legal officer.

She has just emerged from Mayor Benjie Lim’s office when we saw her. She was all smiles as she ushered us – city information chief Butch Velasco, veteran radioman Tito Tamayo and I — into an office assigned to her just outside Mayor Lim’s office.

No, she did not say anything about her sudden resignation from the provincial government, which kept Pangasinenses speculating that “something very wrong and unacceptable” could have pushed Dindin out of the Urduja House after serving as Gov. Victor Agbayani’s provincial attorney in the last six and a half years.

Strangely, the Urduja House kept mum about her resignation and instead chose to work silently to control the damage that her resignation may have created. From radio commentaries and listeners’ reactions in the days that followed, Dindin’s resignation was met with sadness, most especially by ordinary people and lowly barangay official she was able to help in the past. To these people, Dindin was Urduja House’s saving grace. Some listeners even hinted that Dindin was a victim of a power play.

What happened between her and the governor, or the governor’s coterie of advisers and consultants for that matter, generated an outpouring of support to her, being the victim. Realizing this, and before Dindin could open her mouth, we were informed that provincial administrator Boy Solis was asked to cut short his US trip and rush home to talk to Dindin. Board Member Angel Baniqued is said to have been given the same assignment.

What they have talked about is only known to them. But certainly, those meetings were not intended to massage damaged pride or hurt egos to convince Dindin to go back to her position. She had said loud and clear that her resignation was “irrevocable” and the Urduja House had no choice but to let go.

Dindin was certainly the province’s loss, but Dagupan’s gain.

ENDNOTES: Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez’s directive to police chief Dits Quijardo for an increased police visibility to minimize street crime in Dagupan City is now producing good results. Fewer people are complaining now about snatched celfones, bags or wallets. Alvin issued the directive when he was Acting City Mayor last week. If this is sustained, we might not see any snatcher or pickpocket in the city anymore… On March 3 and 4 — that’s next week – the Computer Manufacturers, Dealers and Distributors Association of the Philippines (Comddap) will be holding its national convention at the Dagupan City People’s Astrodome. As this happens, a Jobs Fair will also be conducted at the City Library, courtesy of Comddap, Bitstop Computers, trabaho.com and the City Government of Dagupan… Again, Vice Mayor Alvin Fernandez was the moving force to make this event happen.

QUOTE: Dream is not a revelation. If a dream affords the dreamer some light on himself, it is not the person with closed eyes who makes the discovery but the person with open eyes lucid enough to fit thoughts together. Dream — a scintillating mirage surrounded by shadows — is essentially poetry. — Michel Leiris