MANILA, Philippines - A majority of Filipinos supported President Aquino’s tirades against ABS-CBN anchorman Noli de Castro, whom he specifically criticized for “unprofessional and off the cuff” remarks on television, according to Malacañang.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda defended Aquino’s speech delivered last Friday during the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the ABS-CBN news program TV Patrol at the Manila Hotel.
“The public felt very strongly in favor of the President,” he told newsmen, downplaying speculations Aquino earned the ire of the people and media for picking a fight with journalists and violating press freedom.
Lacierda though did not explain the basis of his assertion about public support for the President’s tirades on media, except to say: “We don’t necessarily subscribe to the idea that there were negative comments. We monitored the media stations and the comments in those online publications that came out.”
He said Aquino’s specific complaint against the snide remarks of De Castro, who served as vice president for six years during the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo until June 2010, could not be said to have had a “chilling effect” on media practitioners in general.
“There were comments coming from certain media personalities. And, understandably, how can you have a chilling effect if they were still able to comment on the speech of the President?” Lacierda asked.
“It shows that the President wasn’t dictating on what media should be doing. He only made a fair commentary on a particular anchorman of TV Patrol,” he said.
He said Aquino only wanted media, reporters and news anchors alike, “to get your facts straight, contextualize the facts, and report it properly.”
This was the same message Aquino reminded executives of BusinessWorld, which celebrated its 25th anniversary on the same day (July 27), but that the only difference was TV Patrol’s coverage “got more prominence” than the business newspaper.
“When it came to TV Patrol, apparently it was more focused on one anchorman. But the overall emphasis was consistent with both BusinessWorld and with TV Patrol,” Lacierda clarified.
“He mentioned three things: get your facts straight, contextualize – make sure that you contextualize the facts, and then you report it properly,” he said.
Aquino, who was invited as the guest of honor at the TV Patrol anniversary, used the occasion to hit De Castro.
He said negativism in media was holding back the country’s progress.
In remarks that caused an uneasy silence among the ABS-CBN staff, Aquino singled out the TV Patrol anchor for undue negativism and voicing “baseless speculations.”
He minced no words in saying that many of the problems he faced he had inherited from the previous administration of Arroyo and De Castro as vice president.
Aquino recalled a news report about the rescue of a child by the National Bureau of Investigation wherein De Castro quipped that the rescue may have been a setup.