It's out and official: Ricky's a propagandist!

COVERT PROP: In the light of day, it now turns out that broadcaster Ricky Carandang - and not me, the victim of his libelous TV report - was/is the political propagandist and an apologist of a presidential candidate.

No less than the President of the Republic has confirmed that Carandang, then masquerading as a professional journalist of the ABS-CBN network, was actually one of their covert propagandists imbedded in broadcast media.

And for that campaign effort for which he was presumably rewarded, President Noynoy Aquino has appointed him one in a Gang of Four now operating as the brains and tentacles of the propaganda bureau of the Palace.

* * *

LESSONS FOR RICKY: It is clear to many of us who have paid our dues and licked our wounds in professional journalism that Carandang still has a lot to learn.

One lesson: He should not presume that just because he is doing it the next guy does it too. If he was on the payroll and secretly operating for the Aquino/Liberal Party campaign, he should not conclude that other journalists were similarly compromised.

He should not think that every one in this business is a political propagandist like him.

Another lesson: In news coverage, our prejudice could mislead us to wrong conclusions.

When his sidekick LP spokesman Edwin Lacierda showed him a list of supposed “midnight appointees,” he should have done what aspiring newsmen are taught in journalism school - check and double and triple check the facts.

* * *

UNLIKE HIM: Carandang committed a big boo-boo when, upon seeing the name Federico Pascual on a list of supposed last-minute appointees to the Philippine National Oil Co., he immediately concluded it was me.

He probably thought I was like him.

Not only that. He compounded his error by declaring that this Federico Pascual (who he identified as me, complete with a photo) was appointed to the PNOC board as reward for always defending President Gloria Arroyo.

When confronted with his errors, he asked me: “So you’re a critic (not a defender)?” I told the kid that neither was I a critic. I said I was a plain journalist simply doing my job, calling the shots as I saw them.

* * *

NO ‘DING’ EITHER: Presumably with pressure from his bosses at ABS-CBN, Carandang rushed up an elaborate correction and apology.

He explained on TV that it was not me, but another Federico Pascual (who used to be with the Government Service and Insurance System and some banks) who had been named to the PNOC board.

That was another Carandang blooper, on top of his clumsy attempts at damage control. Patong-patong ang errors kasi he started out with a big lie.

It turned out that neither had that other Federico (“Ding”) Pascual joined PNOC, contrary to Carandang’s claim. Visit the PNOC website and you will see that there is no Pascual on its board.

(For the record, the PNOC board seat was offered to me way back in January, but I turned it down with thanks. I cannot say how my “tocayo” later got into the picture.)

* * *

IMAGE-BUILDING: This is the Carandang that President Aquino has entrusted with developing public messages for him. (Others have been assigned to see to it that the messages come out in print, broadcast and other media.)

Some Malacañang reporters watching Carandang & Co. at work tell me that the group appears to be still in the campaign mode of firing away at will. Somebody, maybe their boss the President himself, should tell them that the war is over.

Also, a little humility will help Carandang blend easily with Press Office workers.

As for focus, there are observations that his group appears more obsessed with developing a good image for the President than with disseminating information with substance and relevance.

* * *

MAHIYA KAYO!: How can Commission on Elections Chairman Jose Melo and four of his commissioners face their families and friends after allowing former congressman Mikey Arroyo to represent a party-list of drivers, small entrepreneurs, and security guards?

The ruling may be legal in the sense that a majority in the seven-member collegial poll body approved it. But what is legal is not always right.

Arroyo’s party-list Ang Galing Pinoy does not have homogenous membership. It should not have been allowed in the first place, since it consists of three different sectors whose interests may not always coincide.

* * *

MELO HIDING?: Only Commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Gregorio Larrazabal submitted dissenting opinions to Arroyo’s being the party-list’s nominee. Chairman Melo abstained.

Melo hid his head in the sand, probably thinking abstention would erase the fact that even before the Comelec could lay down the criteria for nominees, he already said that Arroyo may represent AGP.

Dissenter Sarmiento cited two earlier cases wherein the Supreme Court ruled that “the nominee must also belong to the marginalized and underrepresented sector which the party-list seeks to represent.”

He said: “Does respondent Arroyo truly belong to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors that AGP seeks to represent? The undersigned does not think so.”

* * *

MONEY TALK: Also dissenting, Larrazabal cited RA 7941 itself, the Party-list System Act. He said:

“If the party-list system is to succeed in encouraging the growth of a true multi-party system, only those nominees belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors must be allowed to represent their party-list.”

Melo admitted that their ruling contradicts the recent decision of the First Division disqualifying party-list Ang Kasangga’s nominees Teodorico Haresco and Eugenio Jose Lacson.

The First Division ruled that big-time businessmen Haresco and Lacson, with their vast interests, do not belong to Ang Kasangga, which seeks to represent small and micro entrepreneurs.

* * *

ePOSTSCRIPT: Read current and old POSTSCRIPTs at www.manilamail.com. E-mail feedback to [email protected]