Category: Election law & election campaigns

Election law & election campaigns, The News Media

The U-turn

                How does a plane make a U-turn? Video clips of Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo being roughed up,  pushed, pulled, dragged, while he resisted and fought, sometimes quietly, sometimes   discussing procedure, sometimes angry sometimes calm, while the manhandling continues, is one of the most eloquent testament of the Arroyo government’s fear of an idea that is supported by 1.5 million votes (the mandate of Bayan Muna) and one of the most powerful images of what it means to fight. Being pro-establishment is the easiest thing in the world to be: your ideas would always be protected by the ruling party even as they are irrelevant.   It’s 3am and you’re only a handful of defenseless men and women surrounded by more than 50 bullet-proof-and-grenade-belt clad SWAT and police operative units lugging M-16’s out to “extract” you by force, what do you do? In the face of all calculation that the odds are against you and you would be maimed and beaten up  while shouting out your rights, what do you do?            

           Those images instruct us. You fight not to overpower your adversary  but to tell him he is wrong; you resist, not to defeat him but to convince others your path might be the correct way.       

         And so, the plane made a U-turn in the cloudy afternoon even as it was nearer Leyte, over Masbate, and even as it was easier to proceed and land than make a turn-about. That’s how powerful ideas are, especially one with a mandate. (you know, National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales’s partylist (i forgot what its name is; is it PPKSP? or…. PPSQK?) could muster only a few thousand votes, five thousand i think; sometimes i think it’s what possesses him to drive Bayan Muna out of the electoral mainstream, he thinks those votes would be distributed to other partylists like his. Dream, dream, dream.)        

     

              Our lesson for today.

    

          And by the way, this was the test i gave today:

          Law on Mass Media, 2nd Test. Answer each question within each problem/ item. 50 pts. 4 pts bonus.                           

         1.Enumerate laws that constitute limits to a reporter’s newsgathering methods. Describe/ define/ give the elements of each law. (10 pts., 1 pt for each law enumerated and 1 pt for the description).               

          2.At 4:45 am today, Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo was hauled off and dragged out of the Manila Police station into a waiting van by elements of the SWAT and the police. There were fifty or so photographers, cameramen, reporters, and supporters crammed in the narrow hallway as the Bayan Muna rep was forcibly pulled and pushed. Marco Agustin, a reporter of TV Channel 10 shoved and pushed and jostled and grabbed the policemen and Ka Satur to get a good vantage point and for an interview. Did the reporter violate any laws that limit newsgathering methods? Why or why not? (5pts.)              

          3.At 5:20 am, said reporter had finished editing his footages and was prepared to go live. His news director got a call from military top brass that they could air the news but not the footage showing Rep. Satur Ocampo being pulled and pushed and shoved and being able to deliver the following statements: “ito ay isa  na naming panggigipit ng pamahalaang Arroyo sa aming partido,” on the ground that it was inciting to sedition and sub judice. What should Marco tell his news director? Did the segment constitute inciting to sedition? Why or why not? What are the elements of said crime? (5 pts.) Is it sub judice? Why or why not? What is sub judice? (5 pts.) Total: 10 pts.              

         4.Last month, a state prosecutor of the Department of Justice issued a Resolution of the preliminary investigation of the inciting to sedition complaint filed against the Daily Tribune finding a prima facie case and recommending the issuance of warrants of arrest against respondents. The complaint arose from the Feb. 24, 2006 incidents that followed the declaration of a state of emergency by President Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo. Give your considered and well-thought out opinion using legal bases. (5 pts.)                

          5.In the 11 libel cases against a  total of 43 journalists filed by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, the main theory of the case is that Mike Arroyo, not being a public official and being engaged in private business, is not a public figure. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not? Give your legal basis (rhetorics will not be given points.) Who are public figures and who are not public figures? In which specific category does Mike Arroyo belong? Why? What is the “public figure doctrine”? Cite or describe the pertinent cases to support your answer. (10 pts: 5 pts for discussion on who are and are not public figures and 5 pts for citing/ describing pertinent cases and other legal bases.)               

         6.Enumerate the laws that constitute limits to free expression. (9 pts.)              

          7. A TV show called “Saklolo ng SOCO”, a semi-documentary on the work of the Scene-of-the-Crime-Operatives unit of the PNP, showed the chopped-up parts of a rape victim, live, as breaking news. The “Professionals for Christ”, an organization of the laity, filed a case of violation of Art. 201 of the Revised Penal Code, on obscenity. If you were the producer, would you have shown the segment? Why or why not? What is obscenity? What is the Miller test? (5 pts. )            TOTAL: 54 pts (4 pts bonus).                                                                                                         ###             

Election law & election campaigns

paraphrasing Tina Turner’s what’s love got to do with it.

        As all “professional politicians” know (those who run for public office for a living, i.e., all), you have to send an advance party of ten to fifteen of your staffmembers, operators, and handlers, to a site at least a week before a sortie.  Why? Oh just to make sure the announced rally for your candidates pushes thru. You cannot run it by remote. You have to send your own people there. The advance party talks to the ward leaders, the barangay chairmen, the councillors, local officials. The members of  advance party are not only events-organizers  (like, they list down the leaders and the corresponding number of people each would bring, they make sure  the sound system works,  the stage, streamers, buntings, etc. are set up), but they should also be your most trusted and efficient staffers because they distribute the money and goodies to the local leaders and operators. If you don’t distribute moneys, there won’t be any rally. (of course, people’s organizations are able to hold rallies with a minimum of logistics because you’re talking about ten years of organizing work, but that’s not my topic today).

      If the rally cannot possibly be produced, your advance party should improvise and make remedies. Do not announce schedules and have no back-up plan. There’s always something planned in case of rain so- to- speak, or in case the production number becomes impossible.

         Two or three days before D-day (the day of the sortie), the advance party sleeps there. Just to
make sure the event pushes thru.

      On the day itself of the political rally, you have to distribute money again.

      Why do you have to keep distributing  money? You won’t have poll watchers and election watchers
 on election day itself. But even as you distribute moneys, you have to reserve the biggest stash for
 election day. During the counting itself, you have to make sure you have the biggest largesse. Because if your opponent offers a bigger “honorarium” to your pollwatchers and election watchers, they will turn to the other side. They will go home. During the counting. You will  not find them. Or if they are present, they will not speak up while your votes are being transferred to your opponent. To paraphrase Tina Turner’s what’s-love-got-to-do-with-it; What’s principles got to do with it. What’s platforms got to do with it. It’s just business. They collect here, they collect there, then they go to the winner. And when you cry that you’ve been cheated, the Comelec will tell you, where’s your proof, your own election watchers did not say anything, how can you say you were cheated – if your election watchers did not raise it, it’s not our fault that you didn’t have money, er, este, that you were cheated.

      And this is where the ruling party is good at. They have a Ph.D. in this. They have multiple Ph.D’s in this. This is their game. Do not try if you cannot outbuy.

       Presumably, as election day draws near and you are able to show that you are The One, i.e., you are the winning candidate – presumably – the donations will crash in like water from a dam. The donors give to both sides and reserve the big one for the winner.

        Of course there are valiant efforts on the part of media organizations and civic groups to document the cheating by photos, SMS, volunteers, etc.These will capture those kinds of cheating done publicly.  The bulk of the cheating is pre-produced and occurs in hotel rooms and those who are able to photograph these and live to submit the photos will win a Pulitzer.

       Those who cannot explain these operational details to you just get their day-to-day thoughts from bloggers.