Jousnalist at Work

Shooting to kill

September 28th, 2007, filed by David Viggers

In this Reuters picture reproduced on newspaper front pages all round the world today, Japanese videojournalist Kenji Nagai lies dying in the street, still trying to record the scenes of violence after he was shot through the chest when soldiers fired live rounds at protestors in Yangon yesterday.

It is a chilling image and yet another reminder, as if any were needed, of the risks faced by the thousands of journalists whose job it is to bring us the news from areas of conflict and instability. At least Kenji Nagai had chosen to be there. He lost his life putting faces to what without pictures are just numbers.

My condolences to Kenji Nagai’s family, friends and colleagues.

Long Live the Internet

Myanmar forces swoop on protests in two cities, Internet cut

28/09/2007 15h54

Monks and their supporters run as police crack down on demonstrations in Yangon
©AFP/Moemaka Media/File

YANGON (AFP) - Security forces moved to crush protests in Myanmar's two biggest cities Friday, unleashing warning shots and baton charges, and cutting Internet access in the third day of a deadly crackdown.

The Internet blockage severely reduced the flow of video, photos and first-hand reports of the violence, which has left at least 13 people dead, galvanising world opinion against the ruling generals.

Up to 10,000 demonstrators surged onto the streets of the main city of Yangon Friday, playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as they repeatedly confronted police and soldiers.

In the central city of Mandalay, thousands of young people on motorbikes rode down a major thoroughfare towards a blockade set up by security forces who unleashed a volley that witnesses believed could have been rubber bullets.

Intent on quelling the biggest anti-government demonstrations in 20 years, the ruling junta has also mounted an offensive against the Buddhist monks who have led nearly two weeks of mass rallies.

With dozens of monks arrested, beaten or confined to their monasteries, the mantle has now been taken up by student groups and youths who dominated Friday's rallies.

Images of Burmese clashes. Duration 00:30
©Democratic Voice of Burma

"The monks have done their job and now we must carry on with the movement," said one student leader in downtown Yangon.

"This is a non-violent mass movement," he shouted as demonstrators tried to move towards the Sule Pagoda, one of the focal points of the demonstrations.

At a separate protest in Yangon, around 500 people marched in the streets, singing the national anthem as thousands applauded them from the sidewalks.

Monks, revered figures in this devout Buddhist nation, helped transform what began as a scattershot series of protests over a hike in fuel prices into the stiffest challenge to the junta's military rule since 1988.

But since the crackdown was launched Wednesday, at least three monks have been killed and hundreds arrested, including eight more on Friday in Yangon and Mandalay.

At least two monasteries were raided Wednesday, including one in Yangon's northeastern satellite town of South Okkalapa, where about 100 Buddhist monks were arrested and eight people shot dead after protesting the action.

In the wake of the violence, which shocked Myanmar people who hold monks in the highest regard, western diplomats said they had received information from several sources about "acts of insubordination" within the army.

Armed troops take position in the streets of central Yangon
©AFP/HO/File

"We heard that some soldiers have refused to obey orders and that others were even willing to stand alongside the demonstrators," one Yangon-based diplomat told AFP.

A telecom official confirmed that the nation's main link to the Internet was down, but blamed the problem on a damaged undersea cable.

Security forces have also smashed cameras and cellphones, and beaten people who were carrying them. Several newspapers in the country, which was formerly known as Burma, are no longer operating.

The official tally of dead and injured has been impossible to confirm. State media confirmed nine people were killed this week, but insisted that only 120 protesters turned out on Friday.

The Australian ambassador to Myanmar, Bob Davis, told Australian radio that the actual death toll may have been several times higher, according to witnesses who had seen significant numbers of dead bodies.

A Japanese journalist was among those killed Thursday, and Japan's Fuji Television showed footage which appeared to show him being shoved down by Myanmar troops and then shot at close range.

A street is littered with blood and sandals from protesters in Yangon
©AFP/File

US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown renewed their call to the Myanmar junta to end the violent crackdown, after discussing the crisis Friday.

The 47-member UN Human Rights Council decided to hold a special session on October 2 to examine the unrest in Myanmar.

And the Association of Southeast Asian Nations issued an unusually critical statement on its fellow member Myanmar, expressing "revulsion" over the use of force against demonstrators.

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari was in Singapore on Friday, headed to Myanmar in a bid to convince the junta to open dialogue with democracy activists.

What is Love to a Four Year Old Boy?

The past few weeks, I noticed my four year old son kept telling me “I love you, papa”. I would reply “I love you too, Rigo”.

So one day I asked him an adult question. I knew before lodging the query that it would be unfair to him. I was confident that he knew the answer except that he could not blurt it out since his fragile mind is still in the process of maturing.

Anyway, I proceeded to asked him, “Rigo when you say I love you papa, what do you mean by love.” In my effort to communicate to him in the language he understands I rephrased the question over and over again. I could not seem to say it in the words he will comprehend.

So I stuck to my earlier question and asked him what he meant by love. Rigo then blurted out “love is kiss girl” then he gave me a sheepish smile along with a wily giggle.

I was taken aback. For one I know he knows what love is. I know because he has lots of it from the people around him. He feels it and he expresses it. I also know that he could not explain it to me yet.

But to answer me “love is kiss girl” showed that he has other concepts of love, the one that I usually call the “Hollywood love”.

Ever since, my thoughts on love have always been a far cry from the romanticism that we see on television and the movies. I stand that love comes from the WILL and not a product of the EMOTIONS.

If you use your will to love then it would be easier or harder to fall out of love, depending on how mature your will is.

If you use your emotions to love then you will be more dependent on external factors such as looks, smell or attitude. Any slight external change by your partner can precipitate love lost.

So, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”.

In Defense of Press Freedom

Just when journalists wrote 30 on this year’s Cebu Press Freedom Week, a lawyer dropped a bombshell that sent shockwaves throughout the media industry.

Nestor Archival, lawyer of Senior Insp. Jose Liddawa Jr. “whose car collided head on with a pick-up of ABS-CBN last week and figured in an altercation with the news crew” turned the tables on the giant network.

He said contrary to the news report over channel three in Cebu, Liddawa was “the real victim” and that the broadcast news report did not tell the entire truth.

He pointed out that at the end of the story, ABS-CBN footage showed Liddawa “collapsed on the ground.”

According to The Freeman, Archival “was able to gather witnesses who can testify that the TV crew mauled his client and not bystanders.”

The “lawyer said that just like the statements of the witnesses, who were owners of stores near the site of the accident, the ABS-CBN insider told him that it was (Ramil) Paican, (Joel) Noel and the crew’s driver who mauled his client and not the bystanders as the network earlier reported,” The Freeman further stated.

As a public relations practitioner my initial reaction to the lawyer’s statement was that it was a very clever spin. It was enough to create reasonable doubt. But, after giving it much thought, I got very much worried about the allegations made by Liddawa’s defense attorney.

It was a mouthful. To accuse a news organization, a giant network at that of peddling a lie or reporting half truth is very serious. The statements by the lawyer could be tantamount to an affront to press freedom.

I always believe that there are two sides of a story just like there are two sides of a coin. So, it beckons upon ABS-CBN to conduct a thorough investigation to ferret the truth. I am confident that ABS-CBN will do what needs to be done to protect its credibility.

It is also incumbent upon the media to ensure that there will be no whitewash so that the credibility of the Cebu press, which up to now is held on high esteem, is firmly protected.

The public deserves no less.

How dare you accuse Erap Estrada!

Over six years ago, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona who was then a member of the Philippine Senate delivered his “I Accuse” speech. The verbal attack cloaked with the veil of immunity against lawsuits such as libel or slander ignited the flame that would turn the life of former Philippine President Joseph Estrada into an inferno.

Erap, as he is fondly called by the millions of Filipino masses that voted him President was charged for receiving hundreds of millions of pesos from the illegal numbers game, jueteng.

Sensing public outrage against Erap, Senate President Manny Villar who was then House Speaker and political ally of Estrada railroaded the impeachment proceedings in the Lower House.

It started a full blown impeachment trial against a sitting president, a first in Philippine history. The hearing came to an eerie end when allies of Estrada in the Senate opposed the opening of the second envelope, which was widely believed to have contained damning evidence against Erap.

People power II ensued after the public, who were glued on there television sets for weeks to watch the impeachment trial unfold, saw Senator Loren Legarda shed crocodile tears.

She wanted the Filipinos to see that she was deeply moved by what many thought was a heroic act of Senator Aquilino Pimentel, then senate president. Pimentel stepped down as head of the senate after Erap’s men in the upper chamber successfully stopped the opening of the second envelope.

Even Senator Panfilo Lacson who was then Estrada’s PNP top honcho turned his back on his commander in chief after seeing millions of people in Edsa demanding for Erap’s ouster.

After being booted out of office by a popular revolt, Erap was criminally charged. He faced six years of court trial. As the hearing drag on people who played a key role in the ouster of Estrada like Guingona, Villar, Legarda, Pimentel, Lacson sang a new tune.

Nauseating as it may seem, these people together with advocacy organizations like Plunder Watch and cause-oriented groups who helped install Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as Erap’s replacement are the same political figures who now consider PGMA as public enemy number one.

So they have been trooping to the rest house of Erap where he is, for all intent and purposes, under house arrest. As the saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

The ouster of Estrada benefited politicians like Guingona. He was named vice president by PGMA when she assumed the highest post of the land. Villar ran and won as senator under the ticket of President Arroyo. These two political figures sealed Estrada’s fate.

Days before the Sandiganbayan announced its guilty verdict against Erap, Plunder Watch and several cause-oriented groups were rooting for Estrada’s acquittal. These were the very same groups that went out to the streets six years ago to demand Erap’s resignation.

How dare you accuse Erap Estrada!

Erap’s conviction is PGMA’s indictment

This morning, the Sandiganbayan found former President Erap Estrada guilty of plunder, a capital offense punishable by life imprisonment or even death. Days before the judgment day some quarters started to become jittery because of fear that a guilty verdict might open old wounds and induce Erap supporters to go to the streets to seek redress.

When the guilty verdict was announced none of the worst case scenario thought of by the present administration happened. But, it’s too early for our nation to heave a sigh of relief.

Despite being booted out of office six years ago through a popular revolt, Erap without a doubt, continues to wield tremendous power among the masses. Surveys show that his popularity and acceptability rating remains in the double digit zone.

Judging from initial news reports on television and news sites on the web, several high profile anti-Arroyo leaders are one in saying that the conviction of Erap for plunder is an indictment of the present administration for much worse crimes.

If the advisers of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will commit the same strategic blunder that led to the failed May 1, 2001 mass revolt, she could face the same angry mob all over again.

The ominous signs are clear. The mass protest showing support for Erap fizzled out fast. But, there is a growing sentiment among the people that, while Erap deserved the guilty verdict, PGMA must be the next leader of the land to face a court trial. There is an ocean of thought that PGMA has committed far greater crimes than her predecessor.

This is scary. If this growing sentiments is not handled well it might spell trouble for the present administration already in a survival mode.

Pain as an emotional anesthetic

All along I thought tonsillitis was only for children until at 38 I was hit by it. I could hardly talk. I could not even swallow my own saliva. Just before midnight of the third day of suffering what was clearly an acute tonsillitis, my wife prodded me to see a doctor. So off I went to the nearest e.r.

The doctor who saw me told me to thank myself for making the right choice of seeing a physician just before my inflamed tonsils would have fully covered my trachea giving me difficulty in breathing.

For one week I suffered intense discomfort. I had to force myself to eat so that I could take my medications. I was warned not to take my pills with an empty stomach. I had to prod myself to drink water if only to swallow my antibiotic.

At every instance I tried to lull myself to sleep so that I would not feel any physical pain.

Fourteen days after my bout of tonsillitis, I suffered from bicipital tendonitis, an inflammation of the tendons. For a few days it was very difficult to move about because any bodily motion would trigger intense pain on my injured left shoulder.

My left arm was on a sling so that the swelling will heal faster. I had to endure two weeks of having to use only my right arm.

As I was subjected to intense physical ache I was also undergoing extreme emotional pain.

Belatedly, I realized that physical pain can be a form of emotional anesthetic. As I suffered severe physical discomfort I became emotionally numb. I was so engross in battling my physical hurt I could not feel any emotional displeasure.

When my bodily pain was long gone and my emotional ache was healed I tried to choose what’s more bearable if I have to suffer any of it again.

I think I will choose neither of the two intense experiences. I know someday one or both kinds of pain will come back to disturb my peace. But I will be consoled by the thought that I have been through it before and that I will be able to weather the storm.

Worst Case of Unfriendly Customer Service

Last week I was singing hosanna to Shangri-la Mactan’s superb customer service. http://jonjigonzales.blogspot.com/2007/07/guy-named-joe-marie.html

This week I experienced one of the worst cases of customer service by a computer store in Cebu.

I bought a second hand computer last June 27 from Fast Win Computer Enterprises located in Mandaue City, Cebu.

When I brought it home, the computer would hang no end. So I had to return it for them to check what’s wrong. A few days later they informed me it was due to a defective motherboard.

They replaced the motherboard and then I had the PC picked up from there store. Another problem cropped up. This time they replaced the sound card.

Just when I thought the computer was fully okay, it cannot connect to the wi-fi. I had to bring it back to there store for yet another check up. They advised me to change my wi-fi card saying that it’s defective and it is the cause of all the glitch.

Since I had an extra wi-fi card I had it replaced. I was hoping they would test the replaced part before they give back my PC so that I don’t have to bring it back to them if it doesn’t work. Unfortunately, they said there wi-fi connection in there store is fully utilized that they cannot get a signal so that I had to do the testing in my house.

These entire problems happened in the course of one month. Meaning, the computer was not being used for a month after it was bought.

Exasperated, I called up a computer technician friend who is also in charge of maintaining our office computer network for help.

My friend hesitated to open the CPU since doing so will void the warranty. He advised me to call Fast Win and request the store to allow him to open the CPU and check the problem without voiding the warranty. He even told me to point out to Fast Win that since I bought the computer a month ago it has not been used because of the several glitches. Despite there effort to repair the problems they have not succeeded.

So I called the store and related to them the problem. Since the person who answered my call could not decide on my request, she asked me my contact number so that her manager can discuss it with me. A week has pass, I have not received any call.

Finally, I gave up waiting for that call from Fast Win. I decided to risk voiding the warranty so that my computer technician friend can start fixing it. At last the computer is up and running. All it took was for me to buy a brand new sound card. Adjustment in the bios and CPU settings were also implemented.

If not for my computer technician friend, I would have continued to bring back and forth the CPU to Fast Win for repairs and who knows it could take eternity before it gets fixed.

Customer service is the new ball game in business. Sadly, Fast Win Computer Enterprise, while selling high tech products is still low tech when it comes to customer service.

Jomarie of Shangri-la Mactan

Over a week ago, I suffered, what my physiatrist termed bicipital tendinitis. In short it’s an inflammation of the tendons. So my left arm was placed on a sling. It will be on a sling for another week. This is not the first time that I had this kind of injury. According to my medical records I had the same problem four years ago. But, it was my right arm then that suffered intense pain.

Poor Samantha, my Doberman is being blamed as the cause of my injured left arm. I regularly walk her to give her the exercise that a sporting dog needs.

Actually, it is I that needs to do 30 minutes of walking regularly. My dog has given me the will to persevere in walking for 30 minutes at least three times a week.

They say a tired dog is a happy dog. So I make it a point to walk her regularly. In seeing to it that my Dobie gets her daily dose of exercise I too am able to maintain my weight, keep my blood pressure in check and live a healthy life.

A few days ago I had dinner with two of Cebu’s most respectable journalists and Globe Telecom’s corporate communications head at Cowrie Cove, Shangri-la Mactan.

Since it was a Thursday, dinner was buffet. It was a spectacle of fresh sea foods from lobsters, tuna to prawns. Since I’m allergic to lobster and I want to enjoy the restaurants excellent house white wine, I decided to forego eating lobster so that I don’t have to take an antihistamine.

The mouthwatering prawns looked irresistible. I was toying with the idea of asking a waiter to serve me some prawns with its shell taken out. I decided not to bother anyone.

Since my left arm was on a sling, I decided to limit myself to all the other sea foods that would not cause me any allergy.

Lo and behold as I was feasting on the fresh bounty of the sea, Jomarie, Cowrie Cove’s outlet in charge walked towards our table with a plate full of prawns. He went near me and told me that he knows I would have loved to eat prawns except that it would be a big hassle because my left arm is on a sling.

So he said he brought in a plate full of prawns with shells cut and ready to eat so that all I have to do is use my right arm and with a fork enjoy the sumptuous prawns.

Eating in a restaurant is a way of life for me. As a public relations practitioner, I usually talk things over with clients, the media or stakeholders in a restaurant.

But, it was only in Shangri-la Mactan did I experience service extraordinaire. Jomarie of Cowrie Cove did not only make my evening it also surprised my companions.

Many times over, like a broken record I always remind my eldest son, now 13, to think of others. What Jomarie did that night was an epitome of thinking of others. Kudos to Jomarie and more power to Shangri-la Mactan.

Silence is deafening

I live in the city all my years. Sunset is not an ordinary sight for me to behold. But I always love the sunset. It does not signal the end of the day but the coming of a new tomorrow.

When we were young, my grandparents and my mother use to bring us to Banatayan Island specifically in Suba, Bantayan to the family house of my grandfather. My mom once told me a simple anecdote about my great grandmother, the mother of my grandfather. My great grandmother was once asked why she had no TV in her home.

She replied, I don't need a TV. Just look at how beautiful the sunset is and you will never need a television to give you the visual pleasures your heart desire. The vista is more than what a television can give you. In all humility, she pointed at the sunset, a big fireball slowly descending from the sky above. It silhouettes the several islands scattered along the vast sea that is facing the ancestral house. It also provides a beautiful orange ray on the small boats parked by fisher folks as they await the evening to head off to fish another day.

Every time, we stayed in Suba where we numbered around 100 relatives during Holy Week we can never stop to marvel the sunset. New visitors who join us during Holy Week won't hesitate to finish whatever film they brought for the holidays just to get the best shot of the sunset. (There were no digital cameras then in the late 70's.

When I had the chance to stay in Balicasag Island, off Panglao Island in Bohol last Holy Week, I could not stop using my Sony Ericsson K610i. I first took pictures of the hut without anybody inside it. Then I asked my brother to stay put inside the hut as I clicked on the shutter until my hands numb in utter excitement. Then when the sun was at its lowest, I requested my eldest son to sit down with his uncle and pose for me and for the SE K610i I was using.

My son and my brother sat there mincing no words, all they did was face the sunset. But the silence grew so loud that my ears could hardly take it. I wondered where the sound came from. I looked around and all I could see were few people walking on the beach just marveling the sunset.

At first I could not make sense of what I heard. It was like a sonic boom of a passing jet plane, and then it sounded like a rouge wave about to devour the entire island. Only later did I realize that the sound came from my heart and my soul.

Suddenly, calm beset me. I fully understood what the sound was all about. In the stillness of that afternoon, when the sun was setting, I was told that life is not going to be over. That it was just about to begin when the sun rises in the east the day after.

As we watched the sunset, we usually wax melodrama in our heart and soul fearing the coming of December. That April will long be gone and the coldness of the night will induce us into an everlasting slumber.

Fear not, for sunset is the ultimate gesture that there is tomorrow.

Journey Along

I can go on and on and yet I am not anywhere near my destination. But I know I am not lost. I am certain I am not wandering either.

After frolicking with politics for almost three years the circumstance brought me back to the corporate world.

First thing I noticed my blood pressure has normalized. I am able to drive back home before sun down when before I get home as darkness envelopes our little abode.

My teenage son no longer has to suffer listening to the news or radio commentaries. I also get the chance to dialog with him as I negotiate the after work traffic.

As soon as I arrive home around late afternoon or early evening I change to exercise attire. My four year old son rides his bike while I walk my doberman around the neighborhood.

While my routine has changed, while my energy and creativity is now solely used inside the board room I have not really waved the white flag on politics. Except that it is now in the back burner.

Before I immersed myself in the world of politics I get easily upset with how politicians run government. I was in the impression that politicians should not lay claim to the word public servants. I shuddered at the mere thought of politics.

These entire notions about politics and politicians have changed when I had the opportunity to work for a family of true-blooded public servants. I saw how they gave up there personal space to accommodate the needs of the populace.

Unfortunately, they were sorely misunderstood. I don’t blame the people who chose not to understand them. Like the rest of humanity, I too had the same assumptions before I dabbled with politics.

As I wandered along memory lane, I realized that it is us, the people being served who needs to change if we want change in the first place. There is nothing wrong with politics and politicians.

They entered the game with the intention to be good public servants. But, we the people cajole them. We seduce them. We coax them to do things the way we don't want it done.

Think about it as you journey along.

Window Frame

One Sunday morning, I called my eldest son to my room. I told him to stand at the end side of my bed and look outside the window. A few seconds later I asked him what did you see. I didn't see anything, my son answered.

Again, I asked him to look outside the window and tell me what did you see. He replied, I told you dad, I didn't see anything. So for the third time, I asked him to look outside. I guided his head to where I want him to look. Then I asked what did you see? At that instance two birds landed on the roof of our neighbor's house. So my son told me, now I see something. Wanting to know his answer I asked, what is it? He said, two birds. Duh.

Before I called my son to my room, I was standing where I asked him to stand. I was looking outside my bedroom's window. There I stood to watch a body of water I started to call "the green pond ". I named her as such because she is surrounded by lush green shrubs laced with majestic coconut trees.

The green pond was etched perfectly in my bedroom's window. It was as if I was staring at a framed photograph of a body of water sprinkled by the rays of the sun. As I was marveling at God's wonderful creation, time stood still.

When I got back to my senses, I called my son hoping he too would see what I saw. But, seeing the obvious he was not able to do. Instead, for two times he told me he didn't see anything.

When I thought he would also marvel at the framed green pond, he said he saw two birds instead.

More often than not we fail to see what's in front of us. Many at time, we don't see what's ahead of us. Life is too simple that we have to make it complicated to live it.

Either, we refuse to see what is there in front of us or we just want to see what we want to see. Even if my son was staring at the green pond framed by my window, yet twice he said he didn't see anything. It was only until he saw two birds at our neighbor's roof top that he said he saw something.

Seeing the obvious is not man's best friend. We take for granted what is there in front of us, if that something has been there for a long time. We get blinded by doors, stairs and many permanent fixtures in our surroundings.

Thank God, we human beings are not just like any other permanent fixture around or we would fail to see each other.

If you want to see beyond what is obvious, train your eyes to capture snapshots of stale moments and freezing time.