Contrapelo

EDITORIAL

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02/01/2009

One precise word that describes the relationship between Gloria and the legitimate media, not the ones that are constantly sniffing at her behind, throughout her nine-year term is contrapelo, which means brushing the wrong way or against the grain.

During that long period, Gloria failed to win the respect of media while she tried practically to elude media except for scripted interviews or those where only sanitized questions long advanced to her are asked.

The most obvious reason for Gloria’s effort to become elusive to media that are not to her choice and taste, is the many allegations of corruption and misdeals that would have to be asked of her but which she never intended to face.

News stories are anathema to Gloria because these deal with facts, and facts as everybody knows it, are truth, since they can be verified as accurate.

The mere mention of media appears to send shivers down the spine of Gloria and her cabal, the usual reaction of people who have many things to answer for.

Instead, Gloria has constantly insisted that media should be a partner for development and should dwell on the achievements of her administration which are few and far between if there are any at all and to gloss over the negative that is mainly ventilated corrupt practices that spring up almost daily.

In a similar fashion, the recent corrupt practices uncovered by the World Bank (WB) on major government road projects that it funds show the adverse relationship between media and Gloria.

Gloria who now prefers to speak through a battery of mouthpieces collectively called Malacañang has been busy lately, fending off accusations again about the involvement of First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo in the shameful allegations of corrupt practices by the WB.

An abruptly cut Senate hearing had established a relationship between Eduardo de Luna, the sole individual meted an indefinite ban by the WB, again another first for Gloria, and FG with De Luna, through obvious half lies, admitting that he had visited the office of Mr. Arroyo through an intermediary who is a radio broadcaster.

The WB fiasco clearly presented another unsettling situation for Malacañang.

Despite the whitewash at the House of Representatives, which absolved all the blacklisted contractors, to give them a cloak of legitimacy since nearly all the government’s expensive projects are allegedly being handled by the syndicate, which the WB itself on its report said has been a fixture in road projects, it would be difficult to dismiss allegations of corruption coming from the multilateral institution.

Certainly it would hard for Malacañang to brand the allegations with its standard defense of it being politically-motivated.

The WB has proposed a solution that may put Malacañang out of its current state of disarray.

WB director for the Philippines Bert Hofman said in a forum the other day that in countries where weak governance exists, “policy can be captured, service provision and regulation can be distorted to support favored elites, and corruption can run rampant.”

He continued that the key to strengthening governance is transparency, and the essential element of transparency is oversight from a strong independent media and an aware public.

“Formal oversight institutions can provide important pressures for improving government performance. Where judiciaries are independent, competent, and accountable and where public accounts committees, supreme audit institutions, and ombudsmen have sufficient capacity, they often can hold the executive to account,” he said.

“Equally important is attention to the legal framework by which the judiciary operates and which it applies. Poorly conceived and drafted laws can contribute to creating an environment in which corruption flourishes,” Hofman said.

He said such a set up is possible if the government, primarily the executive, makes information broadly available to citizens on the operation of the public sector, where citizens and media have broad access to information on the operation of state institutions to hold the state to account.

The abrasive relationship between Gloria and media is only the consequence of her administration’s refusal to open up or explain the many evils that are being alleged as her or her cabal’s handiwork.

Thus, the absence of harmony between media and Gloria.

Such a relationship is expected and is even necessary under a corrupt regime.

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