I am not sure how important Sen Escudero's endorsement is but that story grabbed the Inquirer's Front Page headline today (Escudero all out for ‘Noy-Bi’), along with a similar endorsement by a partylist group called Ang Ladlad. The endorsement came not as a surprise. The questions is what value is there in the said endorsement. Obviously, there is something going on when a newspaper gives importance to an endorsement by someone, which can only go positive for Sen. Noynoy Aquino and Mayor Jejomar Binay. The news is of course negative to Sen. Roxas and in a way to former President Estrada, creating an illusion that there is a wave of support going for the Noy-Bi tandem.
The news asking why the jail management allowed an Ampatuan press conference (Presscon in hi-risk jail? A phone call did it) surprisingly include of all people comments from Sen. Aquino and LP supporter Leah Navarro. As to why the paper asked the LP standard bearer to comment and not the other candidates, I leave it that to the reader's judgement, but I can easily see that this news piece favors Sen. Aquino. Needless to say, it is also very negative to the Arroyo administration.
In Cagayan de Oro City, Aquino reckoned that Puno had a hand in creating a “country club” atmosphere at the prison compound in Taguig City for Ampatuan.
Aquino said the free-wheeling setting allowed Ampatuan to make a mock press conference.
The LP presidential candidate said it was difficult to believe that the Department of Interior and Local Government did not have a hand in Ampatuan’s press conference especially since the agency had full control of the BJMP.
Aquino said other inmates like Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, a former naval officer, and Danny Lim, a former general, did not get any preferential treatment. Trillanes and Lim are accused of plotting a coup.
“Danny Lim and Senator Trillanes were given a hard time getting media interviews. My father was given one opportunity during the 1979 interim Batasang Pambansa elections where he was a candidate. Of course, the interview was hostile,” he said.
He described Ampatuan’s endorsement of his candidacy as a “childish, amateurish attempt which the public will not swallow.”
Widows score Ampatuan
Widows of the massacre victims believe that Ampatuans’ declaration of support for Aquino was a ploy to generate negative publicity for the LP standard-bearer.
Noemi Parcon dismissed the Ampatuans’ attempt to associate themselves with Aquino as a nothing but a “tactic to destroy people’s impression” of the senator, who has been leading in surveys. Parcon is the widow of slain newspaper publisher Joel Parcon.
Juliet Ibardo, widow of UNTV cameraman Julito Ibardo, agreed with Parcon’s observation, describing Ampatuan’s allegiance to Aquino as an attempt to “discredit” the senator.
Asked what she thought of Ampatuan’s claim, widow Arlene Untal called the suspect a “show-off.” Asked if she was backing the candidacy of Aquino with her assertions, Parcon replied with an emphatic “Yes.”
“His heart is for the poor and the oppressed,” she said.
Myrna Reblando, widow of slain Manila Bulletin reporter Alejandro Reblando, said Ampatuan was peddling lies.
Myrna has endorsed Aquino in one of his campaign advertisements.
Culprits
Aquino’s New Media Bureau said the Ampatuan clan’s “endorsement” of Aquino could be the handiwork of only two possible “culprits”—Villar’s Nacionalista Party or the Arroyo administration.
“Is Andal that powerful? I don’t think you can do that unless you have some backing from government,” said Leah Navarro, content head of Aquino’s New Media Bureau and executive director of Black & White Movement.
Another news about the Agra flack (Bereaved mount angry rally vs DoJ, Arroyo) is basically a bash-fest against the Arroyo administration. Of course it is very easy to insert an Aquino favor here to have the news easily go positive on him.
The rally was organized by media groups led by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
The protesters wore black, and most of them showed which presidential candidate they believed could give them justice through their yellow baller IDs and yellow “Laban” pins.
Killed by devils
“What we hope for if Noynoy [Aquino] wins is that he might be able to give us justice, because there is none to be had from this administration,” said Catherine Nuñez.
Another news is on Bishop's Cruz take on the Agra resolution (Bishop Cruz: Agra is only a ‘clerk’ of ‘Chief’) is basically a continuation of the earlier bash-fest. This time though, there is no mention about any candidate so it is generally neutral, except that it is extremely negative to President Arroyo.
Another news on Agra is the supposed side of President Arroyo on the matter (Arroyo on Agra: I told him to confer with prosecutors). Since the news piece presents the side of the administration, we can say it is positive for them, although answering issues hurled at you is never positive. It is more of like damage control or to neutralize the situation. But since there are no candidates mentioned, the news report turned out to be candidate-neutral as far as we are concerned.
On the political news as to who is the greenest among the candidate (Perlas, Madrigal, Gordon judged ‘greenest’ of candidates), the report can be judged to be a purely balanced assessment of how candidates responded to the "green" questions asked them by some environmentalist groups (Greenpeace and Ecowaste). The news report came out positive though for Perlas, Madrigal and Gordon as heralded in the news' title and negative for Teodoro and Estrada for not responding to the questions.
The remaining news reports (11 lawmen plead not guilty to murder raps and Palace sends exit sign, forms ‘transition team’) are basically neutral to the candidates, but negative and positive, respectively, to the Arroyo administration.
So, to whom does the Inquirer front page goes today? I say it is generally favoring Aquino, slightly positive for Perlas, Madrigal, and Gordon, neutral to the rest of the candidates, and wildly negative for President Arroyo.
The score now is:
Aquino: 7
Estrada: 1
All the rest: 0
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