April 23, 2010

Today, the target of the Inquirer Front Page is Sen. Villar..



By the way the main headline is written, the reader would be led to believe that the Inquirer has just caught a snake by its head. The title (Villar: Trouble with hellos) obviously attracts readers. The subtitle though (NP bet used influence to twist stock market rules) is the Inquirer's direct conclusion. Meanwhile, the more complete subtitle on the paper itself (SEC Bares NP bet used influence to twist stock market rules) seems to be an outright misrepresentation, even of the report itself. I cannot say that the report is made to confuse but the first few stanzas are quite a spin:

Hello Fe! Hello Francis!

Sen. Manny Villar called Fe Barin, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Francis Lim, then president of the Philippine Stock Exchange, many times sometime between May and June 2007, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has learned.

But the calls, according to SEC and PSE lawyers and brokers interviewed by the Inquirer on separate occasions, were “too many to be easily dismissed and forgotten.”

They couldn’t forget about the calls either, they said, most especially because Villar, then Senate President, wanted the SEC and PSE officials “to throw the exchange rules out the window.”

Reading through those stanzas, I became quite confused as to who said what. Was it Barin (SEC Chair) and Lim (PSE Pres.) who said they cannot forget Villar's calls? If that is what the news seem to say, it is not what it meant. It was actually the unnamed SEC and PSE lawyers and brokers who said that. Did the report say their sources are unnamed? No. They were SEC and PSE lawyers and brokers. The news report by its subtitle is saying something but it quite confuses as to who it came from. To me, there is none more blatant spin than how the Inquirer designed this news.

Another amazing fact is that the news report did not say when they interviewed the unnamed SEC lawyers and brokers, although it seems they knew of it (whatever it is) since last year:

How Villar managed to get his wish shocked some SEC and PSE lawyers and stockbrokers. Five of them talked to the Inquirer separately at the height of the controversy surrounding an ethical complaint lodged by Sen. Jamby Madrigal against the billionaire-senator last year in connection with the multibillion C-5 road diversion controversy.

If they know it since last year, the Inquirer did not say what prompted them to report it just now. Oh well, I am "sure" it doesn't have anything to do with the elections (yeah right).

Going back, the news is about the supposed lock-up in escrow of secondary shares of the Vista land offering which "rule" Villar is supposed to have asked to be thrown out the window. The news did not say whether there is an exemption in the rule and whether Villar's shares where not qualified to such exemption. The news report makes it appear that the "rule" is contained in a rare document and found only by some diligent researchers:

The rule, according to a PSE document obtained by the Inquirer, requires a company to cause its shareholders owning at least 10 percent of its issued and outstanding capital to enter into an agreement not to sell, assign, or in any manner dispose of their shares within the 180-day period from the listing of the shares.

The 180-day rule effectively puts the secondary shares in escrow mainly to allow the public buying into the primary shares to have their due course, stabilize the market share of prices, and to prevent the majority stockholders from abandoning the company which could take place during a secondary offering.

Of course, one can easily find examples in the internet of such rules being applied. One can also easily find out that if a shareholder owns only 10% of the offering, he is exempted from such rules. I am not sure if the rule applies to Vista land, but the point is: We are not provided with enough data in order to appreciate the facts.

From the report, here are the facts that we can gather:
1. That Villar make telephone calls to the SEC and PSE chairpersons (how often we do not know and what they discussed we do not know),
2. That Villar is in a meeting with the PSE board (what was discussed we do not know),
3. That a Villar company was able to offer secondary shares within 180 days from the primary offering (if they got an exemption on the lock up and on what grounds we do not know), and
4. That there are unnamed lawyers and brokers who talked to the Inquirer about rules in the PSE and who are quite shocked for reasons unclear.

In short, after reading the report, we do not have any facts to begin drawing any opinion.

Meanwhile, from the opinion written all over the report, we gather:
That the Inquirer thinks that it was SEC who said that Villar twisted the rules.

Quite a big jump from the facts, isn't it?

Obviously, the news report is a news report very negative to Villar. And it even has a part 2 (supposedly Villar's response) possibly tomorrow.

If the above is not enough, the next news report entitled (‘Vista Land should answer issue, not me’) mainly rebukes that Villar do not want to answer the allegations when he should answer it.

Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel Villar Thursday chose to ignore yet another attack hurled by a rival, this time involving his shares in property firm Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc.

"Yet again", we know what the news reporters opinion is, that Villar is "yet again" "chose" or choosing not to answer issues.

Instead of discussing the nitty-gritty of the sale of his shares, Villar urged the media to rely on a press statement issued by Vista Land early in the day.

With the writers opinion that while Villar should talk details, Villar just gave us a press release. Maybe, the writer would like to say that Villar side is just propaganda ("press statement") making mute the point by point rebuttal by a Villar lawyer, Nalen Rosero-Galang, that follows within the report itself.

Atty. Galangs point is that credible companies handled the listings and selling of shares of Vista Land and that all dealings are above board and public knowledge. But since the Inquirer thinks that Villar should answer it perhaps by himself, we can easily be led to believe that perhaps Galangs rebuttals are mere propaganda.

So I say this report is as negative as can be to Villar.

Now as if that is not enough and perhaps Villar is such a masochist and might want to receive more spanking, the entire main headline news report, almost word for word, is repeated, only this time with former Pres. Estrada, the proven plunderer, and Sen. Enrile, one of the Architects of the Martial Law in Marcos' time, as source (Estrada, Enrile accuse Villar of pressuring PSE on stock sale). Read the news and you would know somehow you read it already, from the same issue of the paper!

Needless to say, Villar is in total negative territory. Reading these news alone, I can't help but realize that after this, Judas might be conferred a Saint by Pinoys compared to Villar. Perhaps, the worst Pinoys would be as follows in order of corruption:

3. Marcos, the most corrupt until Arroyo
2. Arroyo, the most corrupt until Villar
1. Villar, the most corrupt person in the country and most especially if he becomes President

Of course, now as if by habit, there would be not a day without a positive Noynoy press release. The next news (Aquino warns: I’ll void ‘midnight’ appointments, deals) doesnt actually need a writer. If there is the most blatant press release cum news cum advertisement, it is this one. The entire news is a quote from an entire Aquino speech. It is a news report where he said, he added and he told what he said and that is all and everything in the report. The writer should have just pointed to us the whole speech.

The next news (Why Escudero all the way for Binay, not Roxas) is much like a press release for Binay by Escudero, a continuation of yesterdays press release. All I can say is that it obviously benefits Binay. The report about Gordon suing the survey firms (Gordon sues survey firms, seeks damages) is not about the Gordon case but the pollsters defense so it does not go well for Gordon himself, try as he may to be included in the news. It is obvious that the Inquirer gets ample and quick responses from affected parties when they want it denying Gordon free press. There are still two news reports about AGra that is still negative for the government.

So all in all, the Inquirer front page today is positively going for Noynoy, ultra-negative against Villar, positive for Binay, negative for the government, mute for Gordon, and did not give coverage to any other presidential candidates.

The score now stands at Aquino 8, Estrada 1, all the rest 0. If there are negative grades, Villar would be the most negative hands-down.

By the way it is going, I am not sure why I am still doing this. With barely 16 days before the elections, I cannot see anymore how the Inquirer will balance its news, unless it gives purely positive news for Villar and cover the rest of the candidates from now on. I wouldn't be surprised if in the coming days, the Inqiurer would be as blatant as having the following on its headlines:

Headline 1: Noynoy is the best person the Philippines ever had. He is the sure winner to be President of this country.

Headline 2: Villar is Evil and will (must) lose the Elections. All the others are mere annoyances.

Headline 3: If Noynoy did not win, there is definitely cheating

Headline 4: Since Noynoy will win, the only thing the evil forces can do is to make the elections fail, hence "failure of elections".

Headline 5: If the COMELEC do not declare Noynoy, there should and would be another People Power.

Ok, ok, the above might be too much, or is it? Hey, you might just want to read their headlines and who knows, I might eventually be proven right.