According to Nestor Martinez, despite the economic hardships faced by their families right after the closure, they do not regret forming a union. “We stood for what is right and constitutional. We had been helping the deprived sectors of our society through our radio programs. Why not help ourselves to alleviate our economic condition?”
Morallos added that the only media organization that provided them financial support during the early part of their picket was the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) through NUJP, its affiliate here in the Philippines.
Cases of corruption
“Others (journalists) resort to “envelopmental journalism” or even payola system to (augment their) meager income,” explains a married broadcaster who refused to be identified. He said that in May or June, he saw a list of journalists under the payroll of the Leyte provincial government. He said that these groups of journalists are getting salary from the Leyte Province as job order (JO) employees. Aside from that, they also receive envelopes containing money during press conferences.
Another young male broadcast journalist shared his experience with senior reporters. He was given a follow-up assignment in a far-flung municipality in Samar where he stayed for almost three days. Upon his return and after sharing the results of his investigation, the senior reporters who gave him the assignment dismissed the allegations as lies, even though facts he gathered say otherwise. He learned later that the alleged perpetrator of the crime already held a meeting with these senior reporters. After the said meeting, the very hard-hitting commentaries against the alleged perpetrator immediately died down.
“After the incident, I immediately decided to leave and look for another outlet,” said the young male broadcast journalist.
No praise releases
“Bribery is a human nature. Journalists as journalists find excuses. They are thinking that they are not doing anything wrong while others even think that they are entitled to it, which is very bad,” lamented Montilla.
The young female broadcast journalist, for her part, said that she was culture shocked with how easily politicians here distribute money. “It is not right for us to receive any bribe from anybody, because what will happen is we will be reporting a `praise release’ and we will not able to expose any anomalies.” Bulatlat
