BLURBAL THRUSTS
By Louie Logarta
Losers will be losers. And as expected, the losers in the just-concluded elections of the National Press Club (NPC) last Sunday — which was made all the more interesting due to the behind-the-scenes participation of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and the Government Service Insurance System which allegedly pumped in more than P1 million to finance the campaign of certain candidates — are sour-graping.
Who can blame them, after all they were dealt a stinging defeat (14-1) by members of the Press Freedom Party (PFP) whose campaign platform was anchored on performance. The accomplishments of the PFP, most of whose members are incumbent NPC officials, are to say the least impressive.
During the two-year term from 2006-2008, they were able to have the Club’s half-century old elevator (Sen. Manny Villar was once trapped inside the old one when its motor somehow malfunctioned while he was going up to attend a function of the Press Photographers of the Philippines) replaced at a cost of some P1.6 million; repainted the façade of the NPC building which cost around P400,000; retired partially the Club’s old debt to the Meralco which past NPC presidents, including two who are among the current officials’ most virulent critics due to vested reasons, to the tune of some P1.3 million; established a scholarship program for deserving offspring of legitimate NPC members; provided medicines of needy NPC members; set up a pool of top-notch lawyers for the defense of newsmen in courts, especially those caught up in libel cases, among others.
The support base of the PFP was made up of hundreds of tabloid newsmen who had joined forces during the NPC polls with the steely resolve of repudiating those fellow mediamen, as well as paid hacks of their financiers (including this PR man underwriting the expenses of selected columnists and business reporters during the Monday Club at Wack Wack) who had unfairly impugned their integrity by calling them “corrupt hao shiao journalists” during the vitriolic demolition campaign conducted in the campaign run-up.
But it was precisely all this negative campaigning, the incessant branding of tabloid newsmen in bought-and-paid-for newspaper stories and columns as hao shiaos or pseudo-journalists and the thoughtless expenditure of alleged taxpayers’ money that transformed the ragtag tabloid newspapermen into a band of brothers who are now a potent force in NPC politics for years to come.
One bright spot, though, in the super-heated NPC polls, was the unusual interest it managed to stir up among the lifetime members, many of whom who hadn’t showed up in decades. The number of lifetime members who had come to vote was pegged at 152 by the NPC election committee, which was ably headed by veteran journalist Willy Baun. We were told it was the biggest in the Club’s 56-year history.
The observation brought up by the sour-graping losers that three small tabloids have more voting members in the NPC as compared to the nation’s three biggest national dailies (meaning the Inquirer, Star and Bulletin) does hold water.
But it should be pointed out, lest it be forgot, that the Inquirer and the Star totally withdrew from participating in NPC affairs some 18 years ago because they were disgusted with all the alleged corruption and shenanigans going on.
The Inquirer people (myself included) began pulling out after editor Roy Acosta was trounced in the NPC presidential elections by a Bulletin man whom they had accused of padding the voters list with non-existent correspondents, editorial assistants, copy boys and drivers from his organization. And the Star did also a year later after the same Bulletin man soundly defeated one of its people, also during the presidential derby; but this was after the Bulletin guy welshed on a gentleman’s agreement he had made with the Star man (who at the time was his vice president) that he wouldn’t be seeking reelection.
Incidentally, the newly-elected officers of the NPC for the 2008-2010 term are Benny Antiporda of Remate, president; Rolly “Lakay” Gonzalo of UNTV and dwIZ, vice-president; Amor Virata of Remate, treasurer; Berteni Causing of Hataw and Police Files Tonite, auditor; Board members Jerry Yap of Hataw, Marlon Purificacion of People’s Journal, Percy Lapid of dwIZ, Alvin Feliciano of Hataw, William Depasupil of the Manila Times, Ronniel de Guzman of Manila Bulletin, Joel Egco of Manila Standard-Today, lifetime member Freddie Manalac and Rolando Cobarrubias of the Daily Tribune; and yours truly as secretary.
Truly, those who laugh last laugh loudest. ###
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