TABUK CITY, Kalinga – For attempting to protect the image of the province by correcting a purportedly erroneous news report in the national media, Governor Jocel Baac has succeeded in placing the province in the merciless glare of the national and even international mass media for the wrong reasons.
For three days now, the television networks have played and replayed the video footage showing Baac entering the announcer’s booth of the state-owned Radio ng Bayan-DZRK to confront radio commentator Jerome Tabanganay who was then wrapping up his “Agenda ng Bayan” program.
The footage showed Baac pulling out the mike Tabanganay was using and being pacified and ushered out of the booth by policemen and some men in civilian clothes.
The confrontation was recorded by a computer camera that was streaming the radio broadcast online.
Tabanganay and witnesses claim that after ripping the announcer’s mike from its holder and cable, Baac had slammed it on the table after which he grabbed the guest mike and smashed in on the face of the announcer.
Tabanganay alleged that as Baac was being led out of the booth, he threatened to kill him if he did not stop criticizing him.
The encounter in the Radio ng Bayan at around 12:55 of June 7 as Tabanganay was winding up his program “Agenda ng Bayan” was the breaking point of the row between Baac and the Radio ng Bayan staff especially Tabanganay which deepened in aftermath of the attempted burning of the radio station 1 a.m. of May 24.
Unidentified men poured gasoline into the kitchen and technician’s lounge of the radio station through the jalousie windows and set this one fire by tossing a bottle with a burning cloth into the rooms.
The fire was put off by the nightshift personnel of the radio station who were alerted to the arson attempt by a loud sound of something heavy falling into the sink.
Baac was irked by the report on the incident aired by the ABS-CBN and sister radio station DZMM stating that the radio station was bombed and had accused the staff of the radio station of releasing inaccurate information which he said hampered efforts to promote the province especially its tourism industry.
During the “Kapehan sa Kapitolyo,” a regular meeting of the heads of provincial government offices and line agency heads, on June 6, Baac allegedly dressed down Baluyan for releasing the false information to the media and had demanded that he take steps to rectify the report.
Baluyan told the ZZW that he tried to explain to the governor that their hands were tied on the matter as they were not the source of the information and that it was not proper to ask the ABS-CBN and DZMM to correct the story as these are private media outfits but Baac allegedly would not listen to his explanation.
The following day, Baac wrote Baluyan to reiterate his demand that the report be rectified.
Meanwhile, during his program on noon of June 7, Tabanganay reported the encounter between Baac and Baluyan the day before without naming Baac. He was in the act of commenting on the incident and entertaining comments from the public coming in through text messaging when Baac together with some armed men believed to be his security men burst into the radio station.
News of the event has spread like wildfire through the mainstream media and the social networking sites here and abroard. The video footage is making the rounds through cyberspace.
Via phone patch, Baac and Tabanganay were also interviewed over the “Punto for Punto” segment of the “Umagang kay Ganda” program of the ABS-CBN on June 9.
Baac told anchor Anthony Taberna that he did not intentionally harm Tabanganay but that the latter was only accidentally hit while he (Baac) was getting the mike and that his purpose in going to the station was to explain his side on the issues being raised against him in the program.
He said Tabanganay would often read unverified text messages on his show about alleged anomalies of government agencies.
Tabanganay told Taberna that Baac was lying and that he has a medical certificate to prove his injuries pointing out that the video clealy shows that the governor was not in a mood for a friendly talk at the time.
Tabanganay accused the governor of being a protector of illegal gambling and logging in the province claiming that Baac was mad at him for exposing corruption.
Tabanganay also alleged that before him, the governor had already physically assaulted four other persons including two women.
The unprecedented media attention the province is getting is embarrassing many residents some of whom would rather that the province did not get into the news at all.
Media groups in the country have already condemned the act with National Press Club (NPC) and National Union of Journalist of the Philippines (NUJP) vowing to see to it that Baac will get his comeuppance for his attack on press freedom.
The NPC said it will file administrative, civil and criminal cases against the governor “to serve the public good that this act should not be repeated by any high official of the government.”
The NUJP has sent a legal team to assist Tabanganay in taking legal action against Baac.
Malacanang also has expressed dismay over the intrusion of Baac into the announcer’s booth calling it a case of suppression of press freedom.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma has already requested the Department of Interior and Local Government to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the case.
The latest development in the case is the broadcast of the explanation of the governor of the incident over the Radyo Natin station in the city morning of June 10.
In the statement read for him by Provincial Administrator Grace Flores, Baac claimed among other things that Tabanganay was “irresponsible and unfair” in handling his program as he aired unverified text messages and did not accord his subjects the chance to give their sides, that on June 2, 2011, Tabanganay had called on the New People’s Army (NPA) to help in the apprehension of jueteng collectors and that on July 7, he again falsely announced that he (Baac) had berated and insulted Baluyan during the Kapehan sa Kapitolyo the day before.
He said that what really happened during the Kapehan sa Kapitolyo was an exchange between him and Baluyan over the correctness of a statement in the minutes attributed to Baluyan which the latter claimed was not his statement but which he (Baac) said was Baluyan’s.
Baac said that perhaps during the occasion, he might have raised his voice but that was only to emphasize “something important or crucial and not for the purpose of maligning a person or any other purpose” and that the other participants can attest to this.
Baac continued that Tabanganay’s act of encouraging the NPA to perform the duties of government law enforcement arms and of making it appear that the Kapehan sa Kapitolyo “is a gruesome and not a credible body” seriously affected the peace and order situation in the province for which he is responsible he being the governor.
All this, according to Baac, prompted him to go to the radio station on June 7 to talk to Tabanganay to change his unfair and irresponsible manner of carrying out his job and to be balanced in his reporting considering that there was no effort from the DZRK management to check Tabanganay despite the many complaints against him.
He claimed he had no intention of hurting Tabanganay but only wanted to answer the issues leveled at him but that when he entered the booth, the commentator arrogantly asked “Apay?” (why) prompting him to get his (Tabanganay’s) mike so that the conversation will not be aired live. When Tabanganay insisted to continue airing by getting the other mike, “I got hold of the same and then my companions came to usher me outside the booth.”
Asked to comment on the statement of the governor, Tabanganay said that it was all lies and that the video tells the true story.
By: Estanislao Albano Jr.
