CES RODRIGUEZ: Just another gossip writer or worse?” the final chapter

“To be happy does not mean to indulge in foolishness...
It is the same senseless orgy of the past years.
And all for what?
To throw money away when there is so much need and misery!
Of course it is an orgy, the bacchanal to drown the lamentations of everyone!” Jose Rizal

THE GUCCI GANG revisited
Written By:
Amiel Aguilar Cabanlig

Picture this: tales of decadence, posh nectars, phones galore and the finest caviar in a postcard-pretty “Fantasy Island ” theme party. All these are but a bittersweet saga of the recent past. And yes, these proceedings have been immortalized in print as a cautionary tale to one and all, that there is an end to all the freebies and swag bags.

What’s more, a yearly induction and expulsion of new clique members characterizes the secret society of the VVVVIP set. Boracays isolated chic hotel is the setting of choice, an apt venue where this mythmaking was started. Such tales are what urban legend is made of. One day you're in, the next day you're out; tsk, tsk! The bigger you are, the harder you fall.

Project runaway, led by a last season’s it-girl, played king-maker to devoted peons who came to her beck and call. Mythical as it may seem, the legend of the fall is as real as it can get.

As legends go, these are how life’s lessons are imparted!

With an unparalleled thirst to feed their “vanities”, the swinging camera whores morphed into an organized quasi-vulgar social sorority of sorts that swiftly went on top of the food chain. For a moment, they seized the limelight like a thief in the night. A mere flash in the pan, they over extended their fifteen minutes of fame into eternal shame!

Quickly gaining a foothold in their social niche, they developed the belligerence of wide-eyed upstarts. This brat pack followed a hollow social diktat, led by it-girl and her fair-haired golden boy. Like pretentious lemmings that blindly play follow-the-leader …they plunged into the river wild.

But hey, it takes two to tango, so they say. Fueling their conspiracy were corporate mavens, who wittingly predated on the dreams and schemes of these social moths. Using the age-old tools of marketing and public relations and expediently tailor-fitting it to serve personal aggrandizement, they made a mockery of the system. The once established benign rules of public relations were turned into a big joke. Publishers lost funds; ads turned into junkets for self proclaimed celebrity journalists on the fast lane.

They shot to instant fame like a “razor” sweeping the social landscape. Their “moto” was seizing the day; one, two… tie my “shu”. It-girl established a labyrinthine protocol of control by which her “in crowd” imposes their will on others. Particularly, those who kiss her ring like fauns to a goddess.

But in turn, she was enslaved by her own imposition. Who ever thought that a mere blog, which turned out to be the “mother of all blogs”, would be the weapon of their mass destruction? Now that truth has prevailed, denial is in vogue; instant amnesia is the name of the game.

Stop feigning innocence; can someone please pass the Pepper shaker! One can only surmise that the secret of their over-night success was the cause to their over-night downfall.

Now that explains why lemmings plunge to their own demise!

Margaux Salcedo: Please don't give the Inquirer a bad name... Or is it too late?

Margaux Salcedo: Please don't give the Inquirer a bad name... Or is it too late?

"Never argue with a man who buys his ink by the barrel." Quote attributed to Ben Franklin, who did, in fact, would buy his ink by the barrel.

By Paul Farol

I read the book ”News for Sale" by Chay Florentino Hofileña(http://www.pcij.org/bookshop/news4sale.html) when I was still working in the newsroom of RPN 9 as a scriptwriter for its two main news programs. That was a time when it seemed that the leadership of the newsroom was bent on weeding out people who were accused of "selling the news" and people who were engaged in a number of rackets that siphoned money off from the company's revenue.

As Hofileña had said in her book years ago, in so many ways, corruption in the news media is difficult to prove and yet the evidence is sometimes in plain sight. Hofileña points out a number of difficulties in stamping out corruption in media organizations, as she explains that the sort of corruption happens with the knowledge of the media bosses and peers who are also in on the racket.

After the first publication of "News for Sale" in 1998 and after the release of its newer version in 2004, it seems Hofileña may need to come up with an even newer version -- this time, perhaps, with a section dealing with PR firms and social media.

Recently, Margaux Salcedo's article on The Sunday Inquirer Magazine titled "Please don't give blogging a bad name" drew a lot of reactions from people on Twitter, Facebook, and in blogs. It recounted the experience of a restaurant owner who was described as a victim of what appears to be an extortion racket perpetrated by a Public Relations company and someone she referred to as the Big Bad Blogger.

What some people objected to on Twitter was the fact that Salcedo didn't name the restaurant, PR company or the blogger. Some said that this tended to place all Public Relations companies and bloggers under suspicion.

On Twitter (http://twitter.com/margauxsalcedo) defended her decision not to name the blogger by saying: Can't identify BBB, need 2 protect Georgia. Also pt of story not to ostracize/punish,just to raise awareness in hopes they stop bad practice.

Salcedo seems to have a point and calling attention to this atrocious practice through a blind item may actually do some good. If ever, it may actually have the effect of making restaurant owners, public relations firms, and bloggers more sensitive to ethical issues.

Then again, the article also resembles the type of white papers that get posted every now and then in the Media rooms of Malacanang, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and other offices where PR "operators" thrive.

I know of one such white paper that did more than just describe a bad practice, it carried the names of the reporters, editors, and producers who allegedly received regular payola, meals, and other favors. The reporters had their hunches as to who had spread the whitepaper and it dampened their relations with the news sources.

I don't know if Salcedo realized this but sometimes such whitepapers are also used by personalities and companies to COW reporters into not writing unfavorable stories about them.

Moreover, there is some reason to suspect that Ms. Salcedo might have an axe to grind against bloggers, take this story into consideration: http://www.ellentordesillas.com/?p=2791

Vicious Erap rumor

There are vicious email and text messages being passed around about former President Joseph Estrada alleged sexual relationship with his spokesperson, Margaux Salcedo.

It’s not true.

The ugly message was sent to me by a certain “Natividad Balete”. The blog which was opened only less than two weeks ago is titled “Filipina ako so what.”

The writer says he was formerly an Erap fan but is disgusted by what the former president did to his wife, Dr. Loi Estrada. The story is that Loi caught Erap in a compromising situation with his young and pretty spokesperson. It even alleges that Margaux is pregnant and that, just like with other Erap mistresses, he is building her a
house.

The writer says that according to the Estrada household help, Loi went to the United States in a huff and when she came back, she did not stay in the Estrada house in Polk Street. She is reportedly staying with her daughter, Jackie Lopez.

San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito, who was the one who recommended Margaux for the position as Estrada spokesperson, belies the rumor. “Kawawa naman ang bata,” he says of the young, aspiring lawyer who was formerly “Flash Report” anchor in GMA-7.

JV said he knew of Margaux during the 2007 mid-term election because she was the candidate of Partido ng Masa for Congress in Mindoro. When she didn’t make it, she suggested her to his father to replace Rufus Rodriguez, who won as representative of the second district of Cagayan de Oro.

“She is hardworking and a loyal PMP member,” JV said.

Anyway, Salcedo has the advantage here, having had her article published on a Weekly Magazine with a wide readership and in the online version of a newspaper that has millions of visitors a day or so they claim.

GOSSIP WRITERS!

Too much “partying” is never an excuse. PDI’s gossip writer Ces Rodriguez should learn a thing or two with this NUJ code of ethics...

“It would help the cause of truth in media if editors and reporters followed the National Union of Journalists’ Code of Ethics (NUJ), particularly Rules I and VIII. The first says: “I shall scrupulously report and interpret the news, taking care not to suppress essential facts nor to distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis. I recognize the duty to air the other side and the duty to correct substantive errors promptly.””

GOSSIP WRITERS

By: Ric Saludo

Today, the media’s penchant to report first and verify later (or never) continues. Last Thursday a leading daily headlined: “P-Noy bares anomalies in importation of rice.” Not claimed, alleged, or asserted, but bared, meaning that there were clear and verified irregularities being exposed, if one goes by plain English.

No prizes for guessing that the latest presidential claim was yet again anything but clear and verified.

The story’s very first sentence read: “President Aquino bared yesterday ‘one person or group’ could have benefited from the importation of rice and its overpricing during the Arroyo administration.” So it seemed he wasn’t even sure who might have benefited or if anyone did benefit.

PNoy also claimed that 1.3 million metric tons was the estimated rice importation needs last year, while 2.5 million MT was imported. Yet former Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, now a Bohol representative in Congress, countered the next day that 3.2 million tons was the ceiling recommended for 2010 by the inter-agency committee made up of DA, DOF and DOST.

There’s more. Last Friday the same paper ran a follow-up story titled: Gov’t gathering proof on rice scam.

The report recounted the press briefing of Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte: “She said President Aquino’s expose of the supposed irregularities in rice importations during the Liberal Party’s 65th founding anniversary last Wednesday was not done prematurely because even if the full audit is not yet finished, an informal audit was already conducted.”

So here’s the Palace line (so far): There’s a rice import scam which could have benefited one person or a group, but no proof or final audit yet to know for sure. Well, at least the papers and the airwaves had some spicy news to grab readers and viewers.

By the way, the more PR-savvy among us may wonder what else is going on at the National Food Authority (NFA) that is now pushed off the headlines by the rice importation claims. Hmm, this month it raised its prices by P2 or 8 percent to P27 a kilo, adding to the fuel, fare, toll and power hikes burdening consumers, especially the poor, and contributing to the rise in hunger incidence. NFA Administrator Lito Banayo is not a top media and political strategist for nothing.

It would help the cause of truth in media if editors and reporters followed the National Union of Journalists’ Code of Ethics (NUJ), particularly Rules I and VIII. The first says: “I shall scrupulously report and interpret the news, taking care not to suppress essential facts nor to distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis. I recognize the duty to air the other side and the duty to correct substantive errors promptly.” Rule No. 8 adds: “I shall presume persons accused of crime of being innocent until proven otherwise.”

However, given the pressure to win readers, listeners and viewers, the media are likely to keep headlining accusations without verification. (Anyone who doubts that bad news sells should ask five people which newspaper they would buy: the one headlined ECONOMIC RECOVERY, or the other bannered ECONOMIC CRISIS.) Hence, it behooves those of us who care about the truth in what we read or hear to have an oversupply of imported salt when appreciating local news and commentary.

If no basis or proof is cited in a report, then there was almost certainly none provided or even demanded.

Make the extra effort to pore through the inside pages, where corrections and qualifications of past articles are often buried. And always ask if the accuser may have an ulterior motive for making his claims.

Politicians usually do, especially those keen to keep their names widely and constantly reported and recalled.

Former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, a lifetime advocate of liberty and human rights, filed a bill requiring media to give the subjects of their stories a right of reply with equal time, space and prominence as the original reports being answered. The media and their Congress allies succeeded in killing the measure.

In Singapore, on the other hand, the government demands that its replies be published in full and without any changes on pain of a publication being banned. While the Philippines should not adopt such media strictures, there is certainly room for efforts toward greater responsibility to go with press freedom.

In Hong Kong, where this writer was an editor with Asiaweek magazine for 17 years, failing to do basic verification could severely weaken a media outfit’s defense in libel cases. Thus, reporters and editors there make sure to ask for proof before rushing to print or air. But in the Philippines it is almost impossible to find libel cases that result in substantial penalties, while the Supreme Court has ordered that offenders should not be meted jail sentences. There have also been moves to decriminalize libel.

With few effective ways to redress salacious reports, it is not inconceivable that some victims may resort to violence. Such acts are totally immoral, unjustified and unlawful, whatever may have been the wrong done by a mistaken or malicious report. At the same time, more responsible, less sensationalist, and truly truth-seeking media may just help reduce provocations which lead to violence against journalists.

Equally important, closer adherence to the lofty professional standards of the NUJ Code of Ethics would elevate the quality and veracity of our news and commentary. Yes, checking claims and accusations may spare some hoods the headline exposes they deserve, but that same argument was never any reason to water down the rights of the accused in court, so why do so in media?

Still, one should not hold one’s breath for reporters and editors to be more circumspect about headlining accusations anytime soon, especially if the great majority of their readers, listeners and viewers do not care either to let the facts get in the way of a sensational story. So buyer beware will just have to be the rule in appreciating local news, especially exposes by politicians. Even the one with an 80-percent trust rating.

CES RODRIGUEZ: Just another gossip writer or worse?” part II

The decadent 90’s marked an upsurge of the so-called “society” columnists. It was a time when everybody and her cousin were swashbuckling cameras, seeking the attention they thought they deserved from imprudent brand managers and their marketing ilk.

And oh yes- It was no less than Ces Rodriguez’ “party of fools” from the Philippine Daily Inquirer who started it all. (photo taken from: http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com)

This same horde comprise what is known today as the infamous “Gucci Gang”. For almost a decade, their weeklies encouraged and featured drugs, parties and the “good life”.

Even before the arrest of the so-called “Alabang Boys”, this brat pack were staples of their “Gucci-Gang banged” columns (The Alabang Boys even appeared in Maurice Arcache’s column almost half a dozen times!). And who can forget the “Oh so Divine Lee…” whom they coined “Most likely to Succeed” and “Real Estate Heiress”…

And lets not forget Papa Gucci's mantra: "“There is this mind-set, which I think is so passe, that says: ‘The country is in shambles and the country is having a hard time and you are out there partying.’ But this generation is guiltless when it comes to that.”--Tim Yap, “Good times are back for rich folk in Manila”

Should we wax nostalgic or should they be encased in a wax museum?

Demagogues’ of Disgrace
taken from: amiel aguilar cabanlig

While we live in a society where man’s spirit is crushed at birth; where hope is absent and poverty is severe, demagogues thrive in this melancholy. By offering hollow bonbons, sugar-coated in enticing wrapping such as “aspirational” to naive upstarts, they easily tickle the fancies and enslave their souls.

The vocabulary of pretentiousness is nowhere as encyclopedic as in their weeklies. To these sybarites, greed has no moderation. Remember, your Hermes scarves are useless dahlins’, its hot where you’re going!

In a recent article I read, a senior columnist proposes an ethics body to be formed by journalists to “hear and decide the complaints about their abusive peers.” It’s quite amusing, that someone, somewhere, is coming up with a solution. But hey, didn’t it take almost a decade for their own daily to come to their senses and fathom the contemptuous self-serving dignitary that it bred and nurtured? The line to get your passport stamped doesn’t start at the Fort but can only go down from there. Sniff, sniff, sniff!

The PROBE Team has done a survey and says that a reporter takes at least P5,000 a month, an editor at least P10,000 pesos and a columnist at least P15,000 especially during elections! Geez, social writers wouldn’t even bother with these nickels and dimes.

Pushing the art of self-promotion to its toxic limits and masquerading it with spectacular events and public relations, columnist’s profits can easily go up to six figures. Not to mention threat, theft, corruption, hotels, caviar and cruises all in the name of “lifestyle journalism”. When it rains it certainly pours. But now that drought is upon them, can we call a shaman for some acid-rain.

Should we wax nostalgic or should they be encased in a wax museum?

Another case in point: the death of actor Rico Yan brought forth a superfluous national outpour of grief propelled by television. In its aftermath, print-media took stock to the hype and tried to make sense of the brouhaha. But when the same happened to a socialite friend of the guardians of high society’s fourth estate, millions of pesos worth of precious column-centimeters were devoted to beatify their dearly departed. A “cannibalism of grief” as some would say; a case of canonizing or denying ones guilt if I may say.

Will someone hand me the hand-sanitizer!

The declaration of demagogues is set in stone. But when they stumble and fall into disgrace, their alibis are all for naught.

Ces Rodriguez: Just another gossip writer or worse?” part I

Quite obviously, PDI’s Ces Rodriguez is worse than a gossip writer- she can’t even get her facts straight. In her feature story, “Sensationally On-line” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Sunday Magazine), she insolently touted Dona Victorina as a mere “gossip blog” and unwittingly blaming it as the author of “An Avatar of Society’s Beelzebub.”

Clearly, Ces Rodriguez and her presumptuous posse from the Philippine Daily Inquirer have no idea as to what they’r talking about!

For everyone’s information it was then Manila Times Columnist and special supplement Editor, Amiel Aguilar Cabanlig who wrote the much talked about essay: “Who is Soozyhopper?” It was written as a retort to the queries brought about by PDI editor Thelma San Juan. It was later picked up by http://delfindjmontano.blogspot.com/ and then http://donavictorina.blogspot.com/.

Dona Victorina is a group of vibrant men and women whose foremost advocacy is to put key sectors of society under scrutiny to identify and denounce all forms of debauchery and pretensions. Dona Victorina’s battleground is the internet and the ever expanding online community.

Now we ask PDI's “writer” Ces Rodriguez- What makes this well written article “GOSSIP”?

Ces Rodriguez: Just another gossip writer or worse?” part I

WHO IS SOOZYHOPER?
By: Amiel Aguilar Cabanlig
The Manila Times, September 1, 2006

If you’ve been running through the gamut of the metro’s polite society, I am almost certain that you’ve heard its name whispered in frighteningly clandestine conversations. Who is she? Who is he? Or who is it? Why does it do what it does? Who is Soozyhopper?

Soozyhopper, an avatar of society’s Beelzebub, which manifested itself several months back as an incognito blogging socialite, still remains a hot topic albeit in hushed whispers along the cold corridors of Manila’s elite get-togethers.

Its mysterious appearance took many by surprise as it chronicled webpages upon webpages of malicious gossip about the Philippines’ supposed high society—only to suddenly vanish in a flash of fire and brimstone. This elusive Soozyhopper and the web of intrigues it has painstakingly spun have prompted a rude awaking in society. From accusations of halitosis to surreptitious affairs, its venomous words have been the talk of the town. Nonetheless, in my opinion, what it did was uncalled for and despicable!

The emergence of society’s worst nightmare, Soozyhopper, is a byproduct of years of societal toxins festering, free of checks and balances. On several occasions querying society figures courteously approached me inquiring if I was it—if I was Soozyhopper. Though feeling utterly disrespected, I shrugged-off their assertions civilly because to me, they were people who really didn’t matter.

This was until people, who mattered, like the revered Thelma San Juan, asked me the same question? Dumb-founded by her query, I decided to write about my sentiments and put these accusations to rest, once and for all. Before Soozyhopper’s online mud slinging of societal figures and celebrities, I had an unfortunate incident with some partyphiles at a Greenbelt bar.

Inebriation—an accepted weakness of mine but in no way an excuse for inappropriate behavior—has more than once put me in awkward situations. I will not go into detail about what happened that fateful evening but my mistake there was stepping out of Mezze (a place dear to me that knew how to deal with such appalling situations) and exposing myself to who might have been Soozyhopper’s alter egos.

A row ensued, which I regret. Nevertheless, I apologized to high heavens through Miguel Rosales who I consider a fine chap and a friend. In less than a week after that untoward incident, Soozyhopper reared its ugly head, spewing hateful words about the same people I bumped into that fateful night.

Talk about bad timing!

Though logic dictates that I couldn’t have concocted a blog in less than a week, some would like to believe me to be that vile creature out to exact revenge, but dearies, I might be a lot of things but I could never be it!Knowing who Soozyhopper is should be as easy as pie taking into account the pecuniary capability of its victims. Yet, more important than knowing the façade behind it, we should all know why it evolved and came into being.Take for example the recent hullabaloo, which spattered last week’s society pages.

The genuine humanitarian concerns of a heaven-sent royalty, Prince Andrea Casiraghi, were almost marred by the pretenses of social poseurs who seemed more concerned with rubbing elbows and feeding their vanities than genuine munificence. Good thing, the wise Prince’s blanket rejection of all mundane society invitations is a repudiation of these societal ills bread by self-proclaimed society arbiters.It is this abominable attitude that creates superficial devils who spitefully gloat in their Prada shoes rather than altruistic angels who would seek to rectify societal ills.

Was Soozyhopper borne of such loathsome sentiment or has it merely contributed to such contemptible superficiality? Whatever the case might be, people are still left wondering who this enigma really is and the finger pointing has yet to end. To be frank, while I am unafraid of the person or persons behind this cyber-personality, the whole conundrum has exhausted my last straw.

I think we all know the catalysts that could bring such a monstrosity into life. Those who fear Soozyhopper are most likely the very same people perpetrating its existence as well as several wannabe-Soozyhoppers to come. For in the final analysis, we are a mere précis of all the people we are with. And with the three best friends I had for the past decade: Nonong (Dero) Pedero, Raul Teehankee and Ed Lejano, there is no way in hell I could be it.

Finally, behind all the political upheavals, oil-spills, volcanic eruptions and what I’ll be eating for dinner tomorrow, who really cares?

May Soozyhopper come out in the open or rest in urban legend peace!