People will discredit rehashed cover
RESPONSIBLE journalism transcends boundaries of medium. So what holds true for print is also held sacred by practicing journalists on radio and television. This is the dictum that all media people should check and double-check facts.
Among journalists, it is common knowledge that many cases are filed before the Office of the Ombudsman by people who crawl out of the woodwork to harass the political opponents of their masters. The complaints serve as peg or cover for their black propaganda campaigns.
Now, it is an altogether different thing when the Ombudsman files a case against a government official before the Sandiganbayan. The Ombudsman, after all, is the prosecutor and the Sandigabayan is the court which tries erring government officials and employees.
C o n s e q u e n t l y, a n y d i s m i s s a l by the Ombudsman of a complaint filed against an official carries much weight. Case in point is the dismissal by then Tanodbayan (the precursor of the Ombudsman) Simeon Marcelo of a plunder case filed against former House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella in 2004.
In 2012, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales also dismissed as baseless the rehashed plunder case against Fuentebella. That should have put an end to it, but Philippine politics as it is, old, discredited tales are almost always resurrected every time there is an election.
This is what is happening to Fuentebella which brings us back to our original point on how journalists, the responsible ones at least, check facts, allegations, and claims.
What is mysterious about the latest repetition of the dismissed plunder complaint against the Fuentebellas is that it has been made by one Danilo Hassan and his alleged anti-corruption organization. This Hassan seems to exist only as a voice over the phone and the writer of what appears to be typewritten press releases in this day and age when typewriters are now just relics like Gutenberg’s printing press.
Hassan has been peddling his press releases about an alleged plunder complaint he filed against the Fuentebellas but which no one seems to have seen.
Of course, creditable media outfits did not touch the releases because firstly, complaints filed before the Ombudsman are mere scraps of paper, no different from any complaint that may be filed at the barangay out of spite.
Secondly, this seemingly unseen figure did not even attach to his releases the alleged complaint he filed before the Ombudsman.
Clearly, this complaint against the Fuentebellas is yet another example of how dirty Philippine politics is and how media should be wary of those engaged in black propaganda and demolition jobs come election time.