Sun.Star Pampanga

Let ‘daily media’tell the story

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YOU don’t burn journalist­s for their reportoria­l lapses, especially in spot reportage or, in today’s idiom, livestream­ing. A vet editor once said they look for “bravery” in cub reporter applicants, and by that he meant grit and wit to collect, treat a material like a pro within the quick space between fact-gathering and actual writing. You ask for balance and enterprise; you may at least wait for the long form. Any discerning news consumer knows raw reportage is supposedly treated with a degree of tent at i veness.

But social media, the electronic twin of the fast-food culture, is simply devoid of restraint. Local media got the bashing from some sectors, including from one student editor who barreled off about local journalist­s maligning a university from which campus a supposed “rescue” operation by social welfare agents and a police unit was conducted on a delegation of lumad minors. The accompanyi­ng teachers and elders were arr est ed.

In another space, at the Supreme Court recently, the case of two Aeta men who are charged under the new antiterror­ism law, had spiraled into a complex yarn of contrastin­g claims— between authoritie­s and petitioner­s against the anti-terror law, now being debated. At the center of all these are Japer Gurung and Junior Ramos,

“On the vaccinatio­n, according to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), and the national government, hopefully, the rollout would take place by March this year,” Gaerlan said, who is also chairman of the MCAC.

MCAC is composed of the surroundin­g Metro Clark Areas which include the Cities of Angeles, Mabalacat, Porac town all in Pampanga; and Bamban and Capas towns in Tar l ac.

Gaerlan also discussed significan­t features of the said plan such as the eligible population, vaccinatio­n team training, vaccinatio­n post or venue, ancillary supplies and handling, and CDC’s coordinati­on with other department­s and agencies.

Under the eligible population, an initial 190 persons among frontline and medical workers will be prioritize­d in receiving the vaccines.

Senior citizens in this Freeport as well as CDC’s security group will also be given importance.

Meanwhile, the second priority cluster or Group B is composed of teachers, social workers, government employees, essential workers, and other remaining workforce.

For its part, the MCAC, as supported by Pampanga Governor Dennis “Delta” Pineda, also urged the locators here to prepare and allocate funds for the vaccinatio­n of their em p l o yees.

However, it was emphasized that the administra­tion of vaccines will not be mandatory and it will still be a personal decision to be made by workers if they want to be immunized or not.

“It’s up to them on how to go about it, but imagine if all employees received vaccinatio­n then the economy here will get even better,” Governor Pineda said earlier.

Mabalacat Mayor Crisostomo Garbo, who is also MCAC co-chairman, agreed to the proposal of Pineda to inoculate all workers in Clark and to start asking locators if they want to purchase their own vaccines through a tripartite agreement with CDC and the national government.

In the said meeting, it was also gleaned that they are now considerin­g and determinin­g the possible vaccinatio­n storage facility, sites, and centers in Clark and elsewhere. Close coordinati­on among department­s and agencies will also be made to ensure the successful conduct of the said inoculatio­n plan once the vaccines were made available.

Also present during the advisory council meeting are Mayors Jaime Capil of Porac, Jose Antonio Feliciano of Bamban, Reynaldo Catacutan of Capas, Max Sangil (representi­ng Mayor Carmelo Lazatin Jr., of Angeles City), and provincial administra­tor Roberto Ventura (representi­ng Governor Susan Yap of Tarlac).

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