Lawyer, journalist and politician Teodoro Locsin Jr. Saturday stressed the need for media to report the truth, and to never cover up for the mistakes of those in power.

“Media should never help a president defend himself. It should publish his defense but anything more is disgusting. The President has more than enough power to defend himself even against correct criticism of his indubitable mistakes. What he can do is to start correcting those mistakes and not repeat them,” Locsin said.

Locsin was the guest speaker at the 79th Negros Press Club induction ceremony, led by its incoming president Dolores Epacta, at the SMX Convention Center in Bacolod City.

The role of media is “to tell things as they happened; to describe things as they are; and with as much detail for the public to make sense of it — without dictating to the public the sense they make of events because that would be propaganda,” he said.

President Aquino is handling the various crises facing the country today as best he knows how, which isn’t very good, he said.

“But it is worse for him now that media balks at covering up his mistakes as in the past. I blame the media for everything that’s gone wrong. Keep praising a man for his mistakes and he will make worse mistakes to show he is really good at it. After all, he got plaudits from media for past mistakes,” Locsin said.

“For media to defend power in error or abuse is for media to abdicate their sole reason for existing; which is to speak the truth to presidential power,” he said.

Media did not report the raw facts in the Mamasapanoincident that left 44 Special Action Force men dead, it took a brave soul to upload the videoed carnage on the web showing that it really happened, Locsin said.

It is also only from the Senate hearings, which cannot be edited live, that the public got the facts from the mouths of direct participants in the mission turned massacre, he added.

Mamasapano was a story begging to tell itself but it was spun to achieve the desired effect -- to save the peace talks and a crack at the Nobel Prize for a peace that’s sure to be shattered by the certainty of a bigger war, he said.

Locsin said if his son was killed at Mamasapano, he would want his commander-in-chief to know that he owes it to him to take down his murderers whatever the political consequences.

“In the words of the King of Jordan ‘I will kill them. I will kill their friends. I will burn their houses down’ - before his jet fighters took off to do just that. That’s a leader, not a brat,” Locsin said.

Locsin said far from regulating the media, there should be open access to every source of news but with public relevance as the only constraining condition.

“We need a right of reply in the FOI (Freedom of Expression Act) …We already have the advantage in breaking the news so we must face the prospect of being corrected on that score. Beyond fairness, getting out the other side enriches our story - unless we are getting rich telling only the half of it,” he also said.

Locsin also stressed the need for the libel law.

“Without the libel law, we won’t be sued; we’ll be shot instead. Worse yet, journalists will be immune to justice. I prefer to be sued than shot - or protected by the law from the correct consequences of my misdeeds,” he said.

Social media can and has been abused and the way to punish it is with the same libel law - and not with new cybercrime legislation, he added.

Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., whose speech was read for him by his executive assistant Eric Loretizo, called on the NPC members to never give up on championing responsible reporting and to take steps to upgrade and update the skills of its members to be sync with the current trends of community journalism and the broadcast industry.

Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson stressed the need for mediamen to courageously perform their roles as mirrors and lighthouses.

“Mirrors reflect back to us who we are, so that we are made aware of what is already working, as well as what is not working…But mirrors to be good reflectors, must themselves be also clean and pure, uncorrupted and incorruptible,” he said.

The 2015-2016 NPC officers, led by Epacta of Negros Weekly, took their oath of office before Judge Napoleon Diamante.

Other officers who took their oaths were Chrysee Samillano – vice president, Stephanie Tarre – secretary, Henceboy Cestina – treasurer, Mae Singuay – auditor, and members of the board of directors Mark Gabriel Salanga, Henry James Toga, Hernand Garciniego, Dolly Yasa, John Elmer Ubaldo, Rico Gantalao, Jose Lizael Lampinez, Elsie Jolingan, Angelino Julita Jr.; and Carla Cañet – ex-oficio.

Epacta, in her inaugural address, noted that it was the eve of the celebration of International Women’s Day.

She said while she is not promoting the gender divide in the club, it is noteworthy to mention that NPC has been a frontrunner in upholding women’s rights and privileges, noting that she is the sixth woman president of the club.

NPC, before the Philippines had its first woman leader, President Cory Aquino, had its first female president, Ninfa Leonardia, editor-in chief of the Visayan DAILY STAR, who served as president for two times, she said.

The other women presidents of the club were Pinky Colmenares-Concha, Elsie Esperacion-Jolingan, Doly Yasa, and Carla Cañet.

And to unify activities in the Women’s Day celebration, the United Nationscoined the theme, “Make It Happen”, she noted.

She said with apologies to the organizers of IWD, she would like to adopt the theme, “Make it happen”, as the rallying point also of her NPC club leadership.*CPG

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