IN a forum held at Pius XII Catholic Center September 4, attended by delegates and guests from the media, academe, Church, government and NGO’s, PPCRV chair Henrietta de Villa highlighted the volunteerism of media in taking an activist role, and its vigilance in exposing election fraud for public scrutiny in the last elections.
“Volunteerism and vigilance, two key words for bringing to light two election sons of darkness: anomalies and fraud,” de Villa said in her opening remarks.
“In the experience of PPCRV, media walking with us was a powerful detonator for volunteerism and vigilance; an unquantifiable source of courage and hope,” she added.
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) organized the forum in partnership with Communications Foundation for Asia (CFA) in a bid to capitalize on the significant role media played in the recent midterm elections.
Most Rev. Luis Antonio Tagle of the Diocese of Imus delivered a talk on the transformative power of mass media in Philippine elections.
Tagle stressed that media’s transformative power can be utilized for good only if it is founded in ethical principles.
“Bringing ethics to Philippine social life, including elections is the task of all citizens. We expect the media to serve us with integrity too, as they challenge politicians, candidates, and citizens to be upright,” Tagle said.
Prof. Luis Teodoro, Deputy Director of Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) gave a presentation on the monitoring of media’s coverage of the past elections. The result of the study showed media have been pro-active in its election coverage in terms of providing voters with information vital to knowing political candidates.
“Despite their sense of relative disinterest; the major players in the media community—the broadsheets and the networks monitored—nevertheless exerted extra effort to provide the public both the information on as well as the context of the elections,” Teodoro said.
However, despite media’s positive role and responsible coverage of the recent elections, media participants in the forum also acknowledged the need for media people to clean its ranks of scalawags and unethical practices.
The forum concluded with the delegates forging a statement to continue working hand-in-hand with other election stakeholders for Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful, Peaceful elections.
The statement called for a continuing political education for voters; media education programs for media practitioners; encouraging media debates among political candidates; and electoral reforms among other things.
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