As Congress resumed its last joint session this afternoon (4:00 PM up to 6:00 PM, December 14, 2009) people waited patiently for the live coverage of the debates related to Presidential Proclamation No. 1959. The public was, however, dismayed that the government-owned National Broadcasting Network (Television Channel 4), which is supposed to be the prime broadcast network for information, did not perform the way the public expected them so. No action inside the session hall was seen or heard.
Instead of making a full coverage as they did on the first day of the session, they focused their camera and consumed most of their time at news reporter Rita Gaddi outside the session hall as she seemed to be enjoying the company of pro-administration solons with her never-ending interviews. Of course, the public already anticipated rhetorical answers by identifiable ass-licking puppets.
Although once in a while brief and passing shots lasting only for a few seconds were taken inside the hall, what could be heard was still her own voice, not of the Honorables who were etching history by their respective orations at the podium. Thus, what was expected to be a documentation of a greatly significant event in Philippine history turned out to be something like a monotonous, one-sided, shallow talkshow. Seeing those old familiar faces in TV acting in their traditional politician's fashion outside the session hall while their peers are patriotically debating on a very serious issue has become irritating. Under whose direction has Gaddi been acting? Just asking!
Nonetheless, the Filipino people are not so dumb as to fix their attention and waste the whole afternoon watching Gaddi's overtures while history was unfolding. There are other means, anyway, by which people got real-time, blow-by-blow, word by word account of the proceedings, specially the fiery speech delivered by Senator Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel, Jr.
Thanks to the other privately-owned networks, particularly the radio outfits that unselfishly shared to the millions of Filipinos their live coverage of the closing of the joint session!
Whatever Gaddi, or NBN-4 had in mind for the particular event, no one knows. A layman asked, was it a coverage, or a cover up? It's the station's prerogative, no question about it! But i'm just pretty sure no amount of hullabaloos could anymore induce the greater number of Filipinos to believe in the assumed rationality (?) of the imposition of martial rule and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the province of Maguindanao.
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