Monday, December 03, 2007 Seares: What media didn't ask Trillanes By Pachico A. Seares News Sense
MILLIONS of Filipinos are huge fans of Antonio Trillanes IV, leader of the latest aborted coup against President Arroyo.
In last May’s polls, he broke into the Senate Magic 12, surprising rivals who were more vigorously and expensively marketed to voters.
Media coverage of Trillanes was limited and superficial. Other than the usual limits of law and campaign period, the indicted Army officer, unlike other poll bets, was under detention for his Oakwood caper.
That adventure preceded the similar five-star-hotel protest he waged Thursday at Manila Peninsula with his Magdalo colleagues.
Media spotlight then was on good looks and sheer gall to sneer at authority. Media didn’t test value judgments a senator must make, a lapse that benefited Trillanes.
Saved from scrutiny
Firstly, it’s not just media to blame. Ruling party planners gagged Trillanes, saving him from harsh scrutiny.
Typical excessive zeal by state PIOs who, in the new coup attempt, shifted media focus from the coup plotters’ sedition to the police arrest of journalists.
Secondly, does anyone seriously think the press can stop a celebrity, the nation’s flavor of the season but perceived as unfit, from getting elected?
Many entertainers and beneficiaries of political dynasties, untrained for the job of senator, have overcome media flak and won.
Media can ask Trillanes a lot of questions which can help show the man for what he really is. But he’s now a senator though his alleged crimes may keep him away from Senate sessions for a while.
And, alas, selecting would-be senators stupidly is tough to unlearn.
