THERE was no better ending to it but with an apology. And apologize was what Environment Secretary Regina Paz “Gina” Lopez did after she berated a reporter during an interview.
Lopez was not the first government official in the present administration to turn critical of journalists and mouth profanity. President Rodrigo Duterte recently made it a feature of his press conferences. In his departure speech for his latest state visits to the Middle East’s Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, he repeated his criticism of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and ABS-CBN for bias against him, punctuating his remarks with the usual foul language.
Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andana had a tiff with media last March when he accused some of the Senate reporters of receiving bribe money. Andanar did not use the F word or its Filipino counterpart that Duterte is fond of, but, as a result of that incident, his office was reorganized and converted into the Office of the Press Secretary. Andanar insisted the change had nothing to do with his bribery claim and he refused to apologize for his statement.
Lopez was starting to get known for her advocacy for protecting the environment and having the courage to fight giant mining companies. She was not known for shedding her cool or for using foul language. She shocked many then when reports on how she treated BusinessWorld reporter Janina Lim became public.
She told Lim she was “just a f___ing employee” and slandered the reporter by suggesting she is on the mining companies’ payroll.
The Economic Journalists’ Association of the Philippines said it was deeply saddened and dismayed on the way Lopez rudely handled Lim. It said Lopez should not have lashed out at Lim. “As journalists, it’s our responsibility to ask the exhausting questions... It might be an ideal disservice to our readers and viewers if we won’t current all sides of the information. We are information reporters, not crusaders,” it said.
Lopez, in her apology, said, “I do acknowledge that in my effort to impart my perspective, I was inordinately judgmental. Everyone has the right to be what they are. I have no right to put them down for whatever. So, to Janina and to everyone, this might have hurt...I apologize deeply.”
Lopez’s apology came as Filipinos were starting their Holy Week break and may have been lost in the excitement of people getting away from work. People were rushing to their vacations or preparing for religious activities that Lopez’s sorry may have passed their notice. Still, her apology deserves to be acknowledged as an act of humility and reparation. A timely act for the holy days leading to renewal. She has shown she is different from other government officials.
Her case is a lesson to bureaucrats. You may have the support of the public or the President, but it does not give you license to be vulgar and insensitive, to use foul words as weapons.