|
By Chay F. Hofileña and Aries Rufo, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
(First of Two Parts)
THE media have always been a major player in
Philippine elections, more so now with the pervasiveness of
television. But there is a twist in this year’s election: the
increasing influence of the entertainment media and of show-biz
celebrities in the campaign. And that, of course, comes with a price
tag.
Well aware of the power of television and
entertainment to sway votes, politicians who are losing out to
celebrities have started to feature more entertainers and talk about
show-biz issues in their campaigns. They have also been cultivating
relations with the entertainment press. Indeed, as celebrities flood
the political field, career politicians have found it necessary to
engage the services of members of the show-biz media, which have
made stars and icons of otherwise ordinary people.
The result is a national race marked by the
entry of entertainment PRs into what used to be the exclusive domain
of political spin doctors as well as the increasing presence of
politicians in the entertainment sections of newspapers and
broadcast news. In addition, entertainers are becoming important as
endorsers of candidates even as the candidates themselves, in an
effort to win the masa vote, have been seen playing cameo roles in
TV sitcoms and telenovelas.
But all these cost money and often involve
lucrative deals between media people and PR operators. These new
methods of media corruption also come on top of traditional methods
of influencing coverage, such as subsidized coverage and allowances
and “wholesale and retail” payoffs for journalists reporting on
candidates.
In general, many in the entertainment media have
always seen any “gift” given to their members as part of a
purely commercial transaction, for which the giver would then get in
exchange for a mention in an article or an entire story. Most do not
see anything wrong with this practice, so that the notions of what
is corrupt, who is corrupt and who is corrupted become entirely
blurred and confused.
What is certain, however, is that ever since the
landslide victory of Joseph Ejercito Estrada as president in 1998,
politicians have realized that the show-biz press has the ability to
raise a politician’s stock, says Lolit Solis, a top show-biz
manager who maintains a stable of stars and also co-hosts an
entertainment show on TV.
“Ano ba ang unang binabasa ng masa sa mga
tabloid [What does the mass audience read first in a tabloid]?”
she asks. “‘Di ba ang entertainment stories at columns? Dati
’di pinapansin ang mga entertainment writers, pero nung nanalo si
Erap, suddenly ang daming pulitikong nagpapatulong [Isn’t it the
entertainment stories and columns? Whereas before entertainment
writers were taken for granted, there was a sudden rush of
politicians who sought their help when Erap won].”
Solis says the entertainment press is the best
way for a politician to create mass awareness. She cites the case of
Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., whom she helped win in the 2001 senatorial
election through the “Sipag at Tiyaga” TV ads that featured one
of her wards, the sexy star Rosanna Roces. From somewhere in the
15th to 20th place in preelection surveys, Villar eventually rose to
the No. 7 slot.
If the 2001 election’s winner via celebrity
endorsement was Villar, this year it is senatorial opposition
candidate Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, who has a
celebrity campaigner in the popular young star Judy Ann “Juday”
Santos.
From No. 19 in February surveys, Madrigal is now
at No. 8, a showing that many political analysts credit to Juday’s
endorsement of Jamby’s “Kontra Pulitika” campaign.
Besides appearing on Madrigal’s print and TV
ads, Santos also joins her candidate in political rallies. Solis,
who is not Santos’s manager, says that the package she offers
politician-clients includes her stars’ appearances in rallies and
motorcades as well as appearances by the politician in sitcoms or
shows starring her wards. All for a handsome fee, of course.
Besides Roces, Solis’s talents include Rudy
Fernandez and his wife, Lorna Tolentino; Ramon “Bong” Revilla
Jr. and wife, Lani Mercado; Christopher de Leon and wife, Sandy
Andolong; Tonton Guiterrez; Amy Austria; and the director Chito Roño.
Solis is also helping Revilla, who the surveys say is topping the
senatorial race.
Beyond these celebrities, Solis counts four
politicians—Villar and his wife, Cynthia; Mayor Lito Atienza of
Manila; and Sen. Teresa Aquino Oreta—as among her clients.
A media handler says it is common practice for
entertainment columnists, who are also show-biz TV hosts or talent
managers, to be paid commissions from the political endorsements of
their wards. The stars are paid easily in the millions and the
commissions that are passed on to their managers-cum-columnists are
regarded as nothing but a part of a business deal.
As PR for the entertainment press, Solis, from
time to time, arranges press conferences for her political clients
and ensures the attendance of 25 or so entertainment writers, whom
she has a direct line to. “Si Villar, at least four times a year.
Si Senator Oreta, once in every three months,” she says.
The press conferences are very informally
structured. “Parang get-together, although medyo formal ang mga
tanong ng mga reporters compared sa mga tanong nila sa mga artista
[They’re like get-togethers, although reporters tend to ask more
formal questions compared to the kinds of questions they ask
celebrities],” says Solis.
The topics, however, are often related to the
entertainment sector—the easier for the entertainment reporters to
mention the politicians in their columns or articles. This has
prompted Raul Roco supporter Yolanda Villanueva Ong, group chair of
the advertising agency Campaigns and Grey, to see the limits of
involving the show-biz press in an election campaign. She notes,
“We can’t elevate the content of entertainment reports beyond
discussing what a candidate can do for the movie industry.”
During such press conferences, too, freebies
such as gift certificates, cakes, and envelopes of cash are commonly
distributed.
A staffer of a Solis political client confesses,
“I suffered from culture shock the first time I attended a
presscon for the entertainment writers. If the distribution of
envelopes is rather discreet in the political beat, for the
entertainment press it’s out in the open. As Nanay Lolit said,
‘Naku, in the entertainment press you don’t need to hide
anything.’”
PR handlers say that entertainment writers for
tabloids normally receive P500 while some of the biggies get double
or quadruple the amount for attending press conferences. Some of the
Class A scribes get as high as P5,000 in envelopes just for
attendance.
Dondon Sermino, entertainment editor of Abante,
admits that payolas, or envelopes containing money, are almost
always expected during press conferences and most members of the
entertainment press see nothing wrong with it.
As Sermino explains it, celebrities are no
different from films being publicized, and the envelopes are
therefore part of promotion expenses. “Ang tingin namin, ’yung
envelope does not necessarily mean they are trying to bribe us.”
There is no conflict of interest involved, he
argues. “How can there be when the ones we are covering are not
the policymakers?”
Solis, according to her client’s staff, also
helps monitor entertainment stories and “praise releases.” She
does damage control, quickly finding out reasons for negative
stories.
Solis herself does not see any conflict of
interest between her role as manager and PR for stars and hosting an
entertainment talk show. She is also not the only showbiz PR who has
been tapped by politicians to boost their stock. In 2001 according
to a senator’s media handler, another prominent show-biz publicist
was paid in the hundreds of thousands to shepherd show-biz reporters
to press conferences, making sure these were well attended.
In a way, the inroads made by show-biz managers,
hosts and columnists in the political arena have become a bane for
political PRs. “These biggies have become our competitors,” says
Peter Singh, former Senate media liaison officer and a former member
of the media operations group of the presidential candidate Fernando
Poe Jr. “They have taken over the task of building up politicians
on the entertainment side.”
Political PR people and analysts say that it is
bad enough that the big number of celebrities participating in this
year’s election has meant that the content of election campaigns
has remained stuck with personalities and intrigue.
Projected as bigger than life by the
entertainment media, these idolized icons, says Singh, are shielded
from “the microscopic scrutiny” that politicians are usually
subjected to and are therefore able to represent themselves as
far-less tainted than ordinary politicos.
Still, the new show-biz approaches to political
campaigns this year have not meant a total end to the more
traditional strategies of influencing media coverage. While many
journalists remain honest and aboveboard in their reporting, others
have not been immune to inducements offered by well-funded
campaigns.
On the campaign trail, the expenses of many
reporters are subsidized, meaning hotel, food, transportation, use
of the Internet, and take-home gifts are all given for free,
according to Marcial Reyes of the opposition Koalisyon ng
Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP). On average, the KNP spends at least
P2,500 for each reporter for a two-day campaign. The amount rises
when reporters need to be transported by plane.
Assuming regular coverage by 15 reporters, the
organization spends from P18,000 to P20,000 a day for the media on
the campaign trail for subsidized expenses alone. Whenever a
provincial campaign supporter takes care of the food or local
transportation, the party is able to save more money.
“They are able to help us anyway by giving us
space in their media outfits,” reasons Reyes. “Others are even
quite critical of us, but the idea was to let them see firsthand how
the campaign is going.”
The arrangement is not exactly frowned upon by
many media outfits that cannot afford to cover the entire campaign.
And since there are no explicit policies about these in the codes of
ethics adapted by these news organizations, “subsidized”
reporting has become acceptable to many. Only the bigger or more
principled media firms insist on paying their own way.
Thus, during the 2001 election campaign, many
reporters for national news organizations were reportedly paid
P1,000 each for the coverage of political rallies in Metro Manila.
In nearby provinces, the coverage fee was said to be P1,500 while
some journalists from the local or community press were given P500
each. But out-of-town coverage that required reporters to be away
for several days merited rates as high as P3,000 a day, per head,
says media operative Sammy Martin.
Some of the more senior reporters received
between P5,000 and P10,000. “The reporters remember me because I
was generous,” Martin says.
Another media handler says that in this
election, they keep on retainer select political reporters and desk
persons. Money is given in cash. Some reporters—both print and
broadcast, get a minimum P5,000 monthly retainer—the handler says.
But a desk editor from a major daily gets P20,000 a month.
Some of the reporters on payroll did not ask for
the money, the handler clarifies. But he adds, “They were offered
and they agreed.” Without preconditions, these reporters are
merely expected to get their patron’s side when a negative story
runs and oblige when requested to print “press release stories.”
The showbiz element in the current campaign,
however, has meant money that is far more serious. One publicist,
for instance, says he was willing to pay producers “up to
P200,000” for a cameo appearance of a politico in a popular
television show, provided his candidate had a speaking role with the
show’s top-rating star and that they had a say on the script.
Other publicists, though, say personal relations cultivated through
the years were enough to get them by.
But no one denies that the star-studded,
media-driven 2004 election has left noncelebrity candidates
scrambling to get a share of showbiz glitter. One example is former
trade secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd, who is in the
administration’s senatorial lineup and has appeared in the comedy
show OK, Fine, Whatever.
He has also used the “Mr. Palengke” image to
appeal to the masses even as his handlers have linked him
romantically to the TV/radio news anchor Korina Sanchez.
Sanchez had endorsed Roxas on her morning radio
show. But neither has categorically spelled out exactly what is
going on between them, preferring to play coy. In the meantime,
Roxas jumped to No. 2 in an April survey odf the Social Weather
Stations, up from the No. 17 post in mid-January.
Not to be outdone, President Arroyo has been
interviewed by talent manager Boy Abunda in his Sunday entertainment
news show, The Buzz. (Abunda, however, says that his support for
Mrs. Arroyo is “contextual” and that he is not being paid for
it. He has also appeared on commercials endorsing her candidacy.)
To show how much she cares about the survival of
the entertainment industry, Mrs. Arroyo even signed the Optical
Media Act, or the antipiracy law, during her proclamation rally in
February. Celebrities, led by the TV host Kris Aquino, graced the
event.
The “celebritification” of Philippine
politics can be traced back to the political ad ban imposed in 1986
and lifted in 2001, says Campaigns and Grey’s Ong.
Without political ads, new politicians had no
means to get their names recognized by mass voters. This opened the
doors of politics for the first time in 1992 to the likes of the
comedian Vicente Sotto, who topped the Senate race then, followed by
the action star Ramon Revilla. The TV personality and former
basketball player Freddie Webb placed 12th.
By 1998, there were five celebrities in the
Senate. Former news anchor Loren Legarda led the list of freshly
elected senators, followed by the lawyer and TV/radio host Renato
Cayetano, and then Sotto. Another former basketball star, Robert
Jaworski, and his father-in-law, reelectionist Revilla, claimed the
No. 9 and 10 spots respectively.
(To be continued)
Part 2 |
|
