ANAD CALLS FOR RESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM AMID ELECTION FERVOR

Davao City – The Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) calls for responsible journalism amid the increasingly heating local election debates.

ANAD Partylist strongly criticized irresponsible commentaries in the radio like the malicious broadcast of an indecent and provocative text death threat against ANAD Partylist Representative Jun Alcover and its Mindanao Coordinator-Spokesman Arthur Tariman that was supposedly sent in by a listener of DYAB ABS-CBN’s “Hugoy-hugoy” public affairs program hosted by Jun Bersamin on 26 January 2010.

Alcover viewed the actuation as highly irresponsible and very unprofessional considering that the texter is suggesting something very sinister, that is the murder of fellow human beings.

Acting in behalf of Representative Alcover and the whole ANAD, Tariman immediately filed a formal complaint against Bersamin before the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) Regional Office XI for airing such threatening message.
In his letter-complaint to NTC RO XI Regional Director Josue de Villa Go, D.P.A., Tariman reported: “In the course of his regular public affairs program, “Hugoy-hugoy,” from 12:30 to 3 p.m. on 26 January 2010, Mr. Bersamin read a purported text message from an alleged listener saying in effect that, ‘Maayo pa ana ni Cong. Jun Alcover ug Art Tariman ipapatay.’”

He further stressed that “We honestly believed that the reading on air of a derogatory, provocative and sinister text message such as death threat in Mr. Bersamin’s radio program is uncalled for, malicious, indecent, very unprofessional and a violation of the broadcasting standard and ethics.”
In response, RD De Villa Go ordered the management of DXAB ABS-CBN to preserve the tape-on-air of the questioned episode of Bersamin’s program and to answer the complaint.

Rep. Alcover and Tariman, both veteran broadcasters themselves, welcome the open, objective and healthy discussion on the law and order condition of the city and the performance of the administration of City Mayor Rody Duterte lest the character assassination and uncalled for remarks both by the opinion makers and the public.
Alcover is the incumbent president of the Cebu Association of Media Practitioners (CAMP), while Tariman, a freelance print and broadcast journalist, is the chief executive officer of Task Force Salaam Federation, the Philippine Army’s most outstanding NGO of the Year (2007).

Alcover founded the Kapunongan Alang sa Demokratikanhong Reporma (KADRE), while Tariman formed the Kontra Komunismo (KOKO) and the Baryohanon Alang sa Kalinaw ug Demokrasya (BAKUD) in the early ‘80s in Cebu. They were both founding leaders of the Federation of Anti-Communism Movements in Cebu (FACOM-CEBU) and the National Alliance for Democracy (NAD) – the forerunner of ANAD Partylist. NAD was formed in Davao City in 1988. (ANAD PARTYLIST-MINDANAO NEWS AND INFO BUREAU)