Category: media

korek si gary, mali ang gma

in gary granada’s place, magagalit din ako, at hindi lang sa gma kapuso foundation, kundi pati sa “composer” na “lumikha” ng piyesang inaprub.  on both counts, the lyrics and the musical structure, gary deserves credit and compensation.

oo nga’t hindi si gary ang sumulat ng original lyrics.  pero in-edit niya ito to fit the melody that he was hearing in his mind, which makes the edited version gary’s version.

oo nga rin at naiba ang melody at dating ng naaprub na version, pero medyo lang, kaunti lang ang pagkakaiba.  korek si gary, obviously nakatungtong ito sa komposisyon niya.  why else does it fit neatly precisely perfectly into gary’s minus-one?  indeed the chance of another composer coming up, out of the blue, with the same melodic structure, bars and chords, as gary’s is one in many millions.

kung totoong hindi natipuhan ng gma kapuso ang komposisyon ni gary, okay lang, it happens.  i’m sure gary was disappointed but i’m also sure that he didn’t feel it was a total waste of time — he could easily come up with his own lyrics, develop the study into a love song, maybe, or a tibak song.   pero dahil ginamit na ng gma7 ang musical structure na iyon, papaano pa niya pakikinabangan?  baka kung gamitin niya ay siya pa mismo ang mapagbintangangang pirata.  hassle.

unethical ang ginawa ng gma kapuso foundation, which sits on the board of filscap that’s supposed to protect the rights of composers and lyricists.  since binitawan nila si gary, dapat ay binitiwan din nila completely ang komposisyon ni gary.  dapat ay original lyrics ang ibinigay sa bagong composer at hinayaan siyang lumikha ng sariling melodic structure without any influence from gary’s work.

unethical din ang ginawa ng bagong “composer”.  inalam kaya niya kung kanino ang original music?  okay lang sa kanya na pagsamantalahan at pakialaman ang komposisyon ng may komposisyon?  member din kaya siya ng filscap?  if yes, yes, yes, it doesn’t reflect well on his integrity as an artist, kung sino man siya.

blogger blues

little more than a handful of pinoy bloggers on my required-reads list have been blogging (and only a handful of readers commenting) on israel’s wicked war in/on gaza, which is a shame because it betrays how insular we can get, as though we were an island complete unto ourselves, which we’re not.

the israel-palestine problem should concern us, at the very least because it involves the u.s. of a. (even if cnn and bbc don’t talk about the how and the why) with whom we are said to have “special relations.”   a must-read is anna de brux’s post, America should stop subsidising Israel’s war on Gaza to the tune of $2.4 billion a year in military aid.   iyan ang “special relations.”   iyong sa atin, a paltry $149 million, poor relations lang tayo, distant relations, even beggar relations, thanks to government policies, e.g. foreign policy, trade policy, debt policy, that keep us dependent on, subservient to, outside forces.

at the very least, next time gma or kristiekenney talks “special relations” because of our long history as allies, let us be aware that it has been a long time since it’s done us much good.

so what have pinoy bloggers been fretting about  instead all through the holidays til now?    the golf folderol (as djb puts it), what else.   now that the blogosphere’s kneejerk rush to judgement in reaction to bambee de la paz’s campaign for justice has been proven rash foolish unwise, many bloggers left twisting in the wind are making the best of a sorry situation, some by admitting outright that it was a mistake, some by posting the pangandaman side, some by utter silence so far, and some by editing their blogs perhaps to avoid libel suits.

must reads:

Final Cut: The Pangandaman-Dela Paz Feud
Bubuyog Tonite: De la Paz, di nagkasya sa payong …
Obliterated: An Anti Pangandaman Blog
Credibility in Blogging and the Libel Suit against Blogger Bambee de la Paz
It’s your blog
The Right to Bitch …

i can hear luis teodoro et al saying, i told you so:

the principles of journalism should apply . . . . there should be verification and fairness even if it’s an opinion piece.“

reading my strong negative reaction at the time, a long time ago, long before bambee, i cringe.   but no, i’m not editing out any of it.   a reminder to think twice before jumping into the next debate between mainstream media and the new media that’s admittedly going through birth pains, no, maybe teething pains, pinoy style.

dismaying discourse on mindanao

nakakadismaya ang pinoy blogosphere discourse on mindanao and the muslim struggle for self-determination. no sympathy for the muslims at all. mostly the attitude is, who are they to dictate on the government, they are only a minority, and mostly bloody insurgents and brutal bandits at that.

it’s a triumph of mainstream media, of course, which has succeeded, wittingly or un-, in painting muslim filipinos as “enemies of the state.”

check out cris m. gaerlan jr.’s paper on the role of media in the mindanao war and turning the moro peoples into internal refugees, read in a bangkok conference at the height of the estrada administration’s all-out-war in mindanao:

Reporters and cameramen are now always at the front lines of almost every military offensive in Mindanao. Even a news blackout that had been arbitrarily declared during the height of the hostage crisis in Jolo did not deter the them from bringing the news out to the rest of the country and the world. But what news does the media bring?

Unwittingly or otherwise, the media has contributed to the creation of a myth – the myth that presents Muslims as enemies of the state. Media is now playing a great role in widening the divide between Muslims and their own country, projecting the conflict as a religious war, good versus evil, Christian against Muslim, the government versus forces wanted to establish an Independent Mndanao Islamic state. AS MASS MEDIA REPORTS ON THE PRESENT SITUATION, IT IGNORES THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE MINDANAO CONFLICT, TO THE POINT OF INFLUENCING PUBLIC OPINION AND CONDONING, IF NOT ACTUALLY ENCOURAGING, ACTS OF CULTURAL VIOLENCE AGAINST THE MUSLIM PEOPLE. [caps mine]

The extensive media coverage of the “victory” of the Philippine Armed Forces in Camp Abubakhar further instills in people’s minds that “war is the only solution” to the problem in Mindanao. And hunting down suspected terrorist and not surprisingly only Muslims are arrested with out warrants. And should the people wonder?

…mass mediahas caused the public to equate the word “Muslim” with “bandit”, “kidnapper” “terrorist”, and “murderer,” portraying Muslims as a barbaric people. Mass media has reduced the followers of Islam to a people bent on overthrowing the government, and that these enemies of the state deserve this mutated form of ethnic cleansing.”

it’s all terribly unfair to the muslims. had i been born muslim, given the history and the grinding poverty, i would surely be part of a nonviolent struggle for bangsamoro self-determination and a better life. and i might also hate manila, and america, with a vengeance.

ces redux

redux adj.  = brought back; returned. resurgent. used postpositively.

that’s what anc’s “kidnap” docu was all about, a make-over of ces drilon, the brat correspondent who got herself and her team kidnapped by terrorists just because egotism, conceit, self-importance got the better of her.

reminds me of cnn’s richard quest who was caught with dope in new york – i’m not sure if it was coke, crack, or ice – and who simply disappeared from the public eye. the way cnn handled it, it was like he had never existed, never mind that he had quite a following with the business class.

okay, so ces drilon was just high on ego, but the consequences were so much more horrible and widespread, she certainly didn’t deserve that tribute.