The Ministry as presiding judge

THRSHP
Richard James Mendoza
1/8/2011


Last time, I introduced the term “Ministry of Disinformation” as a collective term for the corporatocracy’s propaganda machinery. Now, I’ll talk about the Ministry’s role as “presiding judge” in their trials of publicity.

It can’t be helped that some cases receive much attention, primarily because it often involves high-profile personalities. Let’s use the impeachment trial of Joseph Estrada as an example.

It’s known that the Anti-Estrada sentiment was strong in elite circles from Day 1 of the Estrada administration. With the media controlled by the same elite that hold Estrada in contempt, they focused on his personal traits and accused him of being corrupt, among other things. This further intensified when a self-confessed jueteng tong collector Chavit did an “expose”, supposedly revealing incriminating information against Estrada which turned out to be a litany of lies, half-truths and innuendoes.

Then, with the Lower House “having enough numbers” to initiate an impeachment, the impeachment trial began. During and after the trial, all we heard was from the prosecution who had nothing to prove but their hypocrisy. Estrada was never given the chance to air his side. And when the chance did come, such as his suggestion of opening the second envelope after the senator-judges voted 11-10 against the opening of the said item, the Joker suddenly issued a thought-terminating statement saying that it’s “too little, too late”.

No thanks to the Ministry, the public had assumed Estrada guilty even as the impeachment trial was still ongoing. In the editorial of the Bangkok Post sometime around December of 2000, it observed that “too many Filipinos have forgotten: that the accused is innocent until proven otherwise” (statement paraphrased).

We have other high profile cases such as the Vizconde massacre. Now, let me be clear that I cannot tolerate such inhumane acts, whatever it may be and whoever had committed it but like the others; they undergo due process of law and are entitled to a fair and speedy trial. It is the duty of the court to establish guilt and not the media.

When will the sensationalism end? When will these trials of publicity stop? I certainly don’t know.

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