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Cabatuan, Iloilo ? Major media outlets in Iloilo have announced a boycott of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's visit late yesterday afternoon in protest over the selection of a broadcaster from a commercial radio station to have a one-on-one and scripted interview with the President.
Several radio stations and newspapers did not send reporters to cover the President's scheduled inauguration of the Botika ng Barangay in barangay Tiring, Cabatuan, 20 km from Iloilo City.
They were protesting the selection of broadcaster John Sapio for the one-on-one interview with the President. The other reporters and media outlets could only observe and listen to the interview and have been barred from asking questions.
Sapio, senior reporter and anchorman of dyOK Aksyon Radyo of the Manila Broadcasting Company, was selected by the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) to conduct the interview, according to lawyer Janet Mesa, regional director of the Philippine Information Agency.
Mesa, in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday, did not provide any explanation on why Sapio was selected and only said that it was the directive of the OPS.
Sapio told the Inquirer that he and his station did not request for a one-on-one interview. He said they were only notified by the OPS that he would be conducting the interview.
Mesa said in the briefing that Sapio would ask the President prepared questions. The interview will be aired by the government-owned Radyo ng Bayan but other stations could hook up with the station to broadcast the interview.
But media outlets considered Sapio's appointment as "arbitrary and unfair" to other media organizations who would also want to interview the President.
"We have nothing against (Sapio) who is also a friend. We are protesting the unfair treatment of other media outlets and the OPS' preference for a particular network," said Ronel Sorbito, station manager of the Radio Mindanao Network 774 in Iloilo.
Jonathan Gellangarin, station manager of dySI Super Radyo of the GMA-7 network, said designating the interview to government-owned stations and organizations like the Radyo ng Bayan or Philippine News Agency, like what wa done previously, would have been acceptable.
While Bombo Radyo sent a reporter to the event, the station would not air or cover the interview of Sapio, said Henry Lumawag, station manager of dyFM Bombo Radyo Iloilo.
Iloilo-based newspapers Panay News and The News Today also refused to cover the event.
"We have nothing against John Sapio and Aksyon Radyo. We are only protesting the OPS decision," said Panay News publisher Daniel Fajardo in a telephone interview.
