CHIEF-EDITOR / SKETCHES: OPAQUENESS
MANILA, JANUARY 16, 2012
(STAR) Philippine STAR president and CEO Miguel G. Belmonte
announced the appointment of Ana Marie Pamintuan as editor-in-chief
(photo) of the paper effective today.
Pamintuan is one of the pioneers of The STAR, starting as a reporter before
being promoted to news editor, associate editor and managing editor. She has
been the executive editor since 2002.
She graduated with honors from the University of the Philippines in Diliman,
obtaining a bachelor's degree in Journalism from the Institute (now College) of
Mass Communication. The CMC named her an Outstanding Alumna for Journalism
during UP's Centennial in 2008.
Belmonte also announced the appointment of Romel Lara as managing editor
effective last Jan. 1. Lara is also a journalism graduate of the UP College of
Mass Communication. He joined The STAR in 1999 as a copyeditor, rising to become
Metro editor and associate editor.
Another STAR pioneer, Roman Floresca, was named business editor effective
Jan. 1. He was the assistant business editor before his promotion.
Former editor-in-chief Isaac G. Belmonte heads the editorial board.
MORE ON THE NEW CHIEF-EDITOR:
Ana Marie Pamintuan is executive editor at The Philippine Star, a Manila
English daily broadsheet circulated nationwide.
She not only directs the operations, but also writes a popular opinion
column, Sketches, three times a week, tackling issues such as politics,
foreign affairs and the environment.
Pamintuan has been with The Star since it was launched in 1986, starting as a
reporter. In the fall of 2001 she became a Jefferson Fellow at the East-West
Center in Hawaii - a program focusing on the challenges of globalization in the
age of terrorism.
In 2007, she won a journalism fellowship from the International Center for
Journalists and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Pamintuan is also the
author of The Face of the Enemy, a historical novel about the
Philippine-American War.
The Philippine Star is a daily English-language broadsheet newspaper based in
Manila and circulated nationwide in the Philippines. Owned and published by
PhilSTAR Daily, Inc. It was founded on July 28, 1986 by veteran journalists Max
Soliven, Betty Go-Belmonte and Art Borjal. The Philippine STAR has an
established circulation in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia.
It is among the top three broadsheets in the country, by circulation, along
with the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Manila Bulletin, with other
Philippine newspapers trailing far behind.
Data from the Neilsen Media Index for the first quarter of 2008 show that the
Philippine Star is the most read broadsheet in the Philippine capital of Metro
Manila, with a Monday-to-Saturday readership of 47.4 percent.
As of the last semester of 2007, the Media Index also showed the Star is the
number one broadsheet among the ABC1 socio-economic class, with 47.3 percent of
the market, up from 35.7 percent the previous year.
A separate survey by the Nielsen Media Research - Print Advertising
Information Service, which monitors print advertising placements, shows that in
2007, the STAR received the lion's share of advertising expenditure among all
other Philippine broadsheets.
It reports P2.97 billion worth of advertising went to the Philippine Star,
followed by P2.68 billion for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and P1.35 billion
for the Manila Bulletin.
The Star was described by Chris Rowthorn of the Lonely Planet as a cheerful
and feel-good newspaper.
MS. PAMINTUAN'S COLUMN TODAY
Opaqueness
SKETCHES By Ana Marie Pamintuan (The Philippine Star) Updated January
16, 2012 12:00 AMComments (0)
Regardless of the outcome of the trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, his
impeachment should lead to fiscal transparency and, consequently, improved
accountability in the judiciary.
Any agency that uses public funds cannot invoke fiscal autonomy in pursuing a
policy of opaqueness.
A report released yesterday by the Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism (see full report on www.pcij.org) showed that the Supreme Court
(SC) started keeping its members' asset statements secret after the tribunal
exempted itself and all members of the judiciary from compliance with the Code
of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, or Republic
Act 6713, way back in 1992, when Andres Narvasa was the chief justice.
The PCIJ reported that the exemption, contained in a court ruling, was
repeatedly reaffirmed in resolutions issued by all chief justices since Narvasa:
Hilario Davide Jr., Artemio Panganiban and Corona's immediate predecessor,
Reynato Puno.
So it can be said that Corona, like the late defense chief Angelo Reyes,
simply inherited an opaque fiscal system.
Under fire from Malacañang since assuming his post, which President Aquino
has repeatedly lambasted as a midnight appointment, Corona has had little time,
or perhaps has seen no need, to fix what he considers to be something that ain't
broke.
If the justices of the nation's highest tribunal themselves put themselves
above laws on transparency and public accountability, lower ranking members of
the judiciary will want the same privilege.
The fiscal opaqueness has surely contributed to corruption in the judiciary.
Since corruption is a two-way affair, and Pinoys tend to discuss these things
openly, word quickly gets around on who among certain magistrates are the most
susceptible to bribes in exchange for favorable court orders.
Certain names keep popping up, from different quarters, lending the stories
an aura of truth. Verification can be tough, since lawyers in particular know
enough not to affix their signatures or thumbprints as proof of receipt of a
payoff. And only Joseph Estrada was foolish enough to sign a bank document under
an alias in full view of a witness.
Statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) of SC justices are
kept by the high tribunal itself. In theory, the public can request for a copy,
but an application will have to go through the judicial wringer.
The Anti-Money Laundering Council cannot scrutinize the assets of members of
the judiciary, the prosecution service and the Office of the Ombudsman unless
for cause. The AMLC is still waiting for new laws that will include corruption
among those causes.
Last week our reporter was given access to the SALN of Ombudsman Conchita
Carpio-Morales, after promising that the information would not be misused. I'm
sure that the ongoing controversy over the assets of Corona and his family
facilitated the release of Morales' SALN.
* * *
Not that SALNs are an accurate gauge of the assets of public officials.
Every year our paper's reporters obtain the SALNs of senators and congressmen
plus key officials of the executive branch led by the President. Every year we
always have a good laugh or else roll our eyes in disbelief from the asset
declarations.
We've come to believe that those who emerge as the richest officials are
either truly honest or, more likely, such tightwads they won't hire a topnotch
accountant.
Perhaps one day soon, before Kim Henares retires from the Bureau of Internal
Revenue and returns to her lucrative private practice, an efficient system of
verifying SALNs in coordination with the BIR will be in place.
The judiciary is not the only opaque branch of government. Lawmakers have
consistently refused to provide a detailed list of projects they have earmarked
for financing through their pork barrel allocations. I'm not sure if new
budgeting rules imposed by Malacañang will change this.
As a recent report showed, local government executives are also trying to
hold on to fiscal opaqueness. With a combination of carrot and stick, the
Department of the Interior and Local Government has been trying to bring
transparency to the process.
Reports on fund utilization should include suppliers and contractors chosen
by the lawmaker. All the reports should be made available on official websites
for public scrutiny.
This type of detailed reporting is starting to be implemented in some units
of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). The Philippine National Police,
which continues to be rocked by scandals involving fund misuse and the
procurement of several big-ticket items during the previous administration,
should follow the example of the AFP.
The reforms in the military were intensified following last year's
congressional probe into the system that allowed massive fund diversions in the
AFP. The diversions, if the story of whistle-blower Lt. Col. George Rabusa is
accurate, also allowed several AFP chiefs of staff to retire from the service
with millions in their pockets as pabaon or going-away cash gifts.
Retiring from the AFP recently as chief of staff, Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr.
assured the public, with a play on his name, that Oban was leaving the service
with no baon.
Reyes, facing a Senate probe that eventually drove him to suicide, often
looked pained as he argued that he simply inherited a system in the AFP.
People can only hope that the probe, even if over, will continue to result in
long-term reforms in that flawed system.
With the Senate trial that starts today, similar reforms are expected in the
judiciary, regardless of the fate of the Chief Justice.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
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