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Date Posted: 03:29:37 05/17/04 Mon
Author: Phil Center 4 Investigative Journalism
Subject: Showbiz press into politics

Showbiz press into politics

By Chay F. Hofileña and Aries Rufo, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

(First of Two Parts)

THE media have always been a major player in Philippine elections, more so now with the pervasiveness of television. But there is a twist in this year’s election: the increasing influence of the entertainment media and of show-biz celebrities in the campaign. And that, of course, comes with a price tag.

Well aware of the power of television and entertainment to sway votes, politicians who are losing out to celebrities have started to feature more entertainers and talk about show-biz issues in their campaigns. They have also been cultivating relations with the entertainment press. Indeed, as celebrities flood the political field, career politicians have found it necessary to engage the services of members of the show-biz media, which have made stars and icons of otherwise ordinary people.

The result is a national race marked by the entry of entertainment PRs into what used to be the exclusive domain of political spin doctors as well as the increasing presence of politicians in the entertainment sections of newspapers and broadcast news. In addition, entertainers are becoming important as endorsers of candidates even as the candidates themselves, in an effort to win the masa vote, have been seen playing cameo roles in TV sitcoms and telenovelas.

But all these cost money and often involve lucrative deals between media people and PR operators. These new methods of media corruption also come on top of traditional methods of influencing coverage, such as subsidized coverage and allowances and “wholesale and retail” payoffs for journalists reporting on candidates.

In general, many in the entertainment media have always seen any “gift” given to their members as part of a purely commercial transaction, for which the giver would then get in exchange for a mention in an article or an entire story. Most do not see anything wrong with this practice, so that the notions of what is corrupt, who is corrupt and who is corrupted become entirely blurred and confused.

What is certain, however, is that ever since the landslide victory of Joseph Ejercito Estrada as president in 1998, politicians have realized that the show-biz press has the ability to raise a politician’s stock, says Lolit Solis, a top show-biz manager who maintains a stable of stars and also co-hosts an entertainment show on TV.

“Ano ba ang unang binabasa ng masa sa mga tabloid [What does the mass audience read first in a tabloid]?” she asks. “‘Di ba ang entertainment stories at columns? Dati ’di pinapansin ang mga entertainment writers, pero nung nanalo si Erap, suddenly ang daming pulitikong nagpapatulong [Isn’t it the entertainment stories and columns? Whereas before entertainment writers were taken for granted, there was a sudden rush of politicians who sought their help when Erap won].”

Solis says the entertainment press is the best way for a politician to create mass awareness. She cites the case of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., whom she helped win in the 2001 senatorial election through the “Sipag at Tiyaga” TV ads that featured one of her wards, the sexy star Rosanna Roces. From somewhere in the 15th to 20th place in preelection surveys, Villar eventually rose to the No. 7 slot.

If the 2001 election’s winner via celebrity endorsement was Villar, this year it is senatorial opposition candidate Maria Ana Consuelo “Jamby” Madrigal, who has a celebrity campaigner in the popular young star Judy Ann “Juday” Santos.

From No. 19 in February surveys, Madrigal is now at No. 8, a showing that many political analysts credit to Juday’s endorsement of Jamby’s “Kontra Pulitika” campaign.

Besides appearing on Madrigal’s print and TV ads, Santos also joins her candidate in political rallies. Solis, who is not Santos’s manager, says that the package she offers politician-clients includes her stars’ appearances in rallies and motorcades as well as appearances by the politician in sitcoms or shows starring her wards. All for a handsome fee, of course.

Besides Roces, Solis’s talents include Rudy Fernandez and his wife, Lorna Tolentino; Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and wife, Lani Mercado; Christopher de Leon and wife, Sandy Andolong; Tonton Guiterrez; Amy Austria; and the director Chito Roño. Solis is also helping Revilla, who the surveys say is topping the senatorial race.

Beyond these celebrities, Solis counts four politicians—Villar and his wife, Cynthia; Mayor Lito Atienza of Manila; and Sen. Teresa Aquino Oreta—as among her clients.

A media handler says it is common practice for entertainment columnists, who are also show-biz TV hosts or talent managers, to be paid commissions from the political endorsements of their wards. The stars are paid easily in the millions and the commissions that are passed on to their managers-cum-columnists are regarded as nothing but a part of a business deal.

As PR for the entertainment press, Solis, from time to time, arranges press conferences for her political clients and ensures the attendance of 25 or so entertainment writers, whom she has a direct line to. “Si Villar, at least four times a year. Si Senator Oreta, once in every three months,” she says.

The press conferences are very informally structured. “Parang get-together, although medyo formal ang mga tanong ng mga reporters compared sa mga tanong nila sa mga artista [They’re like get-togethers, although reporters tend to ask more formal questions compared to the kinds of questions they ask celebrities],” says Solis.

The topics, however, are often related to the entertainment sector—the easier for the entertainment reporters to mention the politicians in their columns or articles. This has prompted Raul Roco supporter Yolanda Villanueva Ong, group chair of the advertising agency Campaigns and Grey, to see the limits of involving the show-biz press in an election campaign. She notes, “We can’t elevate the content of entertainment reports beyond discussing what a candidate can do for the movie industry.”

During such press conferences, too, freebies such as gift certificates, cakes, and envelopes of cash are commonly distributed.

A staffer of a Solis political client confesses, “I suffered from culture shock the first time I attended a presscon for the entertainment writers. If the distribution of envelopes is rather discreet in the political beat, for the entertainment press it’s out in the open. As Nanay Lolit said, ‘Naku, in the entertainment press you don’t need to hide anything.’”

PR handlers say that entertainment writers for tabloids normally receive P500 while some of the biggies get double or quadruple the amount for attending press conferences. Some of the Class A scribes get as high as P5,000 in envelopes just for attendance.

Dondon Sermino, entertainment editor of Abante, admits that payolas, or envelopes containing money, are almost always expected during press conferences and most members of the entertainment press see nothing wrong with it.

As Sermino explains it, celebrities are no different from films being publicized, and the envelopes are therefore part of promotion expenses. “Ang tingin namin, ’yung envelope does not necessarily mean they are trying to bribe us.”

There is no conflict of interest involved, he argues. “How can there be when the ones we are covering are not the policymakers?”

Solis, according to her client’s staff, also helps monitor entertainment stories and “praise releases.” She does damage control, quickly finding out reasons for negative stories.

Solis herself does not see any conflict of interest between her role as manager and PR for stars and hosting an entertainment talk show. She is also not the only showbiz PR who has been tapped by politicians to boost their stock. In 2001 according to a senator’s media handler, another prominent show-biz publicist was paid in the hundreds of thousands to shepherd show-biz reporters to press conferences, making sure these were well attended.

In a way, the inroads made by show-biz managers, hosts and columnists in the political arena have become a bane for political PRs. “These biggies have become our competitors,” says Peter Singh, former Senate media liaison officer and a former member of the media operations group of the presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. “They have taken over the task of building up politicians on the entertainment side.”

Political PR people and analysts say that it is bad enough that the big number of celebrities participating in this year’s election has meant that the content of election campaigns has remained stuck with personalities and intrigue.

Projected as bigger than life by the entertainment media, these idolized icons, says Singh, are shielded from “the microscopic scrutiny” that politicians are usually subjected to and are therefore able to represent themselves as far-less tainted than ordinary politicos.

Still, the new show-biz approaches to political campaigns this year have not meant a total end to the more traditional strategies of influencing media coverage. While many journalists remain honest and aboveboard in their reporting, others have not been immune to inducements offered by well-funded campaigns.

On the campaign trail, the expenses of many reporters are subsidized, meaning hotel, food, transportation, use of the Internet, and take-home gifts are all given for free, according to Marcial Reyes of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP). On average, the KNP spends at least P2,500 for each reporter for a two-day campaign. The amount rises when reporters need to be transported by plane.

Assuming regular coverage by 15 reporters, the organization spends from P18,000 to P20,000 a day for the media on the campaign trail for subsidized expenses alone. Whenever a provincial campaign supporter takes care of the food or local transportation, the party is able to save more money.

“They are able to help us anyway by giving us space in their media outfits,” reasons Reyes. “Others are even quite critical of us, but the idea was to let them see firsthand how the campaign is going.”

The arrangement is not exactly frowned upon by many media outfits that cannot afford to cover the entire campaign. And since there are no explicit policies about these in the codes of ethics adapted by these news organizations, “subsidized” reporting has become acceptable to many. Only the bigger or more principled media firms insist on paying their own way.

Thus, during the 2001 election campaign, many reporters for national news organizations were reportedly paid P1,000 each for the coverage of political rallies in Metro Manila. In nearby provinces, the coverage fee was said to be P1,500 while some journalists from the local or community press were given P500 each. But out-of-town coverage that required reporters to be away for several days merited rates as high as P3,000 a day, per head, says media operative Sammy Martin.

Some of the more senior reporters received between P5,000 and P10,000. “The reporters remember me because I was generous,” Martin says.

Another media handler says that in this election, they keep on retainer select political reporters and desk persons. Money is given in cash. Some reporters—both print and broadcast, get a minimum P5,000 monthly retainer—the handler says. But a desk editor from a major daily gets P20,000 a month.

Some of the reporters on payroll did not ask for the money, the handler clarifies. But he adds, “They were offered and they agreed.” Without preconditions, these reporters are merely expected to get their patron’s side when a negative story runs and oblige when requested to print “press release stories.”

The showbiz element in the current campaign, however, has meant money that is far more serious. One publicist, for instance, says he was willing to pay producers “up to P200,000” for a cameo appearance of a politico in a popular television show, provided his candidate had a speaking role with the show’s top-rating star and that they had a say on the script. Other publicists, though, say personal relations cultivated through the years were enough to get them by.

But no one denies that the star-studded, media-driven 2004 election has left noncelebrity candidates scrambling to get a share of showbiz glitter. One example is former trade secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd, who is in the administration’s senatorial lineup and has appeared in the comedy show OK, Fine, Whatever.

He has also used the “Mr. Palengke” image to appeal to the masses even as his handlers have linked him romantically to the TV/radio news anchor Korina Sanchez.

Sanchez had endorsed Roxas on her morning radio show. But neither has categorically spelled out exactly what is going on between them, preferring to play coy. In the meantime, Roxas jumped to No. 2 in an April survey odf the Social Weather Stations, up from the No. 17 post in mid-January.

Not to be outdone, President Arroyo has been interviewed by talent manager Boy Abunda in his Sunday entertainment news show, The Buzz. (Abunda, however, says that his support for Mrs. Arroyo is “contextual” and that he is not being paid for it. He has also appeared on commercials endorsing her candidacy.)

To show how much she cares about the survival of the entertainment industry, Mrs. Arroyo even signed the Optical Media Act, or the antipiracy law, during her proclamation rally in February. Celebrities, led by the TV host Kris Aquino, graced the event.

The “celebritification” of Philippine politics can be traced back to the political ad ban imposed in 1986 and lifted in 2001, says Campaigns and Grey’s Ong.

Without political ads, new politicians had no means to get their names recognized by mass voters. This opened the doors of politics for the first time in 1992 to the likes of the comedian Vicente Sotto, who topped the Senate race then, followed by the action star Ramon Revilla. The TV personality and former basketball player Freddie Webb placed 12th.

By 1998, there were five celebrities in the Senate. Former news anchor Loren Legarda led the list of freshly elected senators, followed by the lawyer and TV/radio host Renato Cayetano, and then Sotto. Another former basketball star, Robert Jaworski, and his father-in-law, reelectionist Revilla, claimed the No. 9 and 10 spots respectively.

(To be continued)

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