Cotabato City nevermentioned in Duterte speech

This has reference to the news item published with The Philippine Star dated September 10, 2017 written by your correspondent Edith Regalado entitled “No peace in Mindanao for the longest time.” (Attached is an extract of the news item from The Philippine Star website)

The news report was based on the speech of President Rodrigo R. Duterte during the closing ceremony of the Mindanao Business Conference in Cagayan de Oro City on September 9, 2017.

We were surprised to read the second paragraph of the news story, particularly ... “after the embattled city of Marawi, it is Cotabato City that is going to explode next.”

The writer even quoted the President as saying: “If things cannot be helped, Cotabato City will explode and there will be fighting.”

However, upon thorough review of the audio-visual recordings of the speech, courtesy of RTVM and as posted at YouTube, the President never mentioned the word Cotabato City. It is very clear in the recordings that the President only mentioned the word Cotabato on two instances and never did he mentioned, either explicitly or indirectly, the word Cotabato City.

In the sixth paragraph of the report, the writer even went farther and wrote: “Duterte stressed that the trouble in Cotabato City is because authorities are unable to resolve conflicts on existing land titles.”

Again, this is blatantly wrong! Though the President did utter part of the abovecited sentence but the words ‘Cotabato City’ were not in it.

Furthermore, based on records, there had been no land conflicts in Cotabato City nor incidents involving land conflicts, as of this writing.

The irresponsible reporting of Edith Regalado is, indeed, highly condemnable and requires immediate rectification, the least of which is an erratum.

We do believe that the people of Cotabato City do deserve justice as a consequence of the irresponsible reporting of Edith Regalado.

To cite the Philippine Journalist’s Code of Ethics (1988), particularly Rule Number 1: “I shall scrupulously report and interpret the news, taking care not to suppress essential facts nor to distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis. I recognize the duty to air the other side and to correct substantive errors promptly.”

The news story of Edith Regalado is a clear reflection and evidence of her ignorance about our geography and history. Because of her ignorance, she was fast enough to conclude that it was Cotabato City when the President mentioned the word Cotabato. If in doubt, she would have been responsible enough to ask the President for clarification. She should have known that aside from Cotabato City, there are also the provinces of North Cotabato and South Cotabato which, in fact, are plagued with the problems of land conflict.

Looking back to history, the then Empire Province of Cotabato has been subdivided into: Cotabato City, Kidapawan City, Tacurong City, Koronadal City, General Santos City, and the provinces of North Cotabato, South Cotabato, Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani. An ordinary layman still calls this vast portion of Mindanao as Cotabato.

Thus, as a journalist, Edith Regalado should have been scrupulous and responsible enough to clarify and verify as to what is being referred by her news source.

In view of the foregoing, we are earnestly requesting that appropriate rectifying actions be immediately undertaken by your publication and the writer. — FRANCES CYNTHIA GUIANI-SAYADI, Cotabato City Mayor