Buttered side of the bread

Ben Contreras .

ON Tuesday morning, a banker friend asked me if I have already read Herbie Gomez’s column about me. I said, “No, I haven’t.” What was the article about, I asked. He told me to just get a copy.

In the afternoon, on my way to visit a sick friend at Chali, I got myself a copy. At the parking lot of Chali, I read the lengthy commentary about what I wrote in my column.

There was a time when I and Herbie had clashing opinions about the subject of quarrying/mining on Facebook, and I remember challenging him to raise the matter before our peers in a media organization.

An opinion column of more than half a page, Herbie must be very angry. Whatever. I see it as many things that boil down to one thing: pretense.

Herbie was way ahead of me in the newspaper and it would be foolish to compare myself to him. In fact, for a period of time, he was my mentor and critic. He taught me many things and I will try to recollect some like not to pick a fight with fellow columnists in the same paper. If what he wrote does not fall on this, I may have misunderstood what he meant.

Herbie also taught me that there is prestige in writing, but he didn’t teach me that with prestige. There should also be integrity because prestige without integrity is something else.

He also taught me some ethics in journalism which I am not sure whether they were meant to be lessons or just to criticize me. But talking of code of ethics for journalists, perhaps, it applies only to those who are subservient, but not to those not of their liking. If a dead writer were still alive today, he would have loved to tell his experience.

An editor in chief is a very powerful person in a newspaper. He can decide what to print and what not to print. He edits articles and has the power to edit it even in such a way that the meaning of an article is changed. He can even comment on submitted articles in other fora before an article sees print in this paper.

Prestige, well, Herbie has it. His experiences as lecturer on this or as a speaker on the subject make him a prestigious man of the media.

Some years back, Herbie asked me to join a media organization which I shunned for many years. He and several members subsequently staged a “coup d’etat” against the ruling clique in that organization. I was one of the candidates in their line-up. It was supposed to be only an election of officers, but there was throwing of personal garbage among warring candidates, the kind that only happens in public elections. It was no different.

I didn’t make it but many in our line-up did. What do you know? Except for one or two, the new set of officers didn’t turn out to be any different. For that, he and his friend parted ways.

Perhaps, Herbie can enlighten us on an attempt to sell the organization’s building that will make some people P1 million richer? The club president at that time objected to the idea, and found a way to settle group’s obligations without selling. It didn’t sit well with some people. Who are they, Herb?

Herbie was not just my mentor. He was also my critic. He critiqued my opinion pieces. I thank him for that. At least, that taught me to be careful about my sentence constructions and use of words especially when I am in doubt.

But no, he asserts his right as editor, and edits my article in such a way that I couldn’t recognize it anymore. But what can I do? Such is the power of an editor even if it was intended to protect somebody. For example, I wrote about a former governor, and it was changed to legislator. I didn’t know that a governor and a legislator are one and the same. My apologies then!

I have no doubt that he is a good editor. It’s just that, sometimes he misses out on something which makes my article grammatically wrong as a result of a wrong spelling. His hands are full that sometimes, the errors get past him. But it could also be intentional not to correct the wrong word to make me look stupid. Still, it’s his call. Editors are always right, right, Herb?

There is a saying in Chinese that when somebody gives you “kamote,” you should reciprocate with “ube.” Herbie wrote more than half a page about me so I thought I should reciprocate, right? But I am not as good as Herbie. He is damn better than I am.

I would like to go back to what I posted on Facebook. Why are some other media outlets not picking up the hot issues of the day? Maybe they know which side of the bread is buttered.

Herbie has the right to question my motive, my decency, trustworthiness, credibility, responsibility and passion as an anti-corruption crusader. I have no problems with that. After all, when he talked a lot against our President but was silent on the sins of certain people he wishes to protect for how much reasons, it is still his right to do so. And when he decides to make a rebuttal, expect him to be supported by other members of media whose names are already very familiar to me as they are won’t to do on a Facebook page that I cannot access. I rely on feedback from friends. That is still their right.

Are there really ethics to follow in journalism? Of course, but it also depends on who the subject is. When I was told to stop writing by a colleague just because we differ in opinion on extrajudicial killings, where was Herbie, a past president of a media organization, a lecturer on journalism, and most likely, a co-author of a code of ethics for journalists? His silence, the way he was silent when another accused me of getting payola from Chinese illegal miners was so deafening. And why not? They are his pañeros in drinking and musical jam sessions.

Media should be fair, right? No. Ralph Abragan was attacked in this paper harshly. Did this paper hear his side? Well, Herbie asked Ralph for documents. Ralph gave a thick pile of documents. What did Ralph get in return? He got a few lines that could hardly be noticed. Fair media practice, Herbie-style.

Until today, Ralph is open to a fair investigation, and his challenge stays. Nobody dares to accept, not his accusers anyway.

Going back to his article, it was not really about me. It was about the subject of that “indecent proposal.” I didn’t mention any name but if he knew who I was talking about, may I ask this question? Is he the one you’ve been seen eating together several times?

Now, I see which side of the bread is buttered.