February 20, 2006 · Posted in: Edsa Special, Investigative Reports, Podcasts
The PCIJ on BBC
THE British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) Radio 4 and World Service, with research assistance from the PCIJ, have produced a three-part series marking the 20th anniversary this month of the People Power uprising in the Philippines.
Part One retells the events leading to the revolt, as BBC’s Rosie Goldsmith talks to some of the key players of Edsa. Part Two then reflects on the aftermath of the revolution. The series ends with the PCIJ’s report on the state of the Philippine economy today. I describe the continuing problem of massive poverty, and Yvonne Chua takes you on a tour of Manila’s shopping malls, and discusses how consumerism is helping keep the economy afloat.
PCIJ’s report will be aired domestically in the UK on February 23 but is now available online, along with the first two of the three-part World Service series.
Listen to BBC’s "From Dictatorship to Democracy."
Part One: People Power
Part Two: The Aftermath
Part Three: After the Revolution
8 Responses to The PCIJ on BBC
benign0
February 21st, 2006 at 7:25 am
The “FROM” part sounds right
But the “TO” part? Tama nga ba? Are we really a democracy? Or just a PERVERSION of it?
Food for thought folks. This article may shed some light into the true nature of our SO-CALLED “democracy”.
http://www.geocities.com/benign0/4-00_Leaders/freedom.html
Excerpt:
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It would be fair to hazard a guess that this whole “love of freedom” sloganeering associated with the practice of “democracy” is the work of a political machine averse to accountability. The point of democracy is not freedom as many of us were foolishly led to believe. The point of democracy is the practice of a system that enables us to hold our leaders to account. One can therefore understand why this, by now, puzzling obssession with “freedom” is prevalent today. Who else but our politicians are the biggest trumpeters of the “freedom” we enjoy under “democracy”?
We are, of course, a free society from the perspective of our freedom to be an unruly lot. It is an artificial freedom at best for a society that wallows in squalor is not truly free. We’ve taken “freedom” to heart like the dumb adolescent that our country is. We use it as an excuse to elect fools to office only to flick them off the pedestal we helped them climb onto with even more foolish displays of street parliamentarianism. We even use this “freedom” to run a publishing industry that capitalises on the stupidity of the masses; allowing it to scrimp on journalistic talent and integrity. Worse and most sickening of all, we use this “freedom” to define ourselves — the only true democracy in southeast Asia. What a laugh! Surely the international community are in on this joke on us as well.
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. 😀
benign0
February 21st, 2006 at 7:56 am
Hmmm. The PCIJ seems to be DISTURBINGLY silent on the mudslide tragedy that killed 1800 Filipino SOULS in one go.
In the aftermath of a disaster that killed 1800 Filipinos, all we see here are articles about a favourite Pinoy activity that NO LONGER YIELDS RESULTS (and, in restrospect, didn’t really fundamentally change the nature of Pinoy society).
What’s the matter PCIJ editors? It seems PCIJ priorities reflect those ugly reality about Pinoys:
(1) We are hopelessly disentisised to death of biblical scale.
(2) Politically relevant stories and events – the kind that appeal to the chattering classes – trumps “minor inconveniences” such as the death of 1800 rural Pinoy folk.
Check your bearings, dudes. While you are busy hobnobbing with the BBC and old relics of a mid 1980’s street party that yielded NOTHING, there are MORE disasters of this scale waiting to happen in THE REST OF THE ISLANDS.
http://www.getrealphilippines.com
jr_lad
February 21st, 2006 at 1:00 pm
and then what? so that after reading the accusations and counter-accussatons of the commentators here, you can say your piece again, “pinoy talaga”, “the ugly reality about pinoys”. that’s what you’re waiting isn’t it? benigno talaga oo.
sentra
February 21st, 2006 at 8:18 pm
BenignO..These interviews are here to mark the 20th anniversary of the EDSA revolution. You may not agree with the views of those interviewed, but that is no reason to attack the messenger. There has been plenty written already about the Leyty tragedy, and indeed I now note that there is a posting regarding this on this site. Thank God for PCIJ and the BBC, at least one has a better chance of hearing the truth from them than from what are laughingly called journalists in this country.
(do people still use the term ‘dude’ ?)
joad
February 22nd, 2006 at 6:27 am
Is it true that PCIJ has posted something about the mudslide? If so, kindly guide me to the link. If not, it would be nice if the PCIJ could post something on it in the future…
Benign0, I wouldn’t be so quick to jump the gun on the editors (yet), though. The tragedy is still unfolding, and I’m sure it’s a lot more difficult to get info on what happened than, say, the stampede from a few weeks back. Plus, it seems hardly fair to compare an act of nature with something that could’ve been foreseen and/or easily prevented…
(Yes, people still use the term “dude.” Not as ubiquitous as it used to be, but it’s still around…dude.)
Filipino Librarian
February 23rd, 2006 at 10:53 am
Edsa 20/20: Podcasts and Articles
There is, of course, PCIJ’s series of podcasts… And then there’s the BBC series… Newsstand has a series of posts… Finally, INQ7 has an archive…
arkangel1a
February 23rd, 2006 at 12:38 pm
i quite enjoyed listening to this series. it was very informative. and kind of put a lot of things in its proper perspective.
alien@birth
March 2nd, 2006 at 12:00 pm
Ironically, it is consumerism that keeps the poor poorer and in cyclical poverty. A person who doesn’t know how to save is one who enriches the wealthy…. remits his hard-earned money to the oligarchs.