A GMA-7 Report: Illegal Quarrying in Tuba, Benguet
May 3rd, 2008
Mike Enriquez, GMA-7’s talking head and news reader, reports on illegal quarrying in Tuba, Benguet. This is the first part of the report. You can watch the second part here. It’s good of course that a television program is doing these kind of stories. The more illegal activities are brought to light, the lesser the probability that people will undertake them.
Having said that, I must say that its really frustrating to watch Imbestigador. Why? Because it only goes after the small fish. Puro naman pipitsugin ang iniimbistiga ng programang ito. Its reports are mostly about barangay captains who are corrupt, or army soldiers who did something wrong, or some principal out there who was misbehaving.
I don’t think Imbestigador has ever made an investigative report on corruption and illegal activities that are of national significance. I remember watching an Imbestigador episode during the time when Gloria admitted that she manipulated the elections in Mindanao. Mike Enriquez, with his booming voice, did a very short segment on the scandal but then he based his report on the investigative work of PCIJ.
I was like, “What a shame. GMA-7, the biggest network in the country with all the resources at its disposal, is depending its report on presidential cheating on the work of a small, underfunded, struggling but gallant media organization?”
Then and there, I stopped watching Imbestigador. And I lost respect for its talking head. Pipitsugin lang pala ang kaya nilang imbistigahan.