TV5 news anchor Ed Lingao spoke out against how his fellow TV5 news anchor and radio commentator Erwin Tulfo launched a tirade against Senator Risa Hontiveros over a fake meme.
On June 16, he took to Facebook to talk about Tulfo cussing on air and doing so only after reading a fake statement that was attributed to Hontiveros.
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“A week ago, June 8, a media colleague went on a long radio and FB live rampage against a senator that involved quite a lot of colorful cussing and swearing (he begins warming up at around 32:30, continuing with his cussing on FB live while the radio program went into a commercial gap). The rampage involved a lot of putang ina, sonafabitch, punyeta, lintik, what the fuck, etc The radio/FB live episode is attached. The audio and video have gone off-synch, probably because of the recording codec. But it is the video posted by the radio commentator,” Lingao wrote.
“The reason for the tirade? The senator supposedly said that the Maute group should be an inspiration for all of us because they are the epitome of courage and resilience. This was supposedly said during an interview with UNTV,” he added.
Lingao pointed out how news men and radio commentators are barred from using foul language as part of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas’ (KBP) code of ethics.
“The broadcast content in itself should raise a lot of objections from media watchdog groups, since newsmen, and even radio commentators, are not supposed to use foul language no matter how much they disagree with opinions. (Then again, this has been happening for some time) This much is clear in the KBP code of ethics,” Lingao said.
He said that on top of the cussing, Tulfo was doing such in reaction to a fake meme.
“But to complicate things even more, it turns out that the radio anchor was reacting to fake news. Yes, fake news! The anchor insisted that he verified the story after watching (napanood) a transcript of the interview. Since no one really watches transcripts, there is a strong possibility that he saw a fake meme with a fake quote,” Lingao added.
He acknowledged how many people fall for fake news, even his media colleagues like Tulfo.
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“The senator who was the target of his tirade never said that the Maute group was the epitome of courage and resilience. I watched the entire one hour UNTV episode that was supposed to be the reason for the tirade, and nowhere was any support for the Maute indicated by the subject of the tirade. The senator even clearly branded the Maute group as a terrorist organization that should be stamped out, and said she supported the military offensive against the group. Apparently, quite a lot of people fell for many of the fake memes and “quotes” that came out after that interview – colleagues included,” Lingao wrote.
Meme Buster also watched Tulfo’s Punto Asintado episode on June 8 by following the YouTube link provided by Lingao in his post.
At 32:09, Tulfo said, “Sa mga nakikinig sa radio, sinabunutan ko na po ang sarili ko. Akalain mob a naman. Ibalik mo yung sinabi ni senadora. Tagalugin ko nalang, ano po. Ito raw’ng Maute, yung kanilang ginagawa ngayon ay hindi rebellion, in Tagalog. Ako ay naniniwala na ang kanilang ginagawa ay tama. Quote and quote po yun. In-English ko lang po. I believe they’re only doing what they think is right. Ako’y naniniwala na ang sa tingin nila ang ginagawa nila ay tama. Ang mga taong ito ay may paniniwala at conviction na nagtulak sa kanila para umusad, to move forward. At maaring pagod na sila sa mga pangyayari sa lipunan at least meron silang motivation na dapat tayo ma-inspire dahil yung kanilang ginagawa at pwede nating tularan ang kanilang katapangan at resilience, pakikibaka, kontra at ika nga, yung resilience, yung pagiging matatag.”
In reaction to what he just read, he said this at 33:21: “Sus maryosep. Hindi ko maintindihan na may diyoskopong Panginoon kong langit, bakit mo naman nasabi yan? Alam mo kung tatay kita, hija, ay alam mo nang mangyayari. Mag-asawang sampal ang inabot mo sa akin magsasalita-salita ka.”
Meme Buster busted that fake meme against Hontiveros in our June 8 article, “Busted: Hontiveros did not call Maute as ‘epitome of courage and resilience’ or source of inspiration! Fake meme!”
Lingao then went to explain that he himself watched Hontiveros’ UNTV interview and there was nowhere in the interview where Hontiveros said what Tulfo just read on air and reacted to by saying that he would have slapped the senator if he were her father.
“What the senator wanted to do was raise questions on whether what they did constituted invasion or rebellion. That, in part, was the subject of the radio anchor’s tirade. However, the juiciest cuss words were reserved for her supposed support for the Maute group,” Lingao continued writing on Facebook.
At 39: 19, Tulfo said, “What in the f*ck is wrong with this? What is wrong with this picture? A government official, senado ka, kahit na oposisyon ka, Senadora Hontiveros, kahit na ikaw ay Liberal Party o ano bang tawag sa grupo mo, ikaw ay gobyerno pa rin. You are a senator. You are a legislator and you do not have the right and that is wrong what you just said na the Maute is the epitome of courage and resilience. How can you praise an enemy? Anong nagtulak sa yo na purihin ang kalaban, sabihin mong matapang sila, huwaran sila ng katapangan at resilience? What in the f*ck do you mean by that?”
“Siguro nga supporter sila ng punyetang Maute. Siguro nga,” Tulfo told one of the followers on his livestreaming.
Lingao continued with his Facebook post saying, “So the anchor goes on a long tirade, until, at part 40:30, a researcher or production assistant tells him that the senator had reacted on her FB by saying that this was fake news. To this, the anchor tells the viewers that the senator had retracted her statements (“Binawi na raw niya ngayon, sinabi niya na fake news alert”). The anchor slowly puts the brakes on his tirade, although he refuses to apologize or retract, and still takes a jab once in a while and insists that he saw the interview.”
At 40:30, someone called Tulfo’s attention about how Hontiveros posted a “disclaimer” on her Facebook page hours ago about how the meme was a fake one and how some of Tulfo’s listeners contradicted what he was reacting to on his radio show.
At 41:10, Tulfo said, “Eh binawi na raw nya ngayon, alright. Sabi ni Senadora Hontiveros sa kanyang post ngayon, fake news alert!” and proceed to read Hontivero’s post debunking the fake meme.
Still, Tulfo asked someone to call UNTV’s Daniel Razon to know if what Hontiveros said was really fake or not.
Lingao also posted Tulfo’s later post defending his actions against Hontiveros.
As if throwing shade against those who kept labelling the media as abusive, arrogant, inaccurate, irresponsible, unapologetic and biased, Lingao ended his post with this: “Like I said, this would be a very interesting case study on so many levels – assuming it isn’t being ignored by the many media experts who like to pillory media for being abusado, arogante, inaccurate, unreliable, irresponsible, unapologetic, and biased. Then again, it’s already a week old, and we haven’t heard much of a peep from the usually noisy ones.”
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