CEBU’S BISAYA DAILIES (Feb.10-27)
For 2010, CMFR is monitoring the coverage of the national elections, but has also entered into a
partnership with the Cebu Citizens Press Council to include a monitor of the Cebu press’s coverage of
both the national and local elections.
The Cebu newspapers monitored (Banat, Cebu Daily News, SunStar Cebu, SunStar SuperBalita, and The
Freeman) by the CCPC team were noticeably focused on the local rather than the national elections.
Although the presidential elections did receive attention, these still came in second in terms of number
of reports. Some reports were also on the presidential, vice presidential, senatorial and party list
elections, but in general these reports were fewer and far between compared to those on Cebu’s local
elections. Significantly, the Cebu press also reported on local elections in other provinces, indicating an
understandable preferential bias for the proximate and the more immediately relevant.
The Bisaya-language dailies in Cebu monitored from February 10 to 27 were SunStar SuperBalita and
Banat. The pages monitored were the front and inside pages including the main news sections, "Gawas
sa Sugbo/Dinhi-Dito/Nasod (outside Cebu/Nation) and Komunidad (Community) sections, except the
sports, entertainment/showbiz, and world news sections.
The Bisaya dailies have a starkly different readership compared to the local English dailies in Cebu.
Smaller in format and with fewer pages, they carry less advertisements but have a bigger readership
base composed mainly of tricycle, Jeepney and taxi drivers, vendors, security guards, rural people,
workers.
From February 10 to 27, Cebu’s Bisaya dailies allotted 22% of their news pages for election-related
reports (122 election-related reports out of 543 news stories). SuperBalita had 64 election-related
reports or 26% of its news hole, while Banat had 58 election-related reports or 19% of its news hole.
Placement
Ninety-six percent (117) of the election-related reports were in the inside pages. Only Banat had
election-related reports on the front page (5). Of the 117 news reports in the inside pages, 31 were
found in page 2.
Placement
Focus/Election-Related Area
SuperBalita and Banat focused more on the local elections with 57 reports, followed by "Elections in
general" (33) and the presidential election (30). Less attention was given to the senatorial (10), party-list
(8), and vice-presidential (7) elections. Local elections outside Cebu were also reported mainly because
of their subjects (i.e. the Mangudadatus and Ampatuans of Maguindanao, President Gloria MacapagalArroyo, Lilia Pineda and Governor Ed Panlilio of Pampanga).
Focus
Themes
For the first two weeks of election coverage, the Bisaya dailies followed the campaign trail which
included sorties and other campaign activities of the candidates, producing a total of 52 reports with
this theme. Not even close were reports about Comelec rules, issuances and activities with 25 reports,
and the Contest/Horse race with 22 reports. Aside from the theme “Campaign,” SuperBalita also
focused on the Contest/Horse race (14) while Banat also focused on Development/Policy issues (18).
In the 20 reports about Development/Policy Issues mostly found in Banat, the top five issues were peace
and order (5), corruption (4), the environment (4), poverty (3), and agriculture (3). Notably sidelined
were the issues on education (0) and the economy (1), which were the top two most-reported policy
issues in the Cebu English dailies.
The least covered themes in this period were The 'Arroyo' factor (4), Civil society and elections (5),
Complaints/reports of irregularities (7), and Poll automation (8).
Themes
THEMES
Campaign
Other Comelec-related issues
Contest/Horse race
Development/Policy Issues
Cockfight/"He said-she said"
Election-related violence/peace & order
Personality/Character/Record
Polls/Surveys
Poll automation
Complaints/reports of irregularities
Other themes
Civil society and elections
The "Arroyo factor"
Development/Policy Issues
Peace & order
Corruption
Environment
Poverty
Agriculture
Health/Cheaper medicines
Anti-Illegal Drugs
Economy/Jobs
Governance
Infrastructure/Facilities
Agrarian reform
Traffic
Disaster response
SuperBalita
25
10
14
2
8
9
6
6
5
3
4
1
1
Banat
27
15
8
18
8
5
6
5
3
4
3
4
3
SuperBalita
2
Total
52
25
22
20
16
14
12
11
8
7
7
5
4
Banat
5
2
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
Subjects
The Comelec was the most frequently reported news subject in the Bisaya dailies (36 reports), followed
by the Philippine National Police (31 reports).
Of the candidates for president, Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. (18) was the most frequently reported news
subject, followed by Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro Jr. (13), and Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III (12). The
rest were not reported at all. Among the political parties in these elections, the Nacionalista party was
the news subject in 16 reports, the administration Lakas-Kampi CMD party in nine (9), and the Liberal
party in seven (7). There was scarce reporting about the vice presidential and senatorial race. Both
candidates for vice president Loren Legarda and Manuel "Mar" Roxas appeared as subjects in only five
(5) news reports.
On the local scene, the resulting tension after the proclamation by the courts of Augusto Corro (15) as
the rightful winner in the 2007 election for mayor attracted media attention to the town of
Daanbantayan in northern Cebu, a potential election hotspot with a history of election-related violence.
Other primary subjects in this story were Daanbantayan mayor Sun Shimura (15), Shimura’s mother,
Vice Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot (11), and Loot’s husband Sr. Supt. Vicente Loot, Jr.. Other related news
subjects in the tensions at the north were Bogo City Mayor Celestino Martinez, Jr. and his political rival,
Fourth district representative Benhur Salimbangon.
Among the party-list groups, only the Cebu-based and anti-communist group Alliance for Nationalism
and Democracy (ANAD) became a news subject, notably six (6) times in Banat, of which three (3) reports
were positively slanted in ANAD's favor.
Subjects
Top 25 News Subjects
COMELEC
PNP/Police
Manny Villar
Nacionalista Party
Augusto Corro
Gibo Teodoro
Gwen Garcia
Noynoy Aquino
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Ma. Luisa Loot
Lakas-Kampi-CMD
Sun Shimura
Tomas Osmeña
ANAD Partylist
Glenn Soco
Liberal Party
Socrates Fernandez
RTC/Local Court
DILG
Jonathan “Atan” Guardo
Celestino “Junnie” Martinez, Jr.
Loren Legarda
Mar Roxas
Sr. Supt. Vicente Loot, Jr.
Benhur Salimbangon
SuperBalita
23
25
8
8
10
2
3
2
4
6
1
5
5
1
3
3
5
5
5
3
4
2
1
5
2
Banat
13
6
10
8
5
11
9
10
7
5
8
4
3
6
4
4
1
2
1
3
4
2
Sources
The top news source in the election-related reports of the Bisaya dailies was the Comelec (31), followed
by the PNP (16), and Augusto Corro (12). Notably, the partylist group ANAD topped all other traditionally
more prominent sources of election-related news like the survey frontrunners in the presidential race
and local candidates in the city and province. Bisaya dailies usually do not substantially source their
stories from the wires or national news agencies, so perhaps the only time national candidates were
interviewed was when they had campaign sorties in Cebu.
Unlike in the English dailies, both Cebu City mayoral candidate Alvin Garcia (3) and congressional
candidate Jonathan "Atan" Guardo (5) were ahead of their respective incumbent rivals Vice Mayor Mike
Rama (0) and Mayor Tomas Osmeña (2) in the number of times they were sought as news sources.
Sources
Top 28 News Sources
COMELEC
PNP/Police
Augusto Corro (Daanbantayan, Cebu)
ANAD Party-list
Jonathan Guardo (Cebu City South)
DILG
Gibo Teodoro
Pulse Asia
Alvin Garcia (Cebu City)
Luigi Quisumbing (6th District, Cebu)
Manny Villar
Sr. Supt. Vicente Loot, Jr.
Socrates Fernandez (Talisay City, Cebu)
AFP/Military/DOD
Benhur Salimbangon
Glenn Soco (Cebu Province)
Gov. Gwen Garcia (Cebu Province)
Celestino Martinez, Jr. (Bogo City, Cebu)
Liberal Party
Loren Legarda
Malacañang
Nacionalista Party
Noynoy Aquino
One Cebu Party (Cebu Province)
RTC/Local Court
Sun Shimura (Daanbantayan, Cebu)
Tomas Osmeña (Cebu City South)
Vicente Sotto III
SuperBalita
18
10
7
1
3
4
2
1
3
1
2
2
1
Banat
13
6
5
4
2
2
3
3
2
1
1
2
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
Slant/Focus
Majority of the election-related reports of the two Cebu Bisaya dailies were neutral at 70%. That means
86 out of 122 election-related reports from February 10 to 27 were neutral. Most of the reports had
adequate background at 75%. Seventy-seven percent (77%) of SuperBalita’s election-related reports
were neutral. Banat, on the other hand, had 64% neutral election-related reports. Therefore, Cebu’s
English dailies were more neutral (86%) than the Bisaya dailies (70%) for the first two weeks of election
coverage.
Of the reports coded as slanted, there were 28 positively slanted reports compared to nine (9)
negatively slanted reports. Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro had the most number of positively slanted reports
(5), followed by Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino, Jr. (4), and ANAD party-list (4). Meanwhile, three (3)
reports about Cebu City mayor Tomas Osmeña were seen as negatively slanted against him.
Neutral Reports
Neutral vs. Slanted reports
Positive Slant
Gibo Teodoro
Noynoy Aquino
ANAD Party-list
Manny Villar
Loren Legarda
Liberal Party
Jonathan Guardo
Mar Roxas
Luigi Quisumbing
Hilario Davide III
Vicente "Tito" Sotto III
SuperBalita
1
2
1
1
Negative Slant
Tomas Osmeña
Manny Villar
Benhur Salimbangon
Socrates Fernandez
SuperBalita
3
1
1
1
1
Banat
4
2
3
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
Banat
1