The resignation of Lito Responte as general manager of Station DYTR and the transfer of veteran commentator Bob Galero from DYRD to DYTR last week may have all political leanings, in one way or another. Well, one may also include the transfer of this corner from the Bohol Chronicle to the Sunday Post. There is no gainsaying also in pointing out the cessation of our broadcast over Station DYRD where we started to make waves before and until we joined the legal profession and politics. We shall not delve into the resignation of Responte who still maintains his anchoring job at Station DYTR but only as an announcer. But if reports are true, Galero's 23-year old stint at DYRD came to a stop when he started to let a city councilor become a favorite resource person in his program.

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In the formation of the Bohol Tri-Media Association (BTMA), some big wigs in the local media did not join the group. BGlante of the Sunday Post, SM Ted Ayeng of DYTR and Atty. Salva Diputado of the Bohol Times are among them. As we looked at it, BTMA should have been the binding force of the media personalities identified with Station DYRD and DYTR, the Bohol Chronicle, the Sunday Post, the Bohol Times and the Bohol Standard including the Bohol Community Cable TV (BCCTV). The Bohol Daily News just came in later. With what is happening now in the movement of media personalities and the persecution of some media men identified with political groups, we don't know if the binding force would still be there. Apparently, efforts to unite the local media men became muddled as majority of them, to say the least, have aligned themselves with politicians.

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Come to think of it, ordinary tricycle drivers, security guards and electricians whose educational attainment is only up to high school or a drop out in college, may become a media man here in Bohol. An avid radio listener who has been jobless for several years is now an anchorman. A stand by who happens to be a back up of a radio reporter also became a radio reporter several months later and became a commentator. Later, he became a correspondent of a regional newspaper. Even if there are already graduates of mass communication course here, majority of the local media men were not able to finish college. But take note how they now influence the thinking of ordinary citizens because they have a media outlet to reckon with. Most of them have broadcast and newspaper outlets, a radio reporter or commentator may also write in the newspaper at the same time.

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Most of the weaknesses on the lower education attainment of some media men are being exposed in the radio where they speak, report or comment extemporaneously. Have you heard of stories of the “big elephant”, the “Filipine Forts Authority”, etc, etc. Some reporters and commentators have also their bylines in newspapers because they supplied the facts of a news article. The editing is being done by the editors. But still, their names appear also in weekly newspapers. We do not claim to be loaded with the complete arsenal of being a media man. When we started as a neophyte reporter with the Ang Kinampay News edited by Chito Fuentes then to the Bohol Herald published by Nemesio Monton, we ate all kinds of dust, both literally and figuratively.

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As we joined DYRD as a stringer of its news and public affairs in 1985, BGlante, who anchored the morning program “Inyong Alagad” with Fred Araneta, even told us, “marami ka pang bigas na kakainin”. Truly, it was in DYRD and the Bohol Chronicle that we were honed as a media man. But having said this, we still earned a minimal income even up to the time when we tied the marital knot in 1986. In the first place, the media industry is one hell of a business. We do not know the repercussions of “envelopmentalism”. We thought that it is just part of being a media man. The cheap labor in being a media man made us think to even make a step higher than just earning commissions in the advertisement for the radio and the newspapers we solicit. Being identified with politicians is one way higher than that. (To be continued)

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POSTSCRIPT: We learned of the demise of the Atty. Victoriano B. Tirol Jr. last Friday evening when we receive a text message in our cellphone. During the culmination of the Victoriano D. Tirol Advanced Learning Center (VDT-ALC) yesterday afternoon, we talked with Engr. Jes Tirol and Atty. Nuevas Tirol together with VDT-ALC principal Elaine Joy S. Auza of the untimely passing of the UB president. Our daughter, Ma. Christileee, said that Atty. Wil even delivered a speech during the UB convocation last Monday evening at Bohol Tropics. Our deepest condolences…By the way, we attended the VDT-ALC culmination yesterday afternoon together with Merly to receive the awards for Dudot. He is best in creative arts, reading and language, social studies and computer. Congratulations Dan Ryn Arnoldus. Of course, he deserved a dinner treat at the Golden Cowrie… There's more when we return.