WITH this piece, we do not intend to malign or whatsoever Sto. Tomas City Vice Mayor Armenius Silva. (His son is a close friend ng pamangkin namin ni misis although he may not know us.)
It just seems so odd. That, until now I just cannot get over it.
“Why do we have to pay the vice mayor (Silva) for an interview when in fact we will be helping him spill out his political plan so the people may know for the coming election and other info about him as a candidate for mayor?”
It was me wondering out loud while discussing with our office administrator whom I instructed to visit the office of the good vice mayor so as to get a schedule for an interview.
“Sir, yan po ang sabi ng secretary po niya (Vice Mayor Silva). Tayo raw po ay kailangan at dapat magbayad kasi magkakaroon daw po tayo ng exclusive story?”
What?
An exclusive story for what? Oh my, foot!
Big, large, huge, international media companies, yes, pay people of interest for exclusive interviews. No question about it. Thousands of dollars.
But sad to say, for a public servant. No, sorry even a community newspaper like us OpinYon Batangas, will not pay.
Actually, I am inclined to personally visit the office of Vice Mayor Silva sometime and try to ask the same questions again to his secretary.
But let me be very clear. The fault here is not Vice Silva’s.
It’s his secretary’s. His receptionist. Period. Nothing more.
Maybe, his secretary, with all due respect, worked before with CNN International, Associated Press, Agence France Presse, Al Jazeera, etc which I believe do shell out huge sums of money to get “scoops” or exclusive stories ahead of other news companies.
I’ve already interviewed Madam Mayor EPS but no, sorry to tell Vice Silva’s secretary, Ate Annie (Mayor EPS’s Executive Secretary) never asked me to shell out cash and pay Mayora.
I’ve also interviewed former STC administrator Atty. Arth Jhun Marasigan before and he did not give me any hint of paying him back for interviewing him.
Instead, he ordered 500 copies and paid P5,000 OpinYon Batangas.
And lately, I also texted him for another interview after filing his COC for city mayor and he texted back and even called me telling me “sorry” that he cannot make it to our agreed sked as yet as he was not feeling well.
So it was reset. Nice and easy, right?
Indeed, mutual courtesy begets mutual respect.
I also told this story to my favorite barber Mark and he himself almost fell off his chair upon hearing this.
Sensing his regard for Vice Silva, I told him that if he can get a schedule for an interview with Vice Silva, hopefully for free, I’ll take it.
I’ve encountered a similar case with a certain individual connected with an organization of citizens against crime that I also belong to.
He told me that it would be our paper (OpinYon Batangas) that needs to pay up for the space of the interview of a certain mayoral candidate on our pages.
According to him, he might be taken as campaign manager of the said candidate.
But OMG! Are we on the same page? Sus! Grabe na gid!
Email ismaelamigo@yahoo.com .