THEORY AS A LENS TO INFORM A STUDY

THE THEORY AS A LENS TO INFORM A STUDY

Reaction to the Colloquium of Attorney Victor Avecilla

            The study of Attorney Victor Avecilla’s colloquium revolves on the topic, “Constitutional Prohibition against Alien Ownership and Management of Mass Media in the Philippines.”

Atty. Avecilla used “The Philippine Collegian,” the official student publication of the University of the Philippines Diliman as a case study when in 1994 an alien or a student who has a dual citizenship which is Filipino- American, became an editor-in-chief of the said mass medium. This is a great offense to the constitution which serves as “the highest law of the land.” It is said in the Article XVI, Section 11 of the 1987 Constitution that, “The ownership and management of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly-owned and managed by such citizens.”

            According to the 1987 Philippine Constitution, mass media is a means of communication like the print media which includes the newspapers, popular magazines, and periodicals; radio, television, and movies, which reaches and influences a large size of population. Atty. Avecilla pointed out that owning mass media is very critical for the power of it is encompassing for it dictate to us what is what and where is where and even why is why. Therefore if foreigners will own and manage it, our culture might be affected by that alien’s culture.

            Political economy tackles the commodification of mass media. This presents that a mass media which should be free for everyone’s access, is inaccessible unless you pay for it. Money or the role of economics play a vital role in this theory for you won’t be informed if you won’t pay. This theory informs the study in such a way that politics also plays a major role in a mass medium that the ownership and the management of it is restricted to only Filipinos.

            The colloquium topic which is the restriction of ownership and management of mass media to Filipinos only, using the lens of a political economy theory, is also vital. For if the mass medium commodity is owned and controlled by an alien, then it will greatly influence our perspective for he can manipulate the texts and monopolize the angle of stories, and jeopardize the medium.

Atty. Avecilla used Jose P. Laurel’s quotation, “No one can love Filipinos better than Filipinos themselves.” This is true because foreigners would really not mind about our condition and what they mind most is on how to gain profit out of these media and to monopolize it totally.  The quotation explains totally the reason why aliens should be banned on owning and managing mass media in the Philippines.#

First published as a requirement in Communication 130, 2nd Semester, 2009-2010.