Briones: Sunday sanctimony

Should radio commentators be held liable for what they say over the airwaves, especially with election season coming up? Should they be allowed to misinform the public with their outright lies? Doesn’t their profession bind them to report the facts and not mere conjectures?

Mind you, I’m not saying all are guilty. I’m talking about a few. Okay, maybe two or three.

If they are being paid by the subject of their praises then I can understand. I’m not saying that what they’re doing is right, but I understand. After all, we’re all trying to survive an ongoing global health crisis. Bills have to be paid. Food have to be put on the table. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. But to listen to them twist the truth day in and day out without so much as a stutter is cringe-worthy. That is why I’ve stopped listening.

Mind you, I don’t mean to get on my high horse and pretend not to have any biases for a particular person or persons because I do. In fact, I quit my job as a newspaper editor this year so I can serve that person, whom I believe is doing the right thing to steer Cebu out of the doldrums that is the novel coronavirus pandemic. Which is why I’ve recently stayed clear of writing about Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and the programs she has implemented in the province to help Cebuanos stay afloat, so to speak, while they try to weather this economic storm. Even when I think and know that Cebu Province is on the right track because of her policies.

Does it make me a hypocrite to say that the Provincial Government’s Sugbusog or Sugbo Negosyo programs have and continue to benefit many of its constituents? To some, maybe. But do I lie?

Now that I’ve got that out in the open, I should just stop and let everyone enjoy their Sunday without having to put up with my sanctimony.

So if you are wondering about the past, the answers are not hard to find. You don’t even have to go to the library. I mean, you know what a library is, right? It’s where they keep all the books. You know. Pages that tell stories or show pictures that are either glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers.

There is, after all, the internet.

Then again, as much as I hate to admit it the web does contain many versions of the “truth.” The challenge is finding the one that suits your needs because, let’s face it, that’s what it boils down to.