The Late Lee Kuan Yew Called the Philippines' Press RAMBUNCTIOUS

The Straits Times

As April Fool's Day draws near, I intend to write on something the late Lee Kuan Yew said in his book From Third World to First. It was once wrongly said that he said the Philippine presses as masters of intrigue. It was made by a certain Jesus Satorre Jr. who wrongly called Lee Kuan Yew, president. That alone deserves to be fact-checked. It was even funny how a certain someone called Mahathir Mohamad a president when he criticized former president Rodrigo R. Duterte. 

However, there was a quote from the book concerning the Philippines about the Philippine press:

Ramos knew well the difficulties of trying to govern with strict American-style separation of powers. The senate had already defeated Mrs. Aquino's proposal to retain the American bases. The Philippines had a rambunctious press but it did not check corruption. Individual press reporters could be bought, as could many judges.

I'm afraid that it's very easy to quote what Lee said about the Marcoses. It's right there in the book. It's the same chapter where he met with the late Maria Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino. It's also in the same chapter where he called Cesar Virata a non-starter and no leader for the Filipino people. That's why I refuse to buy even for a split second that the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. established a parliamentary system.

The idea that the media should do the checks and balances is stupid. How can you have check and balance by media if the Philippine press is well, rambunctious? In short, it's a very boisterous press. I felt that while Lee wrote his book, he probably remembered a 1988 speech where he mentioned how the Philippine press failed the Filipino people.

An interesting event happened in 1987. It was where Mrs. Aquino sued the late Luis Beltran. It was also interesting that Mrs. Aquino ordered radio stations to broadcast anti-government propaganda. It was also mentioned that Beltran, while apparently using a figure of speech during the coup de etat, that Mrs. Aquino was in hiding. I wonder if Mrs. Aquino was right in suing Beltran. In my own opinion, Beltran would partly fit what Lee Kuan Yew said about the Philippine presses. I wonder if somebody paid Beltran to ruin Mrs. Aquino. It seemed that the event showed just what Lee Kuan Yew thought about the Philippine presses.

Later, the Philippine presses became the instrument against constitutional reform 

As I was continuing to read Lee Kuan Yew's book, it would be interesting that he wrote also about Ramos' regime. As I like to mention, Mrs. Aquino should've remained a symbolic head of state as many events during the Beltran incident proved she was fitter as the people's representative. Now, it was Ramos' turn and he was the president. Ramos was bent on charter change and much gossip came in. The idea was that the six-year, no more and no less, single term of a president was to prevent another Marcos-type regime. 

About Ramos, Lee Kuan Yew also said the following:

Mrs. Aquino's succesor, Fidel Ramos, whom she had backed, was more practical and established greater stability. In November 1992, I visited him. In a speech to the 18th Philippine Business Confdence, I said, "I do not believe democracy necessarily leads to development. I believe what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy." In private, President Ramos said he agreed with me that British parliamentary-type constitutions worked better bcause the majority party in the legislative was also in the govenrment. Publicly, Ramos had to differ.

Ramos was often criticized for privatization. Is it me or does the Philippines have a very anti-business mindset in the long run? The presses regained their freedom and now were misusing their freedom. Freedom of the press is indeed a good thing. It was a good thing freedom of the press was restored by EDSA 1986. However, without any restraint, press freedom can become a toxic thing to any country.

I remember in the late 1990s when I feared two things. First, it was that Ramos may declare martial law. Second, it was Ramos getting another term. It was often taught that Marcos Sr. ruled for 20 years and he was a dictator. What was never mentioned was that some good rulers ruled beyond 20 years. Think of how long Lee Kuan Yew ruled Singapore to stabilize a country once ridden with crime and corruption. I feared charter change and I was also among those who opposed it.

I think one campaign ad said, "If the Philippines would shift to parliamentary, just think how frightening it would be that the president would sit for more than six years." This was what I feared. I remember panicking in fear from when I was 11 years old to 12 years old. However, the more I thought about parliamentary systems, the more I realized that it was all about having another term than term extension. Term extension means lengthening a term. A prime minister can have many terms if he or she is doing well. If not, a prime minister can expect not to finish his or her term.

If there's anything I'd like to address, the rambunctious press of the Philippines fooled the masses. It's been a failure. I believe it's a result of Article XVII's restriction that only Filipinos can own mass media. It shouldn't be a problem if a mass media entity in the Philippines has foreign funding or ownership. Yet, I think having that provision may explain why we have what Lee Kuan Yew calls, a rambunctious press.