The Insensitive

NOVEMBER 2007

PRESS RELEASE

HON. NERI BARTE

BOARD MEMBER/FIRST
DISTRICT

COMPOSTELA VALLEY
PROVINCE

To
our dear friends in the broadcast and print media, health and
blessings from the Lord!

In
the last weeks, my name has been on the news because of the so-called
complain hurled against me by Mr. Roel Sembrano, a supposed
broadcaster and announcer of a local radio station in our hometown,
Compostela, ComVal Province. 

With
this open letter I want to address the issue on various fronts.
First, I am well aware that media practitioners have to follow
certain norms and ethics in broadcasting. Media practitioners are
supposed to unveil the truth by taking all sides of the story, and
NOT create intrigues and stories instead.

Roel
Sembrano never took my side to the allegations that he wantonly
broadcasted over the radio. His pronouncements on radio were all
brazen lies and intrigues. People in Compostela valley and in
Compostela municipality in particular are aware that Sembrano is not
a broadcaster that reports objective truths, issues and events, but a
media practitioner who is under the wings, caprices and influences of
some local politicians, immoral and corrupt, who are all out to
destroy my reputation as a civil servant and critique of excesses of
other politicians. People of Compostela can attest that Sembrano did
nothing in order to report the truth.

If
Sembrano is after the reporting of truth, my office in the Provincial
capitol is always open for him to visit me and discuss issues that
were hurled against me. If Sembrano is after the truth for people of
Compostela to know, he should have reported the unabated killings in
our town and the rampant proliferation of illegal drugs that
confronts Compostela, instead of maligning my reputation as a
politician who never have any record of immorality. I am known to be
the defender of truth, the oppressed and the poor.

Secondly,
I am aware that media practice should be balance and fair. It pains
me that I was condemned and subjected to the judgment not out of
justice and balance that media suppose to represent, but in the bar
of public opinion. This is what Sembrano actually did when he never
take my side in the allegations that I suppose to have committed.

Fairness
and balance is never a practice of Mr. Sembrano for he maligned a
reputation without establishing solid facts to support his
allegations. My record as a politician is open for public scrutiny,
but what Sembrano did is not to report the truth; balance and fairly,
but simply to accuse me of things I never have committed. His brazen
lies is manifested in his claim that he criticizes me because I sided
with someone who run against his friend and mentor in the last
barangay election. It was a public knowledge to the people of
Compostela that it was he, Roel Sembrano who campaigned and trumpeted
a certain candidate to whom he work with and he allows himself to be
used as a demolition man by a local politician instead of being a
broadcaster for truth and transparency.

Thirdly,
I have to make it clear that it was not this barangay election issue
that enraged my family, but the brazen lies that Sembrano tells on
the radio. He accused me on air of non-performance of my duty as a
duly constituted and elected public official. It was not because I
campaigned for a local candidate that he maligned my reputation but
issues that attacks, not my political works and achievements but
personal ones that go beyond the realm of truthful and balanced
broadcasting. To say it straight, Roel Sembrano is a blatant liar.

Lastly,
I want to make it clear that I did not attack him! It was my wife
and daughter who come to him in order to confront him of the lies he
uttered on air. I only followed to stop them. My daughter, a
graduating MassCom student of the Ateneo de Davao University was the
one very enraged for she knew that what Sembrano did on air was a
blatant violation of the code of ethics of the broadcast media.
Emotions were high and people of Compostela could attest that my wife
and daughter were entitled to their anger because what was said
against her father and husband were all but lies and empty
accusations. I will not condemn my wife and daughter, for what they
did were clear expressions of disgust brought about by moral
bankruptcy and media malpractice that Sembrano did to me.

I
wish to end this long tract with an appeal to the people of the
broadcast and written media. I am a politician and in the last two
decades of my political life I always am a voice in the wilderness
for I stood against immorality, exploitation and excesses committed
by the ruling powerful politicians. Despite all of this, and despite
all the efforts of destroying me, including the use of Sembrano’s
radio program through the lies and intrigues that he sowed on air,
the people of ComVal voted me.

I
hope to be given a fair share in the bars of public opinion where my
side will be heard and asked for, for like anyone in the media I am
also for truth and justice. I appeal that stories being written and
broadcast must carry all the time, the two sides of the coin, the
opposing views of the stories told, so that truth shall come out. I
appeal to media people to report only the truth and not allow
themselves to be used as speaking parrots and puppets of people who
are immoral and corrupt for it will deprive the unveiling of the
truth.

As
the bible says, Only the Truth shall set us free… So is my
wish for those who are out to destroy and malign me. In the end, it
is the people and God who will judge us. 

In the 21 years of my life there are two people I value most, my nanay and my tatay. My nanay for the unconditional love she’s offered us, for being there waking up early in the morning ready with my milk, for always having my clothes pressed and ready to wear and for all those things she’s done that could categorize her as a devoted mother indeed. My tatay on the other hand for being the father people never expected he could be. Kabalo ko na daghan kaayo ang nagtuo na ang akong tatay, Boardmember Neri R. Barte of Compostela Valley kay isug kaau na bisag tingug pa lang niya magkurog na ang ubang tawo but not to us his daughters. As a father he has always been very gentle and very loving. As a husband, proudly I could say no one could be as loyal as he is. Others are busy having mistresses but my father all these years kept himself moral assuring us that there is no other woman in his life but my mother.

Aside from being a family man he is on the other hand a politician. But, he always tells me: "anak never call yourself a politicians daughter for that is a word that would never apply to me, you are a daughter of a public servant.". For 18 years that he has been serving the public he has proven himself to be a man of truthful service. My father has done nothing to ruin the reputation of the family or of our name. Even being at the an era of massive vote buying and unfair political moves he managed to win as a

Boardmember. He won not through money not through any form of bribery but through honest and genuine form of campaign with his family; my mom, my sister and myself.

That is the very reason why I could never let some airhead ruin my father. And this is all I could say: "Roel Sembrano who the hell are you? You are a nothing and a no one. Dili man gani ka taga diri you do not even have any idea who is really boardmember Nonong Barte.". The man who claims to be a radio broadcaster seems to be media practitioner who does not even know what his duty is. I suppose by the way he maligned my father on air he does not know the ethics provided by the NUJP or of the basic definition of libel. The mere act of directly identifying the person defamed is an act of defamation which could compromise his job for he could be accused of libel.

Now, let me ask if you are in my shoes. You are the daughter of Boardmember Nonong Barte and you hear a man who ruins your father and says things you know he only utters because he gets money upon doing it and not on the principle of bringing out the truth. What would you? That moron enraged me and I made sure he is not going to forget all his life that I’ve done to him what people did not expect of me. I am a person of patience and full of compassion. No matter what people do to me I could just let it pass but not this time and never with this obnoxious man.

My father is a Boardmember, people voted for him and so far as a legislator he has done nothing but to make me proud. Tatay deserves respect but Mr. Sembrano never even showed any respect that he ought to towards my father. He does not have the right to do that. I just needed to remind him that he was going over the line and I could never let him go on doing what he has been doing, mislead the people from the truth.It may not be now, possibly soon but he will pay.

KIMOI…YEAH QUIT TALKING…STILL THE SAME SHIT IN MY MIND…

YOU KNOW WHAT’S WITH THIS NAME?JUST FOUND OUT IT’S JAPANESE WHICH MEANS DISGUSTING, STRANGE AND CREEPY…SO NOT TOBE PROUD OF…HAHAHA

BUT WHAT’S WITH HIM?YEAH DISGUSTING.CREEPY AND STRANGE.WELL DEFINED…THAT’S KIMOI…

by my katangahan i pressed the wrong key and so i have to make a part two of my writing…

for my 3 years stay in ADDU…i could proudly say im single, im free meaning i don’t need a man…but then came hmmmmm oh well you all know who…

and things really have to change…yes they do because i have to make adjustments and stretch my time and get used to restraints which doesn’t use to exist…

people may say it is sonot me but i find myself happy being in such situation…look?i was free yeah i was but what was i doing with the freedom i once had?i was abusive of it. then here he comes showing me that there is a good way of spending it…yeah right quit reading it’s all a bluff…

it’s been long since i last updated my blog…here i am caught in my own chaotic world…chaotic as i choose it to be…

7 months ago i was single, free and ofno commitment at all but then life had to take a sudden turn…i chose to fall in love, to be in love…

so contrary as i thought things would be yet it had to happen…the most unexpected are the most likely to come right?

it’s a friday and im in the internet…i couldn’t think of anything to write except of what i hear right now…listen to ur heart it’s a song by roxette…it perfectly applies to me…that at times i don’t event think coz to me being able to recognize what my heart desires is more than enough…i do it and i just go for it without even thinking twice and i never regret any of it that i do in my life whether it be a good thing or not…

at the moment i know exactly where i am and where im heading to….i hope so…i have this person who’s always right beside me and i trust he will always be there and will never leave me…i hope so…im always left w/ hopes…and all i can do is to listen to my heart for it is my last defense and my end resort…    

forlorness..emptiness…loneliness..

it’s how life is to me at the moment…

yet, im glad and thankful…

that i’d get to be in solitude…

and i’d get to do the things that i’ll never be able to when the day comes that GOD surprises me and says, "My child, here’s the one for you…"

Summer is one of the seasons of the year that I really long for. Not only for the no school days, the swimming, the vacations and the outing but also because of the summer I have to spend every three years.

People have different ways of spending their summer. Here in the Philippines, every three years we don’t only experience summer heat by the sun but also of the politics that gears the Philippine elections whether it be presidential or local. This is how I enjoy my summer every three years.

As far as I can remember young as I am, my most memorable summers were not that of those times when we went out of town. The ones which I consider memorable were the 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2004 elections. I have a different experience because I belong to a political family.

Every time I don’t know if I should be proud of it or not because it is a fact that politics is dirty.  But, what can I do? It is in my blood. My father always tells me “Don’t let people call you a politicians daughter because I am not a politician, I am a public servant.”. That at least is a relief. But, I enjoy it though because of the wins and victories, I learned a lot and I grew up with the chaotic arena that I just can’t run away from.

On every three years I spend my summer differently from all kids my age. Instead of going off for a vacation, swimming and playing I spend it with people from different walks of life and ages. The way I enjoy my summer is through the experiences that to me is in exchangeable because getting to know people brings a lot of joy to me. To most people it is not normal, but to me it is never a toil that I’d get to talk and to shake hands with different people.

Instead of doing nothing or just taking a rest at home I enjoy my summers every three years, campaigning. It is when I am busy going around places with my father, I stand as his personal secretary and his representative eveytime there is a youth rally. It is so fulfilling to me that I’d get to go up on stage campaign for my father and take a stand for the principles that I grew up with.

People always call me “Ang alas sa iyang amahan.”(The father’s lucky charm.) because no other official in our place could bring along their kids to campaign. For those of my age serious campaign is a bore but to me I never want to miss it because it comes only ones in three years.

But don’t get my wrong. I don’t have plans of getting myself into Philippine politics. I already had enough of it since I was young. What I am trying to say, now that I am a voter myself and election is coming again is that, “No matter how young we are we should take our place in the Philippine elections.”. We are citizens of this country and so we should never be apathetic to what is going on around. We have the right to make a choice. We can pave way for the youth to become a voice in our government system.