A Chinese proverb goes that no matter how the wind howls, the mountains
will never bow down before it.
Such, doesn't hold true when it comes to GMA7's Saksi reporter
Tina Panganiban Perez (89-D Diliman).
To quote
Inquirer's Newsbreak report
"Fraternity connections and journalists":
[She]
scooped reporters from the other networks when she interviewed Senator Gregorio Honasan, who had become "inaccessible" after the government accused him of being a "coup conspirator" in [the] Oakwood [mutiny].
Why did she get the special treatment of meeting the senator face to face even before the state of rebellion was lifted, or a day after, as she claims? Perez (BA Communication 1991) is a member of the UP sorority Sigma Alpha Nu, which is the sorority of Honasan’s Alpha Sigma. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo accused her of "abetting rebellion," and the incident sparked a debate on censorship and whether the government spies on reporters."
Tina in her quest for truth maximized her network and toed the line of national insecurity. Unfortunately, power's might was no match for truth's light. Behind Tina, senators Aquilino Pimentel, Vicente Sotto III and Teresa Aquino-Oreta rallied for press freedom.
The president's scolding made the legislators' tongue wagging:
"Unpresidential and uncalled for" says Piemntel.
Tito Sen goes:
"So it's very clear that they are trying to sow fear among media."
The omen of Ninoy's sister:
"the Arroyo administration [is getting] even closer to a "garrison state" that the late Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. warned the nation about in a 1968 speech."
Thus ending the chapter of "the media during the Middle Ages". President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo trooped down to the GMA7 network station to make clarifications on the "berating" and surveillance incident of August 15, 2003 at the Microtel Inn and Suites in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.
Tina's dinner date with the president dwelled on "was-referring-to-a-different-story-reported-by-Perez-when-she-mentioned-"abetting rebellion,", a hug
and good mood.
Tina will forever be marked in media history as the reporter who came, who saw and conquered.
The only one smothered by no less than the president herself.
Who is the sis behind the reporter?
Tina Cassandra de Guia Panganiban-Perez 89-D, the Diliman roster of sisters reads.
Tina volunteered herself to the sorority. As Tina recalls:
"I heard [Atty.]Jamea Garcia, our high school valedictorian
at the UP-IS (university of the Philippines Integrated School), joined the sorority. I told her and another sis, who was our batchmate, that i wanted to join the sorority. i grabbed the chance to join a sorority of intellects and beauties before the opportunity passes me
by."
She claims that the influence of the sorority on her is "big! i use t-r-j [Truth, Reason and Justice] to guide me in my work as a reporter."
To our resident sisters she imparts, "keep the sorority's principles and goals in mind even after you have left the university. you apply it in your life everyday."
Truth, Reason and Justice. Lofty prionciples the sorority may uphold but if one strives to attain it, it is not to evade you.
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