II.  The 1997-1998 El Niño Event :

    A.     Tracing the Flow of Information on the 1997-98 El Niño within the Country

 

PAGASA released its first advisory about El Niño as early as the last quarter of 1995[1] . The various government agencies as well as the media received this alert. More public attention was gained with the first drought advisory, issued by PAGASA in May 1997. The public was told to expect it to be a strong event, stronger than the 1983 episode which until then had caused the most damage of all the past El Niño episodes. From May onwards, PAGASA provided a monthly weather outlook given to member agencies of the Inter-Agency Committee for Crisis Water Management, and to the Presidential Task Force El Niño when it was created in September.

 

In early June 1997, the Office of the President circulated then President Ramos’s handwritten instructions on a news article about El Niño for the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and other agencies to monitor the development of El Niño closely and determine how the country’s progress and growth targets might be affected.  On June 19, a newspaper article ran, “Gov’t Ready for El Niño, says Habito.” Habito was then Secretary General of NEDA, the highest policy-making body and the agency in-charge of approving and monitoring development projects. Reflecting Habito’s words, the Department of Agriculture’s preparations for El Niño were reported in a newspaper article, “DA Officials Draft New Plan to Cushion El Niño Weather Disturbance” (BusinessWorld, July 25, 1997).

 

Through the months, PAGASA undertook intensive monitoring of local rainfall and general circulation patterns affecting the country. Updates about El Niño were sourced by PAGASA from the Internet and various climate centers such as the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

 

The Philippine Government had received a copy of UN General Assembly Resolution 52/200 dated December 18, 1997 on “International Cooperation to reduce the impact of El Niño Phenomenon” acknowledging the global effects and calling for concerted action to reducte impacts both nationally and internationally. Then in February 1998, a delegation from the Philippines attended “The Asian Regional Meeting on El Niño Related Crises” to discuss  a regional climate outlook and opportunities for international cooperation in managing and reducing the effects of El Niño.

 

On May 12, 1998, PAGASA prepared an “Assessment Update of the Current 1997-1998 El Niño, Its Impact on the Philippine Local Climate, and Seasonal Climate Outlook for 1998: Climate Outlook for 1998.” It was a comprehensive retrospective assessment of the effects and impacts in 1997 with comparison to the 1982-1983 and 1972-73 events. This climate outlook was properly disseminated to the Task Force El Niño and subsequently disseminated to the general public.

 

B.  How the Media First Reported the Developing El Niño and How it covered the Event over time

 

Among the first reports of the developing El Niño was Business World’s “PAGASA Warns of El Niño’s Return,” on January 19, 1996. The article reflected PAGASA’s advisory. Over time, the media ran more stories of El Niño. This coverage as a whole could be classified in three stages: first, projecting impacts and identifying vulnerable areas, giving information and advice to the public how to cope with the effects; second, reporting the actual impacts as they happened, and monitoring the responses of the disaster coordinating councils and local governments; third, in retrospect, providing analysis and assessment on the effectiveness of government interventions. Media itself received a brief assessment of its own role in reporting El Niño, courtesy of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. Cited specifically was media’s uncritical reporting of conflicting figures on damages.

 

As El Niño effects were felt by the public beginning November, the media coverage also increased. The 1997-1998 El Niño episode was compared with the previous episodes since 1969, but highlighting the strong 1983 episode. A sample of newspaper articles illustrates the three stages of media coverage:

 

Stage 1: Preparing for El Niño

 

1.       “Water districts asked to Take Measures on El Niño’s effect” (Business World, July 21, 1997)

2.       “El Niño Fund Released” (Business World, October 13, 1997)

3.       “APEC Members to Discuss El Niño in November Meet” (Business World, October 28, 1997)

4.       “Century’s worst, El Niño: Drought here; wet on other Side of the Pacific” “How to Weather the El Niño Onslaught”, “Expect Severe Water Shortage” (Phil. Daily Inquirer, Three Part Series,  November 1997)

5.       “El Niño to Pose Health Risks” (BusinessWorld, November 10, 1997)

6.       “NAPOCOR sees P 800 million additional costs due to El Niño” (BusinessWorld, November 14, 1997)

7.       “Even before El Niño, Water Supply was already a Murky Problem” (BusinessWorld, December 12, 1997)

8.       “DENR Chief’s Warning: El Niño is Bad, but La Niña Worse” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, December, 1997)

 

Stage 2: Reporting Effects of El Niño

 

9.       “The Year the Was…and is to Come—The Top 10 Events of 1997” (BusinessWorld, January 6, 1998)

10.   “El Niño Hits 22,000 hectares of Ricelands in Bicol Region” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, February 12, 1998)

11.   “Apayao Farmlands hit by El Niño” (BusinessWorld, March 12, 1998)

12.   “3 More Areas Ravaged by Drought” (The Manila Times, April 18, 1998)

13.   “FVR wants Debt Moratorium for Farmers affected by El Niño pattern” (BusinessWorld, May 6, 1998)

14.   “Cordillera Authorities Assess Drought Damage as they await Advent of La Niña” (BusinessWorld, May 8, 1998)

15.   “El Niño Still Wreaking Havoc on RP” (Philippine Star, May 17, 1998)

16.   “Coco Sector won’t Recover until Next Year,” (BusinessWorld, May 26, 1998)

17.   “Schemes for El Niño Victims Set” (BusinessWorld, July 6, 1998)

18.   “RP Fisheries Sector Records P 7.24 B Loss from El Niño” (BusinessWorld, November 4, 1998)

 

Stage 3: Assessing how the Country coped with El Niño

 

19.   “Worst Ever Farm Output Record” (BusinessWorld, January 27, 1999)

20.   “A Bravo Salute for Task Force El Niño” (The Manila Times, July 3, 1998)

 

Television and radio stations as well covered El Niño as major news. Reflecting newspaper coverage, radio and TV provided information over the 1997-1998 period. The major TV stations­­—GMA-7, ABS-CBN, RPN 9, and radio stations—DZRH, DZMM and DZBB ran the public advisory advertisements of Task Force El Niño, complete with a popular jingle sang by a well known artist. They also conducted interviews of public officials.

 

Media coverage became proactive involvement in a disaster relief program when, in April 1998, news of food scarcity affecting at least 985,000 families in Mindanao reached authorities in Manila. These were mostly indigenous peoples in upland communities who relied solely on forest resources. Church leaders and the private sector took the lead in this effort, recognizing the urgency of the situation and government’s limitations in providing funds immediately (because government had not identified these areas as vulnerable to El Niño and had not apportioned funds; also, at the eve of national and local elections, government agencies like the Department of Social Welfare and Development were banned from releasing money. DSWD eventually got an exception from the ban).

 

Media provided crucial public information and fundraising campaigns through television (GMA-7) and newspaper (Philippine Daily Inquirer), as part of their formal inclusion in the Tabang Mindanaw (“Help Mindanao”) multisectoral campaign. GMA-7 ran Tabang Mindanaw advertisements while the Inquirer put out whole page bulletins to call on volunteers and to solicit funds to procure rice for the affected families for an estimated duration of six months, until the communities could harvest again from their farm plots. After one year of operations, the Tabang Mindanaw campaign had mobilized more than 8,000 volunteers to assist in the rice distribution and medical missions, and cash resources amounting to P 92 million (Philippine Daily Inquirer had solicited P 35 million of this amount). Over 255,000 tribal families availed of the rice and medical assistance.[2]

 

C.  The Previous Mention of El Niño in the Media, before the Mention of the 1997-98 El Niño

 

Before the mention of the 1997-98 El Niño, the newspapers reported on the 1994-95 episode as reflected in two articles: “RP Weather Experts Baffled by El Niño’s Early Return” (BusinessWorld, December 20, 1994) and “El Niño Waning; Normal Rainy Season Expected” (BusinessWorld, April, 1995).