Editor’s Note: Readers’ advocate told Tulfo to reassess his columns

On Oct. 17, columnist Ramon Tulfo wrote about then Inquirer Readers’ Advocate Elena Pernia withholding publication of two of his articles because they were “out-and-out pro-Duterte.” In fairness to Pernia, we are reprinting below the exchange of e-mails between her and Tulfo regarding the matter.

On April 22, 2016, Pernia wrote:

“Dear Mr. Tulfo,

I wish to call your attention to the columns where you have focused on presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte. In the past month alone, you have had four columns (i.e., ‘Leader with an iron hand’ on April 12, ‘Quarrelling with rivals is unproductive’ on April 16, ‘Gutter lingo not an issue among masses’ on April 19, and ‘Just being ‘Bondish’ ’ on April 21).

In each of these columns, you have taken a pro-Duterte stance that makes you sound like a propagandist for the presidential candidate.

For instance, in Iron Hand, you proclaim that “The need of the hour is a leader with a kamay na bakal or iron hand, and only Duterte has it.”

In Quarreling, you state that “The charges of human rights violations against Duterte no longer stick with the majority of Filipinos who have seen what he has done in Davao City which he has made into one of the safest cities in the world.”

In Gutter Lingo, you venture a “BOLD prediction on the outcome of the May 9 presidential election: Davao City Mayor Rody Duterte will win despite the inane rape joke.”

And in Just being ‘Bondish,’ you sound defensive of Duterte as you say he “was quoted out of context in the rape joke.”

Earlier in your Nov. 24, 2015 column, ‘Am I campaigning for Duterte?’ you proclaimed: “His sterling leadership in Davao City will be replicated in the entire country — if he is elected President. Now am I unashamedly campaigning for Duterte? You bet I am.”

* Section VIII of the Manual of Editorial Policies of the PDI states:

“While columnists are expected to advocate a certain point of view, they may not serve as propagandist for any political party or candidate, business interest or any other entity.”

As a veteran journalist and columnist, you are quite aware of this. You even alluded to it in your March 29, 2016 column, ‘Lack of campaign funds big problem,’ where you said: ‘I’ve never endorsed a presidential candidate before, as strongly as I do now. Neither have I intensely campaigned for any presidential aspirant before. Why am I doing it now and courting the displeasure of my editors and publisher of the Inquirer?’

Columnists in the various sections of the PDI have been similarly reminded to avoid serving as or even sounding like propagandists, such that their columns have been edited or simply not published by their editors.

Where the columnist writes about an individual, institution, or business interest for which s/he has a strong advocacy, her/his editor allows an unofficial two-column limit.

In your case, Mr. Tulfo, you have exceeded this limit.

Please reassess your columns in this light.”

On April 24, Tulfo replied:

From: <[email protected]>

To: “Elena E. Pernia” <[email protected]>

Subject: Re: Your columns on Duterte

I admit I’ve exceeded my limit as a columnist.

Thank you for reminding me.

Ramon