Cebu Capitol media’s fate

The Cebu Provincial Board (PB) is scheduled to tackle this week a resolution that will scrutinize the job description and designation of all Capitol employees, specifically those who are holding non-plantilla positions. Many such workers assigned in the province-owned SugboTv and Sugbo newsletter reportedly got appointed as laborer, security agent and private secretary even if their actual work involves mass communication. In other words, their output does not match their job description.

PB Member Arleigh Sitoy, author of the resolution, said the practice of hiring non-plantilla employees is being tolerated because the governor can hire casuals whose tenure is co-terminus with the local chief executive’s, although strictly speaking this is against civil service regulations. I understand 31 of 35 workers already resigned from SugboTv, so it will be interesting to know the names in the non-plantilla list.

Sitoy’s move is perceived to pave the way for the rationalization of the province-owned cable channel and newsletter, a signal that provincial officials whose mandate is set to expire in six months intend to continue the operation of the twin media resource.

To recall, SugboTv and Sugbo neswsletter were set up in 2008 by suspended governor Gwendolyn Garcia to complement the provincial government’s tourism campaign, Suroy-Suroy Sugbo. The thrust was to encourage municipal governments to develop local tourist attractions and foster pride of place among the local population.

The campaign to place Cebu at par with other tourism destinations gained support, but speculation that Garcia wanted to project herself on the national level in preparation for 2013 overshadowed the program. As we know, she was considered by the national opposition United Nationalist Alliance in its 2013 Senate slate, but Garcia didn’t fare well in popularity surveys. She backed out of the Senate race and is now running for Cebu’s 3rd district seat.

The closure of the television station is among the first major orders which Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale issued at the height of the Capitol standoff. There were reports that after President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III ordered Garcia suspended from office for six months, her camp used the cable channel to attack Magpale and the administration Liberal Party.

Close on the heels of the closure order, Acting Governor Magpale instructed Capitol officers to make an operational inventory and financial review of the 24-hour cable channel. In 2012, the allocation for SugboTV was P14.3 million. The budget for the Sugbo newsletter in the same year was P24.2 million. Some 60 to 70 employees worked for the province owned media outfits before the closure order.

The evaluation of Capitol’s media resource is a step in the right direction, especially in light of what Acting Governor Magpale has uncovered so far: provincial obligations amounting to almost P1 billion. Ranged against over P81 million available in the province’s general fund, I think it would be prudent to reassess the services of the television channel and the Capitol run-news;etter..

Another reason is the present state of SugboTv’s broadcast equipment.

Last week, the General Services Office (GSO) led by Eva Encabo and information technology professionals conducted an inventory of the TV channel’s equipment. At the end of the stock-taking, they announced that most of the hardware in the broadcast booth, like cameras, computers and hard disks were defective. The group didn’t say how many video cameras had been acquired by SugboTv and how many are in the GSO’s custody. I heard a brand new professional video camera with high definition resolution costs at least P200,000.

The point of the review is to ensure that the cable channel does not stray from its original mission, supposedly to promote the province as a tourist destination.  However, the review has yielded unpleasant facts that don’t make it auspicious for the resumption of SugboTv. The status of the staff is problematic, much of the station’s broadcast equipment is defective and on top of that, the Capitol is cash-strapped.

The information in fact points to the need for a more thorough review, one that, if Capitol officials are really sincere, will proceed from the stand point of whether the broadcast and print service serve a purpose that cannot be delivered more effectively and economically by commercial and mainstream media with online resources, or in this digital age, by the Internet.

Incidentally, PB Member Sitoy is tasked with the review and his daughter Natileigh has secured an important position in the scheme of things of SugboTV.

A report made mention of her educational qualifications and there may be no question about her credentials but it does not look good for President Benigno Aquino III’s matuwid na daan campaign that even before the final and full report of SugboTv’s review could be submitted, a move to institutionalize it is being cooked up by no less than the father of the person who has been appointed manager of the media outfit.