By DANNY O. SAGUN

FOR the very first time, former Speaker Jose de Venecia was absent when President Macapagal-Arroyo visited her homeprovince to lead the inauguration of the Guico-owned airfield last Saturday in Binalonan. We could not recall of an instance that JDV was not around during all those GMA’s visits in the past.

Well, the fourth district congressman was not invited to that affair. Host Mayor Monching Guico, who is second cousin of the President, could not do so what with the severing of ties of the Arroyos and the De Venecias as a result of the ZTE controversy.

Notably absent too were some mediamen and women who usually materialized everytime there is a presidential visit no matter the distance or the significance of the events. Maybe it’s true what some media colleagues say that those reporters or correspondents were showing up in full force mainly to cover the former Speaker and his wife Gina, and only incidentally, the President.

Now, times have changed. No more JDV and Gina who can gather almost all mediamen in Pangasinan and even nearby provinces to his house in Binloc even on very short notice. How they do it, just ask our media colleagues.

* * * *

Mayor Guico can also assemble reporters on his own, as shown by the patience of some reporters last Saturday to wait for the chance to see the mayor. The luncheon meeting at the mayor’s residence was closed to the media. Gates were opened only after the President had left for Manila.

When we passed by the place an hour later to attend a religious meeting in that town, we saw some mediamen still loitering at the mayor’s compound.

What strikes his listeners when he talks about the media though is his attitude or treatment toward people he describes as medya-medya. It’s clear Guico, Jr.has a low regard for these people, who, according to him, are only after money, not news. Call it a case of “mediallergy.”

His sentiment is similar to that of a mayor I interviewed late last year for a school research study. That mayor believed only about a fourth of those who claim to be mediamen in Pangasinan are in a real sense journalists.

Urduja House, during its last Christmas party for media, had more than 300 in its list. We don’t think this province despite its size has that big number of media persons. Perhaps, Guico’s estimate and that of the other mayor was right as to the number of true-blue mediamen.

Some public officials however do not mind whether one is a real journalist or a medya-medya. They do not discriminate when they give manna. However, time has come for them also to feel the way Guico does because of the abuses of some mediamen.

Imagine a mayor who is visited almost on a daily basis by tape recorder/newspaper-wielding persons from morning to afternoon when in fact there are no big issues in his town. Those people could not just leave the office without something in return so that the poor mayor is forced to dig deep into his pocket.

If only all media outfits ban their people from making solicitations as a TV network does. And if only all public officials come to agree among themselves that from now on, no one will give any favor to a mediaman. That will stop people from masquerading as journalists.

That won’t happen though, we think.