When Ted talks trash
Just a few days after Korina Sanchez drew the ire of netizens over on-air criticism of CNN’s Anderson Cooper, another top ABS-CBN news anchor is being castigated for a comment on his morning radio show where he apparently ridiculed PAGASA about its knowledge of storm surges.
In his commentary, Ted Failon used his signature parody in dealing with the issue on air in his popular morning radio program on dzMM. With canned laughter in the background, Failon talked trash about PAGASA’s ability in responding to storm surges. Illustrating this, he mentioned PAGASA even failed to save the life of its own employee when the storm surge leveled its station on the Tacloban coast.
While Failon might have a point in charging PAGASA for its unpreparedness and ineptitude in an area it should have deep expertise and knowledge in, making the issue laughable and worse, at the expense of a poor casualty in the devastation shows Failon’s insensitivity and callousness at a time when Yolanda victims are still reeling from the disaster, with more than 4,000 people confirmed dead.
Unnamed heroine
One of the thousands who perished is this unnamed PAGASA female employee, who decided to remain in her post that fateful Friday to still serve the public by tracking, then heroically facing the monster typhoon head-on.
The Philippine Weathermen Employees Association issued a statement on the matter:
“The PWEA honestly respects the opinion of Mr. Ted Failon aired early this morning (Tuesday, November 19) that most PAGASA people are not aware of what a storm surge is. According to Mr. Failon, this is because one PAGASA personnel died as a victim of a storm surge herself.
However, we are deeply saddened by this comment. Please allow us to inform our kababayans that our colleague suffered the onslaught of Yolanda because she was on duty at the weather station. It is the general rule in PAGASA that personnel on duty should not leave or abandon their posts at all cost if a locality is under threat from a tropical cyclone. Our lady colleague died not in the comfort of her own home but rather died while in the service of our country.”
While it is every broadcaster’s “mission” to be as hard-hitting as possible, and although he may have the “license” to inject humor to emphasize a point, there are exceptions, especially in issuing commentaries about disasters. Words are carefully and meticulously chosen, and actions are planned and strategized. In other words, such times leave no room for mindless, thoughtless flak.
With his stature, Ted Failon should know better. Well, maybe not.
And, Ted, just to let you know, no one was laughing.
PostScript: Ted Failon issued an apology in his dzMM radio program Wednesday to the PWEA. “Ang aking sinabi, ultimo taga-PAGASA ay nabiktima ng storm surge sa kasagsagan ng Yolanda,” he said on-air.
“Kung saka-sakali po na hindi ho sa tamang konteksto ang pagtanggap ng iba sa mga miyembro niyo o ibang kababayan natin sa aking naging pahayag, ako ay humihingi ng paumanhin."
