Olongapo Mediaman Harrassed by Gordon Supporters
by Anthony Bayarong
The website subictimes.com strongly condemns the harassment of its publisher and chief photographer after he was verbally abused and forcibly escorted out of the political meeting of the Gordon Straight Ticket (GST) in Barangay Barretto in Olongapo City Monday evening.
A day after David Bayarong was harassed, our office, which also serves as his home, was burglarized.
The thieves took his EOS 1D Mark ll and EOS 400-D cameras with all his lens 28-135mm, 50mm f1.4, 100mm f2, 70-200mm L series canon, 2 flash his camera bag, all his USB and all his memory card worth an estimated P400,000.
A day before the burglary, Bayarong went to the political meeting of the Gordon Straight Ticket in Barangay Barretto to take pictures of their meeting.
David arrived at around 9PM and took pictures of the rally while Zambales Vice Governor Anne Gordon who is running for a seat in congress was delivering her speech and Mayor Bong Gordon was seated at the front. Mayor James Gordon Jr., who is seeking re-election, stood up and approached David Bayarong and asked him “sino ka at bakit ka kumukuha ng picture dito?”
David Bayarong explained that he was covering the event for Subictimes.com and for his other news outfits for a special photo series regarding the local campaign of both political camps.
Aside from being the publisher of Subitimes.com, David Bayarong is also a photo correspondent of Sunstar Pampanga, Manila Standard Today and Remate Tonight.
According to David, Mayor Gordon then left and talked to councilor Edwin Piano who immediately approached him.
“Piano came up to me after his talk with Mayor Gordon and we exchanged greetings. According to Piano, the mayor was saying to him that the website (subictimes.com) was a site of former Zambales Gov. Vic Magsaysay (Mayor Gordon’s rival for mayoralty post) and that they were monitoring it,” Bayarong added.
“Did they (Gordon’s) think we were biased because of the ads in the website? We sent them proposal but they never replied,” Anthony Bayarong, the website’s Editor-in-Chief said.
The website was supposed to come out with a photo feature to highlight the local campaign in the city.
“Nilapitan ako nung isang lalaki at tinanong ako ‘tapos ka na ba?’ Sabi ok lang po ako pero pilit nya ako tinatanong ng ‘ok ka naba?’ over and over. Tapos finally he told me na “umalis ka na at baka mabugbog ka rito,” Bayarong said.
Bayarong added that when he was making his way out of the meeting the man kept saying loudly “ang kapal naman ng mukha mo at ang tapang mo pumunta dito mag isa. Kung gusto mo mag cover dun ka mag cover sa kabila,” referring to the Team Magsaysay headed by former Zambales Governor Vicente Magsaysay.
David was assigned to cover the Gordon ticket while Anthony (his older brother) was assigned to Team Magsaysay and Team Bacay.
“I did not expect that they would harass my brother, he has been covering city hall and Mayor Gordon since he came home from the United Kingdom a year ago and I especially did not expect that our house would be burglarized. We have been living in that house since I was 6 months, we never lost anything. Mababait ang mga kapitbahay namin.” the older Bayarong said.
“What made me think about the incident was after David verified what the thieves took. He discovered his Ipod Nano, 2 cellphones (a Nokia N72 and Sony Ericson p990i) and his wallet with some cash were still in the sala were his camera and gears were also located before it went missing,” the older Bayarong added.
Because of the incident, the website will no longer cover the Gordon Straight Ticket during their last stages of campaign.
We promised to bring fair and balanced news to our readers during this campaign period. But what happened to David, in a span of 48 hours, cannot be taken lightly. We will no longer cover GST’s campaign because the safety of our staff, which includes David, is a priority. We understand that the tense political situation in the city, but that is not excuse to harass anyone especially the media,” the older Bayarong added.
Note: www.subictimes.com, Anthony and David Bayarong would like to thank Mark Anthony Orpiano and Olongapo City Councilor Edwin Piano for assisting David during the incident in Barangay Barretto.
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In a related note, a barangay councilor who went and commented positively on an article on my website I Am Buraot was summoned to the city hall by city officials. That’s for commenting on my article. She was showed printed copies of all articles of the website telling her that the website is “under surveillance”.
I had a gentlemanly talk with one of the few people who I respect from the Gordon camp. And since posting more articles of concern would be useless since Dick Gordon is on a loosing end, I refrained from putting out more articles that would obviously be “biased” but very discriminating.
I, however, will use it some other time if the need arises. But this I had to post because not only I am being harassed, but other people as well.
But hey, some things just never change do they?
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BURAOT is your quintessential skeptic but a not-yet-so-hopeless pessimist. Impatient most of the time, hence the name, he yearns to discover the magnanimity of the universe and the infinite folly of human stupidity (yep, that was Einstein's). And yes, oo.. he also want world peace. You can stalk him out at Anak ni Kulapo and I Am Buraot.
i am surprisingly not surprised at all!
ano ba yan! maguindanao? sila ba ang ampatuan sa olongapo?
Gordon family can only govern dictatorship style – yan lang ang alam nila. Marami akong relatives sa Olongapo, mga anti-Gordons pero silent lang sila. May kapitbahay silang nagladlad na anti-Gordon, may nagsumbong daw yata sa Gordon HQ (ganun ba yun), aba’y pinutulan daw ng tubig eh wala namang atraso sa pagbabayad.
Nothing different if you are a GOVERNMENT CHANNEL Reporter/Cameraman…taking very close shots of Noynoy and Mar during their miting de avance !!!
True to form Buraot creates something out of a molehill….
mountain out of a mole hill Jet? wahahah! same trick up your sleeves, attack the writer not the report. hell, these reports didn’t even come from me. gordon supporters obviously wouldn’t agree, but on the contrary, it is good for our democracy that gordon would not win.
could you expound on why there is “nothing different if you are a government channel reporter”? i’m sure readers here would want to know what you mean?
was there any government reporter who was harassed by the Aquino-Roxas camp? mukhang wala naman siguro katulad ng nangyari kay Mr. Bayarong because if there were any I’m sure they’re on the news already.
Kathang-isip much?
And your website/blog being put under surveillance by some people is really scary. Super scary.
It’s a blog for chrissakes. Not a newspaper noh.
sayang yung camera nya, mahal mahal pa naman. imagine camera lang at peripherals lang talaga ang kinuha. yung pera na nakabalandra lang dun, hindi kinuha.
Jet,
Gordon represents Marcos dictatorship. That’s what the message you guys are sending. That’s what you are seeing in Olongapo. Since you are afraid of Noynoy Presidency, you can move to Cuba.
try NOKOR!
or Uganda. LOL
i guess they need to start packing. oh wait, they had to sue SWS and Comelec first.
A JOURNALISTS’ GROUP HAS EXPRESSED alarm over the “increasing harassment of journalists” by political parties and candidates leading up to the May 10 elections.
The NUJP Saturday cited the case of David Bayarong, a photojournalist and publisher of the online news site Subic Times.
Bayarong, who was covering a campaign rally of reelectionist Mayor James Gordon Jr. on May 4, was berated by the city executive and his men who accused the journalist of being allied with Gordon’s rival. Bayarong was then escorted out of the venue. The next day, the Subic Times office was burglarized and Bayarong’s photography equipment stolen.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100509-268908/Journalists-group-decries-harassment-by-poll-bets
kita mo na Jet? buraot is telling the truth. hindi mo matatawaran ang experiences niya sa gapo.
Up to the last minute, same old message, and even worsening with the behavior of the Oligarchs in Gapo. Same breed.
And same old Jet.
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood” – said Stephen Covey. Not lecturing about this blah blah habit. But we all have heard your side, we agreed on so many points regarding your choice.. and disagreed on glaring ones. But I bet you never agreed on anything we suggested that could push Gordon upward. Just like Gordon, you want to be understood but you never tried seeking to understand – even a small population in B7, how else if this is Philippines?
I can’t afford to work with someone like you Jet. You never listen.
And Gordon, whom I wish would try seeking to understand the Filipinos first,nah, he never did. Yet, he want to be understood. He certainly doesn’t have this quality – LISTENING FIRST. A true leader listens or feels first emphatically for both feeling and meaning before making actions. Action GOrdon is just pure action with no character.
So I say, No more Gordon for me, EVEN, come 2016.
A good leader also knows how to accept defeat the gentleman way. I also can’t see that in Gordon. Sorry Gordon, day by day, you made us hate your character more.
Days before the election, I was thinking if I am making the right choice, had some inches of doubts…I love my family so much. I can’t afford to fail on this one.
After careful thinking, today, my choice still stands. Noynoy deserves to be the next president of the Republic of the Philippines.
blinded by his ‘faith’. hahaha
oo nga Jet. please wake up, it happened in olongapo, it can happen anywhere in the Philippines.
kahit ano bali baliktarin pa ang olongapo hindi mabubura ang ang magandang sinimulan ng mga gordon para dto. at gordon din ang dahilan kung bakit tinitingala ang olongapo. at gordon din ang dahilan kung bakit maraming trabaho sa subic, pls wag na kyong manira.suerte nga sina magsaysay dahil maayos na ang olongapo sakaling sila ang maupo.hindi nila dinaanan ang pinagdaanan nmin noong 1992 1993.gordon ang nagtanim…..
eh ano naman kasi ang kinalaman ng point mo. di naman sinabi dito sa article na to kung mabuti o masama sina Gordon. ang punto ay yung harrassment. ang tanong, tama ba yon?
saka may mga media nman ksi na biased at puro paninira ang sinusulat.bka nga bayaran pa yan ni magsaysay. khit nman ata ako si gordon hindi ako magpapainterview sa mga bayarang reporter o writer.iilan nlang ang matitinong journalist ngayon
totoo naman ang punto mo na meron naman talagang bayaran na media, pero sa puntong ito, assuming kamo na bayaran nga, e di wag kang magpa interbyu. o kaya kontrahin mo ito sa pamamagitan ng mga media na binabayaran mo din naman di ba?
hindi naman sya nang iinterbyu dito, potographer yung media na na-harass. kung talagang ayaw, e pwede naman pakiusapan ng maayos na “hey, ayaw ka namin dito”. hindi yung haharassin mo. plus, it was a public event, at bilang media o hindi, ito ay open sa lahat.
Blind by loyalty is not even close to worse.
Ang hirap yatang maging bulag kung nakakakita ka naman diba?
No one can down the ‘TRUTH’..