CONGRATULATIONS to Eastern Samar! Its governor, veteran media man Ben P. Evardone, has just been named presidential adviser on Local Government Units and public policies. Good choice!

* * *

KORYENTE!: With the World Bank’s denial of President Gloria Arroyo’s announcement that the bank had committed a $10-billion rescue fund for Southeast Asia, Malacanang should have now a better appreciation of the work of reporters covering a fickle government.

President Arroyo, the Chief Editor of the Praise Release brigade of the Palace, was quoting her business correspondent, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, filing last Wednesday a breaking story on his WB ministerial meeting in Washington, DC.

As it sometimes happens even in the best laid out coverages, President Arroyo was fed a bum steer — nakoryente! — by her finance secretary.

Either Teves was not paying close attention to his special assignment in the WB meeting of finance ministers, or Ms. Arroyo herself was a bit careless in processing his early news feed.

* * *

TRIGGER-HAPPY: Faulty reporting usually happens when newsmen, especially those still wet behind the ears, resort to creative writing (or “SS” in the colorful local press jargon) in pushing a desired angle to a story.

You see, establishing an initial $10-billion WB standby fund was a Philippine bright idea that the President wanted hammered out in time for her Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing next week.

Receiving an advance report from Teves that the WB appeared amenable to the proposal, the President promptly announced it as a sure deal in two speeches at the Palace.

As it turned out, the WB was having second thoughts – it favored assistance on a bilateral and not on a group (as in ASEAN) basis. But the President was not immediately informed of this change of mind and was caught in Manila announcing the earlier WB drift.

She was obviously in a hurry to break the news, because it was her brainchild and she already had a forum for announcing it.

It was to be another feather she could stick into her cap on her way to Beijing.

* * *

WB SPOKESMAN: One rule that we keep pounding into the heads of young reporters is: If something has not happened, it has not happened — do not report it as a fact.

The President compounded the error and also trivialized her office when she stooped to act as spokesman of the World Bank in announcing its supposed commitment or intention about the $10-billion fund.

If indeed the WB planned to establish a standby facility for ASEAN members, she should have left it to the bank to announce it. Had Ms Arroyo not taken the work of the WB spokesman, she would have been spared the embarrassment.

* * *

U-PRESS, I-RELEASE: The sending of Teves to DC to make something happen and flash it to the Chief Editor waiting in Malacanang is reminiscent of the then rivalry between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal.

Their circulation war that saw the birth of “yellow journalism” peaked from 1895 to about 1898. (The term, synonymous to sensationalism, came from the popular “Yellow Kid” comic strip that both papers used to drive up their readership.)

The oft-cited example of their exaggeration is the apocryphal story that artist Frederic Remington, sent to Havana to cover and illustrate (draw) the brewing Spanish-American confrontation, telegrammed Hearst that all was quiet in Cuba.

“There will be no war,” the artist advised in his wire.

“Please remain,” Hearst replied. “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”

Fast forward: I could almost see Teves in DC being instructed by text, “You just PRESS the $10-billion commitment and I’ll RELEASE it here.”

* * *

PROBES TO NOWHERE: Congressional investigations usually end up being “Probes to Nowhere” with no remedial legislation or new laws resulting from them.

The plan by Congress to investigate discrepancies noted by the Commission on Audit in some 2007 programs of the Department of Agriculture is no exception.

The move appears to have been mooted, however, because the DA itself has already wrapped up its own no-nonsense probe and submitted its findings to the resident auditor, Elnora Sta. Maria, for action.

Further investigation will be conducted by a committee chaired by Assistant Secretary Eduardo Nolasco. He has asked Sta. Maria for CoA representatives to help validate the issues in the field.

* * *

YAP ACTIONS: Besides, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap has tightened project monitoring and fund disbursements after the Nolasco team pointed to systemic lapses in the field.

Many of these loopholes were a result of the devolution of health, agriculture and other services to local governments that had stripped the department of its control and supervision over provincial, municipal and city agriculture officers and farm technicians.

Yap had anticipated this move by making an arrangement with the League of Provinces of the Philippines last summer for governors to assign some or all of their agriculture officers to the DA regional field units for the two-year rice sufficiency program.

The secretary also formed national and regional monitoring teams for faster appraisal of programs and ensure that schedules are kept, that funds are not misused, and intervention measures reach the intended beneficiaries.

He slapped a Nov. 30 deadline for the final liquidation of funds released to non-government organizations and people’s organizations helping push DA projects.