Bacolod Witness on GMA7 Ratings Scam Appears

January 12, 2008

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A witness who told ABS-CBN about an alleged tampering of panel homes in Bacolod has finally decided to reveal his identity on camera and stood by his previous statements implicating another TV network behind a well-planned, orchestrated effort to manipulate ratings data gathered by AGB-Nielsen Media Research Philippines.

Mark Dumago first approached ABS-CBN in December to report the existence of the scam. During interviews, he gave his statement on camera but with his face hidden in shadow.

He requested that his identity be kept hidden in order to protect his family.

On Friday however, Dumago decided to come out in the open and reveal himself in a news report aired over ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol World. He said he decided it was okay to reveal himself after receiving support from his father via text message.

Dumago stood by his earlier statements, including the affidavit he submitted in court, that he was involved in another TV station’s efforts to manipulate the ratings data collected by AGB-Nielsen.

According to Dumago, the manipulation of ratings results was achieved by seeking out and then bribing households included in AGB-Nielsen panel homes.

AGB-Nielsen measures TV ratings by tracking viewing preferences of panel homes who agreed to have special meters installed in their TV sets. The meters record which stations a household watches throughout the day, as well as the specific time and duration when a TV set is tuned in to a particular station.

Dumago said that he met with a representative of a TV network in April 2006 inside the Time-Out Restobar in Bacolod. The representative at first recruited him and several others to track viewing preferences of residents in Bacolod.

40-60 ratio
After two months, Dumago and the rest of his group were asked to approach AGB-Nielsen panel homes to offer each household a monthly supply of groceries as well as five hundred pesos. In exchange, a panel home would tune in to another TV network during specific times of the day. After two months, Dumago and the rest of his group were asked to approach AGB-Nielsen panel homes to offer each household a monthly supply of groceries as well as five hundred pesos. In exchange, a panel home would tune in to another TV network during specific times of the day. “Sabi niya kasi 40-60 daw ang target; 40% [for the other network] at 60% ABS. Alam daw kasi nilang malakas ang ABS-CBN sa Bacolod kaya masaya na sila sa 40%,” Dumago told ABS-CBN’s Jing Castañeda during an interview.(He said that a 40-60 ratio was the target; 40% [for the other network] at 60% ABS. He said they knew that ABS-CBN is really strong in Bacolod so they would be happy to get 40%.)

Dumago also said that his decision to come out in the open was also prompted by his irritation over how the other TV network keeps denying that it recruited him and his group.

“Kasi inis ako sa [other TV network], sabi nila sinungaling kami, dinedeny nila kami. Alam naman naming idi-deny nila kami dahil sinabi na nila dati na pag nabulilyaso, idi-deny nila kami,” said Dumago.

(I’m angry at [the other TV network], they’re calling us liars, they’re denying us. We knew they would deny us because they told us that if we’re caught, they would deny us.)

Dumago also said that the representative of the other TV network told him that they were working with an AGB insider in Iloilo.

“Sa Iloilo nga, may insider na sila na empleyado ng AGB; siya na ang nagbibigay ng impormasyon kung saan ang AGB meters, doble ang suweldo… wala siyang motibo para magsinungaling. Paano kami magtitiwala sa kanya kung magsisinungaling siya, siyempre yung pinapatrabaho niya illigal.”

(In Iloilo, they hired an insider, an employee of AGB; this person disclosed information regarding the location of AGB meters. They paid this person double. This person has no reason to lie. How could we have trusted him if he lied to us, of course, what he wanted us to do was illegal.)

Dumago called on other operatives like himself as well as other panel households who participated in the ratings manipulation to come out and give their own testimony.

GMA7 reiterates denial
Meanwhile GMA 7 denied involvement in the alleged tampering of AGB Nielsen’s panel homes in Bacolod City and in other parts of the country.Meanwhile GMA 7 denied involvement in the alleged tampering of AGB Nielsen’s panel homes in Bacolod City and in other parts of the country.”GMA Network categorically denies that it hired persons to conduct alleged ratings tampering operations in Bacolod City or anywhere else in the country. GMA Network and its employees and talents have worked hard for the success it has achieved as the number 1 network in Luzon, Mega Manila and Metro Manila. It has never conducted any house to house operations in Bacolod City nor does it engage in dirty tactics in its campaign to win over viewers in the Visayas and Mindanao,” said the network in a statement aired over its early evening news program.The network also said it was determined to pursue a case it had filed against ABS-CBN.

“GMA Network is determined to pursue its illegal case vs. ABS-CBN for repeatedly airing reports that named GMA as the network behind the ratings manipulation attempt in Bacolod City back in 2006,” said the network.

‘Petition for TRO violates press freedom’ABS-CBN on Friday promised to fight for its right to report news related to the issue of cheating in the ratings dataThis despite efforts by rival network GMA-7 to get a temporary restraining order to stop ABS-CBN from airing news reports about the alleged tampering of AGB Nielsen panel homes.

ABS-CBN said that by seeking the TRO, GMA-7 is violating press freedom and keeping people from knowing the truth.

“The people have a right to know and, as a news organization, ABS-CBN has a right and responsibility to deliver the news. GMA’s application for a temporary restraining order to stop news reporting on the issue on cheating in the ratings is an attempt to stifle the freedom of the press. This is unconstitutional. ABS-CBN will fight and stand up for its right to deliver the news and for the right of the people to know the truth.”

ABS-CBN said that it can do nothing less than what various witnesses have done in speaking out to expose the manipulation of ratings data.

“ABS CBN has a responsibility to the many witnesses who have come forward to tell the truth. These are ordinary people with livelihoods to keep and mouths to feed but they had the courage to come out and admit their role in a network’s efforts to cheat in the ratings. They have no vested interests in this, but their values and deep sense of right and wrong compel them to come clean.

“We will do everything we can to make sure our witnesses are not silenced and that the public eventually gets the whole uncensored truth.”

GMA Network filed a P15 million libel suit against ABS-CBN, its executives and talents after the network allegedly aired news reports considered libelous to GMA-7.

ABS-CBN sued AGB Nielsen last December 14 after the research firm continued to release weekly TV ratings despite information that AGB Nielsen metered households, which provide the TV ratings, were allegedly compromised. An informant earlier told ABS-CBN that he was hired to bribe metered households in Bacolod City to influence TV ratings in the area.

At least two other informants and three panel home members have confirmed the information provided by the first informant.

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court, however, dismissed the ABS-CBN lawsuit, saying that it was prematurely filed.

In an affidavit submitted to the QCRTC, AGB Nielsen general manager Maya Reforma confirmed that 79 among 532 AGB Nielsen metered homes in six cities were exposed to “activities” of GMA-7. She said the panel homes were persuaded to watch GMA shows in exchange for monthly prizes including P500 in cash, groceries, umbrellas, pens and medicine.

“Panel homes who declare themselves to be watching ABS-CBN are asked to become a member of the GMA Kapuso viewers in order to receive a monthly supply of groceries and P500,” she said, describing one of the activities.

She added that of the 79 homes, 63 homes were visited once while 16 were visited twice or more times.

She said statistical tests conducted by AGB Nielsen showed that 16 of the 79 homes “showed a significant change to favor GMA in its viewing behavior.”

She noted, however, that the evidence obtained by AGB Nielsen “strongly indicates that the tampering was confined to Bacolod and for the period from July to September 2007.”

She said the research firm reprocessed all the original data it gathered from the TAM panel while excluding the tampered households contacted by GMA Network. “Based on our evaluation, AGB Nielsen found that viewing data did not significantly change even after the exclusion of the contacted panels from the original data,” she said.

She said, however, that the exclusion of 12 tampered homes in Cebu “caused some days to expected drop for GMA [ratings] but not at the expense of ABS-CBN which remained the same.”

Posted in Ratings