In 2005, the television newscaster Marti Emerald seized one moment of false glory to be the judge and juror, and posted her one-sided interview with a former girlfriend and her retinue of fans.
Emerald wasn't exactly the journalist worth her salt in those days. She's more into entertainment news than investigative journalism that she had likened herself to be engaged in.
At that point in her not-so-illustrious career as a newscaster, she had already cast covetous eyes on San Diego politics, specifically in the San Diego City Council.
Her story about me in 2005 easily endeared her to the Filipino community, and to the womenfolk in general, who saw in her some kind of crusader for her shallow stand on local issues. But she had a personal and political agenda.
As a journalist in San Diego, it was not uncommon that I had offended a number of people for the community news reporting I had undertaken there.
Nobody wanted to be portrayed in an unflattering light, except that the crooks continued with their nefarious activities, and when caught with their hands in the cookie jar, they denounced the journalist who had the courage to stand his ground and expose them.
That was pretty much what happened to me. Martin Emerald saw the opportunity to rescue her sagging television career and with it, salvaged the poor ratings that her channel 10 news was getting.
So off she went to my former girlfriend, induced her to cry or mimic it at least in front of the camera while she told a story allegedly of "being slammed" by me in my reportage. Emerald also got three of her sympathizers who mouthed the same lines, understandably so because I wrote about them and their wicked ways.
All four, my ex included, sung and dance to the same tune that Marti Emerald choreographed. The reporter did not bother to get what I had to say to balance everything out. The story aired, including footage of an ambush interview at the store where I had taken a job as cashier to supplement an income for my own community newspaper.
In the meantime, I protested to her news editor against the one-sided treatment of a story that basically portrayed me as an offender of women, which wasn't true.
If I had offended anyone, most likely it's a crook. And my stories were not limited to a particular gender. If one's a crook, man or woman, my stories didn't care.
Years later, Marti Emerald saw the realization of her ambition. Her boot-licking has paid off. She now sits in the San Diego City Council representing one of the districts.
The real Marti Emerald is now unwrapping her true self. She's a Democrat. Though her position is supposed to be non-partisan, her behavior is. Her official actuations are partisan!
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, a Democrat and former congressman, has been unveiled and assailed by, as of today (July 31) eight women - not just any woman but respectable women of responsibility - for his sexual advances.
None of these women had spoken out when Filner was still a congressman representing San Diego, the reason that I could gather was because he was quite powerful.
The point of this essay is why Martin Emerald, supposedly the iconic fighter for women, remains tight-lipped to the mass call for Filner's resignation, and if that's not possible, his recall. Two Democrats on the wrong side of the moral law do not make right.
And where's Marti Emerald, the non-partisan partisan? Where's Marti Emerald. the former broadcaster who used her TV pulpit to advance her political goals? Where's Marti Emerald, the San Diego City Council member?
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