The Governor Vanishes

The Agbayanis of Pangasinan are famous in the local art scene as singers and filmmakers. The MTV of "Viktoria" could attest to that. Her awardwinning MTV was made by her brothers who were legendary in the local short film history. Now one of the young Agbayanis is the governor. Gov. Victor Agbayani (Yes! Their names revolve on the Victor) is, unfortunately, a victim of photo manipulation. This is the original setup of the opening of the PRISAA Meet a week ago.

This is the original caption of Inquirer photographer Ray Zambrano: President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo(3rd from right) graces the formal opening of the Private Schools Athletic Association(PRISAA) national games last Monday at the Don Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center in Lingayen,Pangasinan. With the president at the front row(from left) are Pangasinan Reps. Generoso Tulagan and Amado Espino,Jr., Gov. Victor Agbayani, Dr. Emmanuel Angeles, PRISAA national chairman, and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III.
This is what came out in the Philippine Star Sports section. Notice that Braganza jumped places to be with PGMA. Or rather the "head" jumped to Agbayani's body. There's no byline.
Braganza in the first photo was two rows behind. He was the one wiht his hand on his face. He has an ID card on his shirt. In the "manipulated" photo, the ID wasn't there.

Our source said that Braganza did not go down for a photo op. Notice in both photos that the same people beside the president were in the right places except for Braganza/Agbayani.
The Philippine Star had two photographers in the opening but not one of their phtoos were used. The Pangasinan correspondent even texted Bragfanza but did not get a reply. Star was also informed but there was no reported action. They were informed that the Star knows what to do in such cases?! But we have yet to see an erratum.
Agbayani decided to be silent on the issue, our source said. His wife was the first to notice and asked him where he was during the opening.
I was beside the President, he said.
No, you weren't, she answered and showed the photo.
Agbayani's Face/Off moment. Yeah, that was my body. Was I wearing sunglasses???
The weird thing was that Braganza used to be PGMA's Press Secretary. Did he allow these things to happen then? He was also member of the Spice Boys, PGMA's favorite boytoys.
Braganza is reportedly interested in Agbayani's job. Hmmmmmmm. This is the first step?
This reminds me of David King's book, "The Commissar Vanishes" which is about photo manipulation during the time of Stalin in Russia.

Original photo included from left to right: Anippov, Stalin, Kirov, and Shvernik. Taken in Leningrad in 1926, celebrating the defeat of Zinoviev's anti-Stalinist opposition. The photo of three reveals the disappearance of Antipov [the chandelier has also been eliminated]. Antipov had joined the Bolsheviks in 1912, chairman of the Petrograd Cheka in 1918, and later prime minister Molotov's secretary. Arrested and sent to prison where he was the last Stalinist cadre to be shot in August, 1941. In the next picture, Shevernik was erased when the photo was used in 1949 for a short biography of Stalin. Finally, an oil painting by Brodsky based on the original photo. Stalin the executioner alone remains.
This is what David King wrote: "Skillful photographic retouching for reproduction depended, like any craft before the advent of computer technology, on the skill of the person carrying out the task and the time she or he had to complete it. But why was the standard of retouching in Soviet books and journals often so crude? Did the Stalinists want their readers to see that elimination had taken place, as a fearful and ominous warning? Or could the slightest trace of an almost vanished commissar, deliberately left behind by the retoucher, become a ghostly reminder that the repressed might yet return?"