Marcos, Jr., and Robredo in Philippine Media: A Transitivity Analysis

Abstract

This paper examined the representations of the word choices and arrangements of the three (3) selected newspapers: CNN Philippines, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and GMA News, in their online news articles containing the two (2) leading presidential candidates, namely: Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, Jr. and Maria Leonor ‘Leni’ Robredo, during the 2022 national elections. MAK Halliday’s Transitivity System was used for this qualitative-quantitative research by selecting the 30 latest online news articles from May 9, 2023, the election day. Two hundred twenty (220) clauses containing direct and indirect descriptions of Marcos, Jr., and Robredo, whether part of the subject or the predicate, were extracted and analyzed. The results revealed that the three newspapers’ dominant processes were material and verbal when they were clauses’ subjects. Verbiage and goal were also the prevailing circumstances when they were in the clauses’ predicate. This postulates that Marcos, Jr., and Robredo are presented in the news media by what they do and say rather than what they think, feel, become, possess, behave, exist, or are. Further, the study revealed that despite obtaining the same dominant processes and circumstances, they have separate representations – Marcos is presented neutrally, while Robredo is presented positively.