Wrong about Pimentel

Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. was indirectly responsible for my entry into journalism. Thus I now find it ironic to be criticizing him for being the main author of the Senate version of a right-to-reply bill now threatening to curtail press freedom in the Philippines.

But that is putting the cart before the horse, so let me begin by going back to 1981, or a good 28 years ago. At the time, I was consumed by the desire to become a journalist. But not having had any formal training in journalism, I decided to work my way from the bottom.

So I applied for work as proofreader at the now-defunct Visayan Herald. To my surprise, then managing editor Cerge Remonde, now the Press Secretary of the Philippines, took me in as a reporter and gave me an assignment that was to become the banner headline the next day.

Here is how it happened. The dictator Marcos had just kicked out Pimentel as mayor of Cagayan de Oro City. With Cebu City being the hotbed of the political opposition at the time, Remonde wanted me to get the reaction of the main opposition leaders in Cebu to the ouster.

But why me? I was just applying for a job as proofreader? Well, here is why. At the time, there were no cellphones, beepers or similar gadgets. Once the reporters were out, there was no way the desk could get in touch with them until they came back.

In that moment of urgency, all Remonde had was me. So he proclaimed me a reporter on the spot, scribbled questions on a notebook, and the names and addresses of opposition leaders in Cebu. He shoved the notebook in my hand and told me not to come back without his story.

And get the story I did, launching my journalistic career that now approaches three decades. But never in all those close to 30 years as a journalist have I been as exasperated over the many threats to journalism than by this one coming from, of all people, Pimentel.

According to the right-to-reply bill of Pimentel, any person written or spoken about in the print or broadcast media in connection with any allegation of wrongdoing has the right to reply in the same space, time and prominence as the original imputation.

The media in the Philippines is not perfect. But having been around for quite a while, Pimentel must surely know that most practice their craft with great responsibility and high respect for the principle of public accountability.

Pimentel cannot seek to bring the full measure of state power to bear on the entire Philippine media just because of the sins and mistakes of a few practitioners without himself becoming both unfair, unjust and oppressive the way Marcos was in the martial law years.

If people need to be held accountable for their actions, there are already vast and potent mechanisms in place, put there by members of the Press themselves and guaranteed by laws and the courts. There is no need to legislate more, especially if they do more harm than good.

Pimentel is a victim of the Marcos dictatorship. He has personally seen the ugly face of authoritarian rule and the dangers state control poses on free and democratic institutions. He is the last person we want to see behind such a bill. Yet he is in fact its main proponent.

Has he forgotten that in the Freedom Marches he joined in Cebu, along with opposition leaders like Doy Laurel, Cesar Climaco, Eva Estrada Kalaw, Inday Nita, Tony Cuenco, Billy Legaspi and George Baladjay, journalists also risked their freedoms reporting those stories?

Maybe we were terribly wrong about the man. Looking back, it now seems foolish of us to have missed the signs. After Marcos, he was the man behind the purge of local officials. At the finale of the Estrada impeachment trial, he promised to resign. And then he did not.