Thoughts on yesterday’s Press Freedom Day

Yesterday was the 22nd year for the United Nations (UN) declared World Press Freedom Day, yet the obvious threats to Press Freedom still hang over the Philippines like a Sword of Damocles over the heads of journalists. And to think we are considered the “freest” Press in Asia. But are we really that free, or is this Press Freedom thing merely an illusion?

There is no doubt that the Philippines has earned that unenviable reputation as the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, especially when the Ampatuan massacre was reported to the world on Nov. 23, 2009 with 58 people massacred. Of this number 34 were journalists. Never has there been a day when so many journalists were killed in one place. The Philippines holds this inglorious, embarrassing distinction. Shame on all of us!

Back then, the opposition blamed everything on then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (PGMA), even if she was on her last seven months in power. Yet Justice has yet to be given to the families of the massacre victims… and like it or not… this is one thing that President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III can no longer blame on the Arroyo administration. In his nearly three years in power, the wheels of Justice grind ever so slowly. By November this year, we will be commemorating the 4th anniversary of this gruesome massacre.

If  P-Noy can whip the Senate to impeach former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona for an unimpeachable offense…which effectively put all the three separate and independent branches of the government firmly in his pocket… I don’t know why he can’t whip the Judiciary to turn the wheels of Justice faster so the President can claim that Justice was finally done? I guess he is just too busy campaigning these days.

As far as the Philippine Press is concerned, we really have nothing much to celebrate. The giants of Philippine media have openly supported the Aquino Presidency… in the end, they have become unwitting tools of the Aquino propaganda machinery, not much different from the Martial Law years of the conjugal Marcos Dictatorship, where Press Freedom was curtailed and the truth suppressed. Shades of the days of Nazism?

Thanks to the emergence of the so-called “Mosquito Press” led by the late Sir Max Soliven, Louie Beltran and Art Borjal, the truth somehow emerged, but not on mainstream media, which lost all credibility. But times and technologies have changed since and have vastly improved. Today, if you don’t believe in what you read in the national newspapers, you can always go to the Internet or the social networking sites, where more often than not, the truth surfaces. Truth after all is like smoke… you just can’t hide it.

So in a way, mainstream media has to play catch-up with the social networking sites, lest their newspapers go down the drain just like the old newspapers during the Marcos years, where some tried to revive those great old names of  Philippine Press. Luckily the Filipino people were no longer interested in buying their news reports because they allowed themselves to be part and parcel of the Marcos propaganda machinery.

Yesterday as I pondered about World Press Freedom Day, I felt a sense of déjà vu… that history seems to have repeated itself for the simple reason that we Filipinos have become so apathetic and forgetful, we no longer safeguard the truth that we ought to consider as sacred. It is for this very same reason why the Marcos Dictatorship lasted as long as it did.

Today we’ve issued several warnings through our columns about the up coming electoral disaster that the Comelec is so doggedly pursuing, where it has dropped  all  security  and  safeguards for  our  vote. In a country where no one  loses his/her election bid… and losers all claim to have been cheated; the very troubled PCOS machine will certainly provide more than enough proof and evidence of wrongdoing in the coming May polls. So please don’t ever say that a veteran journalists like me did not do our duty to warn our people of the impending rape of our democracy.

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          As of this writing, I’ll be at the fabulous Bellevue Resort in Panglao, Bohol today with select members of the Cebu media to cover the official unveiling of the Bellevue Pavilion, which is an air-conditioned tent and the opening of its Marea Restaurant, the Azurea Spa. The unveiling of these facilities makes the Bellevue Resort complete and ready for huge conventions in Bohol.

          Kudos to Mr. Johnny Chan Chairman of Bellevue Hotels for investing his money in Bohol and believing that the Philippines is a great place for Filipinos to invest their money… especially on tourism development projects. It is for this reason why Mr. Johnny Chan was one of the 9th Tourism Awardee by the Rotary Club of Manila last April 18th for investing in the hotel industry and competing with foreign owned plush hotels and resorts. Congrats Sir Johnny!

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