Celebrating press freedom in Cebu
For the entire week this week in Cebu, the print, radio and television media is celebrating the 21st Cebu Press Freedom Week with a week-long activities lined up to show to the nation that our freedom of the press is very precious and that it is our way of remembering that 43-years ago, on September 21, 1972 then Ferdinand E. Marcos declared martial law all over the entire Philippine archipelago.
I submit that few people have remembered those dark days because one of the ugly traits of the Filipino people is being forgetful. It is a fact that our media counterparts in Metro Manila also do not have a similar observation of press freedom, when history have shown that the conjugal Marcos dictatorship targeted journalists in the early hours when martial law was declared. In fact, my mentor, the late Sir Max Soliven would tell me stories that he was arrested by the soldiers who were armed with a photocopy of an arrest, search and seizure order (ASSO) signed by then defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile.
But today the threats to press freedom still exist and haunt many journalists. In fact, many of them have been killed for telling or broadcasting the truth. Under the presidency of Benigno "PNoy" Aquino III, there have been 26 journalists killed in the five years he was in office. This is not to mention the veiled threats against journalists and the libel suits filed against so many media personalities.
At this point, I can only hope that the Filipino people would realize that our freedom of speech and expression, which is guaranteed by our 1987 Constitution gives them that confidence that the truth would always prevail through the media and that the Philippine government should not practice propaganda which hides the truth from the Filipino people. This is why we celebrate Press Freedom Week in Cebu.
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Finally last week, Sen. Grace Poe went to the Bahay ng Alumni at the University of the Philippines to declare her bid to run for president of the Philippines. As expected, she ran into a hail of criticism from her potential political rivals. Even the Liberal Party came up with an official statement that they were not threatened by her declaration. Hmmm, if they were not threatened, then why come up with such a statement?
There is no doubt that when Sen. Grace Poe threw her hat into the presidential race she became a threat to Vice President Jejomar Binay who long ago declared that he was seeking the presidency and to former DILG Sec. Manuel "Mar" Roxas II who've always believed that the office of the president is his family heirloom and handed to him on a silver platter.
However, in my book, Sec. Mar Roxas represents the old unlamented politics that permeated Philippine society for the last 70 years since we gained independence from the United States of America. As for Binay, he represents Philippine politics since we got rid of the Marcos dictatorship 29 years ago. It is the kind of politics that clings to political power no matter what the cost in keeping that power for decades. In the end the corruption controversy that has hounded Binay has only proven to Filipinos what Lord Action once quipped, "Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Why Binay kept his leadership as national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines for 19 years in position that only has a limit of seven years is truly revealing of the personality that is Binay. That, if given the chance, he would stay in power forever. It reminded me of the background music at the Quirino Grandstand during one of the inaugural ceremonies of then Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos, which was taken from Handel's "Messiah", where the lyrics goes, "And he shall reign forever and ever and he shall reign forever and ever!"
Poe's critics say that she is "hilaw," but in her speech last week, I found her to be a person who knows the problems in this nation and what is needed to fix them. Although she fell short of saying that this nation needs to do charter changes. She probably forgot that her main troubles stem from a constitutional prohibition on her citizenship and her residency, something of a stumbling block to her presidential ambitions.
In my book, the dream of the ordinary Filipino is to line up in the US Embassy and get a US visa or better, US citizenship. I still believe this to be true until that day comes when this unique Filipino dream disappears from the national psyche. So the question is, just because a Filipino acquires a US citizenship, does that person is less a Filipino? I know of so many Filipinos who still love our country with a passion, but have left this country because of financial and political reasons. But there are very few Filipinos who already acquired US citizenship, but gave it up to return and serve our country.
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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.
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