It is very ironic that the proud and loud Philippines, which is, considered as the stronghold of press freedom is suffering from different sort of violence and threats.
On its very nature, Philippine Press is being envied for its boldness and for its liberty, for its power to influence and to mobilize the Filipino people. However, this very nature had contributed a lot of detriments. The power of the press to criticize various anomalies and scandals in our government became a subjective ground for them to be suppressed by the monstrous authorities.
The Maguindanao Massacre is the most horrifying evidence of media cruelty in our land. Thirty among the fifty-eight victims of the massacre are members of the local press. Today, that’s the biggest recorded number of media practitioners killed in the world in just a day. The gruesome scenario has received various condemnations not only from media organizations in the national level but also in international community. No wonder why Philippines is considered as one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the globe.
Today, lawmakers expressed their favor on the idea of arming the legitimate members of the media for self-protection. For them, they saw that the criminal elements are fearless to do cruelty among the press because they don’t have anything to counter-attack these people. They find good reason in allowing newsmen to bring arms like how policemen permit business people and other citizens to have those to respond on security issues. But there is vagueness with their proposal; only those responsible media people are allowed to bring arms. If that’s the case, how could we deter who’s responsible or not, who deserves to be protected or not and who has the right to feel secured at the end of the day.
Many media practitioners don’t take the proposal as a solution for the increasing numbers of cruelty. In their perspective, it would only lead to further chaos. Instead, let the government create a strong campaign to stop these perpetrators and launch a movement to end the culture of impunity in the country.
“Police are police. Journalists are journalists” as what Ms. Estella Estremera of Sun Star Davao said. Therefore, let everyone in the state do their vital roles –roles that are legitimate. As long as the Philippine government is not willing to stand on providing justice and putting appropriate action on this poignant reality, nothing will change. The possibility of another massacre could happen.
NEWSTABLE 