Where armed political dynasties lord over ordinary citizens, the law is lame. Does it make the press powerless?
Sixty four citizens shed blood in Ampatuan, Maguindanao Province in the morning of November 23, 2009. Of those victims of inhuman acts, thirteen were journalists on their way to report the filing of candidacy of an eligible citizen. Their only offense was doing their job, that of reporting the filing of candidacy of an eligible citizen.
Stunned, Philippine media companies have expressed their outrage.
Of the situation, GMA Network states, “The crime … (is) also an extreme example of the violent tendency in our politics. At the other extreme are the many citizens who are bravely committed to the difficult and complex process of peacefully deciding who our leaders should be, such as those souls who perished.”
“As we wait for action, we grieve. We grieve for the believers in a democratic system who paid with their lives. We grieve for the martyred journalists who believed the Constitutional protection of their rights was enough,” GMA Network continues.
For its part, broadcast and publishing group ABS-CBN expresses it has not yet seen government take decisive action. “This unprecedented scale of violence erodes our faith in the rule of law. It sends a chill through journalists who continue to shine the spotlight on these killing fields,” it states.
While local media still reel, international counterparts signify the same sentiments. Reporters Without Borders, a press freedom organization states on their website, “We have often condemned the culture of impunity and violence in the Philippines, especially Mindanao. This time, the frenzied violence of thugs working for corrupt politicians has resulted in an incomprehensible bloodbath. We call for a strong reaction from the local and national authorities.”
Still from Reporters Without Borders, Nonoy Espina, Vice-president of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) maintains, “The government must without question bring those responsible for this massacre to justice, not just the killers but also the masterminds, whoever they are.”
Todate, a total of 30 media practitioners’ lives have been cut down in strife-ridden Mindanao alone. From June to July, four journalists were killed in the same Philippine island. In July, a grenade attack was launched at the home of a columnist in Ilocos in North Luzon. In August, a local politician in Masbate (also in Luzon) was known to harass the editor of a weekly publication.
Time was when Media was a respected entity. It may seem those days have gone. What are institutions doing to bring back security, safety—and in this case, sense and sanity—back into the serious work that is journalism?
Credits: Photo taken from Ampatuan, Maguindanao, album of Patricia Evangelista
