Tags: Crime and Punishment, General News
By Anna Valmero
QUEZON CITY, MANILA— As the world observes World Press Freedom Day, the country is still reeling from what is now referred to as the Maguindanao Massacre.
The massacre, which involves the killing of 57 people, more than half of them journalists, put the Philippines in international spotlight as the most dangerous place for the press, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) tallied that a total of 137 Filipino journalists were killed since 1987 –100 of them during the nine-year administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
On that fateful day (November 23), a fellow journalist and friend Dennis Jamito of Bombo Radyo told me about a media convoy in Maguindanao, a few moments before the news broke out about the killing.
Up until now, Jamito is angry towards the Maguindanao killings, he told me over a recent conversation: “Gusto kong iganti yung kasamahan ko pati na lahat ng namatay dun, pero may batas tayo na dapat masunod. Umaasa pa rin ako na mabibigyan ng katarungan ito. (I want to take personal revenge against those responsible for the killings but we have a law and we hope they make the responsible accountable for what happened).”
Together with fellow artists, Mae Paner a.k.a Juana Change created a video condemning the media killings in Mindanao. According to Paner, she too has been receiving death threats because of her advocacies but she gets her strength from Myrna Reblando, whose husband was one of those killed in the massacre.
Five months after the Maguindanao massacre, I still shiver from the thought that the journalists’ primary weapons might have changed from pen and paper to laptops and qwerty cellular phones for emailing stories, but neither are enough to protect the lives of media practitioners in the line of duty.
Vigilance to air the truth is one, but is a story enough to risk your life? I lament but I cannot find any answer to the question. The NUJP was right in saying, “these crimes are not a matter of one administration’s accountability but of the State.”
Will the country’s next leaders uphold press freedom? I remain watchful.
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