Alleba Politics

Violence Against the Philippine Media

May 6th, 2005 at 5:58 am (Media)

A few days ago the Committee to Protect Journalists named the Philippines as the most dangerous place for journalists. A total of 18 journalists in the country were murdered in a span of 5 years, putting it on top the of list before Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh and Russia. The Philippine government continues to turn a blind eye on these killings, well, probably because it lacks the will to do anything about it. The police? They arrest the people who carry out the crime but never the ones who ordered them.

The masterminds are the corrupt officials that we elected into office. The same people who made lengthy and rosy promises to make our lives better should they be chosen. They are also cowardly, so much so that they can’t handle criticism, or the fact that someone is merely telling the truth. Why don’t they act on their shortcomings rather than permanently put to silence a person who is doing his or her job?

You can easily pinpoint a corrupt official by the sheer number of imported SUV’s in his security convoy. These cars are either given as gifts or purchased using his pork barrel. Why does he need so much protection? Well, there may be two or more reasons. One is that the sight of him having ten or more short-sleeved baronged bodyguards will almost certainly cause a stir wherever he goes. That will make him feel important (albeit falsely) and “untouchable”. This official has a special room in his mansion where all kinds of high-powered guns are stored. The second reason is that he may have made himself a ton of enemies during his tenure. He may have unseated a very corrupt and angry incumbent, turned down a project that could have made someone very rich, or was simply doing his job.

Catching the ire of a corrupt official is quite easy. Write an article or go on TV or radio to expose his corrupt ways! There’s a 99.9% chance your name will make it in his “to-do list”. He pays his trusty vigilante, and bang! You’re history. The police comes into the picture. They have no suspects. The official pretends to cooperate and points to the vigilante. The poor guy (well, not really) is sent to prison to rot (he might as well, or else…). Once again, the corrupt official had planned another successful assassination.

Hearing about journalists getting shot is nothing new here in the Philippines. That’s why I wasn’t surprised that we made it to number 1. Hooray! Where the party? Kidding aside, there’s nothing to celebrate about until we kick out all those fugly and grossly corrupt officials sitting in Malacanang, the Courts, the Cabinet, the Senate, the Congress, down to the local government. You know who you are. Maybe we won’t see that day in our lifetime. But I’d like to think so. Until that day comes, journalists should continue their quest for the dissemination of the truth, and nothing but, despite the threats involved.

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