Backhoes and bloodshed
Mga kuha ni Julia Maano at Shernielyn Dela Cruz
EDITORIAL:
EDITORIAL:
A yellow backhoe sits amid the ongoing construction beside the UP College of Mass Communication in plain sight of hundreds of the Philippines’ future media workers. More than a spitting image of the government-owned Komatsu machine which trampled the bodies of civilians and press, it is a reminder of the justice still waiting to be served despite the seven years that have passed since.
For those who have dedicated the entirety of their lives to the media, symbols hold far more meaning than the abstractions they stand for.
What the yellow backhoe represents is the worst election-related violence written down in the pages of the country’s history. What the yellow backhoe represents are not merely concepts of press repression and impunity but the reality of such notions--the 58 lives claimed on the morning of Nov. 23, 2009.
Among these victims are 32 media workers who were covering then Buluan vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu’s filing of his certificate of candidacy for governor of Maguindanao province, a post held by Andal Ampatuan Sr. and coveted by the latter’s son.
Sajid Ampatuan was then named suspect for what is now known as the Ampatuan-Maguindanao massacre. He was granted bail in March 2015 for 11.6 million pesos.
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“Lack of strong evidence” was the alleged basis for his release despite several eyewitness accounts and proof which prove otherwise.
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Seven years to the day of this gruesome debauchery, dust gathers on the case of 58 victims awaiting reprieve in a courtroom in Quezon City.
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Add to that a president who spits on the profession which most of these people died for.
Confronted on his plans of action toward the persisting cases of media killings once he was inaugurated, then president-elect Rodrigo Duterte saw a chance to show off his skewed sense of morality. A journalist is not exempt from assassination, he said, especially if one is a son of a bitch.
Six days later, Duterte threatened to boycott the media after Reporters Without Borders (RSF) took notice of his statement and urged local media to stop covering the president.
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Beyond the incidents contributing to the perils of mass communication, the continuous emergence of forces which bar press freedom from prevailing in the Philippines clearly calls its journalists to go against the tide.
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A big factor of this status quo is the culture of debt in Filipino electoral politics, leading the voting population to latch on to political personalities for benefits and clans instead of platforms and ideology.
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Relating this to the gruesome massacre in Maguindanao, lust for power leads the political elite to stop at nothing and leave destruction in their wake.
The termination of the persistence of such evils in a society that prides itself for its democracy lies heavily in the hands of its watchdogs and of the masses they serve; those who would lose their right to self-governance with the impingement of the freedom of the press.
Duly noted, however, is the former Davao mayor’s effort to extend the limits of press freedom. With the executive order on freedom of information (FOI) authorizing the launch of an online database centralizing public government information on Nov. 25, high hopes are up for Philippine media.
Duterte’s executive order is not to be confused with the long-running campaign for genuine FOI legislation. His FOI applies only to the offices under the executive branch of the government, and has 166 exemptions besides.
But the seemingly greener pastures of the future of Philippine media will never be worth the lives lost in the bloody encounter of seven years ago. Nothing ever will. By waiting for so long a time in implementing both the FOI and giving justice to the victims, the State continues to add to the cost by way of impunity.
Because no amount of money, time or policy can ever heal the wounds caused by strife, neglect and promises too late to have been made.
