The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. – US President Thomas Jefferson
Wait, don’t shoot! In response to the unabated murders of crusading journalists in rural areas, some friends e-mailed or texted fair warnings and jokes advising me to "live in a state of paranoia." My usual half-joking reply to friends on the matter of death threats was simple: "I have lots of life insurance."
I have a friend who’s a weekend warrior, who dons military uniforms for air soft-war games. In my case, I’m just a weekend writer – essentially harmless – who only fancies myself an armchair crusading journalist and daydreaming of revolutionary societal change – a dreamer who couldn’t be a real-life Zorro or Superman (by the way, Clark Kent is a journalist, too!) fighting the corrupt powers-that-be, but who passionately believes the pen is still mightier (and sexier) than the sword
Actually, it would be very unfair to compare this wacky columnist with the true guts, grit, social idealism and heroism of the many rural crusading journalists out there fighting day-to-day battles for truth, good governance and social justice in the "wild, wild west" hinterlands. I share all decent people’s outrage at the barbaric killing of journalists by feudal political kingpins, military bullies, NPA criminal pests and plain gangsters. These unsolved deaths of journalists mock our Philippine society’s pretense to rule of law and democracy, and shames our republic to no end. On May 3, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that the Philippines, which reputedly has the freest press in all of Asia, has had the most journalist murders in the world since 2000
If I were as powerful a writer as Dr. Jose Rizal, whose two novels provoked the Spanish colonial regime’s murderous rage and sparked the Philippine Revolution, then it might be all right to be shot by crooks in the Luneta. Once when I was invited to be a guest speaker by the Rotary Club of Greenhills, past president Atty. Wilfredo Chato introduced me as "a columnist and not a calumnist." Indeed, if I had written critical columns, they were not personal attacks, but criticisms of public acts, actuations or policies, nothing personal. In an open forum at another club, I was once asked whether it was dangerous being a newspaper columnist and how powerful people might react to critical columns. Although I’m not a columnist in the political or opinion sections, and I do not receive death threats, I have had my own share of close encounters with danger
Instead of throwing me out of the building, the cigar-chomping FVR plied me for two hours with his special concoction called Café Royale, which I suspected had a mysterious poison. I so thoroughly enjoyed drinking the strange black brew that the incredulous FVR kept asking his staff to pour more for me. Surprised at my relish, he said it was coffee grown in his wife’s farm near Tagaytay. When our meeting was over and FVR left, I badgered his staff to show me what they had mixed with the black barako. FVR had stubbornly refused to reveal his secret. Opening the cabinet of FVR’s kitchen, I discovered that I had unwittingly consumed an entire half-bottle of his expensive Hennessy XO cognac!
Some high-profile VIPs are so onion-skinned to media criticisms. My unsolicited advice? Have a better sense of humor, be more open-minded, or get out of public life and enter the monastery! Whatever happens, never, ever shoot a journalist!
Once, at a funeral wake, Kris Aquino said she reads my columns in the Philippine STAR though I’m "often nasty" daw towards her. I wish to clarify that I actually admire her irascible energy and natural intelligence, but she has cultivated a controversial and high-profile public persona, which has made her fair game for all mass-media commentaries. I personally believe that a celebrity like her should be a better role model for our youth, because a lot of people look up to her, so I had criticized her scandalous personal life and public behavior.
On the other side of the political fence, Congresswoman Imee Marcos told my friends that she’s afraid I might attack her family if she agreed to an interview. Was it because I had previously written an interview of her mother Imelda before for Hong Kong’s Yazhou Zhoukan magazine? I hadn’t injected my personal opinions for or against her, but the Agence France Presse (AFP) picked it up, and added their own lines about the Marcos era’s controversial human-rights record.
At a recent monthly meeting of the Anvil Business Club, a young entrepreneur asked Philippine National Police (PNP) chief General Arturo Lomibao whether columnists can be issued firearms for self-protection. The general said it was okay for journalists to carry legal firearms. I think he even said that some journalists can be assigned special police protection. Philippine society cannot exorcise the evil people who murder journalists if we do not seriously enforce the law with unflinching political will and decisiveness. If journalists who wield the power of the pen are defenseless against the forces of evil, how safe can ordinary citizens be?
Recently, a devout young Christian couple, Ephraim and Wendy Young, were robbed and murdered by crooks in broad daylight in Quezon City. Rural publisher Philip Agustin was murdered in Dingalan, Aurora province, several days later and became the 69th Filipino journalist killed in the Philippines since 1986. Will we allow criminals to hold hostage the international reputation and economic future of our republic with their heinous crimes, which unfairly besmirch the country’s image?
Not only is the shooting of journalists an abomination, murder is evil and diminishes us all as human beings. We cannot be indifferent, because wanton destruction of human life endangers each one of us. Government, law-enforcement agencies, and the courts must swiftly punish the masterminds and hired guns behind the murders. Enforce all our laws with force – regardless of how high or well-connected the offenders might be!
The real solution to any upsurge of crime is not vigilantism, not endless finger-pointing, platitudes, or the mindless spread of more firearms, but strengthening the rule of law as a bedrock of our democracy. If we cannot protect the sanctity and inviolability of human life from murderers or common criminals, what will happen to our democracy and economic future?