EDITORIAL - Not a contest of feelings

That the whole world has condemned the mass murder of more than 50 people in Maguindanao should tell all Filipinos two things: 1) No one can claim greater anguish than others, not even Filipinos. 2) Grief is for all victims, not just for the journalists among them.

One does not have to make a public spectacle of their anguish and grief. Nothing wrong with marching and other open displays of anguish and grief. But these do not make anyone more anguished and aggrieved than those who, in their hearts, offer everything to God in prayer.

Anguish and grief are very strong emotions. Ironically, it is this inherent strength that makes them vulnerable to exploitation. Note how remarkably easy it had been for the incident, and the issues it brought to light, to be hijacked and manipulated by the leftists.

Last Monday, the leftists took to the streets in yet another demonstration for which they never run out of causes. This time they found a most convenient cause in the Maguindanao massacre and they lost no time in converting it into a weapon of hate.

To whip up the dramatics, they called up Press Secretary Cerge Remonde to receive their grievances and hand-carry them back to Malacañang to President Arroyo, whom they have indirectly blamed for the killings.

Remonde should have been forewarned that treachery was afoot. But he nevertheless went to the rally site in good faith. After all, Remonde is not just the press secretary, he also spent his entire professional life prior to the Cabinet as a journalist.

But all expectations of striking a common cause with the leftists, who were ostensibly gathered in protest on behalf of the slain journalists, swiftly evaporated when Remonde was heckled and booed as soon as he arrived.

Indeed, Remonde was in real danger of being physically harmed had not real journalists who were there covering the event not formed a protective shield around him and escorted him away from the rallying leftists.

The Maguindanao massacre is a crime against all humanity. It diminishes everyone of us. The anguish and grief we feel stem from our basic humanity and not from whatever side or other that we find ourselves across from in the great divides that fragment our nation.