Girls always prefer a man firm in his words. If President Aquino wants a prosperous love life, he must be a bachelor adorned with palabra de honor.
In his inaugural speech more than a year ago, Aquino promised, “There can be no reconciliation without justice. When we allow crimes to go unpunished, we give consent to their occurring over and over again.”
As the members of the media and the Filipino nation on Wednesday commemorated the second year of the gruesome Ampatuan massacre, Aquino once again made a vow. He said he will do everything “humanly possible” to get justice and this is his commitment to the families of the massacre victims.
He was referring to the massacre which claimed lives of 58 people, 34 of which were media workers, one morning of November 23, 2009 in Maguindanao.
The nation awaits the fulfillment of his promises. We are like women rooting for a man to stand up for his words.
However, in just about a year after he was proclaimed in office, there had been six journalist killings as recorded by the Center of Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), a media watch group.
Radio station dwEB reporter Miguel Belen was on his way home when he was shot by a gunman in Camarines Sur. He was the first among the six victims of certain people’s hostility over journalists and members of the media in the Aquino administration.
On January 24, 2011, a lone gunman killed 47-year-old Palawan broadcaster and mining activist Gerry Ortega while shopping in Puerto Princesa City. The gun used was traced back to an aide of former Palawan Governor Joel Reyes who was regularly criticized by Ortega on the alleged misuse of money from a natural gas project in the province.
Just seven days after the incident, the body of broadcaster Cirilo Gallardo was found with stab wounds at a diocesan house for priests in Abra.
Then, on March 24 of the same year, 45-year-old broadcaster Len Flores-Sumera was shot and killed meters away from her house in Malabon City when she was about to board a jeepney.
Following Belen was another dwEB radio anchor named Romeo Olea. He was shot twice at the back while driving his motorcycle to work. He used to expose anomalies in his radio program and has been receiving death threats since. But as his radio program title said, “Anything Goes.” He ended up dying as a responsible and accountable media practicioner.
Aquino got failing marks from human rights watch groups. In his first year in office, Amnesty International said Aquino had failed to “deliver on [his pledges] even after a year in office.”
Press freedom watch group Reporters Without Borders listed Philippines at rank 156th out of 178 countries in 2010 in terms of global press freedom from 122nd out of 175 in the year 2009.
However, Freedom House’s list ranked Philippines as 93rd out of 196 countries in 2011, few points higher from the ranking by Reporters Without Borders.
Though there have been fewer journalistic killings in Aquino’s time as compared with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s term, being a laidback individual is beyond our call. As long as there are people infringing on the rights of every journalist, we are keeping our watch. We are keeping our watch on Aquino’s words of honor.
Who knows, someone might just offer her hand to him. But as for now, it is the Filipinos waiting.
This article was retrieved from a Wayback Machine archive of UPJC’s old website on July 13, 2024, 04:02:48 GMT.
