Editorial
It may seem that as we are met with an influx of various media forms and information, we succumb as well to the increasing amount of misinformation and acts of censorship. The fabrication of a new set of regulations may seem more fit, considering the boundaries of free will; yet, those who have been sitting in power resort to doing so just for the sake of gratifying their endeavors. Their agendas have been long revealed with their explicit declaration of media shutdowns, coverage prohibitions, and humiliating insults towards journalists and media companies — more like an outcry to cover up their destructive jurisdiction, especially on the war on drugs. In his concluding six-year term, citizens found it typical to hear President Rodrigo Duterte curse these people, as the whole country, and even the world, listens. Not even the pope and the local bishops would be spared from his vulgar innuendos that make his loyal supporters chuckle.
The awarding of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov is apparently an opportune moment for the time being, but to the dismay of the government for exposing its downright censorship and subversion of democracy. As the two recipients are hailed “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression,” they constitute the roster of media workers and journalists who have been threatened and killed in advocating for democracy and press freedom. Ressa and Muratov have similarly founded media outlets that have boldly covered sensitive, controversial, and critical truths surrounding the lives of their respective administrations.
The Nobel Peace Prize was not even the first award that brought Ressa into world-renowned fame. She had garnered numerous recognitions that did not only worship her undismayed conviction to fight for press freedom but also served as an opportunity to defeat the stature of those who have put democracy into its chains. One of which acknowledges her fearless coverage of unscrupulous government propaganda and her criticism towards the president — being the 2018 Time magazine Person of the Year.
Behind her accolades, the fight for freedom of expression is far from over. She and Rappler,her co-founded media news outlet, have long been braving the storm of repression directly targeted towards them. As of the moment, she is facing seven arrest warrants including two cyber-libel cases filed against her. Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who stands among Ressa’s legal team, commented that the cyberlibel conviction was the trial court’s complicit attempt “to silence a journalist for exposing corruption and abuse.”
The never-ending imposition of restraint remains at a stronghold as the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) failed to see any relevance in Ressa’s Nobel invitation to personally receive the award in Oslo this coming December 10. The OSG even tagged her as a “flight risk,” pretty much ironic for someone whose bravery is armed only by a daunting voice, a pen, and sheets of paper. It was only on December 3, exactly a week before the event, when the Court of Appeals had finally granted her permission to travel.
These circumstances could be unfortunately expected from a country ranking 138th out of 179 in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index. In addition, the Philippines also ranks 7th in the 2021 Global Impunity Index, having 13 murder cases of journalists still unsolved within the ten-year time frame. It is two ranks down from where it stood two years ago only for the reason that the case of the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre, whose proponents are not yet prosecuted, exceeded the ten-year calculation for the index.
Duterte’s tyrannical rule boasts so much of an iron fist that is red-handed for assaulting our freedom and peace. Since he was appointed as president last 2016, thousands of lives have already been stolen in his war on drugs, never to be repaid to their parents and children who have always been anticipating their return. Likewise, 21 journalists have already been killed in their efforts to deliver the shameful truth of the government’s corruption and failed policies. As Duterte remains in office for the last few months of his term, the scion of hope for democracy is not yet in plain sight as we still see their shadows in the upcoming elections.
These horrifying reports speak beyond the numbers they show — it is a miserable scream calling for vengeance after the administration had impoverished us from the democracy that we have always deserved. An unbiased criticism would either send you behind bars or worse, towards an unanticipated assassination that they have never thought would further amplify the voices of the oppressed.
Journalists, media workers, and other modern-day heroes risk their lives in exposing the lamentable undertakings of the government and we are called to recognize their efforts and also the suppression of freedom that they have long been fighting against. This coming election season, we should take precautions in choosing our leaders to ensure that they would not put democracy and press freedom at stake once again. Let us be wary of the promising platforms of the candidates that they might be using to blind us as they hide their tyrannical motives.
