MANILA, Philippines — Rights advocates warned on Thursday, November 23, that the country could be on the brink of tyranny as it was 45 years ago and urged people to set aside their differences and unite to defend their freedoms.
Appearing at the 2nd End to Impunity conference at the Balay Kalinaw of the University of the Philippines, senior journalist Luis Teodoro noted the date of the event, which is also the eighth anniversary of the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre that claimed the lives of 58 persons, 32 of them media workers.
Teodoro, former dean of the UP College of Mass Communications, warned that there would be no end to media killings unless the trial of those accused of carrying out the mass murder reaches a credible resolution.
“Importante ang Ampatuan e, ‘pag hindi yan na-resolve ng credible, magpapatuloy ang pagpatay. I think marami ang nagbabantay lang diyan kung ano ang magiging resulta ng Ampatuan trial para matantya nila kung (Ampatuan is important because if it is not resolved credibly, the killings will continue. I think many are waiting fo the outcome of the Ampatua trial so they can gauge if)‘can we still get away with it’?” Teodoro noted.
He pointed to the fact that there are more than 190 accused, more than 70 of whom belong to state security agencies, and if they are acquitted, “lahat ng mga tumestigo malilintikan diyan, e may mga napatay na nga silang tumestigo (all the witnesses will be done for since they have already killed witnesses before).”
Teodoro said it was important for media to come together with other human rights defenders and sectors in what he described as crucial times.
He also stressed the importance of developing and improving journalists’ skills and their appreciation of their role “sa ganitong panahon, ‘yung challenge ngayon (in these times, the challenge today)” for both dominant an alternative media, who he said need to recall their “fundamental responsibilities.”
“Ano ba ang responsibilities natin diyan? ‘Yan ba ay trabaho lang sa iba, ‘yan ba ay para lang tayo kumita, o ‘yan ba ay isang public service para sa mga tao (What are our responsibilities? Is this just a job for someone, something to earn from, or is it a public service for the people)?” he asked.
He said these questions apply not only to journalists but also to coporate media owners who, Teodoro said, should realize that “hindi sila isolated sa lipunan (they are not isolated from society).”
Looming martial law?
Teodoro said suggestions by President Rodrigo Duterte and his supporters of a “revolutionary government” indicated a possible shift toward placing the whole country under martial law as the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos did in 1972.
Thus, he said, it was important, given the threat, “dapat kalimutan muna ang differences and I think magkaisa, kasi dapat ma-realize natin na hindi lang press freedom ang under threat, lahat ng freedom ng lahat ng sektor. Hindi lang sa media nangyayari ang impunity — kung me pinapatay walang napaparusahan — kundi nangyayari rin sa lahat ng sektor (we should forget our differences and I think unit, because we need to realize that it is not only press freedom that is under threat but all freedoms of all sectors. Impunity doesn’t just happen in media — where killers escape accountability — but it happens in all sectors).”
Media owners, said Teodoro, should “be convinced na pati sila tatamaan … tandaan nila ‘yung ginawa ni Marcos, sinara niya lahat ‘yan, ang itinira niya ang dyaryo ng kanyang mga cronies, at ‘yung dyaryo niya, siya ang mayari ng Daily Express, kunwari lang si (Roberto) Benedicto (that they too will be hit … remind them of what Marcos did, he shut down the media, leaving only the papers of his cronies, and his paper, he owned the Daily Express, Benedicto was just a dummy).”
The same went for the business sector, Teodoro said, as he advocated for a “united front.”
“On the basis of understanding the problems, then you can address the problem,” he stressed. “Otherwise magiging irrelevant ‘yung media ‘pag nagkaroon ng (the media will become irrelevant under a) dictatorship.”
Cristina Palabay, secretary general of the human rights group Karapatan referenced a popular fantasy series, saying the times indicated “papadating na ang human rights winter (the human rights winter is coming).”
Dangerous times
Palabay admitted the dangers have worsened for human rights defenders, although she maintained “hindi po kami natatakot kay Pangulong (we are not afraid of President) Duterte” despite his threats, which she said ran counter to his obligations as a bearer of human rights.
She also acknowledged the importance of uniting with other sectors to defend human rights, “kaya mahalaga ang pagsasama ng nga katulad ng ganito (which is why gatherings like this are important).”
Palabay also said no efforts, no matter how seemingly small, are wasted in defense of rights because, while “we have different experiences … we share the same sentiments, and we have commonalities,” and coming together would “send a message to Duterte and his cohorts na hindi tayo magpapatakot (that we will not be cowed).”
At the same time, she said the crackdown on activists that Duterte had threatened appears to have
She cited the case of 11 human rights defenders conducting a fact-finding mission in Batangas who were arrested and detained on “trumped-up charges” following Duterte’s threat of a crackdown over the weekend.
Palabay also predicted that Duterte’s order to cancel peace talks with communist rebels and to go after their supposed “legal fronts” would lead to the trampling of people’s liberties.
“Para sa amin ‘yung sinasabing cancellation, nangangahulugan ng papatinding paglabag sa civil at political rights ng mamamayan (For us, the cancellation means the worsening violation of people’s civil and political rights),” she said.
Fascists and tyrants ‘eventually fall’
At the same time, Palabay said, authoritarian and tyrannical regimes would eventually be toppled.
“Sa totoo lang binabalaan namin si Pangulong Duterte, that all kinds of hubris ng kanyang pagiging strongman, sinabi niya pasista siya, publicly inamin niya na pasista siya, lahat ng mga heads of state, bumabagsak din ho ‘yan kaya bago siya pabagsakin mismo ng mamayan, mag hinay-hinay siya sa mga pinaggagawa niya (To be honest we are warning President Duterte, that all the hubris of his being a strongman, he publicly admitted being a fascist, all heads of state eventually fall so before the people topple him, he might do well to be careful about what he does),” she said
At the same time, while stressing the importance of battling trolls online, Palabay said the truly important work involved “off-line direct action, action that matters, tangible, mass actions like (the) September 21 (rallies), aminin man o hindi ni Duterte, napa-atras siya kasi nilipat niya (ang war on drugs), kahit pakunwari, mula PNP papuntang PDEA (whether Duterte admits it or not, he backed down because he transferred the war on drugs, even as a pretext, from the PNP to PDEA).”
Just as they did to Marcos in 1986, Palabay said she is confident they can do it again to a president who refuses to respect their rights and listen to them.
