Malacañang's way of censoring the press
Yes, we watched the fight by Representative Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao versus American pugilist Chris Algieri and clearly the boast of the Pacman that he would drop Algieri in the first round did not materialize. There was no doubt that the Pacman was the superior fighter against Algieri, who had not lost a single fight in his career until last Sunday. However, what is very clear to us is that the Pacman has lost his killer instinct. While he dropped Algieri into the canvass six times, but the Pacman could not knock him out cold. Hence, that fight lasted for all the 12 rounds.
So the big question is whether the much-heralded fight between the Pacman and Mayweather would ever materialize. After the fight, my good friend, Paquito Unchuan showed me a US TV (we never saw this ad in the Philippines) advertisement that featured two friends having a conversation that Mayweather was going to fight the Pacman. Then Manny suddenly appears on the ring joyous that Mayweather was going to fight him. So now this is the big question whether that fight would really push through.
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Is the Aquino regime engaging in press censorship? Initially the Rasputin inside Malacañang Palace denied that the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) blacklisted nine Hong Kong journalists when this story surfaced in the social media networking sites. But someone got hold of that document that proved to the world that this story was no hoax. So in the end, the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) came up with a public message that this incident sent a chilling message to the members of the press from all over the world.
FOCAP in its official statement said, "While governments have the prerogative to deny entry to foreigners, we would like to clarify from the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation, as well as the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) what particular actions served as basis to declare these journalists a public safety threat, which eventually led to their blacklisting? FOCAP believes that an intelligence agency's declaration of a journalist as a public safety threat – based only on his/her conduct of asking questions of the president and without a single complaint from either the foreign affairs department or the press office of the Office of the President, both political offices more adept that dealing with the press – gives a chilling message to journalists worldwide."
This issue against journalists came at the very wrong time, just when the victims of the Maguindanao massacre were observing the 5th anniversary of the dastardly killing of some 58 innocent people, 32 of them were members of the media. They were allegedly killed by former Ampatuan town mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. as evidenced by the text message that the wife of Governor Esmael Mangudadatun sent to him before she was herself killed with her sisters, one of whom was pregnant.
Just think, Maguindanao is so far and away from Manila. But when those Hong Kong journalists were barred from entry to the Philippines, there is no doubt that this was Malacañang's way of censoring the press. If you ask me, Malacañang ought to lift the order that it gave to the BID. After all, the Philippines is considered the freest Press in Asia. This presidential blacklisting of Hong Kong Journalists, whom they consider as a "Threat to public safety" but without issuing any evidence to prove that Malacañang was acting prudently, really tells the world that the Aquino regime has a loathsome regard towards the press. I just hope that the Palace Rasputin would change that order.
On the Maguindanao massacre, the Philippine Star editorial last Sunday entitled "Permanently silenced" was right on the nail, especially the cartoon that came with that editorial, showing the witnesses to this gruesome murder being cut off by the Grim Reaper riding a giant snail. It was the perfect depiction of this tragedy that has been worsened by our snail's paced justice system.
As the editorial pointed out, "Just days before the fifth anniversary of the Maguindanao massacre, another witness against the principal defendants was murdered and his companion seriously wounded. Dennis Sakal Jr. would have had a compelling story to tell. He was the driver of Andal Ampatuan Jr., who as mayor of Ampatuan town allegedly led about 300 members of his clan's private army – including police, soldiers and militiamen – in executing 58 people, 32 of them media workers on November 23, 2009."
I dare say that we the members of the press are not intimidated by the threats to our Press Freedom by the temporary occupants of Malacañang Palace. I'm sure that the foreign media as well are not scared of PNoy Aquino's antics against the press. We were not even scared of the Marcos dictatorship, so why should we be scared of the Aquino regime?
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