Enjoying press freedom in this martial law
For our special presentation on our talkshow Straight from the Sky, we bring you a story of a Cebuano politician who has lived 88 years but is no longer in the political limelight. But few people except my generation remember him to be a Governor of Cebu in 1963 when he defeated Francisco "Kikoy" Remotigue. One of his board members was Pabling Garcia, who later would be Governor of Cebu.
His other government functions were administrator of the Social Security System and he was appointed as Acting Secretary of Public Works, Transportation and Communication under Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. He had the rare distinction of being governor and cabinet secretary at the same time. He resigned from this position to run for and win as senator in the 1969 elections.
His unforgettable moment as Cebu Governor was when Marcos, together with Gov. Espina and Mandaue Mayor Demetrio Cortez, laid the cornerstone of the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge. VC Ponce was the contractor of the "old" bridge, which back then collected a toll until the 1986 elections when Marcos ordered the toll to be removed.
So after a long wait, we bring you former senator and Cebu governor Rene Espina. So watch this very interesting talk on Cebu's political history on SkyCable's channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV's channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.
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While Pres. Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte said that his declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao would be just as harsh as the Martial Law declared by Marcos back in Sept. 21, 1972, there is a world of difference between the declarations by Marcos and Duterte. First of all, you can check how the trolls of the Yellowtards are having a heyday attacking Duterte for declaring Martial Law. In the Marcos declaration of Martial Law, the military immediately shut down all media networks and arrested dissenters and shut down the Legislature.
Senators like Ninoy Aquino and newspaper columnists like my mentor Max Soliven, were arrested on basis of the Arrest, Search and Seizure Orders signed by then Martial Law Administrator Juan Ponce Enrile. In DU30's Martial Law, noisy Senator Antonio Trillanes III openly declared his opposition to Duterte's declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao. Call him lucky that his freedom of speech is still being enjoyed under this Constitution.
Meanwhile, the catholic bishops of Mindanao, led by Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo came up with a two-page statement entitled, "Pursue what leads to Peace" said, "We urge the government to remove the causes of terrorism, such as poverty and injustice, through just and accountable governance focused solely on the common good. We exhort everyone to be calm in the face of Martial Law, to be obedient to the just commands of the lawful authority, and not to provoke violent reaction."
Meanwhile we already read the communiqué by Communist Party of the Philippines Chairman Jose Maria "Joma" Sison, who said, "In the face of the Duterte regime's martial law declaration in Mindanao, the necessity of waging revolutionary armed struggle becomes ever clearer," it added, as it also urged the NPA to accelerate its recruitment of new fighters." This is nothing short of a declaration of war by the CPP against our legitimate government.
Unfortunately, the Duterte administration still uses kid gloves in the fight against those who seek to overthrow our legitimate government. Honestly, I did not like what National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana declared when he said: "We would like to make it clear that in the implementation of martial law in Mindanao, the Armed Forces of the Philippines will not specifically target the New People's Army as alleged by NDFP Chief Consultant Jose Maria Sison."
This statement by Lorenzana was unnecessary as it comes after the official statement by the top CPP leadership to escalate hostilities. It is crystal clear to me that the CPP is only talking peace with the government in order to buy time…but not to buy peace. We have known this fact by studying the tactics of the communists, so what's the point in giving the CPP some kind of leeway? The CPP does not want peace!
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