Cebu celebrates 20 years of press freedom

It’s the 20th celebration of the Cebu Press Freedom Week, which kicked off with the usual parade last Sunday morning. Proudly, Press Freedom is only celebrated in Cebu for reasons unknown. I guess the media in Manila is just too concentrated on their work, they don’t have time to look back at the time when on Sept. 21, 1972, free speech was the first casualty of the Martial Law that was declared by then Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos who morphed from a constitutionally elected President into a full blown dictator.

One of the first casualties of Martial Law was my mentor and dear friend, the late publisher of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine STAR Maximo V. Soliven who was arrested (and jailed with the late Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr.) by virtue of a photocopied Arrest, Search and Seizure Order (ASSO) signed by then Martial Law administrator Juan Ponce Enrile. Hmmm Sir Max must be grinning up above that the same Juan Ponce Enrile who had him arrested is now incarcerated for his alleged corruption.

Meanwhile in Germany, President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III called on Filipinos to celebrate freedom from dictatorship as his government strives to make every citizen truly free. He quoted Dr. Jose Rizal’s famous words “There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves.” But then P-Noy is great in finding words to say, but his intentions are suspect because of his own dictatorial tendencies.

Only a man with the mind of a dictator would want the Constitution changed so he could extend his term of office. A constitution should benefit the whole nation, not satisfy the whims and guiles of a politician! That’s exactly what Martial Law achieved…. extended the term of President Marcos an extra 14 years more until we booted him out at the EDSA Revolt of 1986. Now, Filipinos feel a sense of Déjà vu!

*      *      *

Kudos to Ted Failon’s revelation in his show “Failon Ngayon” which was replayed last Sunday and you can also see it in YouTube when he interviewed a consumer rights group that calls itself the Coalition of Filipino Consumers (CFC) who exposed Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Alan Purisima’s not having his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). It turned out that even the Office of the President in Malacañang didn’t have a copy of the PNP Chief’s SALN.

Yet, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas has committed to do a “Lifestyle Check” on the PNP, starting supposedly at the top. So why isn’t the PNP Chief the first on the lifestyle check list? Not satisfied with the “No” SALN story, Ted Failon was told by the CFC about the luxurious palace in San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija. So Ted Failon did what anyone who had a helicopter at his disposal would do, fly over to San Leonardo and lo and behold, indeed from the aerial view, it was a palace in anyone’s standard.

Failon even went to the Office of the Municipal Assessor of San Leonardo and came up with a certificate that Purisima doesn’t own any real property there. So what’s the bottom line here Chief? Is the San Leonardo Palace yours or not? Mind you, all the officers and men of the PNP are closely monitoring whether or not the PNP Chief can pass his lifestyle check.

I dare say that the Office of the Ombudsman should look at a collusion between the San Leonardo Municipal Assessor’s Office for totally missing something so glaringly corrupt within their midst. What about DILG Sec. Mar Roxas? Surely he is not telling us that he is turning a blind eye on this alleged corruption by the highest ranking official of the PNP? If the Aquino regime gives the PNP Chief their vote of confidence, then let me say it here that this lifestyle check for the PNP is nothing but a farce.

*      *      *

No matter how they say that P-Noy‘s European junket tour was so successful, the fact that President Aquino expressed delight over something so totally unexpected or even wacky or so outlandish, he couldn’t help himself and literally bragged about this in his speech. This was when he had a meeting with the president of an international bank, but he refused to name the bank or its president.          

P-Noy revealed “An international banker whom I will not mention suggested that with the rise of the country’s economy, the Philippines should “Globalize” the peso!” The obviously elated Aquino added, “Never had I thought that anyone would ever make such a suggestion, believing that the Philippines is in such a good shape that he would be willing to invest in our currency because he believes in the stability of our economy.” Aquino fell for that bit hook, line and sinker. That the banker was just making chitchat!

*      *      *

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]