I don’t like Niñez Cacho-Olivares. She’s not only a bad writer, but she’s nasty as well when she writes. She can be cruel, vindictive and insulting.

Still, those aren’t reasons enough to raid her newspaper, The Daily Tribune! Even if she calls outright for civil disturbance to oust Arroyo, it is still no reason to clamp down on media. Then we hear Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Arturo Lomibao state that the police are there to ensure that certain guidelines are being met by the Press.

The nerve of him! The police can’t even get their act together in curtailing crime. Now they want to step into the purview of journalism and watch over editors, reporters and columnists.

It’s easy to see the reason why the Tribune was singled out: Vengeance. Gloria was simply irked by the tirades of Olivares. The Tribune does not have a big circulation like the Philippine Star or the Daily Inquirer, so what is she worried about, if indeed the Tribune was being seditious? Does the Tribune have the power to bring a majority of people -or the military for that matter- to attack Malacañang and forcibly take power?

There are many legitimate fora through which we can air complaints against media practitioners who we may feel are abusing their influence. Gloria should have gone to any of them. To order a raid on a member of the press is no different than assassinating journalists. The latter snuffs out a person’s life; the former snuffs out the life of freedom of speech.