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March 15, 2006
Chapters of a Dark History are Opening Again
I watched with interest the Senate inquiry into Proclamation 1017, particularly the interview of media personalities Ninez Cacho-Olivares and Sheila Coronel of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ). Also present were lawyers Rene Saguisag (for Olivares), Sandy Coronel (for the PCIJ) and FLAG's Jose Manuel Diokno.
On the side of the Senate were Sens. Joker Arroyo, Pia Cayetano, Rodolfo Biazon, Juan Flavier and Jinggoy Estrada.
Apparently the assault on press freedom didn't start and end with the Daily Tribune. There's this character -police character to be exact- Jonathan Tiongco, who's harassing PCIJ with a TRO (read the piercing pen blog here and a near search warrant to look for subversive documents (can't they think of anything original anymore?). According to Coronel, Sec. Mike Defensor, erstwhile Spice Boy turned sour, admitted that Tiongco texts him; so they must be very close.
Atty. Diokno likens this harassment to the Marcos ploy of using shadowy groups to file all sorts of charges against media personalities during Martial Law. Sen. Arroyo and Saguisag know all too well whereof he speaks, having been victims themselves of the repressive Marcos regime.
While Gloria Macapagal-Marcos ...er... Arroyo can deny any involvement with Tiongco, Defensor cannot and Defensor certainly doesn't move without his master telling him so. We can only surmise that Gloria is learning from Marcos, but she improvises and reveals a more cunning side. To restrict civil liberties, you only have to muzzle the press. Tiongco's success in getting a TRO to compel the PCIJ to remove its blog is ominous. The fact that Tiongco himself has several charges against him, including murder, tells us the Arroyo government will use any means to achieve its goal of remaining in power.
Should we be alarmed? Not yet, because the press is fighting back. Moreover we still have the Senate to watch over the shoulder of the government. But stand guard we must lest history repeats itself. Its chapters are certainly already being opened again.
Posted by francis at March 15, 2006 08:45 PM
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