Photo by Cocoy Sexcion/Sarangani Information Office
Let me express my deepest condolences to the families of media colleagues who were killed in last Monday’s massacre in Maguindanao. It was a crime that attacked not just the journalists but our very Constitution itself; as the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) put it, the Maguindanao carnage “strikes at the very foundations of democracy.”
In a statement put out before the fate of at least 12 journalists were known, the NUJP said: “To take hostage journalists who were merely going about their job of informing the public worsens the already heinous crime and elevates it into an assault on the Constitution itself and the freedom of the press and of expression it enshrines, and the people’s right to know which these freedoms serve.”
That the massacre happened a few days after Efren Peñaflorida made Filipinos proud by winning the CNN Heroes of the Year Award must not be taken lightly. On the one hand we have countrymen like Efren who selflessly give of themselves in order to improve the lives of the less fortunate among us; on the other hand we have barbarians among who think nothing of snuffing out the lives of fellow Filipinos — women at that — just to achieve their evil purposes. We have managed to get ourselves in the world’s headlines for two completely different reasons, and the rest of humanity is probably wondering at our schizophrenia.
I’m not sure if there is an official initiative from media groups to do this, but I am taking the cue from my friend and colleague Chris Fabian and am calling on journalists (and our friends) to wear black this week to show our grief and anger at the Maguindanao massacre. I did something like this when photojournalist Geneboyd Lumawag died in 2004, wearing black every Friday for more than a year until my black shirt simply died on me. Now I have several black shirts in my closet, and I swear to put them to good use. And since the massacre happened on a Monday, it will be Black Monday for me for the coming months.
It’s actually interesting that the massacre happened less than two weeks after the fifth anniversary of Geneboyd’s killing; even more interesting is the fact that his father, veteran photojournalist “Tatay” Rene Lumawag, mounted an exhibit in his honor at SM City Davao. The clincher? The exhibit, titled “Remember when…” has been extended to Friday, November 27. It’s like there had been an anticipation that there would be a need for journalists to have a rallying point, one that would express to the world how angry we are that journalists, in this day and age, continue to be the targets of various attacks.
The pictures on exhibit don’t directly touch on this theme, but the very presence of the photos are testament to the need to protect freedom of speech and of expression. This country would be so much poorer — both literally and figuratively — without the freedom to report on what is happening around us. Tatay Rene, Geneboyd, and the thousands of people who practice journalism risk their lives so that the powers that be continue to respect this freedom which, in the long run, is to be used by everyone, not just the media. As someone — and I apologize that I can no longer remember who, and Google was no help — has said: “The role of free media in a free society is to be free.”
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