This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 6, March 13-19, 2005
http://www.petitiononline.com/cegp1931/petition.html No to AFP Terror
Plot on Press Freedom!
Alumni of the College Editors Guild of
the Philippines AFP vice
chief-of-staff Gen. Edilberto Adan has recently proposed an idea that is so
dangerous and poisonous to our rights to free speech and free expression. He
said that media should not interview "enemies of the state" and went on to name
some of the groups. © 2004 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
March 7, 2005
That's a mouthful for an AFP that is riddled by corruption scandals, known for
monumental ineptitude, unapologetic in its human rights violations and unashamed
of its own acts of abuse and terrorism.
We are totally against this proposal that is essentially a reimposed martial
law.
The AFP or any government agency, not even the President, has no right to
pre-determine which type of information the people should receive and impart
from among ourselves. It has no right to censor the media or, in other words,
tell media what to report and what not to report. The AFP has no right to seek a
stranglehold on the media.
Indeed, the AFP proposal will hamper the people's right to information, free
speech, free press and eventually the right to redress of grievance.
Moreover, the AFP has a weird notion of "enemies of the state". The military
always considers as "enemies" any and all forms of dissent and opposition, and
lumps them together with so-called terrorists and dissidents. Critics of
military corruption and military connivance with criminal syndicates, bandits
and terrorists may be deemed "enemies of the state".
More importantly, at a time when the current administration is the target of
growing legitimate protests due to its brazen corruption, mismanagement,
bankruptcy and the inability to unite the people, could be aimed at restoring
barefaced suppression of our most essential rights that enable us to responsibly
and democratically institute changes in the people's favor, correct wrongdoings
and punish wrongdoers.
An AFP renewing its clampdown on media is the last thing the Philippine press
needs today, when the country has become the worst place for journalists, second
only to Iraq. A fiat by the military against interviews with the latter's
enemies would only be a license to silence more journalists who would commit the
"crime" of "interviewing terrorists".
Indeed, clamping down on media is terrorism in itself. It victimizes the entire
civilian population just to satisfy the whims and caprices of the military
establishment.
Fighting all attempts to muzzle the Press and the people is our commitment to
the many anti-fascist sacrifices of countless Filipino journalists and the
Filipino people especially against the fascist Marcos dictatorship.
We enjoin the members of the Press and the people to stand up and fight this AFP
terror plot on press freedom now.