The Arroyo Regime’s Complicity in Ampatuan Massacre

Arroyo's Complicity in Ampatuan Massacre
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Arroyo's Complicity in Ampatuan Massacre

By GILL H. BOEHRINGER
By seeking to convince its readers that the effects of Ondoy were “felt equally by rich and poor” and that it was a “great equalizer,” the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the most influential newspaper in the Philippines, was attempting to bolster the view that the Filipino class system had nothing to do with the disaster, and that the lives of all Filipinos are shaped by the same forces of nature, even by fate or by God.
Developments that show the popularity of activism through social networks and other online media have led some people to believe that activism online would be sufficient in addressing issues of general concern. But is it really?

A Humanitarian Crisis Deepens in Maguindanao
The point of all this is that there’s no point in social media comparing itself to the news media, let alone proclaiming that Twitter can do a better job than CNN in bringing news to the masses of the world.
Regardless of its flaws, the news media remains the only institution capable of performing the very important task of verifying the flood of information let loose by social media, and to put all of it in context.
In forum, CHR officials and journalists from the NUJP bewail the use by the military of OBs. CHR chairperson Leila de Lima says the AFP claimed to have stopped using OBs but replaced these with “watch lists” – and military officials could not explain to her the difference.
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