THE cyberlibel conviction of Rappler’s Maria Ressa marks a day of infamy that carries over the Philippines’ notoriety against journalists since the time of the Maguindanao massacre.
While the Maguindanao massacre physically tormented and annihilated journalists, this landmark conviction strikes at the very essence of the work of journalists — that is, to speak the truth though the heavens may fall.
From the tyranny of a small but powerful warlord-political clan, this cyberlibel ruling has opened the floodgates for the persecution of journalists and ordinary Filipinos by politicians, big business, and the police and military establishment.
This ruling has drawn first blood against cyber critics of the powers-that-be in this country. Maria Ressa is but the first major casualty in a sweeping political vendetta against critical voices in our nation’s internet age.
That this is timed with the all-too-certain passage of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, underscores the all-sided attacks on Constitutionally-mandated rights of the Filipino people.
The Signs of the Times are all too familiar and foreboding: the second shutdown of ABS-CBN and the silencing of the free press, the rise of militarism and political repression, the prevalence of extrajudicial killings and judicial harassments, the existence of a rubber-stamp Congress, the cheering and jeering of ‘loyalist’ trolls, and the palpable dominance of a civilian-military junta.
It is only a matter of time and of formality.
Bishop Felixberto Calang
Iglesia Filipina Independiente
