Cong Corrales .
LIKE other professions and vocations, we, journalists and media practitioners, belong to a community. At least, that’s what I believed in.
Having worked with national and international media organizations made me believe that. There are lots of organizations that help the local press. Like me, many local media practitioners know this. They have been aided in one way or the other.
These organizations fund trainings, seminars and yes, even bail money when media practitioners get into trouble with this country’s archaic libel law.
This is the reason why I felt so disappointed with some of my colleagues who just kept mum when Rappler executive editor Maria Ressa was arrested again last week.
Ressa may not be the most lovable of journos in the country but that’s not what journalism is about. Make no mistake about it, but what this insecure administration is doing to her and Rappler can happen to you and your outlet.
Most of them parroted this administration’s legalese bovine crap. It’s like these people don’t know how to use Google search. It’s like these people haven’t learned how this administration used legal proceedings to curtail the freedoms of Sen. Leila de Lima, booted out Supreme Court Chief Maria Lourdes Sereno, and many others.
Ressa was arrested because the complainant, the National Bureau of Investigation,, claimed that Rappler violated the Anti-Dummy Law in connection with its relationship with Omidyar Network.
It is disappointing that some veteran journalists and editors in Mindanao take this crap hook, line, and sinker. It is as if they haven’t attended seminars in Manila funded by the likes of Omidyar.
A simple Google search would show you that Omidyar is a philanthropic funding organization. Any media outlet could access funds from this organization. This organization gives grants and program-related investments. Their ledgers can be accessed at their website www.omidyar.com. Check it out and then you will realize that the charges they slapped Rappler are just a smokescreen to silence it.
As the fourth estate, media outlets are strategic organizations that tyrannical regimes shut down. This administration has successfully whipped into submission the legislative and judiciary branches. You would be naive if you think that the attack on Rappler is not an attack to press freedom.
Meanwhile, this administration has unabashedly partnered with the communist People’s Republic of China. In fact, it has been brandishing the communists’ investments in the Philippines. Now, I dare pose this question: Who is the real dummy here?
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