I would like to take issue with the Inquirer’s Oct. 6 editorial titled “Crossroads,” specifically its claim that the second Million People March in Ayala last Oct. 4, succeeded “where it counted most” by stepping up the pressure against the pork barrel.
With or without that rally, the people’s anger and fervor against those caught plundering the country through the pork barrel mechanism remain alive and burning. The people want those involved to be punished first and foremost. What the protesters were trying but failed to do was to shift attention and blame the pork barrel on the Aquino administration which exposed it in the first place.
If there was a message that can be gleaned from that rally which was attended by less than 3,000 people, it was the rejection by the people of mercenary activism and of the career activists who led it. People did not just stay away from the rally that day, they viewed it with a hostile and critical eye, wary and suspicious of the organizers’ true intent.
If media are to do a good job of balanced reporting, it should exercise discernment and not just report anything coming from the mouths of ralliers just because it is over a certain decibel. In order to help the people arrive at better and informed decisions regarding the country, media should also scrutinize the background of the protesting militants who impose and inflict themselves on the people as unelected leaders of the people’s cause.
That media seem to be remiss in doing this or prefer not to do so is a curious thing.
—V. FIDEL GUIDOTE,