In media killings, Aquino just as guilty as hitmen

Joas Dignos (Valencia, Bukidnon, Nov. 29). Michael Milo (Tandag, Surigao del Sur, Dec. 7). Rogelio Butalid (Tagum City, Davao del Norte, Dec. 11). Three broadcasters murdered in Mindanao within two weeks. The 19th, 20th and 21st since President Aquino ascended into Malacañang; and the 159th, 160th and 161st since we became a “democracy” again, a claim that becomes more tenuous with each media killing.

But no, this government, which came to power on the promise of justice and human rights and “daang matuwid” (a straight path), chooses not only to downplay the enormity of the problem but also denigrates the victims by deigning to dismiss some of them as “not legitimate.”

Aquino, time and again you have made media your whipping boy, chastising us for “negativism.” But we are dying here, your administration’s inaction perpetuating the impunity with which not just we but so many others—activists, environmentalists, lawyers, indigenous people, the religious—continue to be murdered as it turns a blind eye to the bloodshed with a cold heart.

It is all too clear that your promises are meaningless.

You, by your apathy, are just as guilty as those who gave the orders to kill and those who pulled the trigger.

Our colleagues’ blood, as all the victims’ blood, shall ever stain your hands.

And we will make sure you do not forget this and we will call you to account for this.

—ROWENA PARAAN,

chair, National Union of

Journalists of the Philippines,

[email protected]