Tagged

“‘The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable’” —  attributed to Finley Peter Dunne, “Observations by Mr. Dooley,” 1902

MY family and I would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all the people who supported us when we found ourselves dastardly embroiled in a vilification campaign a fortnight ago.

We would like to thank our friends and relatives in the human rights groups, Armed Forces, and National Police for their assurances to get to the bottom of the cowardly list of supposed members of the communist movement. You who did so without fanfare and communicated with us privately, thank you.

We also extend our gratitude to the support of local and Southeast Asian media community. You who issued statements and wrote news articles about the red-tagging, thank you. Even estranged friends came out and posted their support on their Facebook walls. It was a humbling experience. Thank you.

Red-tagging is one of the hazards any practicing journalist faces. So, you can just imagine how mortified I was when I saw that the cowards included my wife and son.

My wife, son, and I condemn the cowards who included us in the anonymous list of supposed Communist Party of the Philippines members here in Cagayan de Oro City.

We are not, have never been and never will be members of CPP.

My wife is a marketing executive with this paper where I am the associate editor. My son is a regular staff in the Commission on Elections in Region 10 and is currently serving in the commission’s city office. He is also currently studying at Xavier University College of Law. Our credentials are readily available.

We denounce this list as it is not only aimed to intimidate me in my work as a journalist but has endangered my family. We know full well that red-tagging is a virtual death sentence.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen cited a 2011 journal article which defined red-tagging as “the act of labeling, naming and accusing individuals and/ or organizations of being left-leaning, subversives, communists or terrorists (used as) a strategy… by State agents, particularly law enforcement agencies and the military, against those perceived to be ‘threats’ or ‘enemies of the State.’”

As if the red-tagging was not enough to mute me, trolls of a certain local political party rode on it for their own political ends — their comeuppance will come too.

On my end, I will not let this cowardly act push me to silence. I will continue speaking truth to power. I will continue to tell the story of the downtrodden, the marginalized, and voiceless people of the Republic.

#HoldTheLine

Keep off the teachers

IT always amazes me how our uniformed services manage to target unarmed groups and tag them as threats to the Republic.

Year in and year out, we see dissenting groups being branded as either communist legal fronts or sympathizers of the revolution. They seem to be devoid of the capacity to distinguish legitimate dissent and armed insurgency.

A news report from ABS-CBN online news on Sunday quoted Joselyn Martinez, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) national chairperson, as saying that police officers went to their school in Malabon on Thursday to ask the school principal for the names of members of ACT.

On Sunday, a copy of the supposed order to inventory members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) with the signature of a Chief Insp. Rexson Layug of the Manila Police District Intelligence, circulated on Facebook.

In the same news article, National Capital Region Police Office Director Guillermo Eleazar has denied ordering the “school visits.” However, the intelligence chief of the Zambales provincial police confirmed the memo on the ACT is genuine and that they were “just following orders.”

First, the memo in direct violation of the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers. Second, the right of every citizen of the Republic to self-organization, freedom of expression and assembly, and the right to privacy are enshrined and guaranteed in our Constitution. Well, that is unless Congress changed it over the New Year.

Third, a simple Google search would show you that ACT is a listed organization with the Securities and Exchange Commission plus it is recognized by both the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Education. So, what’s next — an inventory of people inside CSC and Deped who recognize the legitimacy of ACT?

What’s the matter? Aren’t you contented of using public schools in hinterlands as de facto camps of paramilitary and soldiers? Now, you’re going after teachers, too?

In a statement, ACT slammed the order to inventory their members as part of the Duterte administration’s grand fascist scheme to suppress all forms of opposition.

I couldn’t agree more. Right off the bat, this administration has been consistent in stifling legitimate dissent. It has been using Marcosian means to silence anybody who has grown cojones to stand up against it.

If you can’t lay your hands off the public schools in the boondocks, at least, keep off the public teachers. Remember, their wage increases were postponed because Digong Dada thought it best to increase your salaries first.

You are all government workers. You share a common goal. You have sworn to serve and protect the Republic. So, I’d like to remind you that you should serve and protect the people not just a certain sector of powerful people.

As I have posted on my Facebook wall a week ago: I do not hope for government workers to do their job. I expect it.