Hail to the chief!

“And when the band plays ‘Hail to the chief.’ Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord.”  — Fortunate Son, Creedence Clearwater Revival

FUNNY how the sparkling new Armed Forces chief of staff has just admitted to red-tagging us journos because of our bias to the truth and actual reality. It is nice to know that he is folding like a cheap suit without actually needing to. However, the thought that he has trained its cross-hairs towards us is disconcerting.

Late last week, CNN-Philippines quoted newly appointed Armed Forces chief of staff Lt. Gen. Noel Clement advised journalists to avoid showing their “biases” towards the armed communist insurgents.

He was quoted as saying that journalists who have the tendency to “favor” the enemy than the state forces will most likely get red-tagged.

“Red tagging is a very strong word to be used actually kung sasabihin mo na may article kang isulat then automatic ire-red tag ka na agad,” CNN-Philippines quoted Clement as saying.

Please don’t get me wrong. This is not something new to us. The state forces have been red-tagging journalists, rights defenders, and even sitting lawmakers. The secretary of defense himself has said something to that effect. Earlier, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana challenged the Makabayan lawmakers, a minority bloc at the Lower House, to condemn the communist movement so that the red-tagging will stop.

However, as a red-tagged journalist, how can I denounce something I have never been a part of?

As journalists, our role in society is quite well-defined. We are the fourth estate — our mandate is to inform the citizens of the republic for the latter to arrive at intelligent and well-informed decisions. This means that we cannot just take only your side of the story, hook, line, and sinker. Doing so will negate that mandate.

We are not stenographers of events. As journalists, we present the facts whether or not we like or agree with those facts. Objective reporting is meant to portray issues and events in a neutral and unbiased manner, regardless of the writer’s opinion or personal beliefs.

Freedom of the press cannot operate on a culture of fear, Sir.

How can we practice our profession when you have blurred the distinction between an unarmed civilian — which you have sworn to protect, by the way — and an armed guerrilla? Pfft.

Red-tagged redux

WHILE I understand that part of the winning the hearts and minds of the people is the “unmasking” of supposed enemies of the state, red-tagging members of mainstream media are counter-productive. It doesn’t serve the agenda of the whole length of the political spectrum. It only antagonizes the fourth estate against state and non-state actors.

Red-tagging members of the media blur the distinctive line between civilians and combatants in the conduct of the ongoing war between government and rebel forces.

I denounce being even remotely considered as an active combatant. Again, I am an unarmed civilian. I write news and op-ed pieces. That’s what I do. Before I came to be a journalist, I used to work with non-government organizations. My work there did not involve any rifles, too. It required only words and conversations.

I am not, have never been, and never will be a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ New People’s Army.

About a fortnight ago, I found myself, and colleague Froilan Gallardo listed again as being part of the armed insurrection to topple down the government. Like the other red-tagging incidents since February this year, the word ridiculous does not even begin to describe the contents of one red-tagging flyer.

However, the cowardly people behind this new spate of red-tagging incidents have upped their ridiculousness. It maliciously and falsely linked me to an alleged rape and murder case supposedly docketed under criminal case 2006-2802 before the “Surigao Regional Trial Court Branch 01-1.” This was the reason, the flyer alleged, why I supposedly joined the New People’s Army. The group, “Black Mamba Mat-NMR Press Club Chapter,” placed a bounty for my death at P1 million.

Even though the allegations contained in the flyer against me were really ridiculous, I still feel the need to debunk these. As I have experienced in the February red-tagging of my family, social media trolls of a certain local political group used this for their own political ends.

Here goes, first, I was in Cagayan de Oro during the entire year of 2006. Second, there is no such thing as a “Surigao RTC Branch 01-1.” Regional Trial Courts are not numbered like that.

Having said that, I would like to thank my family for supporting me during this ridiculous but just as scary year in my journalistic career. I would like to thank friends in the Armed Forces and National Police for their assurances to investigate this latest attack on my person. I was just told over the weekend that they are already tracking two “persons of interest.”

I would also like to thank friends who did what they can, according to their capacities, to denounce my red-tagging, albeit without fanfare. I also extend our gratitude to the support of local and international media community, be it private or public institutions. You, who have issued statements and wrote news articles about this red-tagging, thank you.

However, as I have said before in February, I will not let this cowardly act gag me into silence. I will continue — as what my father taught me before — to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I will continue to tell the story of the downtrodden, the marginalized, and voiceless people of this Republic.

Barabbas, ‘son of god’

NETIZENS have been posting a meme about how people chose Barabbas over Jesus. It has been appearing on my newsfeed since “holy week.” I suspect it will continue circulating on the Internet until the midterm elections next month.

The meme goes on to say that 2,000 years later, people still tend to choose thieves and white-collar criminals over supposed people of conscience. Right off the bat, any self-respecting critical thinker would say the meme is loaded with political agenda – as if the political terrain in the Philippines isn’t fractious enough.

So, in the spirit of public service, I would like to share with you the context behind the Jewish people’s choice two millennia ago with the end in view that you stop sharing that ignorant meme. My source of information for this context is culled from the writings of Roman-Jewish historian, Titus Flavius Josephus.

First, let us start with his name. The “Bar” part of his name is actually the Aramaic version of “Fitz” and “Ben” in medieval Europe. It means “son of.” For instance, Fitzgerald and BenCyrus would mean sons of Gerald and Cyrus, respectively.

Barabbas, then, means son of Abbas. However, his full name is Yeshua Barabbas. Yeshua is a common Hebrew alternative name to Yehoshua or Joshua in the Second Temple period. Joshua, in turn, is where the name Jesus has been derived from. Loosely translated, Abbas means lion but for the Hebrew, it means god. So, Yeshua Barabbas translates to Jesus son of god.

If you are a Bible freak and find these translations ridiculous, you can look it up in Mathew 27:16-17 that gives the full name of Barabbas as “Jesus Barabbas” and this was most probably the name as originally written in the ancient texts.

With this information, it would be safe to posit that Pontius Pilate, the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judea, could have made the Jews choose between “Jesus son of god” and “Jesus of Nazarene,” son of a carpenter. More on this “choice” later.

Second, Barabbas was neither a bandit nor a thief. He was part of the Jewish armed resistance — the Zealots. They were a political movement in 1st century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea province to rebel against the Roman Empire.

During King Herod’s regime over Galilee and Perea, which includes Judea, decreed to put the Roman insignia, an eagle, in all the synagogues across his realm. The Jewish people saw this as a desecration of their places of worship. Thus, the formation of the Zealots.

Barabbas was imprisoned for being a “lestes” (Greek for bandit) after leading a riot in Judea. He could not have been a thief since the Greek word for thief or robber is “kleptes.” The word bandit does not necessarily mean a thief but that the person belonged to a band or a group. In Barabbas’s case, the Zealots.

Also, thieves during that time weren’t executed publicly because they consider theft a petty crime. Being an insurrectionist, however, needed to be made as an example to other Jews not to rebel, ergo the crucifixion.

Joseph ben Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest who presided over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus argued specifically that Jesus was claiming to be the “king of the Jews” as opposed to being the “son of god” because King Herod would care less if Jesus claimed to be the son of the Jewish god.

That’s is why the cross where Jesus was nailed bore the inscription “INRI,” which means Iesvs Nazarenvs Rex Ivdaervm or Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews.

This argument played into supporting the cause of the Zealots. The Jews would have preferred to choose a person actively fighting for their cause than Jesus who, years before, had been correcting high priests, questioned the Jewish dogmas, and even dismantled the stalls of traders in front of a synagogue and shooed them away. Jesus even publicly forgave a taxpayer and worked to heal the sick even during the Sabbath.

So, it is an understandable choice for an oppressed people at that time to choose a fighter over what they perceived to be a pacifist.

The vilification is understandable too since it still happens in contemporary history. Remember what the Americans called Macario Sacay and the last remaining Katipuneros? Yes, you guessed it right – bandits.

Now, this should’ve been the contents of the Barabbas meme. Enemies of the state who have been vilified 2,000 years ago are still being vilified as bandits today or in the modern jargon — terrorists. Pfft.

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

Red-tagging

RED-TAGGING, for me, is the laziest tactic state security forces can commit against the very people they swore to serve and protect.

The militant and critical thinking civilians should not be subjected to red-tagging just because state security forces cannot quell the armed resistance in the boondocks. It must make the distinction between armed resistance and unarmed political dissent. After all, we are still living in a democratic society the last time I checked and dissent is the cornerstone of democracy. Without it, we are no more than an authoritarian government — a government of men and not of laws.

Late last week, unscrupulous people vandalized the eastern wall of the compound of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente’s church in Barangay Bulua. This is not the first time that this church has been red-tagged. Its churches in Zamboanga and Ozamiz have also been subjected to red-tagging.

Its ninth Obispo Maximo (supreme bishop), Alberto Ramento, was brutally killed under suspicious circumstances. The assassin made it appear that it was a robbery gone awry. But the message of the killing was clear. It was meant to silence a church that has a track record of advancing the cause of the disenfranchised and the oppressed. It is, after all, the only longest standing and the most tangible result of the 1897 Philippine revolution. For this, IFI has been vilified by administrations of the past to the present.

I would like to share with you a statement of the Movement Against Tyranny-Northern Mindanao condemning the latest series of vilification campaign against IFI and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines here in our supposed city of golden friendship. Please do read on.

“Movement Against Tyranny Northern Mindanao condemns in the highest terms the recent attacks against the militant church Iglesia Filipina Independiente in Cagayan de Oro City. This is filled with the stench of malignancy and deceit to derail the church from its progressive and pro-people stance.

“For so long, churches, specifically the Roman Catholic Church have been subjected to tirades by President Duterte, to the point of speaking ill against the crux of faith of Christianity. This is the same with Iglesia Filipina Independiente and United Church of Christ in the Philippines. These two protestant churches have been subjected to vilification through highway spray paints in Zamboanga and Ozamis, bearing the messages IFI=NPA, UCCP-NPA.

“All of these patterns point to put the institution and the lives of its members under peril. Such method sets the atmosphere that justifies tragedy that may befall on them for being so-called ‘terrorists.’ On the 24th of January, spray paints claiming that the clergies of IFI are terrorists and NPA supporters, followed with similar spray paints in the Cathedral enclose at Pabayo-Pacana Sts, Cagayan de Oro City on 25th.

“The church would never support terrorists. It has always been a stand of religious groups for the Peace Talks to resume which Duterte and the mercenary AFP spoils time and time again.

“It is of no surprise that institutions such as the church that champions reforms favoring the basic sectors are antagonized by its polar opposite anti-people, fascist-tyrannical administration of Duterte. We call on all religious gathering to join against a tyrant who declines tune in to the clamor of the people for genuine, just and lasting peace. It is our fight for the safety of all Filipino families and for their right to live in a peaceful society.  It is high time that we all come to demonstrate the undaunted faith that has always been of the poor and for the poor.”

Making October red

“This is not about terrorism. Terrorism is the excuse. This is about economic and social control.” – Edward Snowden on government eavesdropping

AUTHORITARIAN governments around the globe almost always have insecure yet narcissistic, not to mention megalomaniac, leaders at its helm and people scared into submission under the bow.

Here in the Philippines, you’re either a fanatical follower of this administration or a “delawan,” drug addict, or worse, a terrorist. For despotic rulers, there can be no tolerance for dissent no matter how legitimate these may be. The fanatics would say they have nothing to fear because they have not done anything illegal. Well, what do you say when you’re tagged as a terrorist even if you are not? What will you do then?

I’m sharing My Wit’s End space today with an important message from a church that has been vilified recently — the Iglesia Filipina Independiente. Please, read on.

A Message of The Most Revd Rhee M. Timbang, Obispo Maximo, Iglesia Filipina Independiente

To all IFI clergy and faithful and all people of goodwill:

I am furnished here at Kuching, Malaysia (while attending a consecration event with a sister Church) with a very disgusting if not revolting report about the labeling and tagging of the IFI and its clergy, specifically, Bp Antonio Ablon as NPA. The Incident Report documented deliberate acts which (1) vandalized the church fence in our Gatub Chapel in Zamboanga del Sur located along the national highway towards Zamboanga City with markings tagging the IFI as NPA; and (2) serialized the red-tagging of the IFI and Bp Antonio Ablon, together with UCCP and other legal sectoral organizations as NPA through markings along the various points in the national highway of Zamboanga del Sur particularly at Brgy Lacupayan in the Municipality of Tigbao and at the Municipality of Kumalarang. Zamboanga del Sur is part of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the IFI Diocese of Pagadian shepherded by Bp Antonio Ablon as being its diocesan bishop.

This incidence is highly alarming considering that this tagging and labeling do not only grossly malign and vilify the IFI and its ministry, they likewise irresponsibly place the life and security of Bp Antonio Ablon and other IFI bishops and clergy in danger. Red-tagging and labeling serve to harass, intimidate and threaten persons who are considered as enemies of the state, but worst these serve as license for their liquidation or neutralization, to borrow military terms, as state security officers (or the organized rogue military/police elements under their command) are given the open permission to shoot and kill those who listed in their order of battle. This is frightening because the red-tagging and labeling justify the killings since church people like Bp Antonio Ablon and many others in and outside the IFI are unjustly grouped and lumped up together as one and same with the NPA which the government through the AFP and PNP is waging war for almost a half-century now!

This is terribly fearsome because the government and the AFP and PNP since from the very beginning of the insurgency campaign have always demonstrated their incapability to know and determine who are their real enemies in this long protracted war on-going in the country. The government and state security officers only see red, and their temerity to vanquish the NPA includes eliminating or silencing the church and church people and other legal organizations which are only advocating in behalf of the struggling Filipino people. Instead, the government’s insurgency campaign has been littered by the waste of innocent lives way-laid due to red-tagging and labeling.

This incidence strikes as highly unjust and uncalled for the IFI and for Bp Antonio Ablon. These red-tagging and labeling discredit and undermine our precious sacred ministry as a Church – a ministry that serves only to be faithful to the mission entrusted by our Lord Jesus and articulated in his liberating gospel, a ministry that serves only to be consistent with our history following the examples and witnesses of Bp Gregorio Aglipay and Isabelo de los Reyes Sr. and their likes in the nationalist and revolutionary tradition of the Filipino people. Our mission and history as IFI predated the NPA and our ministry and prophetic witness is sourced up in the loving, life-giving and liberating gospel of our Lord Jesus, a ministry which tries to live out the faith and heritage of the “patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and those of every generation who have looked to God in hope.” These red-tagging and labeling are therefore misplaced and ridiculous in one sense and baseless and preposterous in another.

These red-tagging and labeling of the IFI started to become obvious during the time of President Gloria Arroyo when the AFP/PNP classified the IFI among many others as “Enemy of the State” and cause its popularization in the countryside and urban poor. The practice continued in President Noynoy Aquino’s time and obviously, this malicious propaganda has been intensified in President Duterte’s regime. Today, several IFI clergy and lay from the north down to the south are harassed, intimidated and threaten; a number of them are being placed under military and police surveillance or tailed upon by unidentified armed persons. Today has become a full season of red-tagging and labelling, and of harassment, intimidation and threat just because the IFI and its bishops, clergy and lay leaders are firmed in their vocation and witness and prophetic advocacy to criticize the government against its anti-life, anti-poor and anti-people policies, to promote people’s rights and defend civil liberties, to protect national sovereignty and patrimony, to seek for a just and lasting peace and to struggle with workers, farmers, urban poor and the lumads for their self-determination and defense of ancestral lands. These incidences of red tagging and labeling and of harassment, intimidation are threats against the IFI and its ministers do need to be exposed and opposed and denounced! These acts are highly atrocious and condemnable! We suspect that these acts do only originate from those who are in power in the government, in the AFP and PNP. They have all the manpower, the funds and the technology to launch deliberate and serial efforts. These acts are perpetrated by those who are anti-peace and those who refuse to let justice reign in our land.

We ask IFI members to pray for the safety and well being of Bp Antonio Ablon, and other clergies whom we know who are in similar situation, and together with other Filipinos of good-will condemn these acts. We ask everyone to be vigilant and exercise militancy on their own rights as well as of other people by holding prayer and discernment groups and by speaking up loudly against abuses. We ask everyone to support the continuing appeal for the GRP and NDFP to resume the peace talks and end the armed conflict by addressing the root causes that spawned insurgency in our midst.

We task every IFI members and people of faith to reflect upon and take a lesson on the words of our Lord Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). These words are calling us for a life of faithfulness and blessedness. As his followers in today’s time, the Lord has called us to walk on his way:

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for, in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

In these critical times in our national life, this call requires a bold, faithful and courageous witness from among us. But this also demands vigilance and militancy in us so that forces which are anathema to justice and peace cannot deceive and cower us to walk on the other way.

May God guide, protect and embolden us as we persevere walking faithfully and vigilantly on his way.