I thought I was okay until the unlawful arrest of student protesters in Cebu brought back the pain and trauma that was just lying low while on lockdown. Suddenly, I was racked with a deep cry that struggled to surface out as I tried to calm my shaken nerves.
We assail this brazen affront against the very core of our humanity, the freedom of the press, and our right to free expression. It is an attempt to maim us, to silence our protestations, our very right to seek redress from an administration that does not respect its own.
The message is clear: if one is critical of the administration whose shallow interpretation of democratic rights clearly show in their knee-jerk response to what they consider as “seditious”, one easily gets the ax.
We are hearing the ordinary daily wage earners and their difficulty in meeting the basic need for food on the table. And endlessly, we pray for sobriety, because there is no guarantee that people will still listen to controlling agencies if the government persist of playing deaf and dumb. I don’t have the answer, but God knows. And people know their limits, too.
The strongly-worded statement started with a biblical call, thus: “Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now arise, I will protect them from those who malign them.” (Psalms 12:5)