Stand Point

2018 proved to be one of the most challenging for independent Philippine media. Yet it has also been a year of affirmation.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines is concerned to learn that one of the principal accused in the multiple murder case filed over the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre was allowed to leave detention to attend a social event on Tuesday, August 21, 2018.

We are called to respond to the situations of misery and injustice, wherever we work and whatever our specific tasks may be. The poor are always at the centre of our concerns. We believe that the poor, especially among the indigenous peoples, are not only those who do not have the means to satisfy their material needs, but also those who, on the level of human dignity, are excluded from full social and political participation and unable to exercise their right to self-determination, to decide for themselves.

During the Marcos Dictatorship, the word “salvage” or “salbids” translated into “extrajudicial killing.”

If there is one way to describe President Duterte is that he can be consistent. I am not talking about his political agenda or economic plan, but about his recent statement calling God stupid. Saying those words is consistent with how his administration treated people. His lack of respect towards God is seen in his actions and policies. The outrage that many people felt following his tirade against God and the Catholic Church is valid. We hear about those who denounced Duterte as blasphemous while others were strong to defend the account of Adam and Eve in Genesis.