I survived the martial law years, but almost did not after that. The euphoria after Marcos left, and the thought of a new beginning for the country, sadly withered down the interest of many of those who stood against the Marcos regime they saw no reason to continue. Marcos is gone!
But for us, the young mediamen, with the new additions such as the likes of dodong solis, continued our call for reform even if the people are starting to be skeptical about us.
We continued our call for reforms because we knew that achieving what we have struggled would not come easy for one, the martial law machine is still very much alive and still in power. Second the reform was not yet in place, and we still have to formulate our new constitution to guarantee the peoples rights particularly the freedom of the press.
When Marcos was in power, he attempted to bribe me to tone down my posistion. I was invited to malacanang, but I stood my ground. But after he fled, there were no more invitations, no more bribery but what I saw instead was the intensification of the pressure to the media and this came from remnants of martial rule who were and are still in power. There was a confusion of who controls the military and its paramilitary forces at the early years of Cory Aquinos administration.
When the station was closed after the production staff called a labor strike to ask for better wages they closed in on me. My house was raided twice by the military and paramilitary forces. But they failed to get me. I left Davao to save my skin, left my family and a wife wondering where will all this leads to.
When I came back, I was jobless, and worst, nobody wanted to employ me again as a broadcaster.
I thought that my luck has ran out. Instead, I landed on a very different job. This time I am no longer called a mediaman or a journalists, they called us development technocrats – but we prefer to call ourselves development practitioners.
Working with a very wealthy social development organization who is willing to fund projects to alleviate poverty, rekindled my idealism as a mediaman. A mediaman is always a mediaman. I found an opportunity to practice my loved career, this time in a different way and what is fortunate is that, they are going to fund it, my ideas, my concepts. I was thrilled so much that I rose to the ranks with not much effort in relearning and unlearning. My skills in analyzing issues were converted into determining what communities need to alleviate their living conditions. My organizing skills were now applied to talking to communities and helping them find ways to help themselves, and my newswriting skills were applied in packaging project proposals for funding from our own organization or from donor agencies. My broadcasting skills were applied to regularly face the members of the board defending my project for funding assistance.
When our organization offered me to study abroad, I choose the course on development studies to continue what I really wanted when I was still a praticing mediaman to be an effective medium for true development. . . When I did my masteral thesis in business administration, that mediaman character is still very much alive within me I studied the awareness levels of business owners and executives to their socio-political environment hoping to know whats in their mind and find ways on how to make them aware of what is happening around them. Even my students of the masteral courses that I handle, I do not prescribe specific books, but I wanted them to search materials that would make them understand current issues that affect people and their interests just like a mediaman. . . tingali dulot gayud sa akong bukog ang pagka-mediaman. . . that I can easily use it in every situation.
I know that things have changed, I see a lot of new faces in this room. But I have to tell you this, the challenges that we struggled and up against before are still very much alive today. Conditions today may be different and may deceive you that the conditions of press freedom has improved, but look deeply into it, and you will realize that not much have changed and may have worsened. The human security act of 2007 bears the signature of the famous preventive detention action or PDA and the arrest search and seizure order or asso of the martial law. The call for mediamen to be the bringer of truth is still as loud during our times and in fact has become louder today as voices of our fellow practitioners were being silenced by bullets. The need for mediamen to stand and protect its freedom and life has became a brutal game of catch me it you can. But still, the adventure is still on for those who dare for the country. You cannot resist this call, for it is only by standing by your principles as mediamen that you can be called as such. Deviating from it makes you irrelevant.
It is quite strange lately kon mag-abot na gani ang mga kaniadto mga kauban sa buhat, lami kaayong estoryahan ang mga nangagi, ang iyang mga nakat-onan. Is this a sign that we are entering into the realm of the those who posses the wisdom but does not have anymore the strength for an adventure? O basin tingulang na gyud ta ug panahon na nga atong ipasa kini nga tahas ngadto sa mga kabataan. . . The famous general Douglas MacArthur in his retirment from service said soldiers never die, they just fade away. . . For me, mediamen never die, their passion never fade, their struggle for press freedom is always alive for it is their struggle that lays the foundation of a free and democratic society. You see them in there. When they kill the mediaman or journalists, they kill the messenger, when they kill the messenger, they do not threaten the journalists, in reality, its is democracy that is under threat.
Thank you very much and more power to all.
(The author is the manager of the City Press Office at City Hall and a commentator at DXDC-RMN. This speech was given during the gathering of journalists on May 3 in Davao City to commemorate Press Freedom Day.) davaotoday.com
