A handful of Dumaguete journalists took time out last Wednesday to remember their fallen colleagues on the second anniversary of the Ampatuan Massacre by planting 58 trees and offering prayers at the Southern Negros Geothermal Production Field.
The activity, in cooperation with the Energy Development Corp., had an environmental side to it but more than that, it sought to create living reminders about the incident, and to bring new life to the calls for justice by the relatives of the victims.
While more than 112 journalists had been killed in line of duty across the country since 1986, the Ampatuan Massacre was the single incident which claimed the most number of journalists: 27.
Nov. 23 also marked the International Day to End Impunity. But while everyone was hoping for a more peaceful work environment from then on, another attack occurred against a broadcaster in Cagayan de Oro City barely three days later.
Michael James Licuanan of Bombo Radyo luckily survived. But the attack again struck terror in the very heart of the free press in Cagayan de Oro and other peace-loving communities. It had, in the words of a Cagayan de Oro newsman, a chilling effect to all its members. The attack was believed to be linked to the nefarious drug trade in that City, and was proof of the existence of the monster called impunity.
“This monster is cloaked by an inefficient and largely-discriminatory justice system against the powerless. This monster feeds on a system that breeds warlords, who ride roughshod over the rights of ordinary people, and do not hesitate to strike out at anyone who dares go against their wicked ways,” Jessie Casalda, NUJP Davao region chair, said.
Any media practitioner “becomes easy prey,” the NUJP said.
That is why the Dumaguete media, particularly the NUJP Dumaguete Chapter, joins their counterparts throughout the country in condemning this latest attack.
Speaking out against impunity is the least we — not just journalists but ordinary citizens — could do, and should do.
During World War II, Pastor Martin Niemí¶ller made a now-famous statement about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power, and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group:
First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.
