Goodbye democracy?
Last Wednesday, Feb. 13, journalist and social news network Rappler CEO Maria Ressa was arrested after she was charged with cyber-libel by businessman Wilfredo Keng.
Keng complained that a Rappler article published in 2012 that linked him to illegal drugs and trafficking “did not observe the ethical standards of journalism.” The law under which Ressa was arrested was the Cybercrime Protection Act of 2012. However, Keng only filed the complaint in 2017, five years after the article was published.
As for the law, it was passed in September 2012, four months after the article came out. Ressa coined this as the “weaponization of law.”
“What we’re seeing... is a level of impunity that I frankly haven’t seen, and I’ve been a journalist for more than 30 some odd years,” Ressa said right after her release through bail last Feb. 14. She also claimed that the case filed against her had “magically reappeared” after it had been previously dismissed by the NBI.
What does this issue prove to us? It clearly exposed the fact that two of Ressa’s rights, as stated under our Constitution’s Bill of Rights, had been violated.
The first is Section I, which states that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property under due process of law.” According to Ressa, she didn’t know about the case. “I wasn’t notified about my indictment in court,” she said. The second is Section IV, which states that “no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.” Sadly to say, Ressa is not the only journalist experiencing this.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 12 journalists have been murdered under the Duterte administration.
Journalists, though, were not the only targets. Let us look at Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s case. In 2010, former president Benigno Aquino III granted Trillanes his amnesty via Proclamation 75. However, President Duterte signed Proclamation 572 in 2018 to invalidate Trillanes’ amnesty because, according to him, Trillanes “failed to comply with the minimal requirements for amnesty.” The latter was arrested for “rebellion” but was freed after posting a P200,000-bail.
After his arrest, Trillanes told reporters: “Namatay ho ang demokrasya ngayong araw na ito (Democracy died today).”
In my opinion, I would say NOT YET. We still enjoy many of our privileges under the Bill of Rights. However, Ressa and Trillanes have been involved in or accused of actions that threatened Duterte. By sanctioning harsh punishments, the President is protecting himself and warning the public against talking against him.
So let us make sure we defend our freedom of speech. Let us be pillars of justice by doing what is morally and ethically correct. To keep our democracy alive.--Oscar Tan III (Third), Grade 10 student