A Journalist’s Prayer

WHEN I was young, I had ambitions to be a lawyer after I saw all those movies about lawyers arguing so eloquently for their clients.

In fact, the ambition of most Ilocano families was to have a doctor and a lawyer in their families.

My parents had not only a doctor, but three lawyers: my two elder brothers and myself included.

But somehow, while I became a member of the Philippine Bar in 1955, by the grace of God, I am a journalist and have been for the past seven decades. To be honest, I like being a journalist as my profession. I know I can never be a millionaire with the kind of pittance I get in this profession.

But, I like being a journalist where I can make a little difference no matter how small it may be.

The unwritten oath of a journalist is simply to tell the truth and facts as they happen and to tell the news as they happen without fear or favor, and to make people accountable for their actions.

My primary consideration in telling the news as they happen is to balance the news.

For the past three years, people may not have realized it, but like all the doctors, nurses and other health workers, we journalists are among the frontliners.

We go out in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to bring the news as they happen.

We journalists risk our lives because that’s our responsibility and our unwritten oath.

I have been a journalist for over seventy years, seen history in the making, walked the corridors of power, gotten to know 11 presidents (Mind you, the Philippines has had 17 to date), and since the time of Elpidio Quirino, I have seen the best and worst of them).

Perhaps the reason God made me a journalist more than a lawyer is my aspiration to make a difference in life, in whatever little way I can.

My Ateneo education taught me to dream big, while my early upbringing taught me not to mind starting small.

You have to start somewhere, my gulay -- it is far better than letting yourself be too overwhelmed to even try at all -- and my way has been by writing about all the social injustices and corruption, exposing anomalies in government and the abuse of power.

Coming from my place, and having seen what I have seen, I tend to favor the persecuted and the afflicted.

But generally, as a journalist, I believe I have been fair enough.

I always look at controversies from the standpoint of what is just and legal, since I am also a lawyer.

I believe, more than anything else, in due process and the rule of law, without which there can only be tyranny and despotism.

My vision of a free press in the Philippines is members of the press or media in general will someday also own the newspaper and broadcast (radio and television) networks they work in.

I believe journalism is more than a profession, it’s a calling.

You can never be a millionaire, a rich man, as a journalist, but Santa Banana, the satisfaction you get, when your advocacy is realized, is worth more than a billion pesos.

But, my gulay, there are great temptations for a journalist along the way.

But if you have enough fortitude, conviction, faith, and trust in God (not to mention luck. And a wonderful wife and family to keep you strong), you can overcome them.

I have been endeavoring to make a difference, as a periodista for over seven decades now, and I’m very proud that, once in a while, I have managed to help bring about some change.

But often it seems to me this path I have chosen is a road that never ends, and in the journey of life, I am really only passing through -- as Shakespeare said in Macbeth, “a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.”

Yet I am always comforted and consoled by my friends, my family, and the Serenity Prayer.

You have probably heard the beginning of it before, but you may not know it in full.

Nowadays, especially, I think it is something we could all stand to bear in mind:

“God, grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change

The courage to change the things I can,

And the wisdom to know the difference - Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one day at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, Not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make things right

If I surrender to His will,

That I may be reasonably happy in this life And supremely happy with Him forever. Amen. “*** *** ***

A Disturbing Thought

One thing that disturbs me as an observer of geopolitics, Santa Banana, about the many EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) sites approved by President Marcos Jr. , not for offensive but for defensive use, is the fact that China is getting aggressive in its assertion that Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China.

In fact, the latest maneuvers and drills of China and Taiwan showed that China could, my gulay, truly move sooner or later in trying militarily to occupy Taiwan.

Although many so-called experts disagree this will come to pass following the warnings of the United States that it will defend Taiwan, the EDCA sites could be used by the US militarily to defend Taiwan.

And if this happens, one thought comes to mind -- whether we like it or not, the Philippines will get involved also, militarily speaking.

Our involvement, militarily speaking, is all there in the MDT (Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951).

This must be clarified by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of National Defense, and more importantly by BBM himself.

The issue whether or not the EDCA sites are beneficial or harmful to the communities where they are located must also be clarified.

On the issue of when, or better still, whether or not China will really invade Taiwan, which has bitter implications on the Philippines and the whole ASEAN region itself, we can only hope and pray that it will not.

Or, Santa Banana, is it just wishful thinking? *** *** ***

9 months at the DA

It is now nine months since President Marcos Jr. took over the Department of Agriculture as department secretary for good reasons, knowing full well the need for food security and stability.

BBM must now know the problems besetting the department, and I believe it’s time for him to hand over the DA to a full-time secretary.

And there are many waiting in the wings.

But before BBM gives up the secretaryship of the DA, there is one thing that he must do -- crack the whip on frequent smuggling of agricultural products and the hoarding and manipulation of prices of agricultural products in the market to the detriment of consumers.

There is likewise the need for a full-time Secretary of Health.

DOH acting officer-in- charge Maria Rosario Vergiere has been doing quite well. For this reason, why not make her permanent secretary?

My vision of a free press in the Philippines is members of the press or media in general will someday also own the newspaper and broadcast (radio and television) networks they work in