Assault on Prof. Randy David Demonstrates contempt against Press Freedom, absence of recognition of its indispensability

Press Statement of Alab ng Mamamahayag (ALAM)

April 28, 2012

Assault on Prof. Randy David

demonstrates contempt against Press Freedom,

absence of recognition of its indispensability

     It is repeatedly said and shown that the liberty of the press is a precondition and an element of any democratic government.

     Without the liberty of the press, how will the country survive and how will its people be kept satisfied?

     No way.

     The press was not at liberty during darkness of martial law. Many crimes occurred in the desire to sustain power.  The lack of freedom to tell these to the people kept both the country and people in the hands of fear. 

    Conscience revolted among the few who were in the know.  But their number was not enough to fight for peace of mind and freedom to all because far bigger in number did not know the issues. 

     The insistence of the few journalists, including the group led by the revered Joe Burgos, father of missing Jonas Burgos, made it happen for evil and contemptouos events to trickle down to the intellectual communities in the schools. 

     The word of mouth did the rest until enough number was mustered that informed people spontaneously flooded EDSA to kick the oppressor, the suppressor and the terror dictator out of Malacanang. 

     In one fell swoop, freedom of the people and freedom of the expression, of speech, and of the press were born.

     Since 1986, the space for the press dramatically increased.  It is the reason that has kept the people informed about sinister plots to destroy the Constitution to design a new one aimed at perpetuity in power, about secret deals that caused the people’s miseries, and about corruption and graft that unmasked the greedy sooner than they could hide, etc.

     Despite glaring proofs of indispensability of freedom of the press to fight off evil plots and to keep the status quo though not so good but so bad to be disturbed, there still remain the vestiges of barbarism that defines criticisms and revelations as the most contemptuous to their existence, that closes the eyes on the reality that the best tool against press “assaults” is truth, and that does not recognize that the best way to keep power is the ability to institute the outrage of truth and not guns.

     These vestiges are the ignoramuses of the present society, who think that the best way to keep in power is to govern by terror and giving money to the needy as a disguised form of bribery to keep the votes.

   When these ignoramuses are written for their follies or misdeeds, malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance, they know no defense of truth but offense by means of impunity in murdering the noisy press practitioners.

     The one who strafed the house of Prof. Randy David is one among those ignoramuses.

    It was no less than a demonstration of contempt for the press and ignorance of the indispensability of this liberty.