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Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Editorials: Threat to life and freedom
Two issues that came out the other day should be considered as threats to both life and freedom.
The issues appear disparate, yet when viewed closely take on a veneer of threat to the human person.
Ironically, they elicit similar rationales for their emergence and have become cause celebre in the process.
Two issues
The first issue is the politically motivated killings “of hundreds of…leftists and journalists.”
The US “and other foreign chambers of commerce” have reportedly warned the Philippines that it will lose foreign investments
should the violence continue.
The second issue is somewhat related to the first, but is more specific.
It is about the preliminary investigation undertaken by the Department of Justice on former University of the Philippines
president Francisco Nemenzo for allegedly taking part in a failed coup.
Nemenzo, a Cebuano, in denying the charge, “accused the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National
Police of doing a sloppy job.”
Justness and fairness
In both issues, the national government stands “accused” of undertaking acts that went against the grain of our democratic
way of life and of hastily reacting probably in an effort to contain what it must have considered—rightly or wrongly—as threat to
national security.
Given the basis, generally conservative public may find it justifiable.
But the question that should be of primordial consideration is the justness and fairness of the acts.
In the political killings, as in the vigilantism that has aroused adverse reaction from a sector of our masses, the executions
smacked of authoritarianism, which belies our claim of being a democratic nation in Southeast Asia.
The same may be said of the second issue.
Basic freedom
In his denial, Nemenzo said the NBI and the police wrongly identified him as “Prudencio Dodong Nemenzo,” a matter that
could have easily been clarified.
Had the said agencies just bothered to ask, they would have spared the government such embarrassment.
What seems to be the involved in the two issues is freedom of thought and expression and the right to life.
The former necessitates the freedom to stand by his belief or of what he holds true, even if it runs counter to what the national
leaders believe, for as long as one does not openly violate our laws.
The latter demands due process, a day in court, before being condemned and executed.
Country’s image
In both instances, our democratic tradition has been intruded against, the extent of which may have been perilously serious
enough as to draw not only a strong domestic reaction, but also one from the foreign community.
Indeed, it is high time that the Arroyo government exerts effort to improve the country’s international image, which will affect
our current attemp to improve our economic fortunes.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (November 15, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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