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Monday, September 08, 2003
Editorial: Pala, broadcaster and politician
THE inimitable Juan Pajadora Pala Jr., better known by his radio alias Jun Porras Pala, is dead. Bullets spewing from the automatic guns of assassins killed Jun near his home in Buhangin at suppertime last Saturday. It was his third - and his last - ambush within two years.
Pala's death at 49 means so many things to so many people. It was the end of almost three decades of a broadcasting career that was hounded by controversies.
He was "banned for life" twice by the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) for allegedly violating the code of ethics of broadcasting.
In these instances, Pala's broadcast career could have ended were it not for the intervention of some influential personalities who thought then that Pala with his Alsa Masa connection was important in the government's fight against the communist threat.
Pala's death also meant the end of his life in politics. For he was very much a politician, running four times and winning once (he lost for mayor in 1988, for congressman in 1995 and vice mayor in 2001, but won for councilor in 1998).
It was a tragic loss to a jobless second wife and four small children he had left behind. Pala's violent end saddened his relatives and close friends, some of whom admitted they did not expect him to survive the year 2003.
Even Pala seemed to have known he had it coming. Many of those who had listened to his morning broadcast a few days before his ambush claimed Jun even named many people who would want him dead. For while he had tens of thousands of radio fans, his enemies were also legion.
He would not spare anyone from his tirades on the air. At least seven fellow media practitioners, two of them women, had challenged him to either a gunfight or a fisticuff on separate occasions after he pilloried them in his commentaries.
Finally, his killing was a grim reminder to journalists of the risks that they have to face in their kind of work. The killing might have silenced one man forever, however, it is wrong to think it would discourage media persons from making legitimate criticisms and exercising responsible journalism.
Also his assassination should give media persons pause to reflect on the questions: How many of Pala's abrasive commentaries was legitimate criticism and responsible journalism? And how much was neither? Freedom of speech and of the press is not absolute; hence their unbridled exercise may sometimes also lead to their sudden curtailment via a hail of bullets. The media person does have a choice.
Jun Pala might have made his.
(September 8, 2003 issue)
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