Isn’t it ironic when power seems to weigh more than laws, rights, and guarantees?

The justice system in the Philippines can easily be corrupted with a good

combination of power and money. The money of the taxpayers is being stolen by the

very people they trusted to lead them. It’s a no brainer that power and money are

your keys to bypass the Philippine Constitution in your favor. If these laws, rights,

and guarantees of Filipinos get easily bypassed by both power and money, what

more happens to the honest and brave watchdogs of the society?

It’s quite interesting when the Philippine press is recognized as one of the freest in

Asia but it remains to be among the most dangerous places in the world to practice

journalism. When news coverages don’t please the ears of those in power, they can

easily shut them down with no hesitation. In 2018, Rappler’s license was revoked as

former President Duterte criticized the organization for being a peddler of ‘fake news’

despite having executed investigative work exposing disinformation on Social Media.

Moreover, news media organizations and journalists have been red-tagged under the

Duterte administration and at least 190 journalists have been killed since 1986.

Unfortunately, these are only few of the many attacks the Philippine media industry

has received.

It may seem that a collective force to push the corrupt Philippine Government to

implement what’s in the Philippine Constitution is enough to do actual change. But

let’s not lose hope; our collective effort is power as well. The freedom we are

enjoying at the present time is all thanks to our heroes who fought for it. We must not

stop fighting for our rights and for those people who fight for us. In the end, when

freedom of the Philippine press dies, ours will too.