Here and There
‘Unwitting’ conspiracy to commit rebellion
By Gerry Garcia
ALLEGED Magdalo leader Sen. Trillanes, with former marine Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, launched a caper last year at the Peninsula Hotel in Makati City which took a turn for the worst prompting troopers and police to arrest the alleged perpetrators, including some media men and women.
The mutinous caper could have been triggered not by innate desire to stir “patriotic” trouble and seek PGMA’s ouster through resignation but by the needless involvement of unwitting media ever on the look-out for sensational stories and unexpected scoops. The media people know they could only do this by reporting the facts from where the action is. As a result they get arrested and are handcuffed by the police… and eventually charged with being accessories to rebellion.
The suspected media people’s mistake: obsession with desire to come up with a scoop and inability (or refusal?) to grasp the point behind the failed mutiny, which is the destabilization of the administration.
Why did the mutineers think they could mount the rebellion and expect to get away with it? Because they are under the impression that they are under watch by sympathetic media and consequently are definitely sure of winning public sympathy and support.
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The Supreme Court, incidentally, asked to issue a writ of Amparo or prohibition to “arrested” ABS-CBN journalists as protection against future threats and warrantless arrests, has deferred action for reasons of “clarification”. The SC justices, understandably more aware of how far constitutionally guaranteed rights, such as free press and access to information are pursued without being undemocratic or unfair, certainly had reasons to delay action on the journalists’ requests and seek further explanations.
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The Senate under majority leader Sen. Francis Pangilinan wanting to raise the cudgels on behalf of the besieged journalists has decided to look into what can be done to protect these rights from any unreasonable intrusions of the government.
We think it’s more the business of media experts and leaders than the Senate under Pangilinan to do this the better to keep them from being beholden to some questionable politicians in the government.
To be truly democratic, free press and access to information need not to absolute and devoid of limitations.
(Readers may reach columnist at sundaypunch2@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/here-and-there/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)
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