Playing with Fire
My vote goes to Celia Lim
By Gonzalo Duque
THE Maguindanao massacre which resulted in the inhuman, bizarre and dastardly killing of 30 journalists has united the warring media organizations in Pangasinan.
This is the refreshing note that came out of the tragedy. It is now clear that when their very interest and survival are involved, mediamen, just like any other ordinary human being, would give up their temporal preoccupation with high falutin issues.
Our meeting with members of the local Fourth Estate resulted in the proposed creation of an independent committee to handle the Maguindanao massacre. This is expected to go all the way to the clamor for the dismantling of private armies throughout the islands.
With such development we expect the military and the police to enforce their findings in the massacre and hopefully signal the break-up of private armies.
Are we wishing for the moon? Of course not. We are all peace-loving people except for a few nerds who are making the nation unsafe and ugly.
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We started this column with a note of hope of unity among local mediamen.
Put your amor propios and fried chicken aside, and you’d be back ideally as good brothers. With that condition, we’d be very happy to be back in your midst.
The journalistic profession is a noble one, and we have known a few practitioners with the stature and experience who command the respect not only of their peers but of the community as well.
In our little democratic space here, we sometimes get heartwarming text messages and emails who encourage us to stay on to kindle the public’s faith in the printed word.
In fact, we are always guided by the Jeffersonian axiom, “were I to choose between a government without press, and a press without a government, I would choose the latter.” That is a democratic classic. And we know that all democratic institutions envy the press for that privilege. Mabuhay ang media!
Over the air, we were asked whom we would vote in the May elections. We begged off, saying “antayin natin ang December l4 when the power of substitution would have lapsed. Baka mangyari uli yong pagindorso natin sa isang kandidato e, nansolo met la?”
So we hope you won’t begrudge us for not stating our choices this early.
For instance, the two guys opting to be mayor of the city — one an incumbent and the other a comebacking one — have impressed us with their liabilities. We are now brought to a corner, choosing between two evils, so to speak.
We hope that in due time, the two — Al and Benjie — will rise above their liabilities, and that will be the time we shall give our vote, yes, in print here. That’s a columnist’s privilege, di ba, Ermin? Antay lang kayo, mga igan.
But there’s an exception. In the Fourth District congressional race, we are this early endorsing our cumadre Celia Lim, ang saksakan ng bait na asawa ng kaibigan natin sa Jaycees, na si mayoral bet Benjie Lim.
When we told Ruth, our beloved wife, about Celia’s candidacy, she even instructed us to go all-out for our cumadre. She is a native Dagupeña, who can speak Pangasinan and Ilocano fluently. As they say, you can have all the howls amid the noise and haste, but we know several people who deeply admire Celia. Deep in their hearts, they want her to win in the election.
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We wish to felicitate colleagues Ashok Vasanndani, Weng de Vera and Joseph Lu for their active roles in our newly launched Aksyon Radyo, a private group registered with the SEC, committed to assist disaster victims in Pangasinan. It’s our way of making life in these parts bearable amidst tears from Nature’s Fury.
