Another write-up on press freedom would be a ninth of a series. This column already discussed the different angles about the press, and the need to protect this freedom at all cost, being the priciest jewel in the many civil liberties under a democratic set-up.
The temptation to forego another topic about muzzling of the media has been strong. But how one can let the issue pass, especially the frustrated murder of Nilo Labares, he who started his journalistic pursuits in the school paper I once edited.
When the news that Nilo was shot at around 8:30 in the evening of March 5, 2009 in Macasandig, Cagayan de Oro City, the flashback of our student days at Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan came racing in my mind.
In 1984, Nilo was a seminarian. He was not a familiar face in the campus, just like the rest of the seminarians who would come early and leave early the campus. A vehicle would fetch the future ministers of the church. Their routine had to be followed.
But his performance in one school activity changed all that.
He delivered an enchanting ode or “balak”, completely in the Bisayan dialect. It was an original composition written in lyrical and archaic words that one wonders why the native Bisayan tongue was adulterated with Tagalog, Spanish, and English languages. His performance was both entertaining and educational. But more, the audience was transported back in time before the Spaniards came when we had our very own culture that we could be proud of.
He went on to edit one whole page of The Crusader, the official student publication of the students of Xavier University. He wrote and edited poems, short stories, plays, and essays written in the vernacular. Overnight, he was the go to guy to translate words in the vernacular. Suddenly, the school paper was flooded with contributions written in the vernacular. He stoked the fires for things “bisaya” in the campus.
Later, Nilo decided not to preach the Gospel, but decided instead to trumpet the truth. He left the seminary and joined the press.
He has been a broadcaster at a radio outlet, dxCC. Over the airwaves, you could hear his tirades against corruption, gambling, violence, and a host of issues. Unlike other radio commentators who pick politicians to attack and even malign, Nilo picks on issues and discuss them. His journalism is not selective nor, to use the cliché, “envelopmental”. Nor was his practice of the profession one of licentiousness, unlike the many who spews venom from their mouths, without the backing of hard facts.
Nilo’s shooting does not only deserve a write-up due to friendship. The extra-judicial killings of media men deserve utmost discussion. A week before his shooting, the press organizations have been holding indignation rallies to protest the spate of assassinations of media men. Since 1986, when democracy was restored, there have been 64 extra-judicial killing of media people. God forbid! Nilo could have been the latest in the statistics count.
What is peculiar about this extra-judicial killing is that most have been unsolved. Meaning, we have yet to see a person finally convicted and put to prison. The arrests have been sparse, and the prosecution minimal. Give me yet a name of the convicted felon. In Nilo’s case, two out of the four suspects have been identified, so the police reports.
Police work however has always been wanting. The investigation goes full swing when the killing is still being discussed. The moment media attention is redirected to other issues, police works slacken, and the pursuit for the criminals archived in the records.
The Arroyo government has organized task forces to pursue the perpetrators. “Oplans” after “oplans” have been created. Yet, if we calibrate the result as against the plans, we may safely conclude that these “oplans” have not been really well-planned at all.
Media men are most vulnerable to assaults. They cannot afford to hire bodyguards nor do they strut around in cars, except those who opt for “envelopmental” journalism, or AC-DC, the idiom for attack and collect.
When Nilo was shot, he was driving his scooter. That is what he can afford. He was in for the taking by the assailants who were riding flashy bikes. The angels at Carmelite Seminary protected their son.
Fortunately, this write-up is not a eulogy. Despite the serious wound, he survives to continue his crusade. Go on my friend, and like a Don Quixote, fight the windmills.
