Media message: We are not alone

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor GUILLERMO TEJIDA III Desk Editor NANETTE L. GUADALQUIVER Busines Editor ERIC T. LORETIZO Sports Editor (On Leave) RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

"Hindi tayo nag-iisa". We are not alone.

That should be the rallying cry of Philippine media, especially those who had been perceived to be highly critical of the present administration and have been given a broad hint on what fate could await them for thinking that full freedom of the press exists in this country.

We first heard this cry, but in a singular sense, when an unknown sympathizer of the family of the late Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino sidled up to his brother, Butz at his wake and whispered "Hindi kay nag-iisa". The brother, fired by the terse and succinct mode of expression, quickly picked it up. And it became the battlecry of the Filipino people who, one by one, and adding up to millions, came to condole with the family, joined his burial rites, and, three years later, also rushed to EDSA so those who broke ties with the dictator and would have been arrested by his men, "hindi mag-iisa".

Yesterday, media people in Bacolod came out to make their sentiments known. And they were joined by concerned members of the community who did not want them to be alone in their struggle to protect what to them, is the basic freedom of all: their freedom to disseminate information and opinion to guide their fellowmen and their nation.

Yesterday, too, the international wire service carried reports from all over the world on the outrage of both media and government groups against what is happening in this country. The International Federation of Journalists based in Brussels, Belgium, wrote directly to President Arroyo expressing its concern that media freedom and civil liberties are the biggest casualties in this state of emergency. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists denounced what it called a "clampdown on the media." And more have been reported to have reacted to the present situation of Philippine media.

In our struggle to protect this freedom that we so jealously want to preserve, we are greatly heartened by the assurance that, in doing this, others are watching out, too, and truly, Hindi tayo nag-iisa.*