IT IS THE epitome of hypocrisy that those who have been shrill and noisy about the “death of press freedom” in this country are also the ones who would censure and block anybody whose opinion is contrary to their preferred narrative and agenda.
A case in point is this news item on the March 6, 2021 issue of Philstar.com:
Did Facebook restrict NTF-ELCAC spokesperson’s account?
The usually vocal spokesperson of President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-communist task force has been relatively silent on her main platform, Facebook, for a few days now, apparently due to her account getting restricted by the social media giant over violations of its community standards.
A post by a certain Angel Abella shared on the profile of National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) spokesperson Lorraine Badoy showed that the latter has been restricted by Facebook from posting or commenting for 30 days after it took down at least three posts that violated community standards.
It seems this suspension of the Facebook account of Usec. Badoy was because of this post:
“Rappler says this is false information.
“I’m curious.
“Why is Rappler intent on perpetuating the use of a word – Lumad – stolen by the CPP-NPA-NDF, given a new meaning to use as a MOST POTENT weapon to exploit and abuse the most helpless among us – our indigenous brothers and sisters?
“Why is Rappler lying?
“Why has Rappler ignored the comments of REAL indigenous peoples in my post who echo what I demand: that they be called by the name their ancestors gave them: their tribal name.
“Why is Rappler ignoring the meat of what I’ve written – how the CPP-NPA-NDF has used this word to raise funds, to destroy the culture of our indigenous brothers and sisters, denigrate their unique cultures and then supplant it with their violent, godless, inhumane ideology — COMMUNISM?
“And you’d best believe this is NOT a personal opinion but the official statement of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict and therefore the official stand of the Philippine government.
“The next coming days will lend even greater clarity to this claim of mine.
“This got me thinking: why is Rappler defending the CPP-NPA-NDF?
“I know the answer to my questions.
“Rappler is a friend and ally of this terrorist organization, CPP-NPA-NDF, as it is a friend and ally of the much-hated dilaws.
“And I’m real sorry that Facebook has, as its fact-checkers, LIARS AND UNETHICAL ‘JOURNALISTS’ – the face of which is the convicted criminal, Maria Ressa – who have no love for country and whose clear intent is to destroy so much of what we hold dear: our freedoms, our indigenous peoples, our President and this government.
“Sounds so much like the CPP-NPA-NDF, doesn’t it?”
Of course that got Maria Ressa and her Rappletes triggered, squirming in their knickers and fuming mad and, as we all know, Rappler is one of the “fact-checkers” of social media site Facebook. So following the playbook of the “devotees to the cult of the yellow ribbon” which is to block and censor opinion not following their preferred narrative, the account of Usec. Badoy was suspended for 30 days ostensibly for violating their “community standards”, really how convenient.
So when a private citizen goes to court and accuses Maria Ressa of libel and she got convicted, according to their “community standards” that is an assault of “press freedom”.
And when the same Maria Ressa and Rappler are accused of violating the Constitution on foreign ownership and tax evasion, then “press freedom is dead”, likewise for democracy.
However, if an opinion contrary to their narrative is posted on social media it is immediately blocked and the account of the person who posted it is suspended and that is not an attack on “press freedom” but a violation of their so-called community standards.
The thing is, we live in a country where free speech is enshrined in our Constitution. It is deemed important that everyone has the right to be heard no matter how obnoxious or offensive it is to you, and that is guaranteed and protected by the Constitution.
| Let me put it this way, “if you don’t believe in free expression for the people you despise then you don’t believe in free expression.”Free speech is to engage, not to censor. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com)/PN |
