The 70-11 vote of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Franchises to refuse the renewal of the license of ABS/CBN was a foregone conclusion. The so-called hearings served merely as a show trial to provide a semblance of legitimacy to President Rodrigo Duterte’s prior decision to shut down the network while allowing him the sadistic pleasure of watching his gallery of congressional rogues trying to outperform one another in doing his bidding.
Duterte’s congressional subordinates tried to make it appear that the ABS-CBN case was a matter of the network’s violating terms of its license. Laban ng Masa does not believe that either private monopoly or state monopoly of the media serves the public interest. However, it was clear from the very beginning that Duterte’s only motivation in refusing the license renewal was its being critical of his policies and refusal to bend to his wishes.
Laban ng Masa had earlier proposed the alternative of workers’ control of the network under a renewed license, which would have been the best way to promote the people’s interest. We categorically submit that workers’ control and self-management remains a viable and truly democratic option that is an existing reality in many parts of the world today. It has been implemented in Spain, England, the U.S., Argentina, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines, to name a few. The refusal of the president’s attack dogs to even consider this showed that their advocacy of the public interest was simply a smokescreen for the Duterte gang’s objective of gaining total control of the media..
Along with the conviction of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos, Jr., of cyberlibel, the non-renewal of the ABS/CBN license makes it crystal clear that Duterte intends to do away with freedom of the press. Malacanang’s message to all media practitioners and owners is unambiguous: any criticism will be met with the full force and fury of the Duterte state.
Freedom of expression is one principle of democracy that is being assaulted here. But it is not the only one.
With the Ressa-Santos judicial conviction and the House’s ABS/CBN franchise decision, we are seeing the last nails being driven into the coffin of the separation of powers. It is highly unlikely that a Supreme Court filled with Duterte supporters will have the courage to reverse decisions ordered by their boss.
These two assaults on fundamental democratic principles must also be seen in the context of Duterte’s recent signing into law of the Anti-Terrorism Bill, which sets up a body that can arbitrarily designate anyone as a “terrorist” and empowers state agents to arrest that person without any warrant of arrest and keep her or him in isolation for 24 days before delivering that person to the judicial authorities. The Anti-Terrorism Act simply legalizes the murder of the principle of due process, which has already been violated repeatedly and brazenly in the extra-judicial execution of thousands of people suspected of using drugs.
The Duterte regime began its reign four years ago with a massive, bloody assault of executions in the streets that shocked and awed the country. Now it is in “mopping up phase,” that is, of legally murdering the liberal democratic principles enshrined in the 1987 Constitution. The country is now firmly in transition from a de facto dictatorship with democratic trappings to a full-fledged dictatorship.
Despite these brazen moves to kill democracy, Laban ng Masa is confident that even though significant numbers of our compatriots are still blinded by Duterte’s false image as someone promoting the national interest, the Filipino people will eventually see the dangerous journey to a total dictatorship on which he is leading them and realize that resistance is the only option.
Laban ng Masa pledges its allegiance to that Resistance to dictatorial rule that is growing and calls on all to stop Duterte’s abominable design to return the country to the yoke of one-man rule.
RESIST DICTATORSHIP! RESIST DUTERTE!
Laban ng Masa
July 11, 2020
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