LONG Live Press Freedom.

There was a time in our history when Filipinos had no right whatsoever to speak freely or to write his opinions any time of day. This was during the Spanish regime when everyone was forbidden to express whatever is in his heart whether it violates anything or not. Such precious right was not available to us and any resistance to such order of the higher ups would mean death by a firing squad.

Some Filipinos defied the deadly restrictions and a lot of them were killed or found themselves running into the hills. It was a capital punishment that we accepted for many years.

It was cruelty in the highest order which we could not accept. That was utterly one of the reasons why our forefathers had to revolt against Spain to be able to pass to the succeeding generation the rights of people to exist and entitlement to various freedoms necessary for existence.

We shed blood. We ran to the battlefield to struggle for our freedom and today after more than four centuries of struggle, we were granted our precious freedom, more particularly freedom of speech or expression. The struggle was long and deadly. History lost counts of the number of people who succumbed for us this generation could enjoy.

Today as we celebrate press freedom, we see the beauty and wonders of such a right. We can write anything even the slightest heartbeat of our body and even to express what our soul desires.

Though, democracy has also its limit. We have laws duly established to control our urges and desires. Freedom is not absolute and we are told of its tenets boundaries. Notwithstanding its restrictions, we still feel the love to write within the bounds of the law.

There is the check and balance in our government. We belong to the fourth estate and there is much respect bestowed upon us by our government and people. Being in our situation, there is so much honor and prestige, matters that made us look up and proud.

I have been in the media for some time and truly I enjoyed so much my right. I made use of such privileges as presenting my opinions, my criticisms on things and even put on a pedestal the value of what I think is right. I enjoyed with my colleagues in the media and my great respect too to their way of presenting their personal lives and beliefs.

There is no better way to appreciate the wonder of the words than to express ourselves toward its existence. But there is so much risk in the media. You get threats regularly. Your mind continuously waits for the end of life or when an assassin comes your way and fire.

Link:

Emata: Let press freedom ring