The three constitutional estates have fallen. Duterte and his allies now have control over the executive, the legislative and the judiciary.
We have just witnessed the fall of our Republic’s already-fragile checks and balances, that constitutional principle which keeps the three branches of government from descending into anarchy. We have just witnessed the betrayal of public trust by way of a narrow 8-6 vote: men and women in the highest court of the land caving in under the sheer weight of Duterte’s ambition to consolidate power. This is how democracies die; this is how dictatorships are born.
But we must not cower in fear, for fear is the lifeblood of strongmen. Now more than ever, the Fourth Estate must rise above the defensive position to which the Duterte regime has relegated it. Now more than ever, Filipino journalists must deliver critical, incisive reporting to cut through the constant barrage of distractions generated by a government keen on plunging the nation back into authoritarianism.
We need to demolish the obstacles that seek to gag the media into submission, even within the university. We are disgusted that the College of Mass Communication has allowed itself to become a tool of repression in UP Diliman. By using trivial technicalities to prevent students from participating in the Philippine Collegian editorial examinations, the school administrators who have come out to defend this undemocratic selection process have proven themselves as worthy of contempt as the Duterte regime, which at the national level has sought to silence media organizations who dare oppose the official state narrative.
In a time when the government openly ignores our history, disrespects our continuing struggle for a more just and humane society, and cannibalizes itself in the service of one man’s sick vision of total power, the media will not back down. Instead, we will be more vocal in our crusade against misinformation and disinformation. We will write story after story. We will never stop reporting. We will carry on our conversations. This is the Fourth Estate.
While people in media are in a unique position to defend the institutions that ensure democracy in our society, we see that the defense of the few remaining freedoms we have in this country is not a battle to be fought by media alone. The events of the past few days remind us that the last bastion of people power in this country will always be the Filipino people themselves.
Therefore, it will never be enough for journalists to remain chroniclers of history divorced from the masses they vow to serve. Today’s crises demand that media must act in solidarity with different sectors—workers, peasants, women, the urban poor, the national minorities, among many others—in order protect our rights and freedoms.
Now more than ever, the Fourth Estate must magnify its powers and build a stronger alliance with the masses. Let us make the administration know that we, the Filipino people, will always keep them in check.
