Media Noche

You know you’ve won the debate when your opponent tells you to shut up. The same thing is true of government: when it starts harassing journalists and shutting down media networks, then it has lost its credibility with the people.

The first victim was Sonshine Media Network Inc. or SMNI. One valid question — did then House Speaker Martin Romualdez have more than one billion pesos for travel expenses?  —  led to a brutal House hearing, the imprisonment of its key anchors, and the indefinite suspension by the National Telecommunications Commission of its broadcasts.

Then came the arrests and threats of arrests — on cyberlibel, sedition, and other charges — of those critical of the administration. Former General Romeo Poquiz, veteran broadcaster Jay Sonza (who hates me calling him “veteran,” since it implies he is ancient), scores of social media personalities are facing charges because of what is nebulously called “fake news.” Others — this writer included — have been hailed to the Department of Justice for allegedly trying to bring down the government through the use of disposable lighters.

The pattern is palpable. All requests for permits in certain Metro Manila cities are automatically vetoed by the police; motorcycle riders were arrested in Cebu after an anti-corruption rally while they were parked and eating along the road. 

Funnyman Jonvic Remulla has strongly cautioned demonstrators against chanting “Marcos resign,” claiming it is seditious, never mind that protesters have been calling for presidents to resign since the time of Quezon. Truly, these are times that try men’s souls.

Even my program, “Yes Yes Yo, Topacio,” which has been running for almost nine years on DWIZ, got the axe because of my incessant tirades against corruption in government. To be candid, it used to have a limited audience when it began in 2017, but it became number one in ratings within DWIZ three years ago when the UniTeam broke up and I took the side of the emergent Opposition. It quickly displaced the erstwhile top-rater “Karambola,” populated by Marcos diehards. 

And while there were pressures brought to bear to cancel my show, all were vigorously resisted by my friend, the late Edgard Cabangon Chua, son of another great friend, Ambassador Tony Cabangon Chua. But because Amba Tony has since passed on, and with the recent death of Boss Edgard due to cancer, people of less resolute stuff are now at the helm of the station.  

The powers-that-be used the power of the purse — it was, after all, PAGCOR, PCSO and PhilHealth, government corporations all, that were the biggest advertisers on the show — to silence the only voice of dissent in an otherwise pro-administration station. Being businessmen, the new generation preferred revenue over ratings and stuck with Karambola, which struggles to get two thousand listeners and viewers on primetime, while my show easily hits forty to fifty thousand.

The ultimate good desired is better reached through the free trade of ideas, to paraphrase the late Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. But the present dispensation, unable to defend itself from its scandals, wants to have a monopoly of media. 

These are indeed dangerous days for media in the country, a veritable media noche — a dark day for free expression.