31/03/2020
𝗡𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
March 31, 2020
As we remain at home on Day 16 of the Enhanced Community Quarantine against COVID-19, a virulent attack against our Constitutional right to free speech and expression sneaks and spreads across the country.
The origin of this virus: Duterte’s foul mouth which spits words advocating fascism and enabling government officials and authorities to stifle dissent with coercion and impunity.
One recent case is the illegal arrest of Juliet Espinosa, 55, a public school teacher in General Santos City, over a Facebook post exposing the inaction of Mayor Ronnel Rivera on the pervading hunger in the city amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Charged with inciting to sedition, Teacher Juliet was arrested without a warrant by the police on March 27 along with her son who allegedly resisted his mother’s arrest. He was charged with disobedience of authority.
Over a week ago, Brandon Perang, a rapper in Cebu City, was forced to swear in front of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia that he would no longer post anything negative about the government’s COVID-19 protocols. Garcia threatened her constituents that she would deploy a special unit tasked to run after individuals who criticize the government on social media. This was condemned by a school publication, Today's Carolinian, via an editorial titled “A Governor is Not Above the Constitution,” which expectedly did not sit well with the governor. She summoned Berns Mitra, the publication’s editor-in-chief, to her office.
These separate local incidents set dangerous precedents for the national government to take full control over the flow of information on social media to its favor. There are existing laws on inciting to sedition, cybercrime, and unlawful use of means of publication. The regime further clamps down on free speech with the insertion of Section 6 (6) in the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, which penalizes “individuals or groups creating, perpetrating, or spreading false information regarding the COVID-19 crisis on social media and other platforms.”
We are worried that this will result in a reckless spree of malicious labelling of rightful criticism and condemnation as fake news. We are concerned that this period will become the administration’s testing ground for actions proposed in the amended Anti-Terrorism Bill that deliberately loosens the definition of terrorism to vilify and punish political dissenters.
We cannot trust this administration to be the sole arbiter of the truth when many of its officials and supporters are themselves the enablers of misinformation and disinformation. There is a need for true and vital information during this crisis, but we cannot let this regime clamp down our right to speak the people’s truth. We condemn the enforcement of punitive policies that will lead to forced self-censorship among artists and cultural workers for fear of being jailed.
Lest we succumb to threats by the state, let us remember the harvest of our collective online protests of late: the VIP testing directive was exposed, the supposed replacement of the director of Research Institute for Tropical Medicine was prevented, the call for volunteer health workers for P500/day was pulled out, among other infuriating blunders of the DOH and the Inter-Agency Task Force.
Had we not spoken as one, these practices and policies would have pushed through.
And there is more to talk about. There is more to scrutinize. More to call out.
As we speak, thousands of families from the informal economy are still deprived of livelihood by the lockdown with very little to no government support. They are becoming more and more desperate as they are left to fend for themselves at the face of hunger and threat of sickness.
Our collective speech serves as a reflection of this government's services to the people. There would be little complaint if healthcare is prioritized over this regime's militaristic approach to the pandemic.
By speaking out and encouraging others to speak, we get to tap on each other's vigilance, which is essential during these times when policymakers and the executive branch railroad anti-poor and anti-democratic policies literally while everybody is asleep.
Like Teacher Juliet, let us not be threatened. Let us stand steadfast against constitutionalized forms of silencing and censorship.
Let us hold our calls unfazed:
