We are not only saddened by the shutdown of ABS-CBN; we are also deeply alarmed. For the shutdown to be done on a day after World Press Freedom Day, the message to “tow the line or suffer the same fate of ABS-CBN,” is a clear threat. We are alarmed that soon, other media outlets would follow. Without the freedom of the press, there is the danger of other freedoms to be lost. God forbid, these are the first ‘test signs’ of curtailing other rights. While the situation limits our option to protest this move, we must do what we can.
We are not only saddened by the shutdown of ABS-CBN; we are also deeply alarmed. For the shutdown to be done on a day after World Press Freedom Day, the message to “tow the line or suffer the same fate of ABS-CBN,” is a clear threat. We are alarmed that soon, other media outlets would follow. Without the freedom of the press, there is the danger of other freedoms to be lost. God forbid, these are the first ‘test signs’ of curtailing other rights. While the situation limits our option to protest this move, we must do what we can. Let us recall press freedom hero, Jose Burgos Jr.’s advice: “Press freedom will only come about if people will assert their rights.”
Depriving the Filipino people of a major source of information, at a time when the global health crisis is raging, is the height of insensitivity on the part of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). With no other option but to stay home due to the lockdown, and the television as the only source of news entertainment for many Filipinos, ABS-CBN viewers are practically penalized.
Ignoring the fact that 11,000 employees will lose their jobs due to to the shutdown, and looking for other jobs is almost impossible because of the global pandemic, is downright cruel. Think, those who have anything to do with the shutdown… how many families will go hungry because of you?
We condemn in the strongest terms the shutdown of ABS-CBN. Congress should not take this insult of the NTC lightly.
Edita Burgos
Chairperson, Free Jonas Burgos Movement
Karapatan National Council member