It is well to be reminded that every politician running for elective public office must be careful with the words they utter as it could boomerang on their person. Any false statement by a candidate promoting his or any other candidates’ election or destroying any candidate running against one or anyone being supported could not be easily checked through advance information technology. One found lying or spreading false information or in street parlance as fake news could suffer negative publicity and cause the loss at the polls. Indeed, in the heat of the election campaign, a candidate could easily be instigated to make false statements against a rival candidate just to gain an edge before the public eyes.
The blessings of democracy is now enjoyed after the dismantling of the despotic rule of what Primitivo Mijares called in his book of the same title “The Conjugal Dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda” during the world-renowned Peaceful People Power Revolution of 1986. From that famous bloodless revolution was born a new government led by Corazon Cojuangco Aquino and Salvador Roamn Hidalgo Laurel which gave priority the writing of a new Constitution. It was that supreme law that demolished the vestiges of an abusive dictatorship and the oppressive system under martial law. That constitution was ratified overwhelmingly by the Filipino electorate in a plebiscite held on 02 February 1987.
Where people lost their fundamental freedoms of speech, of expression and of the press under martial law, such freedoms were restored by the 1987 Philippine Constitution. In the dark years of martial law, supporters of the dictator would claim that there was freedom of speech, of expression and of the press under the dictatorship. But the reality and truth is that while people could freely speak, the question is if there is freedom after speaking. Many of those who dared speak lost their freedom in the dead of night or in some instances even in the brightness of day like the student leader Achimedes “Archie” Francisco Trajano. He was dragged by security men of then Kabataang Barangay National President and now senator Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios “Imee” Marcos-Manotoc.
It is well for Filipinos today, chiefly the millennial generation, to learn that the freedoms they enjoy of spreading the truth or even lies, false and fake news are the blessings of democracy that was won by our forebears against foreign tyrants and of domestic tyrants, chiefly the conjugal dictators whose descendants are back in power. Even the right to bash and malign those who fought for our freedoms are fruits of the sweat and blood, many of whom were lost and whose names are etched in stone at the Bantayug ng mga Bayani. We ought to the countless heroes who offered their lives and the ultimate sacrifices of the orphaned families they left behind, our freedom to speak and to remain free after speaking.
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