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| TEN YEARS AFTER SunStar Editor Stella Estremera after a decade long bout with libel |
IT WAS THOMAS JEFFERSON, I believe, who said it perfectly, “The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” But I like that, a newspaper without a government.
We all know what happens when a government simply has no newspaper at all as a mere watchdog. Of course, other than those pushovers they surreptitiously organized like these bogus NGOs of late. The equation somehow is not complete when there are no newspapers around. It certainly lends a kind of justification to a democratic form of government such as ours. But when a newspaper is under attack, or when a government, which is usually expressed by the opinion of its people, comes out critical of its counterpart, the media, these justifications could easily be harassed, rattled, or worse, silenced.
That's more or less what happened to SunStar Davao's Stella Estremera. I’m sure she would probably welcome the idea of a newspaper without a government, because as of press time, this "government" is now grabbing her by the neck. Not that she is now hanging on to dear life, but that Big Brother clearly has some issues on her, and is out to do what it takes to put her what they thought where she belongs. In jail? Or so it seems.
WHAT HAPPENED
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| HERE COMES THE SUN Stella reporting |
And not only that, Estremera and Ajero would pay a P6,000 fine to the court “with subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency” and a whopping P200,000 for moral damages to the complainant, such a harsh judgment, I believe, a severe psychological beating, to say the least, that could potentially, to use the words of NUJP's Jessie Casalda, “…silence ang isa ka journalist.”
Omerta? Yet it sounds so unacceptable that a libel case could make some noise in a country where freedom of speech is still guaranteed in the constitution. "Dati lenient ang court sa mga journalists because of the freedom of speech pero karon murag sunod-sunod ang conviction,” Casalda said, owing perhaps to the precedence that a libel case is just a part of the media trade and has not gained enough damage so far to the practitioners themselves. Not until Estremera's case came into the scene.
“It can happen to any of us,” says Estremera, after Judge Saron-Davin delivered the final nail to the coffin. Friends and followers of Estremera online immediately expressed their dismay over Saron-Davin’s judgment. “The burden of proof on the presence of malice is upon the accuser and the judge,” says Margarita Avellanosa on Facebook. And even the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), where Estremera was once a member, issued a quick statement via Juju Paner with “Justice for Stella Estremera!” And the condemnation is still growing.
WTF
At some point though, it all comes down to this. It’s a vicious cycle that won’t necessarily go away, like your mother (she’s always there). Somehow a journalist has to clean up the mess. But why? And it will probably get into your weeeeee (a fave expression of Estremera's), nonetheless, that you could easily be indicted by a straight news story, a mere police beat, and that it could go a long way by putting enough premium on its penalty to somehow silence the reporting.
That’s probably the reason why I “quit”, and took a back seat from journalism for quite some time. Not because it has become a strain, but because sometimes I don’t understand it anymore. In the same way that most of those who climbed into the ring with Pacquiao to sing the National Anthem almost always end up dealing with the law afterwards, all because of own their own rendition of the Lupang Hinirang that was anything but trite and complimentary.
But, yes, Estremera’s situation is as chilling as The Silence of the Lambs. I wish I could point out, in great detail, that this whole mess could be traced simply from a mere police blotter. With all due respect, your Honor, this is just a photocopy of a police blotter (I wish she could say that eventually, if not in court, at least in her columns). And to think that the controversial story merely reiterated those 32 pushers from a blotter, eventually giving in to a P206,000 worth of anguish and lessons learned, and the possibility of jail time, could actually deliver a severe blow to the head.
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| ARE YOU KIDDING ME The Editor (third from left) goofing out with some friends |
Not
that I take anything away from Estremera, though, but I think she’s not the kind
of journalist in this situation. I don’t know with anybody else, but
I always see her as someone who is not and should be prone to libel cases. I’m
not an avid reader of her work, just a nominal one, that is, if in case Ramon Jorge Sarabosing
doesn’t make sense anymore.
But no matter what you say about Estremera’s brand of reporting, ranting about her experiences in some rundown café in downtown Davao (I still keep her feature story about BO’s Coffee in my cabinet---it will come in handy someday), or the fact that she had her first real Kadayawan parade a couple of years ago, she still belongs to that sort of journalism we all love to go to bed with, Old School, the one that would put a smile on Ed O. Fernandez’s face.
WHAT GIVES
Stella loves to ponder. On an issue, I mean, not on someone else. Her Spider’s Web speaks for itself. She simply takes a slant, an angle. And instead of crowding it with a lot of facts and figures to support a claim (I’m not saying that her pieces are bereft of sources), but she tells a story instead, she speaks her mind out, wears a lot of sleeves, before giving it a rest. Most of her prognostications tell a lot about not only on a particular issue but also to her personality as well. She could be cranky or full of sardonic pathos, but nonetheless, Stella was there, right on the spot, blasting her way out of those pages.
Probably my pet columnist in Davao (despite her shortcomings as a columnist), because she’s practically cold about any issue even if it's a warm-blooded animal knocking at her door, and she’s the only columnist in Davao, I guess, who is not afraid to claim any issue as her own.
That’s why it’s almost impossible for her readers to believe that she could be accused of libel when all indications point to her brand of journalism belonging to that “inspired lot”, not some hard-nosed, smash mouth reporting from a commentator who will immediately dive for an issue, come hell or Bankerohan River. Even Stella herself acknowledged this by saying, "We have this stereotype that those who are charged with libel are those who are hard-hitting. But here comes a conviction from a police story, which was not attacking any person. SunStar has never been rabid about attacking anyone yet we are the ones convicted."
But hey, what do I know. I simply viewed her by reading some of her pieces online (maybe some of her closest peers could enlighten me later). I didn’t even realize she’s been in the business for 27 years. That’s sounds like a lot. 27 years. Some people died or disappeared in all of 27 years: Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, Cobain, Winehouse. But Stella, God forbid, is still very much alive and well even after that "dust up" at the RTC, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. We simply missed her you-and-me-against-the-world attitude on the pages of SunStar for a moment, because over the years, and most of us would agree on this, that paper becomes her.
WHAT NOW
What happened to Estremera sends a chilling message to media practitioners. Call me paranoid, but is this all just a part of that grand scheme we all love to utter, “Daang Matuwid”? And that it is already rubbing elbows even in a small city somewhere in Davao del Sur?
Hence, Estremera's case was no laughing matter, not even a passive take could possibly generate even a little bit of liking, although we could be humorous about it for a time, but if this becomes a regular thing, now that the media institution itself is feeling the strokes of that sweeping rhetoric, then this situation couldn’t be any worse.
And for what it’s worth, I still find this as an affront, like scuba diving in an oil-spilled sea. I’m sure Stella could relate to that being a scuba diver herself. But how about those who suffered beyond mere libel? Lucky for Estremera, though, the worst she could probably get out of this is a time spent behind bars, but how about those who paid more than what they bargained for? Thus, remembering all the harassments, the discriminations, and the killings on general principle, past and present. The Benjaline Hernandezes, the Gene Boyd Lumawags, the Ferdie Lintuans in us, who had been silencio permanente from now on so these privileged few could have their cake, and eat it too.
About time we decriminalize this particular issue, this libel thing (Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code). The worst we could get from a government who is hell bent of disregarding the press from its mere function and even from its lowly presence at times, is a government functioning without any accountability, or worse, without a newspaper. When I saw Stella in that picture posted online, I couldn’t help but think about those guarantees a journalist could get out of that so-called free press, that freedom of speech, with her looking dazed and confused. Those guarantees, however, somehow went out of the window.
It’s a brave new world out there (how many times I said that line in my mind since they start spreading the news). It’s not safe anymore. The things we thought were indispensable are now slowly, if not steadily, becoming easy targets to the powers that be. And like Estremera's, it too, was an eye-opener to a lot of people, not just practicing journalists, but everyday citizens, and yes, including those Facebook enthusiasts. If editors or publishers, people who have representations one way or another, can be harassed by that seemingly easy libel case, what sort of situation would it be to those who are outside of it?
SunStar Davao somehow lost its fang, its imprint, when she went out of circulation, at least for a short while. Her "disappearance" on those pages could only command a small protest online because of the noise Janet Lim Napoles and her pork barrel scam had created, but Estremera's case never misses a beat. Although somehow it has a different deadline this time.
Seeing her in court, however, one could only assume that this government is functioning under the impression that it can easily get away with it (paging Thomas Jefferson), without actually having the presence of a newspaper nearby, and how that absence has translated into the indictment of this one beleaguered journalist.
But no matter what you say about Estremera’s brand of reporting, ranting about her experiences in some rundown café in downtown Davao (I still keep her feature story about BO’s Coffee in my cabinet---it will come in handy someday), or the fact that she had her first real Kadayawan parade a couple of years ago, she still belongs to that sort of journalism we all love to go to bed with, Old School, the one that would put a smile on Ed O. Fernandez’s face.
WHAT GIVES
Stella loves to ponder. On an issue, I mean, not on someone else. Her Spider’s Web speaks for itself. She simply takes a slant, an angle. And instead of crowding it with a lot of facts and figures to support a claim (I’m not saying that her pieces are bereft of sources), but she tells a story instead, she speaks her mind out, wears a lot of sleeves, before giving it a rest. Most of her prognostications tell a lot about not only on a particular issue but also to her personality as well. She could be cranky or full of sardonic pathos, but nonetheless, Stella was there, right on the spot, blasting her way out of those pages.
Probably my pet columnist in Davao (despite her shortcomings as a columnist), because she’s practically cold about any issue even if it's a warm-blooded animal knocking at her door, and she’s the only columnist in Davao, I guess, who is not afraid to claim any issue as her own.
That’s why it’s almost impossible for her readers to believe that she could be accused of libel when all indications point to her brand of journalism belonging to that “inspired lot”, not some hard-nosed, smash mouth reporting from a commentator who will immediately dive for an issue, come hell or Bankerohan River. Even Stella herself acknowledged this by saying, "We have this stereotype that those who are charged with libel are those who are hard-hitting. But here comes a conviction from a police story, which was not attacking any person. SunStar has never been rabid about attacking anyone yet we are the ones convicted."
But hey, what do I know. I simply viewed her by reading some of her pieces online (maybe some of her closest peers could enlighten me later). I didn’t even realize she’s been in the business for 27 years. That’s sounds like a lot. 27 years. Some people died or disappeared in all of 27 years: Morrison, Hendrix, Joplin, Cobain, Winehouse. But Stella, God forbid, is still very much alive and well even after that "dust up" at the RTC, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. We simply missed her you-and-me-against-the-world attitude on the pages of SunStar for a moment, because over the years, and most of us would agree on this, that paper becomes her.
WHAT NOW
 |
| PLACE YOUR ORDER Featuring Estremera |
What happened to Estremera sends a chilling message to media practitioners. Call me paranoid, but is this all just a part of that grand scheme we all love to utter, “Daang Matuwid”? And that it is already rubbing elbows even in a small city somewhere in Davao del Sur?
Hence, Estremera's case was no laughing matter, not even a passive take could possibly generate even a little bit of liking, although we could be humorous about it for a time, but if this becomes a regular thing, now that the media institution itself is feeling the strokes of that sweeping rhetoric, then this situation couldn’t be any worse.
And for what it’s worth, I still find this as an affront, like scuba diving in an oil-spilled sea. I’m sure Stella could relate to that being a scuba diver herself. But how about those who suffered beyond mere libel? Lucky for Estremera, though, the worst she could probably get out of this is a time spent behind bars, but how about those who paid more than what they bargained for? Thus, remembering all the harassments, the discriminations, and the killings on general principle, past and present. The Benjaline Hernandezes, the Gene Boyd Lumawags, the Ferdie Lintuans in us, who had been silencio permanente from now on so these privileged few could have their cake, and eat it too.
About time we decriminalize this particular issue, this libel thing (Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code). The worst we could get from a government who is hell bent of disregarding the press from its mere function and even from its lowly presence at times, is a government functioning without any accountability, or worse, without a newspaper. When I saw Stella in that picture posted online, I couldn’t help but think about those guarantees a journalist could get out of that so-called free press, that freedom of speech, with her looking dazed and confused. Those guarantees, however, somehow went out of the window.
It’s a brave new world out there (how many times I said that line in my mind since they start spreading the news). It’s not safe anymore. The things we thought were indispensable are now slowly, if not steadily, becoming easy targets to the powers that be. And like Estremera's, it too, was an eye-opener to a lot of people, not just practicing journalists, but everyday citizens, and yes, including those Facebook enthusiasts. If editors or publishers, people who have representations one way or another, can be harassed by that seemingly easy libel case, what sort of situation would it be to those who are outside of it?
SunStar Davao somehow lost its fang, its imprint, when she went out of circulation, at least for a short while. Her "disappearance" on those pages could only command a small protest online because of the noise Janet Lim Napoles and her pork barrel scam had created, but Estremera's case never misses a beat. Although somehow it has a different deadline this time.
Seeing her in court, however, one could only assume that this government is functioning under the impression that it can easily get away with it (paging Thomas Jefferson), without actually having the presence of a newspaper nearby, and how that absence has translated into the indictment of this one beleaguered journalist.
 |
| ON THE BEAT (BOAT, I MEAN) "Yehey, padidit sa tubig," says the Chief |
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