WE ARE writers, journalists, photojournalists and workers from the
Philippine print, broadcast and online media. We do not usually make
public our positions on the issues and events we report on but, considering
what is happening—with the United States edging closer to war,
heedless of what will happen to the rest of the world—we feel
there is a need to speak out.
We in media are just like other citizens who prefer the ways of peace
and oppose the brutalities of war. We are concerned about the warmongering
of the US against Iraq. We are convinced that if this conflict comes
to a head, Iraq, including its infants and children, will be devastated.
The effects of such a war would spill over to other nations and kill
and render homeless more innocent people.
It saddens us to see how the US has attempted to browbeat other sovereign
countries, even the United Nations, into taking its position of using
preemptive action against Iraq - despite the glaring absence of proofs
that would justify military aggression and despite the overwhelming
worldwide opposition.
That Bush's planned aggression against Iraq will take civilian lives
is certain. From the Vietnam War to the Gulf War, US war policy has
victimized millions of civilians. In the Philippines, President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo has repeatedly declared her all-out support for Bush.
While claiming to support Bush to promote world peace, her administration
unleashes military offensives in Pikit, North Cotabato, in Mindanao,
that have displaced more than 80,000 residents, almost all of them
Muslims.
A war in the Middle East will have devastating effects on the hundreds
of thousands of overseas Filipino workers toiling there, just as the
Gulf War in 1991 had. They, who have been keeping the economy afloat
for years now with the billions of dollars they remit each year, face
not only displacement but also the risk of losing lives and limbs
from conventional bullets and deadly biochemical weapons.
A war of aggression against Iraq will also send oil prices skyrocketing.
They have in fact gone up four times now since the US intensified
its war calls. The mere whisper of war also jacks up the exchange
rates and depresses our economy even further.
Given the devastation a war will bring, we are moved to express concern
at the Arroyo government's pertinacious support for Bush's war - a
war with dubious motives, stained with the lust for oil and full of
inconsistencies and double standards.
We call on our colleagues and the public to be critical and to look
beyond the war rhetoric. We implore them to promote and protect the
free flow of information.
We believe that the media must foster truth and peace. As such, we
stand against the US war on Iraq. As such, we stand for Peace. #
Friends and colleagues in media who wish to support the statement
may fax their complete names, including, for identification purposes,
titles, positions and media agencies, and signatures to 9258839 or
email media4peace[dot]mail[dot]com. If you have questions, please
contact Charlie (09179969305), Weng (0918-3458465), Ruth (09178425541
or any of the following initiators: Sonny Fernandez (ABC5); Inday
Espina-Varona (Managing Editor, Philippine Graphic); Charlie Manalo
(Managing Editor, Balikbayan Magazine); Sonia Capio (Anchor, Ngayon
Na Bayan, DZRJ); Rowena Carranza-Paraan (Managing Editor, Bulatlat.com);
Lira Dalangin (Reporter, INQ7.net); Agnes Donato (Reporter, Phil.
Daily Inquirer); Edgar Hilario (Reporter, Bulletin Today); and Ruth
Cervantes (Co-Anchor, Ngayon Na Bayan, DZRJ).
