NDF-Bikol firmly joins the call for justice for Percival ‘Percy Lapid’ Manabas, a veteran journalist. He is the latest among the list of slain media practitioners in the country. NDF-Bikol also extends its condolences to his family. It likewise supports the campaign to stop the attacks against gatekeepers of truth and the whole Filipino nation.

Manabas is the 197th journalist killed since 1986. In Bikol, some of the most recent victims of assasination were Joebert Bercasio, Ronnie Villamor, Joaquin Briones, Larry Que and Joey Llana. With the intensity of threat to media practitioners, the Philippines is infamously the most dangerous country in Asia for journalists. It also ranked 7th on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2020 Impunity Index. This is a list of countries worldwide where the most number of journalists are slain and perpetrators are not brought to justice.

But these are not just statistics. Not just numbers. They, just like tens of thousands of other political killing victims in the country, are lives deliberately wasted in order for the ruling elite to preserve their hold over the current rotten system. Them who were killed are daily reminders that there is a raging war for truth and reason in the country. On one hand are the people and all those who stand for what is right and just – including the ardent journalists. While on the other are the ruling class and their armed agents. This is an inescapable reality. And there is only one recourse for all who aspire for genuine justice and peace. Devote everything to fight and defeat all oppressive and exploitative forces.

This is a challenge to all the other media practitioners to be bolder and ever courageous in the face of challenges. The systematic attacks against the champions of truth only further proves how hollow democracy is in the country. What kind of liberty forcibly silences the people?

It is nothing less than just to relentlessly fend for the truth – even more so as lies dominate the land. Continue serving as public eyes and mouths even amid life and death dangers against them. To cower and be silent are tantamount to oppression and exploitation prevailing. To not choose sides is to elect the perpetuation of impunity and divestment of people’s rights. Genuine justice can only be found in the path of class unity and struggle.