CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—A slight drizzle that later turned into a downpour did not prevent members of the country’s oldest press club from saying Mass at the foot of the Press Freedom Monument early on Monday evening to formally open the 29th Press Freedom Week here.
Officiating the Eucharistic Celebration in honor of journalists, especially those who were silenced while officially doing their duty and responsibility of reporting the truth, Msgr. Elmer Abacahin, SSJV, urged journalists to always lift high the torch of freedom and truth in their work not only as chroniclers of event but as harbingers of good news.
“You have the duty and responsibility to your fellows—to tell the truth no matter what,” he told the BusinessMirror and which he later repeated in the dialect during his homily.
Abacahin, who is also a director of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC), also said while it is ideal for journalist to work in an atmosphere that is free of threats and challenges, “the truth is much more valuable when it is ferret out of many challenges and hardship.”
He was referring to the infamous Ampatuan Massacre where 58 civilians, including 34 journalists, were killed on November 23, 2009.
The masterminds of the massacre, described by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) executive director Joel Simon as the “single deadliest event for the press since 1992, when CPJ began keeping detailed records on journalist deaths” are behind bars while their cases are being heard.
Monday’s Eucharistic Celebration and opening of the 29th Press Freedom Week here was also the 18th-month anniversary of the Ampatuan Massacre.
The COPC, which was officially born on August 2, 1962 and touted as the oldest continually existing press club in the Philippines, spearheaded the Press Freedom Week celebration since it was institutionalized by then-Mayor Aquilino Pimentel Jr. in 1982.
Among COPC’s founding members are Reuben R. Canoy, Manuel V. Quisumbing, Lorenzo M. de la Cerna, Sarah A. Velez, Noli F. Olarte, Alfredo S. Cruz, Corazon A. Cid, Filomeno O. Apolinario Jr., Abelardo U. Clavano, Pureza N. Ramos and Emilio V. Corrales.
Pimentel’s declaration of Press Freedom Week in the city came less than a year after Ferdinand Marcos lifted martial law. It was also the first declaration worldwide by a local chief executive setting aside one week a year to celebrate press freedom.
This city’s Press Freedom Week celebration was even eight years ahead of the United Nation’s declaration of World Press Freedom Day.
Before Monday’s Eucharistic Celebration, Misamis Oriental Gov. Oscar Moreno officially opened the 29th Press Freedom Week celebration with the ribbon cutting of the photo exhibit outside the Press Club building and in front to the Press Freedom Monument.
The photo exhibit featured some of the work of the News Photographers of Northern Mindanao such as Froilan Gallardo of Mindanews, Erwin Mascarinas of Mindanao Gold Star Daily and other photojournalists.
