There has been a clamour
from people who thought that silencing Mocha Uson would breach one of democracy’s
foundational principles: free speech. “Who
is going to decide which speech is harmful?” goes Christopher Hitchens’
famous line. Certainly not me. But it so happens that I was one of the 33K petitioners.
An explanation is in order, I suppose. Well, for me, the reason is simple. Yes,
I support free speech, and I encourage that any person who can come up with a
different view must be given extra protection for they might contain a grain of
truth.
Mocha Uson admitted her naïveté, “I am not a journalist. It is public
knowledge that I am a Duterte supporter so don’t ask for balanced reporting
since that is the job of the mainstream media.” Thanks for clearing that up Mocha! The thing I worry about
Mocha Uson though is not about her right to it. I believe there is something
bigger that we may have missed, and that is her role in this government’s
effort to confuse, mislead and agitate poor people who may have no other means
of getting nuanced information. I also see her as a willing puppet who will
bend and twist facts just to gain favour from Duterte. She is a megaphone for
this administration whose main accomplishments so far were, in my humblest opinion,
piling over 3,000 dead bodies on the streets, stacking the jails to
overcapacity and creating a climate of debilitating fear. She has not lost one
bit of her right to free speech, in fact, she has gained lots of it; that her
views are given preference and perhaps made into state policy is clearly more
terrifying to imagine.
The country is in real danger of
becoming a totalitarian state, judging by the current trend of events
happening. Duterte having ignored and violated human rights at every opportunity;
threatened to suspend writ of habeas corpus; allowed a dictator buried in a
heroes cemetery; and possibly implement martial law. Maybe the petition is like
“shouting fire in a crowded theatre”
scenario. In our case, the petitioners were shouting “Fire! Fire! Fire!” because
there is actually a fire in a very overcrowded theatre. When more dead bodies
turn up, who can still say Mocha Uson has the right to free speech? Here is
where I draw the line.
Just as the democratic world drew the
line against Hitler to end the Second World War, now we have the chance to end
this almost daily murder of innocent Filipinos and to save the future while we
still can.
