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Friday, 04 September 2009 17:50 |
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Gus Mercado writes: (Snipped) I mistakenly thought that he was accepting my appeal for a truce, and for the return to civility and sobriety. I take back all the nice things that I said about this man whose words and motives are hard to trust. (Snipped)
Hi Gus,
I thank you for your honesty. You're free to take back whatever you have said about me and my work. I thought you very well understood that I am not a member of NaFFAA in any capacity. I am also not a member of any group fighting against NaFFAA.
I am an independent journalist. I am not bound by whatever agreement you have brokered with the parties involved in this brouhaha. I may or may not choose to write any story that I encounter.
To agree to your truce is 1) to accept prior restraint by the affected parties; 2) to surrender my rights as a journalist; 3) to implicitly admit that I am partaking a biased role; 4) to acquiesce that NaFFAA has jurisdiction over me, and therefore, can control me.
It is not me that you should rein in, it is the demonic kibitzers in the gallery like Ben Menor and Rodel Rodis, the attention-grabbers like the incompetent Perry Diaz and Lorna Dietz, the clowns like Salsalbaho and quite a number of other characters who never said anything edifying about the email exchanges.
I believe your proposed "return to civility and sobriety" can only be realized if those people I mention in the preceding paragraph observe your caution. This is not a one-way street, never should be.
May I emphasize here. I am not their shock-absorber that when they feel like assaulting me I would just cower in fear and run away. Nor am I their pinata that they can hit for their entertainment. Like all of us, I have the right to defend myself, whether I am journalist or not. Please keep that in mind.
I will not allow anyone to abuse me, verbally or physically, without any corresponding retaliation. I am far from being a saint but I can be civil if they wiill be civil. Respect begets respect.
You should not cast any suspicion on my words and motives because I have already laid them out in the open. There should be no doubting that I only want to practice mainstream investigative journalism and not the kind of journalism that's prevalent in the Filipino community. I'm not into "praise journalism". I'm very much into adversarial journalism, which to me is the best way to flush out the truth.
I feel sorry that you are disappointed. Well, I wasn't trying to please everyone. I have certain editorial prerogatives that nobody can contest. If you do not agree with my headlines, with my contents, with my interpretation, with my analysis and with my judgement, you are free to write your thoughts and share them with readers.
I have stopped being emotional about this whole issue from the time I was being waylaid by no less than the top leaders of NaFFAA. I know that they have been long used to dictating to some editors and reporters what to write and what not to write. That's not me.
May I remind you also that I have given the subjects of my stories sufficient time to answer my queries. So far, the only responsive person is Jon Melegrito who, bless him, took the time and opportunity to exchange ideas with me on an equal footing. It's true that we were cordial and civil, which was quite refreshing coming fron a NaFFAA official.
With all things said and done, for or against, good or bad, you still have my respect. Thanks and best regards,
Romy Marquez
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