17
October 2010
Dear friends,
I am
writing to you in view of a Letter to the Editor which I wrote on
September 28, 2010 and which I sent to on the same day to major
newspapers in the country. The full letter was published on 1 October
2010 in the Readers’ Forum of Malaya (.http://www.malaya.com.ph/10012010/edreader.html)
Please see attached letter. It
was also published in toto in the News Today, Online Edition on
1 October 2010 (http://www.thenewstoday.info/2010/10/01/letter.to.the.editors.of.philippine.newspapers.html).
Please see attached letter.
As you
can read from the attached original letter, it was meant to be published
during President Benigno Aquino lll’s first 100 days for the purpose of
getting the requested appointment not later than October 8. Indeed,
President Aquino granted the appointment and on October 6, he received
an 8-member delegation from the Asian Federation Against Involuntary
Disappearances (AFAD) and the Families of Victims of Involuntary
Disappearance (FIND). He met the delegation for 50 minutes. The picture
of the said meeting immediately appeared the following day in the AFAD
Facebook and Twitter. See attached
picture.
Never did
it occur to me that 18 days since the September 28, 2010 letter was
faxed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the same letter would be
published in the 15 October 2010 issue (page A 18 -
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/letterstotheeditor/view/20101015-297807/Still-silent-on-desaparecidos).
Please see the attached published
letter.
In this
published letter, titled “ Still Silent on Desaparecidos,” whoever
edited the original letter did not only edit it but altered its
content. The letter’s title itself states that the president is silent
on desaparecidos and without asking the author, it altered the
first paragraph saying:
“PRESIDENT AQUINO is past his “first 100 days” in Malacañang. For the
families of the disappeared in the Philippines and the rest of the
world, the President has yet to open the door of his office to the
Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND) and the Asian
Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, which repeatedly
requested an appointment with him in his first 100 days in office.”
With this
change, it made AFAD and FIND appear as ungrateful liars.
I am
disowning the letter which PDI published. Whoever is the editor of the
Opinion page of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, without consulting the
author, whose address and phone numbers were clearly indicated in the
letter which the PDI received by fax, he totally changed the content of
my letter by saying that President Aquino has not yet met the families
of the disappeared. 18 days had elapsed and PDI published the letter
without making any inquiry if the meeting was granted during President
Aquino’s first 100 days.
I wrote a
second letter to the editor after my conversation with Mr. Totoy
Sarmiento, who is also working with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. I
said that I was planning to write a second letter and requested that the
letter be published the following day to avoid further damage. I was
told to send the letter on the same day which I did. Then, upon
sending it by email, I received a text message from Mr. Sarmiento saying
that the letter may be used some other day, but not on the 16th
of October as I requested. When asked why, I was told that the PDI’s
problem was the tone of my second letter.
Please see attached letter which the
PDI refuses to publish.
When I
called the Opinion page of the PDI, a certain Mr. Jun Cinco answered.
To my utter shock, I received an arrogant answer after matter of factly
informing him of what I did so far to correct the mistake, which include
calling the Appointments Office of Malacanang; writing a second letter
and seeking legal advise based on the friends’ advise. When asked to
inform me later by email what would the PDI do to correct the mistake,
Mr. Cinco said that the PDI has its own process. Accordingly, I should
not dictate things on him and the PDI has no responsibility whatsoever
to consult me on the content of the letter because PDI receives millions
of letters everyday, and therefore, has no time for it.
In view
of PDI’s vehement refusal to publish my second letter, I am informing
people through the AFAD Facebook, Twitter and Website so that the
people’s right to know the truth will not be violated. AFAD’s reach
through the internet pales in comparison with PDI’s millions of readers
as Mr. Cinco was bragging about. But what is important is that based on
our capacities and limitations, we are not depriving our friends,
colleagues and other contacts of the basic right to know the truth.
Thank you
very much.
Sincerely
yours,
MARY
AILEEN DIEZ-BACALSO
Secretary-General
Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD)
Rms. 310-311 Philippine Social Science Center Bldg.,
Commonwealth Ave., Diliman, 1103 Quezon City
Phone: 00-632-9274594 / 00-632-9274594
Telefax: 00-632-4546759
Website:
www.afad-online.org
