Awkward. Something is wrong with this photo. Something is not right with the layout of the front page of this broadsheet. And it’s pretty obvious.
Above the headline Why you should go to the Philippines, is the issue’s top news - an Editor from General Santos City was killed. And to make things worse, a photo of a drug raid in a posh village is spread above.
I first saw the photo on my Facebook news feed being shared and discussed by my contacts/friends. It was originally posted by the satirical Mosquito Press.
Perhaps most of us are busy yesterday discussing and spreading the new slogan of the Department of Tourism that the news of another slain journalist has been overshadowed, if not, neglected into consciousness.
Christopher Guarin, an Editor of the daily tabloid Tatak was killed Thursday night by two unidentified man in a motorcycle.
Guarin was the 10th Journalist to be killed under the Aquino Administration and the 150th since the restoration of democracy in the 1986 People Power Revolution.
And we must never forget the horrible event that happened on the 23rd of November 2009 where 58 people were killed in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, 34 of them were journalists.
I do not blame the Editors and lay-out artists for this awkward layout. The stories in the front poage are the day’s top stories. They have to put it there.
But my point is, if we really are serious on marketing our country as a more fun country to visit, then we must live to it. How do we expect foreign tourists to visit our country, who promises more fun, if we cannot resolve, or if possible, prevent these kind of incidents? How do we expect our country to be more fun if our story tellers are killed and justice for them and their family are not served?
I don’t want to see the day where our country is seen not as a fun place to visit but a country with a funny reputation - in a negative way.
Let us make it’s more fun in the Philippines not just a mere Tourism campaign, but a reality. Stop shooting the story tellers. End impunity now. Serve justice to the victims and their family.
Viva Filipinas! Vaya con Dios! Padayon!
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