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The crime of writing

By ABIGAIL T. BENGWAYAN, GUEST COLUMNIST

If you were not a writer, I would still encourage you to read on. If you are a writer, and if this appears an ego by-product, the more you should read on. I wanted to start with metered phrases and lines to get to the bottom of this, but it seems concrete full sentences would serve more my intentions, and the piercing challenge of the times.

I write in memory of, and in the legacy of fellow writers and journalists who outgrew the glorification of the self to be nameless, and write about the brutal reality of Philippine society. For they have not denied us of the truth. So that people may see. Slain they may have been because of this very deed.

I write as a political activist under this time of a system of injustice, terror, and insane declaration of righteousness.

The headcount as of July 14, 2006, of human rights group Karapatan is 704 cases of political killings since 2001, since this administration. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) reported 44 media killings, also since 2001. Upon publication of this article, the statistics could increase. Such developments happen fast, equally demanding the same pace from writers and journalists to get the details out—so that the public may know.

The public, however, also needs to understand. Raising the bar to this level is the inevitable next.

It is always a challenge to get the message across and make the readers see and feel. Make them comment, or draw questions from their heads. Make them part of the debate or be in the thick of things. In as much as the seething apathy is frustrating, abandoning ship and leaving the matter at hand does not command honor or valor.

It is the challenge of the times that we stand against political killings, and for social justice; and let the ink from our pens be the blood of the silenced freedom fighters, the advocates of human rights and civil liberties. Let the words we weave into ideas be the truth hidden from the public eye, blanketed by understatements of the real score.

We cannot be what we are, much more continue doing so, without knowing, understanding and being in our place in society. In this case, one that is creating a whole era of a history that shall not be forgotten. It shall not be forgotten because we too, along with clamoring thousands, stood for that justice.

Should we be identified with the lump of organizations and personalities branded as terrorists and the enemies of the State, and if, by our commitments, we will be open targets of the killings that take place; our only crime would be because we stood for justice, truth, and the sanctity of life.

Our only crime would be lending our strength in that quest.

We write because we choose.

We write because we are angered.

We write because we are loving. #

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