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Bakit palaging “etsa-puwera” ang media?

IPINAGDIWANG ng bansa ang ika-170 kaarawan ng ating dakilang bayani na si Gat. Marcelo ‘Plaridel’ del Pilar na kinikilala rin natin bilang “Ama ng Malayang Pamamahayag” sa Pilipinas.

At marahil, kung hindi rin lang may pandemya, muling kasama ang National Press Club (NPC) sa pagbibigay-pugay sa kanya sa kanyang dambana sa Bulakan, Bulacan.

At siyempre, “mabuti” na lang din at kahit may pandemya, hindi nag-atubili ang mga lider ng Bulacan, sa pangunguna ni Gov. Daniel Fernando, Vice Gov. Wilhelmino Alvarado at Rep. Jose Antonio Alvarado, na bigyan ng nararapat na pagkilala ang ating pambansang bayani.

‘Yun nga lang, kataka-taka na halos kada taon na lang, palaging “paningit” sa okasyon ang mga kasapi ng media sa pangunguna ng ating mga “kapatid” sa Bulacan Press Club at NPC.

“Sinasadya ba ng mga ‘organizer’ na hindi “pansinin” ang media kahit si Plaridel pa nga ang “ama” ng pamamahayag sa ating bansa?

Ano bang “problema” ng mga organizer, kasamang Carmela Reyes-Estrope at Thony Arsenal?

Ang reklamo pa nga sa atin ng ating mga kapatid sa BPC, kailangan pa nilang “palaging ipaalala” sa mga organizer ng selebrasyon na hindi dapat mawala ang media sa programa, tsk!

Hindi ba at ang NPC at BPC ang “kabalikat” ni Rep. Jose Antonio Alvarado sa pagpupunyagi na kilalanin si Plaridel hindi lang bilang lokal na bayani bagkus, bilang bayani ng lahat ng Pilipino?

Sa naipadala pa ngang kopya sa atin na programa para sa pagdiriwang noong Linggo, kataka-takang hindi nakalimutan ng mga organizer na isama sa programa ang Philippine National Police pero ang mga “anak” ni Plaridel sa hanay ng media, wala, huhuhu!

‘At any rate,’ wika nga, harinawang hindi na maulit ang ganitong kabobohan, ehek, pagkakamali sa mga susunod na taon.

At harinawa pa rin na sa susunod na taon, maipasa na ang batas na magtatakda sa kaarawan ni Plaridel, Agosto 30, bilang ‘Philippine Press Freedom Day.’ Harinawa!
Samantala, nasa ibaba ang mensahe ng NPC sa kaarawan ni Gat. Plaridel na isinulat ni NPC President Rolly ‘Lakay’ Gonzalo (kung bakit sa wikang banyaga, itanong natin sa kanya, hehehe):

Good morning!

Today, we at the National press Club join all Bulakeňos and the Bulacan Press Club in honoring one of the country’s greatest national heroes, Marcelo H. Del Pilar.
Although we are not around physically because of the pandemic, we share the sentiment of everyone at his shrine that really, we should always remember that someone from Bulacan was born to represent and dramatize the Filipinos’ inborn desire to fight against tyranny and oppression.

Marcelo Del Pilar, a gifted journalist and a lawyer is widely known as among the leading propagandists for reforms in the Philippines during the Spanish era. As a journalist, he became to be popularly known as Plaridel and used the might of the pen to publish observation and criticisms on how the Spanish government in the Philippines was run during those times.
For us and students of history, it is most remembered that Marcelo H Del Pilar served as editor and co-publisher of La Solidaridad, the newspaper that served as the voice of the Propaganda Movement.

It chronicled the abuses of the Spanish friars, sought for reforms such as freedom of the press and assembly, representation in the Spanish Cortes (Assembly) and actual running of the Philippine government.

For his exploits, one Spanish newspaper, La Politica de Espanya en Filipinas, in 1896, regarded Del Pilar as the greatest journalist ever produced by the purely Filipino race.

As we go down in history, we learned that most of the propagandists’ demands were not met and La Solidaridad even has to close because there was no more financial support from the Philippines.

Del Pilar himself has decided to flee from Spain through Hongkong with hope to eventually come home. But sadly in Hongkong he died as a very poor man of Tuberculosis.
That was the end of his sojourn and of his aspirations for his home country but it is worthy to remember today that he served as the fire that kindled the Filipino spirit that in any situation in the past today and the future, we will do anything to gain freedom from any power that try to colonize us as a people.

And with that we share our hats off to Marcelo H. Del Pilar a great Bulakeno and to us in Media the Father of Filipino Journalism. Mabuhay si Del Pilar, Mabuhay ang Pilipino!