I, the University of the Philippines’ historically the one and only “Outstanding Alumnus For Creative Writing” (awarded 2011), a self-styled journalist investing in village development since 45 years ago – printfrom 1975 and blog since 2005 – do I envy Maria Ressa for the world’s honors she has earned, such as TIME 100, “list of the world’s most influential people in 2019” and, in March 2020, the TIME’s list of the most influential women of the century[2]”? (Camille Elemia, 21 October 2020, “Maria Ressa In Prince Harry Interview: 'Duterte, Zuckerberg On Same Page'”).
No. I Frank A Hilario at 80 envy not Maria Ressa at 57, because the journalistic honors she has received, well-deserved as they are, are for the glory of her people (Rappler), not the glory of her people (Filipinos).
No. She writes Anti while I write Pro.
Anti: Maria Ressa writes against much of Rodrigo Duterte’s actuations and accomplishments as President of the Philippines; and against Mark Zuckerberg for his Facebook’s countermoves against what it perceives as public bad, not public good.
Pro: I write for the Filipino farmers, for their liberation from poverty into leading happy & sustainable village lives. For that, I subscribe 100% to the “The New Thinking for Agriculture” being propagated by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar for the prosperity of all farmers.
It is not that Maria Ressa does not care about her people, but she cares much more about being Anti than Pro!
As a creative writer, I started as an Anti. In 1960 or 1961, when I was Sophomore at the University of the Philippines’ College of Agriculture, now UP Los Baños, the US Peace Corps Volunteers came to Los Baños for language training: Bisaya, Ilocano, Tagalog, whatever. I wrote in the student paper Aggie Green & Gold that we did not need the Volunteers at all! Even older than Maria Ressa, my thinking has been fiercely independent for 60 years.
Miss Camille says (cited above):
In a #Time100Talks discussion, Rappler’s Maria Ressa said Filipinos are fighting impunity in tech platforms amid the weaponization of online spaces against critics of the Duterte administration.
I am not worried about such weaponization because Facebook is only my steppingstone, not my platform.
The US Declaration of Independence on 04 July 1776 starts with these words:
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
That all men are created equal
That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights
That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Now then, let all men be informed that:
Maria Ressa’s pursuit of happiness is to keep on writing about the public bad c/o President Rodrigo Duterte?
Frank A Hilario’s pursuit of happiness is to keep on writing about the public good c/o Secretary of Agriculture William Dar!@517
[1]https://bravenewworldph.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-brave-new-world-ph.html
[2]https://www.rappler.com/world/global-affairs/time-100-talks-maria-ressa-prince-harry-duterte-zuckerberg-same-page?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3uJ-ioTLaLyscZF3hyFoJQzGiXFLDH5MdpWem3odYcBk6_vhuwIedqFaw
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