TOURISM Secretary Wanda Teo wants the press to make her job easier by playing down news of the summary executions that have been the hallmark of President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs. All the media attention, she says, makes it difficult to sell the Philippines as a tourist destination.
A video message from Vice President Leni Robredo that accused the police of human rights abuses did not help, she adds.
“Statements like that make it hard for us to sell the Philippines,” Teo said at a press conference in Thailand, where she had accompanied the President on an official visit last week.
“This does not only refer to VP Leni but also to media. Let’s tone down statements on extrajudicial killings because I’m always asked wherever I go, even in Asia and Europe, Is this true? And I would say it’s safe in the Philippines and I would always ask them to come,” she said.
Addressing her appeal to the press, she added: “Help us sell the Philippines. Help us because…it’s very difficult for me to sell the Philippines, especially if extrajudicial killings are being discussed.”
The Tourism secretary’s appeal suggests that we in the press, as Filipinos, have a stake in getting more tourists to visit the country, and if that means glossing over the number of people killed in the government’s war on drugs, so be it.
The good secretary fails to appreciate, however, that it is not the job of the press to promote Philippine tourism. It is our job to seek the truth and report it.
And what truth are we talking about?
Police statistics show that in the six months from July 2016 to January 2017, some 2,555 drug suspects have been killed in police operations. Another 3,603 were deaths still under investigation, and 922 were those that had already been investigated. That’s a total of 7,800 people killed since the President launched his war on drugs—or an average of 39 killings a day.
Madam Secretary, how do you “tone down” 39 killings a day?
How do we tone down the violent nature of the campaign, when the President himself routinely speaks of the killing of thousands of drug suspects as a laudable goal?
And how can we in all good conscience tell our visitors it is completely safe, when the case of Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo—murdered by anti-drug police officers who tried to extort money from his widow—shows that even foreigners can be targeted?
Reporting what ails our society does not make us any less patriotic than the government official who promotes the country as a tourist destination. In a democratic society, each has a role to play. The press has a duty to report the news, not tone it down. Secretary Teo should do her job and let us do ours.