Report by Chino Brendon Tangonan | Photos by Wacky Dimyao, Angilene Dableo and Jayane Leslie Feliciano
The College of Arts and Social Sciences’ official publication, The Oracle, attended the Human Rights Seminar organized by the Provincial Human Rights Office of Tarlac (PHRO) held today, September 21, at the Tarlac Capitol Center.
As the country commemorated the anniversary of Martial Law imposed by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the seminar discussed the importance of human rights, especially for the media and civilians.
The PHRO invited two lawyers and a human rights officer to share their knowledge and experiences, focusing on how the suppression of free speech, unlawful actions, and other violations of human rights highlights the need for vigilance in protecting the people.
Atty. Jocelyn Z. Martinez-Clemente,a PHRO legal consultant and former Journalist, spoke about media law in the Philippines and the importance of press freedom and its rights.
She highlighted that journalism today enjoys more freedom than it did in the 1980s and that the role student-journalism played during the period when the freedom of the press was suppressed back then.
“Mas mahirap noong time namin as students, but now, we have stories to tell, and that enriches us,” said Atty. Martinez-Clemente, explaining how their struggles as student journalists during her college years.
Her discussion also emphasized how much social media has altered and advanced the media landscape since she was a student-journalist.
“Lahat ngayon, journalist na,” said Atty. Martinez-Clemente, elaborating on how a lot of netizens are now highly participative in social media discourses.
Meanwhile, Atty. Timothy John Sanchez discussed the Bill of Rights and its implications for protecting people from the abuse of power. His discussion highlighted the importance of being vigilant against unlawful actions by those in power and how to respond to them.
Additionally, Mr. Kip Aivan Tundayag, a human rights officer at PHRO, addressed the issue of red-tagging and how to combat it. He shared stories of numerous civilians and students that were victimized by this practice and how they dealt with it.
Aside from The Oracle, The Work and other college publications such as The Educators’ Gazette of the College of Education, The Bureaucrat of the College of Public Administration and Governance, and The Stentorian of the College of Engineering were also present at the seminar.
Furthermore, organizations such as the Vessels of Humanity TSU – Vessel Cell and the Junior Philippine Society for Public Governance also attended.
The Provincial Human Rights Office of Tarlac (PHRO) extended their gratitude to The Oracle and other organizations that participated in the seminar and hoped to have them again in their next seminars.
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