Mach Alberto Fabe, Cagayan de Oro City
Updated: May 24, 2010 08:40 AM GMTPress Freedom Week opened in the Cagayan de Oro Archdioceseinsert.htm with prayers for nearly 70 Philippine journalists killed since 1992. Monsignor Rey Monsanto, in his homily for the Mass that opened the commemoration reminded journalists they are “very influential.” He urged them to exercise responsibility and use their influence for the good of the future generation. The Mass at the Press Freedom Monument near the Provincial Capitol on May 24 marks a week dedicated to press freedom in 1982 through an Executive Order of then Mayor Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. In 2008, the Provincial Board of Misamis Oriental passed a resolution declaring the last week of May as Provincial Press Freedom Week. Cagayan de Oro Press Club led the 28th Press Freedom Week celebration with the theme Truth Ushers in Hope Towards Fulfillment. “If you want fulfillment in your work, if you want fulfillment for society, if you want fulfillment for humanity, then actively seek the truth whatever it may cost,” Monsignor Monsanto urged media workers. The Committee to Protect Journalists lists 68 journalists killed in the Philippines since 1992. Last year alone, 34 Philippine reporters, cameramen and drivers were killed in the politically motivated massacre in Maguindanao, also in the south. Two of them were correspondents of the Cagayan de Oro-based Gold Star Daily. PM09806/1603 May 24, 2010 23 EM-lines (216 words) Concerts to support massacre victims Church leaders urge quick action, justice after massacre Slain journalists get posthumous awards