By Atty. Antonio P. Pekas

I posted on Face Book the other day that we are celebrating the 30th Anniversary of ZigZag Weekly. It is now the oldest surviving newspaper in this region.
Hence, I was so happy to hear the part of Trump’s inaugural speech declaring he US as the land of free speech. Anything in the US Federal Government curtailing that freedom must be removed. What does that have to do with us in this good old Philippines? Since we are the land of “gaya-gaya”, hopefully, our leaders who always lack original ideas will follow suit.
As things are, the system is loaded against us in the press. Say something bad about how corrupt and bad politicians are in running things and you run the risk of being sued for libel. There is another kind more difficult to surmount and carries a higher penalty—cyber libel. Criticize a politician and he can sue you in Mindanao if he can show he is from there.
Any leader who has a sincere intention to make this country progress should fight for free speech. Sadly, we in the media had been calling for the decriminalizing of libel since forever and yer we are not being heeded. So we will remain backward. If libel is decriminalized, people cannot be sent to jail for committing it. They would be liable only for damages. That is, the one who sued can end up owning your house and lot and other assets such as your newspaper or your TV or radio station.
Another thing worthy of praise in the speech is the introduction of a new department in the US government. It is called Department of Government Efficiency. It is projected trillions of dollars will be saved if the federal government is properly stream lined.
Since we are “ gaya-gaya puto maya”, hopefully our government will also come up with a similar measure. Remove all incompetent and unnecessary government officers and employees who got hired only because of the insistence of politicians. But if that happens there might be no more Philippine government officers and employees left.**