“It’s either we defend everyone’s democracy and liberties, or we leave our own vulnerable to attack.”
This was Senator Leila De Lima’s statement on Sunday as she urged Filipinos to defend Jover Laurio, the person behind the Pinoy Ako Blog (PAB) Facebook page.
Laurio, whose blog is critical of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, revealed her identity on Friday after she was allegedly “harassed and threatened” online by the President’s supporters.
“They were able to force me to reveal my identity but they cannot stop me from blogging. I know I am in the right. They cannot do anything to me as a person and a blogger. They can’t stop me from expressing my freedom of speech,” she said in a previous interview with Inquirer.
READ: Anti-Duterte blogger comes out in the open
While people who peddle fake news should be hold accountable, De Lima said Filipinos should defend “anyone and everyone who is in the rightful, responsible and accountable exercise of their rights.”
“We may espouse opposing views, but we are all – all of us – beneficiaries and, therefore, defenders of those rights. Hindi pwedeng ‘what is your right is my right, but what is my right is my right alone’. It doesn’t – and won’t – work that way. It’s either we defend everyone’s democracy and liberties, or we leave our own vulnerable to attack,” she added.
By defending PAB, De Lima said people could also honor and defend revolutionary newspapers and heroes before.
“Just think, by defending PAB’s rights, we are defending the same rights that would have protected La Solidaridad and allowed it to achieve the ends it wanted to achieve,” the senator said.
“By defending Ms. Laurio’s rights in using the name ‘Pinoy Ako Blog’ and writing what she writes, we uphold the same rights that could have protected Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, and Antonio Luna (to name a few, every time they wrote under the pen names ‘Dimasalang’, or ‘Laong-Laan’, ‘Plaridel’, ‘Diego Laura’ and ‘Taga-Ilog’). By defending PAB, we honor and defend our heroes,” she added. /je