‘Lapid was exceptionally relentless and feisty on various issues during the past administration.’
WHOEVER masterminded the murder of prominent broadcaster Percy Lapid would have likely planned it during the past administration and waited for the current government to take over. This would make it somehow hard for investigators to connect the crime to its cause, unless a major breakthrough in the case unfolds.
Lapid was exceptionally relentless and feisty on various issues during the past administration. His recent tirades against the former President, who he said was out to bring down President Marcos Jr., was especially offensive. There was no stopping Lapid.
President Marcos Jr. should express his condemnation of the cold-blooded killing of Lapid instead of a mere concern that he conveyed through an undersecretary, while an international media coalition has openly made its strong condemnation. His and Malacanang officials’ expressions of support for media freedom and protection are wanting.
I told my three classes at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila to personally express their sympathies at the wake of the fallen journalist at the Manila Memorial Park. Lapid left six children.
During our class discussion on “Communication, Culture and Society” last week, most of my students had expressed their strong indignation over his violent death at the hands of assassins. I reminded them that rhetorics are palpably dismal compared to the personal outpouring of condolences to exhibit their genuine sincerity to the grieving family. Several of them said they remained undaunted in becoming journalists.
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From the book “Words To Die For” by Lawrence Kimbrough, the following is a brief account on William Wilberforce’s faith and purpose that compelled him to work tirelessly for the abolition of the slave trade in England. This should serve as an inspiration to some of our truly gifted and deeply committed legislators.
In his day, William Wilberforce was the rising star of the British Parliament, a young twenty-something bachelor with a smart list of ideas and a smooth way of expressing them. He enjoyed his early life of luxury and legislation.
“My first years in Parliament I did nothing – nothing to any purpose. My own distinction was my darkling object.”
But it wasn’t long in his storied career before the luster had lost its gleam and gloss. Yes, he dined and debated with people of prominence, he socialized with the suave and stylish, he was even best friends with William Pitt, the prime minister — an old acquaintance from college who was now his closest friend in government.
What was he really accomplishing in his life? Until he had a long talk with John Newton — well-known then for his dramatic conversion from slave trader to Christian servant and as the writer of famous hymns like ‘Amazing Grace.’ Wilberforce became aware that the very breath in his body and the eloquent voice that conveyed it, his position in the community and his growing influence in the nation, were on a loan from God — a ‘terrible, awe-inspiring trust.’
“Innocent men and women were being forced from their homeland, mashed so tightly into slave ships that nearly half failed to survive the heat, stench, and turmoil of the voyage.
Those fortunate enough to endure the trip were stripped naked upon their arrival, branded with a hot iron, yanked from their families, and put to work with little more than a mouthful to eat. The tiniest resistances were met with whips and knives, with melted wax poured boiling hot down their bodies, with salt and pepper smeared over open wounds… to make them think twice before it happened again. You’d think anyone would see that this was insane, barbaric, unbefitting of a world power?
“But for eighteen long years, Wilberforce was forced to battle constantly, facing defeat after defeat before his fellow colleagues, baring his back to unabashed personal criticism against ‘the damnable doctrine of Wilberforce and his hypocritical allies.’ Too many hands were in the till, too many nations benefitting from the barbarism, and it was not until the eve of his death that Wilberforce was able to hear the news: Slavery has been abolished throughout the entire British Empire. A final feather in his cap? A just reward for a life of suffering and slander? He would utter, ‘I have nothing whatsoever to urge but the poor publican’s plea, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’”
