Thread by @rapplerdotcom

In this interview, Korina Sanchez tells Rappler's @mariaressa what it felt like to watch as ABS-CBN went off-air two days after #WorldPressFreedomDay. #DefendPressFreedom

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@mariaressa Korina begins with a disclaimer: Whatever I say, whatever my opinions are… these are not reflective of the corporate stand of ABS-CBN.

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@mariaressa Sanchez: I'm not really surprised. I'm not in disbelief. I mean, we live in times where world leader can actually say you can gulp down Lysol... to kill COVID-19, right?

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@mariaressa Sanchez: There have been just too many pronouncements of threats about the shutdown of ABS-CBN, notwithstanding the Senate inquiry and all the other memorandums. But no, I'm not surprised, and that's a sad, sad thing.

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Sanchez: These are unusual times. I think there's a journalist in everyone and that part of us, Maria, we can never shut off.

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Sanchez: I still remember so vividly the days of my early 20s when democracy and freedom of the press had just been restored in 1986, 30-something years ago after the EDSA revolution. That was a really glorious, glorious time for journalism.

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Sanchez: It was a glaring contrast when we came back with that freedom restored. A show like ‘Hoy, Gising!’ would be born, wherein a 20-something-year-old can actually call out to President Aquino and say, “You're not doing your job right.”

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Sanchez: In the testing of the limits of those powers, you commit infractions. I've gotten myself into one trouble or another, but the democratic system corrects itself.

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Sanchez: The landscape today, to me, is just unrecognizable. It's so, so far from those days, when we can go on here and tell the president exactly what we thought of him or her at that time.

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Sanchez: My reaction is a question. It's like, yeah, okay, we're waiting for what the courts are going to say. But really, it didn't really have to get there.

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Korina on the shutdown of ABS-CBN in the 1970s: I would imagine that [it] should not be so easy to happen anymore. But then the answer to that question really relies on the definition of democracy itself. All for and by the people.

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Sanchez: Is he [President Duterte] also testing the limits of his powers the way we journalists tested it in 1986? And is he going to learn from what could be an infraction?

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Sanchez: If you let it pass, it can escalate into something else. If you give him a finger, he might want two or three or your whole arm the next time. So testing the limits of the powers will again depend on the majority.

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Sanchez: I guess there are just some things that you cannot not say, especially during times when it calls for you to speak out... to lean in, to be counted, and to stand by what you really believe in.

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Sanchez: I am not per se against the administration. I think some of the stuff that they do are good. I have many friends in the Duterte administration, but I think what is so clear is what's wrong and what's right in this case.

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Sanchez: You have a Senate inquiry that categorically stated a Provisional Authority would be given.

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Sanchez: We have a memorandum order that says, okay, all media outlets whose franchises are lapsing by Apr 2020 and all those within the ECQ lapse will be allowed to be operational until 60 days after the NPC cue. I mean, come on. It does not take an Einstein to figure that out.

Rappler’s @mariaressa asks: What's your fearless forecast? How would you describe Filipinos today?

Sanchez: Let me just mention, just to give credit to the larger majority because we're not the only thinkers.

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@mariaressa Sanchez: There's a hunger among Filipinos who care about what happens—well, first of all—to their families and loved ones and of course to the whole community, the whole country.

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#StandwithABSCBN

@mariaressa Sanchez likens the situation to a bank: When you're not able to pay interest on interest on a loan, it's not like the bank automatically shuts you down. There are mitigating conditions that will require them to reach out because lives are at stake.

@mariaressa Sanchez: They don't really close you down. Kabuhayan ‘yan, eh.

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@mariaressa Sanchez: I think these regular thinkers are getting it right. And that's what I'm getting. I only have a million followers, others have, like super millions, but I can tell from the fair share of demographics, among all, that they get it.

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@mariaressa Sanchez: You just don't do that. You don't do it that way. And the utter absence of goodwill lends to suspicion. And when there's smoke, there's fire.

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@mariaressa Sanchez: So ibig sabihin, huwag magagalit ang administrasyon sa journalists kasi ‘yung common tao, nakukuha nila, eh. Naiintindihan nila. We are just there to be their mouths.

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@mariaressa Sanchez: Fearless forecast: I would like to say that #NeverAgain.

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@mariaressa Sanchez: We can relive those glorious days again… Journalism is a bit unrecognizable today, from 30 years ago, but we can get there again.

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Sanchez: Let this be a lesson to all of us that we cannot stay quiet. We can't blink an eye and we just have to do our part because what we have is what we deserve.

That is a wRap! Watch this #RapplerTalk episode here. #DefendPressFreedom