Revealing the Truth without Retaliation

INTRODUCTION

Many journalists are courageous, fearless and pay the ultimate price for revealing the truth about corruption and serious wrong-doing by police, military, politicians and business people. Frequently, there is retribution for those with the courage to expose evil.

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It is reported that 122 journalists were murdered around the world in 2024 alone. In 2022, four journalists were murdered in the Philippines. This brings it to a total of 140 Filipino journalists killed between 2000 and 2022. The Philippines is one of the most dangerous places to be a writer or journalist.

Retaliation for reporting the truth is not uncommon. Julian Assange founded Wikileaks which is an on-line “Drop Box” that publishes sensitive secret information. In 2010, Wikileaks published US military documents on the war in Afghanistan. Its exposure showed how weak was the security guarding state secrets. So, US prosecutors and intelligence agencies made Julian Assange the number one target. Then Wikileaks released more secret documents containing diplomatic cables and the history of the war in Iraq, including alleged war crimes. That sparked a renewed effort to extradite and convict Assange.

He was served with 18 criminal charges under the Espionage Act of 1917. Julian Assange and his lawyers challenged that 1917 law claiming that the law was a restriction of free speech under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. After more than a year of negotiations, a plea bargain was made.

Julian Assange would admit he got and published US secrets. Assange was handed down a sentence of five years and two months in prison that was already served in a UK prison, so he was free to go home after 14 years.

How precious is the right of free speech, to speak the truth and expose evil, to fight for justice, and never to give up in the face of persecution? I was sent to the Philippine immigration court by local officials to stand trial after I wrote an article published by Jose Burgos, a brave Filipino newsman, in We Forum in 1983.

I exposed the secret child sexual abuse of Filipino children as young as nine years old by US servicemen in Olongapo City. I was acquitted and declared innocent of damaging the reputation of the city.

Only one US officer was charged, but not in the Philippines, as US officials would not allow him to be extradited from the US. He escaped Philippine jurisdiction. Amid public outcry demanding justice, he was put on trial in Guam for multiple sex acts against a nine-year-old. He was found guilty and given a light sentence but no jail time.

Exposing the truth and promoting justice, whatever the cost, is the challenge everyone must face. The greatest secrets that need to be told are the acts of sexual abuse of children. Only when revealed will the truth set them free.

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