"My life was empty when I was in hiding"

By Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
July 3, 2012

HONG KONG  –  "For over a year, I was in hiding. My life was empty," said Myrna Reblando as she shared her story to a group of local and international journalists in Hong Kong.

Myrna Reblando, the widow of Alejandro "Bong" Reblando, a journalist murdered in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, was one of the speakers at a panel entitled "How the Prevention of Torture Promotes the Freedom of Expression and Journalism in Asia." The panel was held at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong on June 25th. The speakers at the panel discussed the importance of freedom of expression with regard to the prevention of torture, sharing from their own personal and professional experiences.

Ms. Reblando, the former spokesperson of the Justice Now! Movement (the group comprising families of the massacred journalists seeking justice,) left the Philippines seeking political asylum due to death threats. She had a P3 million bounty on her head. She said "I decided to leave my country because people like me, who are seeking remedies and redress in our system of justice, had no protection.” She went on to say “I am a person who is being hunted for what I have spoken and without protection even from my own Philippine government. I did not feel protected, even with my own security escorts.”

Ms. Reblando is well aware of what can happen to a person who seeks legal redress in the Philippines’ justice system. “One of the dead is Jessie Upham,” she said. “He was one of the witnesses of the massacre. He was murdered before he could testify in court.”

"Thank God that I am here alive,” she said. “I can hardly imagine how close I was to death on so many occasions.” She expressed her deep gratitude to the Hong Kong Government for providing her shelter, food and protection during this time.

Ms. Reblando also explained why she felt the need to tell her story. “I felt that my person is useless; I am only thinking and living for myself. I felt that those who had threatened me had achieved what they wanted: to silence me, to push me back. I knew that I could do something."

Ms. Reblando renewed her commitment to ensure the protection of the complainants, witnesses and the families of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre case who struggle to seek justice and stay alive. She noted “to speak the truth has had a heavy cost on me and on my children. However, I have also realized that if we do not speak out, our aspirations of justice will not be achieved.”

Ms. Reblando reaffirmed the importance of the role of journalists by telling stories and reporting on the progress of the Maguindanao case. The journalists and the people “must never forget; we should not and must not forget.”

With regard to the procurement of legal remedies, Ms. Reblando said that "to express freely in pursuit of justice is possible. It is so where there are people who are willing to listen and hear. What I have said in the past and what I am saying now would not mean anything if you do not write about it," she said.

The event was organized by the AHRC and the Centre for Comparative and Public Law (CCPL) at the University of Hong Kong.

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