COTABATO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / May 10, 2012) – “Security Risk,” written on the photo caption of the Philippine Daily Inquirer of a Muslim woman in burqa – shaking hands with President Benigno Aquino – has drawn protests and condemnation from various groups in Mindanao and demanded an apology from the newspaper.
“SECURITY RISK? President Aquino greets a Muslim woman wrapped in a burqa and niqab during the oath-taking of officers in charge of the ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly held in Malacañang on Tuesday (May 8). The unidentified woman is reportedly a relative of one of the officers,” the caption reads on the newspaper’s front page.
Comments posted by Filipino Muslims on Internet forums and on the social media network Facebook largely blamed the newspaper and the Philippine media for what they branded was an insult and a racist statement.
Jun Datu-Ramos, Director of the Bureau of External Relations of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, said the Philippine Daily Inquirer must apologize to the Muslims for its unfair photo caption.
“The Muslim Moros demand apology from the unfair caption of the PDI,” he said in his Facebook account.
“The Muslim minority in the country and the objective readers of the prestigious PDI are disturbed and hurt with this blatantly bigoted caption. Such labeling of a Muslim woman, wearing such kind of religious fit, can put the Muslims again in the bad light.”
“There is a clear discrimination in that unfair byline. The PDI, as a fair and truthful newspaper in the country, should put everything in the right perspective. The photograph with the caption only aggravates the bad and biased perception against the besmirched Muslim populace,” he added.
Even President Aquino’s gesture of greeting the Muslim woman by shaking her hands also drew criticisms from the social media sites, saying it was “haram” or forbidden in Islam.
“The burqa woman shouldn’t have allowed herself to submit to a handshake with a stranger even if he is the president. It’s an ethical no-no in Islamic adab, decorum. Both sides are at fault here. We know that most national dailies are into “bad-news-sells” syndrome. PDI thinks Muslims are bad news, as usual,” a Muslim historian Norodin Alonto Lucman said in an Internet forum ARMM Watch.
The media watchdog National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said it was deeply concerned about the caption which appeared on the May 9 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“It is disturbing that the paper cleared such a blatantly bigoted caption, especially after the firestorm of criticism it reaped in the wake of the Demetrio Vicente fiasco, when PDI ran a series of unflattering photos of the stroke victim when he appeared at the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona and labeled it ‘Character witness’.”
“We are also bothered by the thought that because of the caption writer’s irresponsibility, the blame might be unfairly laid on the photographer whose byline accompanies the photograph. Clearly, the PDI owes an apology and an explanation to the public, to Muslims and to its own staff photographer,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
The Philippine Center for Photojournalism said the photo caption was “uncalled for, insensitive and even libelous” in a letter sent to Leticia Magsanoc, the Editor-in-Chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer; Jose Nolasco, its Managing Editor; Artemio Engracia, Jr., its News Editor; Ruben Alabastro, the paper’s News Day Desk Chief; Nilo Paurom, its Page One Operations Chief.
“Although the burka is frowned upon in some Western societies, it remains to be part of the culture of Islamic societies. We believe labeling a dress a security risk does not take into account the nuances of the Islamic culture. It is also an affront to the minority Muslim population of this country that a symbol of Muslim culture is labeled outright a security risk and further fuels the stereotyping of our Muslim brothers as terrorists.”
“We therefore request that the Philippine Daily Inquirer, being a respected publication and a leading newspaper in the country, exercise the proper course of action by issuing a retraction and printing a public apology to the offended parties,” it said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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