With Bloggers’ Kapihan’s bold plan to launch blogs authored by Jun Lozada (yeah, remember him?!) and Ed Panlilio, the blogging community could be headed to a position that places is dead center in the cross hairs of the Arroyo government’s sights. Lozada was one of the most talked about personalities until recently due to his statements regarding the ZTE deal. He has been muffled in recent weeks because of high fuel prices and a looming food crisis that have dominated the headlines, effectively rendering people much less interested about a shady under-the-table deal with a Chinese firm.

Panlilio is a well-loved charismatic figure whose decision to turn away from priesthood to serve his fellow Kapampangans continue to draw mixed reactions to this very day. Since he started his term, he has also exposed revenue discrepancies in the quarrying operations in the province from the previous years. Among Ed barely won the gubernatorial race and the other elected officials in Pampanga seem to keen in reminding them of that fact. Despite holding the highest office in the province, he seems to be a leader with his hands tied.

The current administration has been very particular regarding keeping unnecessary information out of the press’ and public’s hands. Blogging has always been a viable platform that enables people to broadcast their message to an almost infinite audience but for some reason, those who have been muffled and disenfranchised in the past have chosen to just keep what they know to themselves. You can blame the technological divide and the generational gap, but you just know that these people who have been told to shut are probably just dying to get their side of the story. Opening the path to blogging to people like Lozada and Panlilio seems to be a double-edged sword.

While the value of freedom of expression is undeniable and is arguably a concept that should almost supersede any other idea out there, this move also exposes the once sheltered community of bloggers to possible run-ins with the administration. If there are thousands of people who are willing to read to a heartbroken and vindictive man’s repetitive and poorly-written diatribe against the person who stole his money, could you just imagine how much more people would be interested in a blog written by cult figures like Lopez and Panlilio?

In countries like Egypt and China, bloggers have gone to jail because of the things that they wrote against the state’s official religion and elected leaders. It is not a far stretch to extrapolate such incidents to happen in the Philippines. Filipino political bloggers have always had their way all these years. No one has ever been charged and they could criticize using the strongest terms but what happens once the spotlight finally hits this corner of cyberspace.

The Boy Bastos incident of 2007 showed that the government can in fact do something that is remarkably similar to the beginning of a “cyber crackdown”. With more eyes and ears listening in to blogs, we may be just a few months away from seeing our first blogger arrest.

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