ALIENATED LABOR. That’s what being a journalist is all about. Loose change for a lot of life-threatening occupational hazards.
This comes as Sonny Fernandez, former director of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), called on media entities to seriously consider the welfare of media workers — like Itoh Son, a photojournalist who died early today while covering the Traslacion at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila.
Son, who comes from a family of mediamen, worked as news photographer of Saksi Ngayon, a daily tabloid notoriously famous in the media industry for non-payment of reporters, correspondents and contributors.
For the longest time, NUJP has been advocating for the safety and welfare of Filipino journalists.
According to fellow journalists covering the Traslacion, Son suffered a heart attack early Friday morning near the Quirino Grandstand.
Prior to his death, peers at the Manila beat claimed that he had been sick for days but continued covering pre-Traslacion events, including the “Pahalik.”
