January 15, 2013. 1800 hrs. I received a call from a woman reader who did not want to give her name. When asked, she merely identified herself as a Filipino Muslim.
She referred to a story published in the January 2013 issue about an Afghan girl who was killed over her refusal to marry.
The telephone caller asked me why it had to be published in Philippine Sentinel. She commented that “it had no relevance to the Philippines or Australia and that the story was anti-Muslim.”
I told the caller that Philippine Sentinel is read not just by Filipinos but by many other nationalities, not only in Australia but also by people from all over the world who visit its website <www.philippinesentinel.org>
Though I emphasized to her that readers do not have editorial rights, I nevertheless invited this Filipino Muslim to send me an email and I would gladly publish the content as a letter to the editor.
For the sake of people with Islamic sentiments, the best answer I could give is that the story is of human interest and publication was an exercise of editorial prerogative. — Dino Crescini