There is no genuine press freedom in the Philippines while a journalist unjustly remains in jail, media groups said on World Press Freedom Day today, May 3.
Media groups People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya) and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) both called for the liberty of Tacloban-based journalist and broadcaster Frenchie Mae Cumpio who has been in jail for more than three years.
“This 30th World Press Freedom Day, the struggle for a genuinely free press in the Philippines persists as community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio remains unjustly detained in Tacloban City,” Altermidya said in a statement.
Charged with terrorism-related cases, Cumpio is also appealing the forfeiture of hundreds of thousands of pesos the police said she was using to finance rebellion.
Cumpio was among human rights defenders and activists arrested in February 2020 in simultaneous raids by the police.
“The Altermidya Network continues to call for the dismissal of all fabricated charges and immediate release of our fellow community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio,” the media group said.
“We have no doubt that elements of the state are behind prolonging Frenchie’s case as she is a fierce government critic who upholds the interest of the people in her reportage,” it added.
Meanwhile, NUJP said that while there have been recent press freedom victories, such as in the acquittal of Maria Ressa and Rappler of tax evasion cases, many journalists are still facing threats.
NUJP said that prior to their arrest, Cumpio had been red-tagged and subjected to surveillance by the police and the military and that charges against her are based on testimony from questionable witnesses.
“The slow pace of (Cumpio’s) case — especially in contrast with the quick resolution of other, more high profile ones — is a violation of her right to a quick trial and also deprives the communities on (Eastern Visayas) that she used to report on and for,” NUJP said.
Other press freedom violations
NUJP said that Cumpio’s case is just one among several other press freedom violations in the Philippines.
The group said that since the Rodrigo Duterte administration, there have been attempts to convince journalists to disaffiliate from groups like the NUJP and outright attempts to paint the independent and alternative press as “enemies of the state.”
“While these attempts have been toned down under the new administration, they have continued. Attempts to organize within our ranks — and among citizens in general — are viewed with suspicion, if not vilified outright,” the group revealed.
NUJP and Altermidya also complain of government orders to block Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly news websites, as well as the “weaponization” of laws against freedom of expression and opinion, including the Anti-Terrorism and SIM Card Registration acts.
The groups also recalled government-led attacks against the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Rappler and ABS-CBN as well as the still unresolved murders of journalists Renato Blanco and Percy Lapid who were killed under the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/frenchie.jpg600800Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2023-05-03 16:41:162023-05-04 08:49:55Press Freedom Day ignites with demands for journalist’s liberty
I was a broadcasting student at UP Diliman, and Journalism 101 was part of the syllabus. But I had no plans of becoming a journalist, and I didn’t really concern myself with current affairs.
I thought I was going to be a hotshot TV-and-film director. This was before there were smartphones. We shot our projects with MiniDV handycams. The iPod, a music player that didn’t require CDs or tapes, was just a rumor.
I remember next to nothing from my Journ 101 classes. What I do remember in vivid detail was the time I made Professor Teodoro so fuming mad, I worried he was going to have a heart attack.
My friend Naomi and I sat on the back row of his class – very telling of how much interest we had in the subject. That day, a new issue of a university paper that was a parody of The Collegian was going around. In the middle of class, Naomi nudged me and showed me something funny – inappropriate – on the back page. I don’t remember what it was, but I blurted out in laughter.
It was a scene out of a jackass movie where the whole class turns to look at you, tutting their disapproval.
I had never offended a teacher before that. I was a teacher’s pet all through elementary and high school, and I’d generally been cool with my college profs. It’s just that journ class bored me to death, and I didn’t think I’d have anything to do with journalism.
Even I was in shock and disbelief at the creature I had, at that moment, become.
“Who laughed?” Professor Teodoro demanded to know.
I raised my hand.
I forget what he had been discussing, but it was, like all of his lectures, serious. In so many words, he told me how dare I laugh in the face of such profundities. How dare I make light of a subject, of a practice, of a tradition for which he and his contemporaries had been incarcerated and tortured, even murdered.
He was so angry he was trembling. I half-expected him to faint. His eyes behind his thick glasses watered.
He walked away from the whiteboard and towards the window. He held on to the sill, and I thought he was being dramatic. The light from outside cut him a sharp profile from where I sat.
He then started talking about the mortal dangers he and his contemporaries lived through while fighting the Marcos dictatorship. He mentioned Amando Doronila who I gathered was his friend and an equally battle-scarred journo.
I think back on this now and I realize it might not have been anger that riled him up but frustration. Frustration at how, no matter how sharp, eloquent, beautiful, profound his lectures were, the message was still lost on the likes of me – heathen children of a younger generation privileged to not have known mortal crisis.
The heat of his rage dissipated and his tone mellowed. Still by the window where the light outlined his sharp nose and tall forehead, he talked about the struggles of the era we were lucky to have missed. He talked about jail. I couldn’t imagine him, the most dignified man I had ever met, a prisoner.
I imagined myself as a prisoner. I asked my self, fleetingly, if I would ever let myself be so given to a cause like patriotism or free speech that I’d end up a prisoner.
No, thanks, Professor. Thank you for your sacrifices. But I am a soft child of my fortunate generation. I am sorry you lived through a terrible time, but now is a different time. A more enlightened time. People and the world have evolved, and we don’t need to inherit your hard-skinned virtues.
My thoughts at the time. And then life and current events happened. Here I am, a journalist.
I understand now how events can turn so that a good, dignified man can end up in prison. That powerful people with much to lose are capable of torture and other nasty things because, like every other person, they’re selfish, but the stakes for them are much higher, and they’d probably long sold their soul to get to that level of wealth and influence anyway.
I’ve now seen for myself the [many forms of] oppression the Professor battled. I now try to battle them myself as another wielder of a pen. I now ride the nag I inherited from him and his contemporaries to confront dragons disguised as windmills. I, like him, now even make references to literary classics.
Time has a way of teaching you the lessons you missed when they were first taught to you, right? I’ve found myself staring out of windows a few times, wondering what went wrong and what I could have done differently and how else I could communicate what I think people need to understand. In the few years since our democracy started to decline, I’ve been in a constant rage, wanting to both embrace and destroy this heathen generation that can’t seem to recognize its own good.
I don’t think Professor Teodoro would have remembered me. I did hope to find myself again in the same room as him and introduce myself as that student who laughed during his class two decades ago, and say that I am sorry. Not just for disrespecting him, but for taking his message for granted.
That message found another way to reach me, and I still cannot really claim to be his student in the real sense of the word. But at least I think he would have enjoyed the irony and savored the poetic justice time has served him.
I could wish his heart wasn’t broken by our country’s recent history, but I am certain it was. I, the heathen who only recently came to the light, am heartbroken. How could he, who had wagered far more for the cause than anyone, not be?
His sun set under the rule of the same family that terrorized his generation. If we are headed for darker times, then his passing is a mercy to one who has fought battles long enough.
Because what I did pick up as the man averted his gaze from me that day I disrespected him was that he would never, ever, have stopped fighting. Even then, he seemed frail of body, but I saw his spirit, and it made me tremble. Only his body could fail him.
Rest in peace, Professor Teodoro. Please forgive me. #
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/LVT-Titus-Brandsma-1.webp427640Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2023-03-15 13:16:072023-03-15 13:42:46I was Luis Teodoro's student, and I took it for granted
Gunmen killed a broadcaster in Las Pinas City on Monday, the second media worker killed under the three month-old Ferdinand Marcos Jr. presidency.
Percival Mabasa, known in the broadcast industry as Percy Lapid, was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital after two gunmen aboard a motorcycle fired at least two gunshots at the victim.
Described as a hard-hitting broadcaster, he was a critic of several Marcos and Rodrigo Duterte government officials.
Mabasa’s family said they are deeply saddened and angered by what they described as a “brutal and brazen killing of fearless broadcaster, father and husband, brother and friend.”
“We strongly condemn this deplorable crime; it was committed not only against Percy, his family, and his profession, but against our country, his beloved Philippines, and the truth,” the family said.
They added that the victim was highly respected by his listeners as well as peers and foes alike.
“His bold and sharp commentaries cut through the barrage of fake news over the air waves and on social media,” they added.
Mabasa was host of Lapid Fire radio show that aired on DWBL. Previously, he was a broadcaster with radio station DWIZ.
On his YouTube channel, Mabasa commented on the dangers of red-tagging, including that of the recent harassment of Manila Judge Marlo Magdoza-Malagar who ruled against the government’s proscription of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army as terrorist organizations.
Mabasa also recently commented on the security risks of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators and on historical distortion of Martial Law.
The victim is the second journalist to be killed under Marcos Jr. administration.
Radio broadcaster Rey Blanco was stabbed to death in Mabinay, Negros Oriental last September 18.
Immediate condemnation
Media and human rights organization also condemned the killing and joined Mabasa’s family in calling for justice.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said Mabasa’s murder shows that journalism remains a dangerous profession in the country.
“That the incident took place in Metro Manila indicates how brazen the perpetrators were, and how authorities have failed to protect journalists as well as ordinary citizens from harm,” the NUJP in a statement Tuesday said.
The Pinoy Media Center condemned Mabasa’s murder and called it another politically-motivated case of extrajudicial killing “to silence truth seekers and media practitioners.
The People’s Alternative Media Network also condemned the murder it said is part of a landscape of violence and intimidation against journalists and citizens.
The National Press Club and the organization of justice beat reporters also issued statements calling for justice for Mabasa.
Human rights group Karapatan joined in the calls for an independent investigation to hold the perpetrators accountable.
Karapatan also said it will join the condemnation rally organized by the NUJP at the Boy Scouts monument in Quezon City at six o’clock tonight. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
Over the past few months, several news sites have been subjected to cyber attacks.
According to a February 7 article in the Manila Bulletin, the websites of CNN Philippines, Rappler and Philstar.com have been attacked, purportedly by a group calling itself Pinoy Vendetta, a group that the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict has praised and has encouraged to take down more websites.
The websites of Altermidya and Bulatlat have also been targeted for three consecutive days.
In the same week, the websites of Inquirer.net and of One News have also briefly gone offline. Inquirer has yet to confirm that it was attacked but One News reports that some of its content is no longer available.
Last year, forensic investigation by Sweden-based Qurium Media Foundation shows that the distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks on alternative media websites have been linked to the Philippine Army, using the infrastructure of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
No less than the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) confirmed that the IP address used for the unauthorized vulnerability scan was assigned to the Philippine Army.
While the recent cases of DDoS against a number of corporate media outfits have not been investigated yet, the timing and frequency raise our suspicion that the cyber attacks are orchestrated, systematic, and politically motivated.
What is clear by now is that the ones behind these are so afraid of the truth that they try to put down the websites of news organizations.
Cyber censorship has no place in a democracy. It is deplorable that a publicly funded task force supports and promotes cyber attacks on news sites.
We call on the DICT and the National Bureau of Investigation Cybercrime Division to look into these incidents, stop the cyber attacks, identify and hold the perpetrators accountable.
We want to continue doing our duty to inform the citizenry; knowing that by doing so we aid them in their decision-making.
SIGNATORIES:
NUJP
NUJP Philstar chapter
NUJP NCR
Altermidya
Bulatlat
Kodao
Rappler
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DDOS-ATTACKS-e1624513935816.jpeg540908Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2022-02-16 13:08:302022-02-16 13:08:31JOINT STATEMENT: Stop the cyber attacks!
Kodao Productions was among the winners in this year’s Human Rights Pinduteros’s Choice Awards given by HRonlinePH.
Kodao’s post of Altermidya Network’s statement “On the incredulous red-tagging of Altermidya Network at the Dec. 1 Senate hearing” won in the awards’ Human Rights Network’s Posts category, receiving the most number of clicks in a poll held last November 10 to 25 on HRonlinePH’s website and Facebook page.
It condemned National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict’s red-tagging of Altermidya, an alliance of community journalist, independent media outfits, community radio broadcasters and grassroots film collectives.
Kodao’s deputy director for radio Raymund Villanueva said the media outfit dedicates the award to National Artist for Literature Bienvenido Lumbera and Commission on Human Rights Chairperson (CHR) Jose Luis Martin C. Gascon who both died of illness this year.
“Ka Bien had been our Board of Directors chairperson for the longest time and Chito had been our friend and supporter since he became CHR chairperson. Both were staunch human rights defenders,” Villanueva said.
For human rights heroes
HRonlinePH said its 11th Pinduteros’ Choice Awards is a recognition and appreciation of its human rights heroes who persevere in defending human rights.
“Through our annual gathering we recognize the significant contribution of individuals and groups for raising awareness, inspiring and acting for human rights,” HRonlinePH co-founder Jerbert Briola said.
HRonlinePH’s annual Pinduteros’ Choice Award is its traditional culmination of a two-day human rights conference that focuses on freedom of expression.
Other 11th Pinduteros’ Choice Awards winners were:
HR Pinduteros Choice for HR BLOGSITE: Minding Mindoro and beyond by Norman Novio
HR Pinduteros Choice for HR EVENT: A Story from the HeART by UP Educators’ Circle (UP EdCirc
HR Pinduteros Choice for HR VIDEOS: #SanaAllDapatAll Pantay at Patas | #WokeDTalk2021 Episode 1 by TFDP and Y4R
HR Pinduteros Choice for FEATURED OFF THE SHELF/RESOURCES: Tuligsa at iba pang mga Tula ni Rene Boy E. Abiva
HR Pinduteros Choice for FEATURED SITE: QUARANTALK MEDIA
HR Pinduteros Choice for HR CAMPAIGN: #BabaeMakapangyarihan by World March Of Women-Pilipinas
HR Pinduteros Choice for RIGHT-UP: Isang Bukas na Liham Para kay Bb. Angel Locsin by Jose Mario De Vega
HR Pinduteros Choice for WEBSITE: KARAPATAN Network for the Advancement of Peoples’ Rights
Karapatan won for the second year in a row.
The 11th Pinduteros’ Choice Awards also honored Forum Asia and the British Embassy in Manila with special plaques of appreciation for their support to HRonlinePH.
Briola said the awards is their contribution to the commemoration of International Human Rights Day that recognizes the dissemination, promotion and publication of materials, events, articles and articles on human rights.
“This year’s awardees did not waver in their commitment to human rights despite various obstacles and hardships. These defenders did not give up. This award is a recognition and celebration of their relentless advocacy for human rights in the midst of pandemic and tyranny,” Briola said. #
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/260366379_338378548123675_7153215399405942351_n.jpg513768Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2021-12-02 20:02:522021-12-09 21:57:24Kodao wins human rights award
Digital platforms linked to the Rodrigo Duterte government launched attacks on the websites of alternative media outfits and a human rights organization, a Sweden-based digital forensics group revealed.
Several internet protocol (IP) addresses linked to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Philippine Army attacked the websites of media outfits Bulatlat (Bulatlat.com) and Altermidya (Altermidya.net) and human rights group Karapatan (Karapatan.org), Qurium Media Foundation reported.
Qurium said that it was able to identify a vulnerability scan an attack on Bulatlat.com last May 18 by a machine from the DOST network with IP address 202.90.137{.}42.
The vulnerability scan sought potential weaknesses in the targeted network without permission from the system owner, Qurium said.
The group said the IP address’ certificate was registered to IP Solutions, Inc., a supplier of hardware and services to Philippine government agencies.
Another unit under the same IP address was registered to a certain “[email protected] Taguig Red Server.”
The “army.mil.ph” is the official domain and website of the Philippine Army.
The IP address was also traced to an edit in the Wikipedia entry “Chief of the Army (Philippines)” last June 10, 2021, Qurium said.
The series of attacks also included “HTTP flood attacks”, a type of volumetric Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack designed to overwhelm a targeted server with seemingly legitimate HTTP requests.
Kodao was first to announce of an intense DDoS attack that coincided with the attacks on AlterMidya, Bulatlat and Karapatan.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines has issued separate alerts on both reports. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/4-1.jpg10632048Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2021-06-23 15:18:162021-06-23 15:18:18Group reveals attacks on media and human rights websites
A memorandum and attached project brief from Philippine National Police (PNP) Cagayan de Oro are instructing cops to employ pre-designated beneficiaries in the rollout of their Barangayanihan initiative, which is inspired by the Maginhawa Community Pantry.
Under the said project, police precincts will serve ‘breakfast lugaw’ to select constituents in respective barangays. They are required to cite the Maginhawa Community Pantry as inspiration and make it clear that the effort is a partnership between the precinct and barangay donors and stakeholders.
“Respective beneficiaries will take pictures of the activity and post in their respective FB accounts. These netizens can be planted beneficiary civilians so as to manifest community’s appreciation,” read the project brief.
Although the project brief is attached to the said PNP Regional Office 10 memo, it mentions implementation by almost all precincts in Manila Police District and “possibly the whole NCR and other regions” in the rollout phase from April 21 to 25. Moreover, the next phase from April 26 to May 2 instructs nationwide Barangayanihan.
During this phase, the police are likewise instructed to “ask or plant civilian beneficiaries to take pics/selfies and posting in respective [Facebooks] with appreciation captions and standard MANDATORY hashtags.”
The objectives of Barangayanihan, according to its project brief, include forging stronger ties with the grassroots through the “basic unit of society”, the barangay.
The police directive also explicitly states that “The more we manifest collaborations with the barangay citizenry, the more we gain grounds in the fight against insurgency”, confirming the suspicion of several critics that state forces are planning to use the community pantry against the progressive movement.
Hijacking community pantries?
A portion of the project brief reads “Respective beneficiaries will take pictures and post in their respective FB..”
The said memorandum listed among its references the PNP’s guidance and compliance under Executive Order 70, which institutionalized the whole-of-nation approach against insurgency and established the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).
Just last week, NTF-ELCAC executive director Allen Capuyan in a leaked Viber message encouraged the task force’s different clusters to partner with the public and private sectors to initiate community pantry-related activities.
Capuyan’s message read that the task force is encouraging its clusters, including the Peace, Law Enforcement and Development Support (PLEDS), the Poverty Reduction Livelihood and Empowerment Cluster (PRLEC), etc. to start their own community pantry activities.
The PNP memo to organize precinct-run community pantries seems to come from this directive from NTF-ELCAC. Former Bayan Muna party-list representative Teddy Casiño said that the task force’s latest approach follows the controversial red-tagging of community pantries by NTF-ELCAC officials Communications Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy and Lieutenant General Antonio Parlade Jr., which drew huge flak from the public.
“Ok sana kung gustong magtayo ng community pantry ng mga pulis. Pero naman, pati ba ito tataniman nila?” Casiño tweeted.
“Clearly, after failing to discredit and intimidate the community pantry movement, the NTF-ELCAC, police and military establishment are poised to hijack it due to their paranoia that it’s all a communist plot,” he said. “They simply can’t leave a good thing alone.”
In a statement, labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said that the huge budget of the PNP should instead be rechannelled to cash aid for the poor. The Barangayanihan, it said, is a “publicity stunt” that hijacks pantries and attempts to conceal the government’s failure in addressing the pandemic.
“Desperadong hakbang ito gamit ang buwis ng mamamayan,” KMU leader Jerome Adonis said.”Ideretso nyo na ang pera sa mamamayan sa pamamagitan ng P100 daily wage subsidy at P10k ayuda.”
With reports from Ratziel San Juan
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Web-PNP-COMMUNITY-PANTRY_kaye-908x540-1.png540908Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2021-04-27 17:06:182021-04-30 08:00:27‘TANIM PILA’: Memo instructs police to use ‘planted’ beneficiaries at community pantries
Media groups and supporters held a biking event Sunday morning to commemorate the anniversary of the arrest of a journalist in Tacloban City on what they claim are trumped up charges.
Members of the People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya), the International Association of Women in Radio and Television-Philippine Chapter, and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) biked around Quezon City to call for the dropping of charges against Eastern Vista executive director Frenchie Mae Cumpio.
The bikers along Quezon Avenue on their way to the Commission on Human Rights.
Cumpio was arrested and charged with illegal possession of firearms and explosives by the Philippine National Police (PNP), allegations uniformly leveled against arrested critics of the Rodrigo Duterte government.
The event also called for the immediate release of Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem whose case was dismissed by the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court just last Friday due to inconsistencies in the statements submitted by police witnesses.
Salem was arrested by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the PNP last December 10, International Human Rights Day.
She remains in jail, however, pending the issuance of a release order by the court.
The bike event started at the University of the Philippines and made its first stop at ABS-CBN where a brief program was held.
The bikers pedaled on to the statue of press freedom icon Joaquin Roces and then to the Commission on Human Rights were programs were also held.
Altermidya national coordinator Rhea Padilla and Let’s Organize for Democracy and Integrity convenor Tonyo Cruz vowed to continue their struggle to free Cumpio and Salem.
ABS-CBN Rank and File Employees Union president Jon Villanueva for his part thanked the media organizations and press freedom advocates for their continuing support to the beleaguered network.
ABS-CBN Rank and File Employees Union president Jon Villanueva.
Members of the Photojournalists Center of the Philippines welcomed the bikers at ABS-CBN.
The NUJP meanwhile hailed Mandaluyong RTC Presiding Judge Monique Quisumbing-Ignacio’s cancellation of the search warrant used against Salem that “suffered from vagueness.”
“Even as we eagerly await Icy’s (Salem) return to freedom, we denounce the gross injustice she was subjected to by the agents of a government bent on suppressing the independent media and freedom of expression,” the NUJP said.
In a separate statement, the NUJP demanded the release of Cumpio it said was arrested and is being detained on spurious charges.
“The ordeal of Frenchie Mae is part of the increasing persecution of the critical media by the forces of a government so intolerant of criticism and dissent that the mere exercise of democratic rights is enough for one to be branded an ‘enemy of the state,’” the NUJP said. # (Report and photos by Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/4.jpg540720Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2021-02-07 14:36:372021-02-07 14:50:00Journos pedal for jailed colleagues
The year 2020 had been particularly bad for journalism in the Philippines that saw more media workers killed, arrested, jailed and lose their jobs, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) reported.
The media group said four journalists have been killed in the Philippines, including Cornelio Pepino in Negros Oriental last May 5; Jobert Bercasio in Sorsogon last September 14; Virgilio Maganes in Pangasinan last November 10; and Ronnie Villamor in Masbate last November 14.
Villamor was shot dead by the Philippine Army that claimed the journalist was a communist supporter and killed in an encounter.
Maganes, who survived the first slay attempt against him in 2016 by playing dead, was killed inside their family compound in Villasis, Pangasinan.
“Their deaths have brought the total of media killings under Duterte to 19, and to 191 since 1986,” the NUJP said.
The International Federation of Journalists lists the Philippines as among the most dangerous countries for journalists in the world in 2020.
Their killing of four Filipino media workers figured in the list of 60 journalists killed worldwide in 2020 by the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
The IFJ list made the Philippines the fourth most dangerous country for journalists in the world in 2020, along with Syria and after India (8 killed), Pakistan (7), Afghanistan (7).
The list made the country the most dangerous in Southeast Asia as well.
Twenty-seven journalists were killed in the Asia-Pacific, the most dangerous region for journalists in 2020.
Arrests and detention
Seven journalists have also been arrested, at least two of whom remain detention, both women and executives of alternative media outfits.
Those arrested in 2020 include Glenn Jester Hitgano in Jan. 21 (arbitrarily arrested during coverage); Frenchiemae Cumpio in Feb. 7 (illegal firearms possession); Ramil Traya Bagues in Aug. 18 (cyber-libel); Rommel Ibasco Fenix in Sept. 15 (libel and violation of Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009); Virgilio Avila Jr. in Nov. 10 (cyber-libel); Mia Concordia in Nov. 10 (cyber-libel); and Lady Ann Salem in Dec. 10 (illegal possession of firearms and explosives).
Cumpio, executive director of alternative media outfit Eastern Vista, was sleeping at a church group’s dormitory when arrested in the dead of night.
Her case was among those cited by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights report in June last year as a clear case of human rights violation.
Partial Committee to Protect Journalists list of jailed media workers where Frenchie Mae Cumpio appears.
Cumpio’s imprisonment also made it to the list of 274 journalists jailed in 2020 globally by the New-York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The CPJ said the number was “a new high…as governments cracked down on coverage of COVID-19 or tried to suppress reporting on political unrest.”
Salem, editor of alternative news outfit Manila Today was arrested, of all days, on International Human Rights Day.
The NUJP has reported Salem’s case to the CPJ but the latter’s list has yet to include her name.
Salem is currently is in a Covid-19 isolation protocol at the Mandaluyong City Jail after her transfer from the Philippine National Police’s jail facility at Camp Crame.
CPJ infographic on countries where journalists have been jailed in 2020.
The rest of the arrested Filipino journalists were able to post bail, except Bagues whose current status the NUJP is trying to find out.
Red-tagging and charges
The NUJP said that the Philippine government had been especially vicious against the press the past year as compared to the first three years of the Rodrigo Duterte government.
“[B]ad as the first three years were, 2020 trumped them all as Duterte and his minions ramped up their attacks on the free press even as the COVID-19 pandemic began to make its deadly grip felt,” the NUJP said.
The media group said the Duterte government displayed a “most brazen abuse of state power” by red-tagging journalists and media institutions.
Aside from Cumpio and Salem, various government agencies and officials red-tagged alternative media outfits Kodao Productions, Bulatlat, Pinoy Weekly, Northern Dispatch, Panay Today, Manila Today, Radyo Natin-Guimba as well as dominant media organizations ABS-CBN, Rappler, CNN-Philippines, among many others.
Veteran journalist and NUJP director and former chairperson Nestor Burgos Jr. had also been red-tagged.
Editors and staff of Baguio City-based Northern Dispatch faced various police-instigated charges in court throughout last year.
Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and former researcher-writer Rey Santos Jr. were judged guilty in June last year of libelling a businessman with links to Duterte.
Maria Ressa in a press briefing after her conviction of libel last June 15. (Photo by R. Villanueva)
ABS-CBN closure
The NUJP said the pandemic gave Duterte convenient cover to make good his repeated threats to shut down ABS-CBN, the Philippines’ biggest media conglomerate.
As threats of arrest forced the growing crowds that had rallied to the beleaguered network since late last year to stand down, the House of Representatives allowed ABS-CBN’s franchise to lapse, forcing the network to stop broadcasting on May 5.
On May 5, the network stopped broadcasting and, two months later, in June, the majority of the House committee on congressional franchises sealed its fate, voting to deny it a new franchise to operate.
Duterte thus become the second president after Ferdinand Marcos to force ABS-CBN off the air, the NUJP said.
The closure left thousands jobless and the loss of ABS-CBN regional stations also left many areas without their major source of news and entertainment.
The full extent of this would become clear during typhoons Rolly and Ulysses that caught millions of victims previously dependent on ABS-CBN news and alerts unaware of the hazards of the disasters, the NUJP said.
“We strongly condemn the NTF-ELCAC’s callous, dangerous, and evidence-less red-tagging of the Altermidya network,” media organizations including the Asian Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University, the University of the Philippines Department of Journalism, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, the Consortium on Democracy and Disinformation, the Foundation for Media Alternatives, MindaNews, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and the Philippine Press Institute as well as media outfits Rappler and VERA Files said.
Bright spots
All was not gloomy in 2020, however, as there had been bright spots in the local media community’s defense of press freedom, the NUJP said.
“Not least of this was the successful push to have UNESCO revert the status of the Ampatuan massacre to ‘unresolved’ after it was pointed out that the legal process is not finished and 76 suspects are still at large and will need to be tried should they be arrested, the media group said.
The NUJP also cited other notable victories such as the case of GMA workers who sued the network over unfair labor practices
In February, the Court of Appeals decided to reinstate, with no loss of seniority and with full back wages, 51 employees who had been illegally terminated while the Supreme Court in September ruled to reinstate 30 cameramen and assistant cameramen illegally dismissed by GMA in 2013.
The NUJP also said that despite “continuing efforts of the enemies of truth to spread disinformation, the media community has, by and large, successfully fended them off, including the paid influencers and trolls of government.”
“As we thankfully bid goodbye to 2020, we are also aware of what could be even greater challenges and threats to freedom of the press and of expression in 2021 and beyond…And so we look forward to 2021 resolved to continue defending and pushing the boundaries for press freedom in our land,” the NUJP said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/6.jpg13652048Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2021-01-01 11:40:102021-01-01 11:40:122020 saw most brazen abuses vs journalism—NUJP
[UPDATED] A journalist was among those arrested by the Philippine National Police in a wave of arrests today, International Human Rights Day.
Lady Ann Salem, editor of alternative news site Manila Today, was arrested by the police at 9AM at her residence in Mandaluyong City.
Salem inside an unmarked police car this morning. (Photo by a relative)
She was first taken to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) headquarters in Quezon City but was whisked to a Pasig City police office just as her lawyer Kristina Conti arrived.
Conti and Manila Today staff followed the police van to Pasig City but were led to a chase that ended in Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City where Salem is now being detained.
Salem, a graduate of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP-CMC), co-founded the alternative media group Tudla and was among those who attended the founding assembly of the People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya) in 2010.
She is also a fellow of the Graciano Lopez Jaena Community Journalism Workshop of UP-CMC.
Tudla and Manila Today are chapters of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.
Salem is also the communications officer of the global media group International Association of Women in Radio and Television.
Since 2AM this morning, the police had been raiding homes and arresting trade union organizers.
Dennise Velasco of Defend Jobs Philippines was first to be arrested at their home in Lagro, Quezon city by the CIDG and was taken to Camp Karingal, headquarters of the Quezon City Police District.
Like many other arrested activists, the police alleged that Velasco was in possession of guns and explosives.
In a Facebook Live post, Velasco’s wife Diane Zapata denied they were keeping such items at their home.
She in turn accused the police of planting them while they were ordered to lie face down for an hour and the police team had unhampered access to their house.
In a police report, the CIDG said it also arrested a Mark Ryan Cruz, Romina Raiselle Astudillo, Jaymie Gregorio, and Joel Demate in a wave of arrests in Quezon City, Mandaluyong and Manila that netted several guns, explosives and ammunition.
Human rights and media groups are organizing an online rally at 7PM tonight to demand for Salem and the trade union organizers’ freedom.
Indignation rallies are also scheduled Friday morning at Camp Karingal, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court and Camp Crame. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/4-1.jpg367648Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2020-12-10 17:38:362020-12-11 07:36:07Journalist, 6 trade union organizers arrested in police raids on human rights day
