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Int’l and local media groups call for Tacloban journalist’s freedom amid COVID

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Media organizations worldwide are calling for the release of Tacloban-based reporter Frenchie Mae Cumpio and other jailed journalists throughout Asia amid the sweeping coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter dated April 27, 74 organizations called on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Myanmar State Counsellor Aung Sun Suu Kyi, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, and Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong to release imprisoned journalists in response to calls from various quarters to decongest and prevent coronavirus contagion in jails.

The New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) began a campaign on March 30 called #FreeThePress, launching a petition and publishing an open letter to world leaders urging the immediate release of all journalists imprisoned for their work.

“Given that a staggering number of these imprisoned journalists are held in jails across the Asian continent, we are reiterating that call to your respective countries at this time of grave public health concern,” the letter reads.

The media and rights organizations said the release of the jailed journalists is in line with the protection of free press and the free flow of information at the current crucial times.

“For journalists jailed in countries affected by the virus, freedom is now a matter of life and death. Imprisoned journalists have no control over their surroundings, cannot choose to isolate, and are often denied necessary medical care,” it adds.

According to CPJ’s most recent annual prison census conducted last December 1, there were at least 63 journalists in prisons in Asia, including 48 in China, 12 in Vietnam, two in India, and one in Myanmar.

As of March 31, at least five journalists have been released, four in China and one in Vietnam, according to CPJ research.

However, at least five more journalists have been arrested since December 1, including Cumpio in the Philippines, Sovann Rithy in Cambodia, Chen Jiaping in China, Gautam Navlakha in India, and Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman in Pakistan.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Michael Forst supports the call for the release of Frenchie Mae Cumpio (Photo by Raymund B. Villanueva/Kodao)

Cumpio, reporter and executive director of the community media group Eastern Vista and a radio host at Aksyon Radyo in Palo, Leyte was arrested in a pre-dawn raid by the police at a Church-owned property on allegations of illegal possession of firearms and explosives.

Cumpio’s colleagues and supporters said the police charges are not only trumped-up but ridiculous.

The letter, sent electronically to the said heads of state, was signed by 74 media, press freedom and human rights organizations, including the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

“Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees everyone the right to freedom of opinion and expression without interference and the right to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,” the letter notes.

It further cites the World Health Organization: “People deprived of their liberty, and those living or working in enclosed environments in their close proximity, are likely to be more vulnerable to the COVID-19 disease than the general population.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Broadcaster shot dead in Dumaguete

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Another broadcaster was shot dead in Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental early Thursday morning, Nov. 7, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) reported.

Dindo Generoso was driving his car when he was shot dead by a lone gunman along Hibbard Avenue in Barangay Piapi around 7:30 a.m., the NUJP said citing a spot police report.

“Colleagues said he was on his way to host his program on radio station dyEM 96.7 Bai Radio,” the NUJP Visayas safety office said in its report.

The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) said Generoso sustained eight gunshot wounds at different parts of his body that caused instant death.

PTFOMS added there may be more than one killer as “still unidentified perpetrators riding-in-tandem on a black motorcycle” were reportedly seen.

“This dastardly deed will not go unpunished. Whoever is behind this senseless murder will be brought to justice,” PTFOMS executive director Joel Sy Egco said in a statement.

Generoso was the second broadcaster murdered in Dumaguete City since Edmund Sestoso, who died on May 1, 2018, a day after he was shot on his way home from hosting his radio program.

The identity of Generoso’s killer and the motive for his murder was not yet clear, the NUJP said.

“If the murder is work-related, Generoso would be the 14th journalist to be murdered under the Duterte administration and the 187th since 1986,” the group added.

PTFOMS said Generoso was an anchor for development programs of the local government, including a controversial reclamation project that was halted by the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) last week.

Generoso’s murder came 10 days after the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) released its 2019 report last October 29 revealing that the Philippines has the highest number of unsolved journalist murders in the world.

The CPJ’s 2019 Global Impunity Index, which “spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free,” also placed the country, the only one from Southeast Asia on its list, at fifth place while noting that it “has been among the worst five countries nearly every year since the index was first published in 2008.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Philippines has most unsolved journalist killings in the world – CPJ

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By Visayas Today

The Philippines has the highest number of unsolved journalist murders in the world, the latest report of international media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists showed.

The CPJ’s 2019 Global Impunity Index, which “spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free,” also placed the country, the only one from Southeast Asia on its list, at fifth place while noting that it “has been among the worst five countries nearly every year since the index was first published in 2008.”

(Illustrations from the CPJ report showing the Philippines’ rank in the Impunity Index and in terms of unsolved media killings.)

The media watchdog counted 41 unsolved journalist murders for the Philippines, compared to 25 for strife-wracked Somalia, which remained the world’s worst country “when it comes to prosecuting murderers of journalists” for the fifth year in a row.

The 2019 Global Impunity Index was released Tuesday, October 29.

CPJ acknowledged that the Philippines’ perennial “worst 5” ranking has been due in part to the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre, which claimed the lives of 58 persons, 32 of them media workers.

The incident, considered the worst incident of electoral violence in recent Philippine history and the single deadliest attack on the press ever recorded, happened when gunmen stopped a convoy on its way to register the candidacy of a local politician and gunned down the occupants as well as passengers of two vehicles that also happened to pass by.

The trial of the more than 100 suspects in the massacre concluded in August but, with the incident’s 10th anniversary drawing near, a verdict has yet to be handed down.

PH listing ‘expected’

Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) executive director Joel Sy Egco said the country’s ranking is “expected,” stressing that the massacre case has been keeping the country on the list since 2009.

“The CPJ report is not surprising and was actually expected. In fact, we have been anticipating that because for as long as the massacre case remains in the equation, following the methodology used by CPJ, we shall remain on that list,” Egco said during the 67th anniversary celebrations of the National Press Club last Tuesday, October 29.

He noted that the case is nearing promulgation and that he expects that by 2020, the country would be given a much improved ranking.

Egco however said the PTFoMS y find it “appalling” that the CPJ formula does not factor in government efforts in holding perpetrators to account by running after and eventually filing charges against them.

“I have already established contact with CPJ Southeast Asia representative Shawn Crispin and raised our concern. There is something amiss in their methodology such as that if state action would not be considered, and that’s for all countries they cover, then they are not helping at all,” Egco said.

He said there is no impunity in the Philippines as the Philippine government takes action on all cases brought to PTFoMS’ attention.

He cited the filing of double murder charges against Armando Velasco, Edgardo Cabrera and a ‘John Doe’ for the death of journalist Jupiter Gonzales and his friend Christopher Tiongson last October 20 as proof.

UJP UP Diliman members light candles for the 58 victims of the Ampatuan Massacre. (UJP UP Diliman photo)

Month-long countdown to 10th massacre anniversary

Meanwhile, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and its student arm, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, announced coordinated activities a month before the 10th anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre.

Both organizations shall hold a series of forums in various schools throughout the country in cooperation with the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines and other youth and media groups.

The NUJP shall also conduct its annual massacre site visit with local and international media groups before the 10th anniversary on November 23.

The activities shall culminate in a mural painting event in Manila before a 58-second broadcast silence at 11:23 AM by participating radio and television stations in honor of the 58 massacre victims and a rally at Mendiola Bridge on November 23.

The countries in the 2019 Global Impunity Index according to rank are:
1. Somalia
2. Syria
3. Iraq
4. South Sudan
5. Philippines
6. Afghanistan
7. Mexico
8. Pakistan
9. Brazil
10. Bangladesh
11. Russia
12. Nigeria
13. India

(With additional reports from Raymund B. Villanueva)

CPJ finds ‘shrinking space for free press in PH’

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By ALYSSA MAE CLARIN
Bulatlat.com

MANILA — A high-level mission of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) raised alarm over the “shrinking space for free press in the Philippines” in a press conference, April 16.

The CPJ mission said it believes that the attacks and threats against critical media organizations are politically motivated.

The New York-based group cited the 11 legal cases filed against Rappler and the cyber attacks against small media outfits.

Leading the group is CPJ’s Board chair Kathleen Carroll, joined by CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler and Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom director Peter Greste.

The group met with various media groups as well as government officials, such as the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS), the secretary of the Department of Justice, Bulatlat, Kodao Productions, AlterMidya, and the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines since April 14.

“Government forces are finding new and increasingly sophisticated ways to shut down press freedom. So the attacks on Rappler and others have a chilling effect across all journalists. That is profoundly damaging the country’s democracy,” Greste said.

“Our concern [is], not just about Rappler, but on the broader impact on the freedom of the press on the Philippines,” Butler for his part said.

Carroll explained that what concerns them most were the media killings and the dismissive stance of the PTFoMS on the cyber-attacks against news organizations.

“Not taking the (cyberattacks) as an issue is a mistake, and we hope that they reconsider, ” she said.

Carroll added the “red-tagging” of journalists and media people to be “very frightening.”

“This is a very great concern for the CPJ and the international community, because the Philippines has long enjoyed a very robust free press. We are concerned that not a lot is being done to protect your (Filipino journalists) ability to work without fear of retribution, prosecution, and attack,” said Carroll.

The group is set to publish its official mission report on its website after finalizing all the details.

The Philippines ranks fifth on CPJ’s Impunity Index, which measures the extent to which the killers of journalists escape punishment.

The 2009 Maguindanao massacre, in which 32 of those killed were journalists, remains the worst single incident of journalist killing in CPJ records.

Not a single conviction has yet been obtained for these murders. #