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NUJP denounces ‘CPP legal front’ tag, news website takedowns

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Dec. 26, 2018

On December 26, 2018, several news outfits carried stories about a certain Mario Ludades, who claims to be a former ranking officer and founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines, accusing the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines of being one of the supposed “legal fronts” of the revolutionary movement.

On the same day, the alternative media outfits Bulatlat and Kodao – which both house NUJP chapters – were taken down almost simultaneously before noon.

That these assaults on freedom of the press and of free expression took place on the 50th founding anniversary of the CPP is clearly no coincidence.

This is, of course, not the first time the NUJP has been the target of such lies. The organization was also one of those identified as “enemies of the state” in the PowerPoint presentation “Knowing the Enemy” created in 2005 by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and which the military showed in schools and other venues.

In the case of Ludades, who identifies himself as spokesman of the “No to Communist Terrorist Group Coalition” and an indigenous people’s leader in the Cordillera region, it does not take rocket science to guess who is behind him and the lies he spouts.

The charge of being a “legal front” of the communists is so absurd it is tempting to dismiss it outright. Nevertheless, we are treating it seriously because it puts the organization, its officers and members in potential risk.

On the other hand, the takedowns of Bulatlat and Kodao, which state security forces have also time and again accused of links to the revolutionary underground, bear similar signs as the attack that led to the shutting down of the NUJP site a few months back.

The attack on the alternative media outfits happened soon after they posted stories about the CPP.

They also come after an incident last week when armed men in civilian clothes believed to be military or police operatives were seen in the vicinity of the office building that houses Kodao and a number of activist organizations that the government openly tags as “front organizations” of the communist revolutionary movement.

We stress that the “alternative media” are a legitimate part of the Philippine media community whose take on current events and issues broaden the national discourse and provide an invaluable contribution to the growth of democracy.

Only those who seek to suppress freedom of thought and of expression would seek to silence them and, for that matter, independent media as a whole.

If Ludades and his handlers, and those behind the taking down of the Bulatlat and Kodao sites, couldn’t be more wrong if they think they can intimidate us with stupid stunts like these.

The NUJP and all independent Filipino journalists have not and will never be cowed into giving up the continued struggle for genuine freedom of the press and of expression in the country. This is not a boast. It is a fact.

See related article here: https://www.gmanetwork.com/…/ex-cpp-member-exposes-…/story/…

NATIONAL DIRECTORATE

Kodao website is back online

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Kodao Productions’s website, www.kodao.org, has gone live again Wednesday, March 28.

Nearly two months after being downed by a cyber attack, the alternative news outfit’s online platform has undergone major changes and now includes new sections. Read more

Global Voices Inks Partnership with the Philippines’ Kodao Productions

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Global Voices has signed a content partnership with Kodao Productions, an alternative media company based in the Philippines.

Established in 2000, Kodao is recognized as one of the oldest existing alternative news groups in the country. The word ‘kodao’ refers to an indigenous calendar used in southern Philippines to mark social events in a tribal community.

Kodao, through its video and community radio programs, is known for its coverage of social issues that affect the grassroots such as land reform, labor relations, climate change, corruption, human rights violations, mining activities, and urban poor policies.

Last February 2018, its website was hacked which was quickly linked by media groups to the “government’s efforts to silence critical media.” The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemned the attack “coming as it did when other media organizations are also under relentless attacks from enemies of press freedom and other human rights.”

Screenshot of Kodao website after it was hacked

Despite the cyberattack, Kodao continues to publish and broadcast stories through social media.

Its website will be relaunched soon and it will feature Global Voices stories on its main page.

Raymund Villanueva, director of Kodao, shares his enthusiasm about the partnership between Global Voices and Kodao:

Kodao’s reportage is strong on human rights, basic sectors and grassroots communities, environment protection, and conflict resolution, among other social justice issues in the Philippines. It hopes to contribute these kinds of stories to Global Voices in order for the international community to better understand the hopes and aspirations as well as the struggles of the Filipino people for a genuinely free, democratic, and just society.

Below is an example of Kodao’s work which highlights marginalized voices in society. The video report is about the impact of a proposed lakeshore expressway in Muntinlupa and Laguna which are located in the south part of Manila, the country’s capital.

Kodao wins three awards at 3rd Gawad Agong

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Kodao Productions won two major awards and one special citation at the 3rd Gawad Agong Journalism Awards for excellence in reporting indigenous peoples issues held at the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communications last October 29.

IMG_5971Kodao’s photo essay “The Banwaon children of Balit”( https://kodao.org/2015/03/16/the-banwaon-children-of-balit/ ) and its November 25, 2014 Tala-Akayan episode “Manilakbayan ng Mindanaoan, panawagan para sa katarungan” (https://kodao.org/2014/11/25/tala-akayan-kodaoveritas-indigenous-peoples/ ) were awarded first prizes in the photojournalism and radio categories, respectively.

The winning photo essay was written and photographed by Kodao’s director for radio Raymund Villanueva who also co-hosts Tala-Akayan, the twice-weekly radio show Kodao co-produces with the Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR) and airs over Radio Veritas 846-Am every Tuesdays and Thursdays.  PCPR’s Fr Delfo Canceran, OP co-hosts Tala-Akayan.

Villanueva, an Ibanag, was also cited for being a notable indigenous person media practitioner, along with Union of Catholic Asian News’ Jose Torres Jr, a Subanen.  Villanueva previously received three finalist certificates in both radio and online news categories in the first two staging of the awards.

This year’s winners included Bulatlat.com’s Dee Ayroso for her news report “Lumad women: ‘Our place is in the struggle’”, InterAksyon and News5’s Bernard Testa for his multi-media report “Disrupted Dreams:  Lumad children’s art portrays their hopes and fears”, GMA News TV’s Jay Sabale for his television report “Grupo ng mga Lumad sa Mindanao tuloy ang protesta laban sa gubyerno”, and GMA News TV’s Malou Mangahas for her documentary “What is the costs of building a sanitary landfill?”

IMG_5829Weekly newspaper Northern Dispatch and Radio Sagada were declared winners of the first Gawad Agong citation for media outfits established by and for indigenous peoples.

GMA Network’s Tina Panganiban Perez was also awarded a citation for her television report “Mga Mangyan sa Puerto Galera nanganganib mapaalis dahil sa itatayong landfill” while Kidapawan-based broadcaster Malou Candelina Manar was also cited for her radio programs on indigenous peoples.

The Gawad Agong Journalism Awards is an annual event that “… salute(s)… media workers in print, broadcast, and online who devoted their time, talent, and efforts in covering the real situations and issues of the indigenous peoples.”

Annually organized by Katribu National Alliance of Indigenous Peoples’ Organization in the Philippines, Gawad Agong is under the Indigenous Voices in Asia Project in the Philippines (IVA-Philippines), and is supported by the Swedish Initiative for Development Aid (SIDA) and the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP).

Participants of the Lumad Manilakbayan 2015 handed out the awards to the winners. #

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solidarity with Mindanao

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ILPS-Philippines affiliates join the 2014 Manilakbayan for food and peace in Mindanao at the start of their Mendiola campout towards International Human Rights Day. Indigenous Lumads perform their ritual offering and sharing of blood (“pamaas” in Manobo culture) as a token of solidarity in the struggle against large-scale mining, militarization and human rights violations.