The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines salutes Felipe Salvosa II for his courageous display of journalistic integrity.
By openly protesting Manila Times owner Dante Ang’s insistence on publishing that malicious fiction about journalists and lawyers supposedly plotting to oust President Rodrigo Duterte, first by tweeting against it and resigning as managing editor of the paper, Mr. Salvosa has affirmed that journalism, is indeed, the profession of truth.
That he has done so at a time when the profession is under siege, not least by an administration that is the foremost purveyor of lies yet attempts to mask this fact by laying this charge on the critical press, is proof that the community of independent Filipino journalists values integrity and professionalism and will never succumb to pressure or blandishment to betray our calling.
Indeed, to borrow Mr. Salvosa’s words, the truly professional Filipino journalist seeks nothing more than to be able to “look our audience straight in the eye,” assured that we have served the people’s right to know faithfully.
The National Directorate
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/nujp-logo.jpg657720Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-04-26 17:25:042019-04-26 17:29:20Salute to integrity
A progressive lawyers’ group slammed a
news report linking it to an alleged ouster plot against President Rodrigo
Duterte, calling the story “an imagination gone
berserk.”
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said The Manila Times story “Oust-Duterte plot bared” published today and bylined by its chairman emeritus Dante Ang “fantastic” and “libelous.”
“This has certainly gone over the walls of
credulity. It is absolutely false, totally baseless and completely ludicrous,”
the NUPL said in a statement.
Ang’s story alleged the group, along with independent media groups and journalists including Vera Files, Rappler and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) are involved in a plot to oust Duterte.
The first matrix presented in The Manila Times report.
“There is a plot to discredit the President and destabilize his
government,” Ang’s story said, quoting a anonymous source in the Office of the
President said.
“There’s an obvious pattern of close coordination among some media
organizations for the timely publication of anti-Duterte stories,” the source supposedly
told Ang.
The story added the plot is utilizing the media,
planting fake news, distributing them to the friendly media outlets, whetting
the people’s appetite, arousing their anger, manipulating public emotion, touching
base with the Leftist organization, enlisting the support of the police and the
military, then going for the “kill.”
It added that journalist Ellen Tordesillas of Vera
Files is serving as main distributor of the videos of a certain “Bikoy”
accusing Duterte, son and former Davao City vice mayor Paolo Duterte,
senatorial aspirant Christopher “Bong” Go, among others as illegal drugs
distributors.
The second matrix alleging Tordesillas acting as nexus of the distribution of videos accusing the Dutertes of having links with the illegal drug trade in the country.
“’Bikoy,’ obviously a pseudonym, was the source
of the black propaganda, the matrix shows. From Bikoy, the stories go to Ellen
Tordesillas, president of Vera Files, who acts as the nexus and distributor of
the materials to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Rappler
and the NUPL. These organizations, in turn, distribute the false narratives to
their respective members,” Ang’s story said.
In a press briefing at the Malacañan Palace, presidential
spokesperson and chief legal adviser Salvador Panelo said revealed Ang’s source
was President Duterte himself.
“I was supposed to release this today. Naunahan lang ako ng Manila Times,” he
said. (Manila Times was just ahead of me.)
Panelo said the matrix was the result of
intelligence information gathered by foreign countries and shared to Malacañan.
‘Laying
the ground for more attacks’
The NUPL however said their inclusion in the matrix
is a mere bait to engage them in absurd and endless tit for tat to distract them
from their human rights lawyering.
“[The allegations] would have been amusing were it
not perilous to the safety, security, and liberty, if not the lives, of each of
the 500 or so lawyers, law students, law professors, judges, prosecutors,
public defenders, government lawyers, and paralegals who are members of the
NUPL in more than 20 chapters nationwide,” the NUPL said.
The NUPL said Ang’s story lacked evidence and
credibility given his close association with Duterte and House of Representatives
Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
“Basic it is that for evidence to be credible, it must not only be credible in itself but must also come from a credible source. And more so if it is cloaked under a fictituous anonymity that does not give the object of such calumny a fair chance to contest,” NUPL said.
The
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) also scored Ang’s
report, calling it “a marvel of unethical and amateurish writing.”
“Based on a single anonymous source and a matrix
showing a web of threads so tenuous it would not hold up in the slightest
breeze, Ang’s piece of claptrap wouldn’t even pass muster at any self-respecting
high school publication,” the NUJP said in a statement.
“In fact, proof that the matrix, the source and the
story are hogwash is the fact that former NUJP chair – AND former [Manila] Times
editor – Inday Espina Varona is listed in the matrix as among NUPL members. She
is neither a lawyer nor connected to the NUPL,” the group added.
The NUJP also said what Ang has done is similar to the
narco-lists Duterte is fond of trotting which often amount to hit lists, death
sentences without the benefit of trial.
“What we do fear is that this “revelation” could be
a prelude to a crackdown against independent media and human rights lawyers,”
the group said, adding that Ang should be held accountable should any harm come
to those named in his article. # (Raymund
B. Villanueva)
