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NUJP, PTFOMS back OSG to have ex-Palawan governor rearrested

Mario Joel Reyes and brother are alleged masterminds in the murder of broadcaster Gerry Ortega in 2011

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) renewed its call for justice for slain Palawan broadcaster Dr. Gerry Ortega as the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) urged the Supreme Court (SC) to have former Palawan governor Mario Joel Reyes rearrested as alleged mastermind in the murder case.

The media union said it also supports Reyes’ continued trial in the 11 year case.

“We welcome moves by the Office of the Solicitor General and the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) to have him (Reyes) rearrested,” the NUJP said.

In a formal motion earlier this month, the OSG has argued that “essential requisites” are absent in the High Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order that allowed Reyes to leave jail.

“There is now a finding of strong evidence of petitioner’s guilt, there is no invasion, much less a material and substantial invasion of [his] right should he be ordered re-arrested,” the OSG argued.

NUJP said a murder suspect like Reyes who can that evade arrest and go about his political business can influence the case.

“[W]hile Reyes may be within his rights to run for office, it is likely that he does not have the right to do it outside of government custody,” the group said.

NUJP added that Reyes’ temporary freedom may only embolden those who seek to silence the critical press and put the entire media community at greater risk.

PTFOMS supports OSG petition

The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS) also said it “fully backs and supports” OSG’s move for the lifting of the SC’s March 23, 2022 TRO favoring the alleged mastermind.

“We believe that the evidence of guilt is strong in the criminal case filed against Reyes in connection with the slaying of Gerry Ortega,” PTFOMS executive director and Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco said in an April 27 statement.

PTFOMS pointed out that Reyes was tagged by his former bodyguard Rodolfo Edrad as the mastermind behind the killing of Ortega, who had criticized the former governor for the supposed destruction of the environment in the province.

Also implicated in the killing is his brother, former Coron Mayor Mario Reyes. The two are running for governor and mayor, respectively, in the May 9 elections.

Earlier, Egco also supported OSG’s investigation into the 2018 Court of Appeals decision to release Reyes from detention due to alleged insufficiency of evidence in the murder case.

In 2019, the CA reinstated the murder charges against the former Palawan governor.

Ortega family to press for justice

In a statement issued during a press conference on Wednesday, Ortega’s widow Patty said their family believes the slain broadcaster will still be given justice.

“I believe there is justice. I believe that the Supreme Court will do what is right so justice will prevail,” she said.

Patty said she is grateful to the NUJP, PTFOMs and other groups who have continuously offered support for their quest for justice for her slain husband. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

UPLB’S Gandingan gives first ever-Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award to Kodao’s Villanueva

Awards founder: ‘He exemplifies offering one’s self and skills in leading efforts to uplift small communities through broadcasting’

Parts of the 16th Gandingan awarding ceremony announcing the first-ever recipient of the Ka Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award and Raymund Villanueva’s acceptance speech. (Footage by the UP Community Broadcasting Society)

Kodao’s Raymund Villanueva won the first-ever Ka Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award in Community Broadcasting in the 16th Gandingan Awards given annually by the Community Broadcasters’ Society Inc. (ComBroadSoc) of the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB).

Cited for his active role in training community radio broadcasters in the Philippines and abroad as well as in establishing community radio stations nationwide, Villanueva won over two other finalists, the Radyo Natin network of the Manila Broadcasting Company and Radyo Katabang of the local government unit of Vinzons, Camarines Norte.

The award was named after the late Lucio “Ka Louie” N. Tabing, hailed for advocating for the inclusion of the rural masses and the indigenous peoples in broadcasting and development. He died in January 2018 of natural causes.

Ngayong taon…ay nahanap na natin ang kauna-unahang tatanggap ng Ka Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award in Community Broadcasting. Siya ang ating ehemplo sa pag-aalay ng sarili at kakayahan upang manguna sa pagtataguyod ng kapakanan ng maliliit na komunidad sa pamamagitan ng pamamahayag at pagtuturo sa mga mamamamayan,” Gandingan Awards founder and UPLB Prof. Mark Lester M. Chico said.

(This year, we have found our first-ever recipient of the Ka Louie Tabing Memorial Achievement Award in Community Broadcasting. He exemplifies offering one’s self and skills in leading efforts to uplift small communities through broadcasting and teaching citizens.)

UPLB Department of Development Broadcasting and Telecommunication (DDBTC) chairperson Dr. Trina Leah T. Mendoza said the Ka Louie Tabing Award is recognition to radio stations and personalities who have significantly contributed to the field of development through their reporting and storytelling.

“Following a thorough deliberation by the DDBTC and in partnership with the UP Community Broadcasters’ Society, we have selected an awardee who has championed community radio broadcasting through the establishment of community radio stations in the country and capacity building of community radio broadcasters throughout the Asia-Pacific region,” Dr. Mendoza said in her announcement of the winner.

“This award is truly significant because Ka Louie was a pioneer in both the concept and practice of community radio broadcasting in the Philippines and beyond,” she added.

Dr. Mendoza said Villanueva is a broadcaster and journalist of 25 years and a chief reporter and editor who focus on human rights and peace journalism.

Villanueva has participated in both successful and aborted attempts to establish community radio stations in Cagayan, Mountain Province, Leyte, Cebu, Iloilo and Bukidnon provinces, as well as in Metro Manila.

He has hosted and produced multi-awarded radio shows in several commercial, campus and religious radio stations in Metro Manila.

As a community broadcasting advocate, he has given trainings and workshops for communities and organizations throughout the Philippines and among migrant Filipino communities in Hong Kong, Italy and The Netherlands. He has also represented the Philippines in community radio conferences and assemblies in Argentina, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Timor Leste as participant and trainer.

FOR ELENA AND FRENCHIE MAE

In his acceptance speech, Villanueva paid tribute to Tabing he credits for encouraging Kodao Productions towards community radio broadcasting.

He said Tabing is highly regarded as a pioneer in the global movement of community broadcasters.

Villanueva however complained of the burning of Radyo Cagayano, the closure of Radyo Lumad due to red-tagging, and the failure of Radyo Taclobanon, Radyo Sugbuanon and Radyo Komunidad among urban poor communities in Metro Manila to proceed due to harassments from suspected state agents.

He also cited the 2020 abduction and subsequent death of Bantayan Island development worker Elena Tijamo who turned up dead in a Mandaluyong City hospital a year later.

Tijamo, a red-tagging victim, assisted in the establishment of Radyo Sugbuanon that was later forced to stop test broadcasts after repeated police harassment.

In a Facebook post Saturday night, Villanueva also called for the release of Tacloban-based broadcaster Frenchie Mae Cumpio he helped train to later become anchor and station manager of the planned Radyo Taclobanon.

Red-tagged, Cumpio is accused by the government of being a communist guerrilla even while she was hosting a regular weekly radio show in Palo, Leyte.

“But we will not stop in our efforts to establish more community radio stations in the future. We persevere because of our desire for genuine social justice that is possible only when the people have their own free voice,” Villanueva said.

“There is no democracy if the people are silenced,” he added.This year’s Gandingan Awards is themed, “Naninindigan para sa ating mga karapatan” (Standing up for our rights) its organizers said is a salute to media workers and institutions who stand up for the human and other rights that are under attack.

The award is named after a set of four hanging gongs that are part of a kulintang ensemble and also used by the Maguindanao youth to communicate.

The UP Community Broadcasting Society announcement card.

VETERAN JOURNALIST, PRESS FREEDOM ADVOCATE

Villanueva is Kodao Production’s director for radio who has hosted radio programs in several radio stations throughout his career as broadcaster-journalist.

He has filed news reports from Hong Kong, India, Nepal, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, China, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Italy, The Netherlands, Argentina, Timor Leste, Norway, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

A press freedom advocate, he is the immediate past deputy secretary general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines that he also served as a two-term national director. He is currently the NUJP’s media safety officer for Luzon.

Villanueva is a previous winner of several Gawad Agong Awards for his reportage on the national minorities and was the 2015 Titus Brandsma Emergent Leadership in Journalism awardee of the Carmelite Order in the Philippines.

He is a fellow of the first and only Diploma in Radio Journalism program of the Asian Institute of Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University in 2006 and a fellow of the Graciano Lopez Jaena Community Journalism Workshop on human rights reporting of the College of Mass Communication of the University of the Philippines in Diliman in 2012.

He authored two books on Kodao’s reports on the peace process between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

His first book published in 2018 was a collection of poems from the 1990s to the 2010s. #

Pope Francis to elevate journalist to sainthood

Carmelites: Canonization comes during ‘our present struggles against the venom of deceit, lies, fake news, historical revisionism and all other forms of disinformation’

Pope Francis is set to canonize a journalist revered as a “martyr of press freedom” and may be one of only two saints of the profession.

Titus Brandsma, one of 10 candidates for canonization at Vatican City on May 15 was a Dutch Carmelite priest, educator and journalist executed at the Dachau concentration camp on July 1942 for his refusal to publish Nazi propaganda in Catholic newspapers.

Brandsma was subjected to hardship and starvation and killed with carbolic acid injection in the same year. He was 61.

Brandsma’s fellow Carmelites in the country said they rejoice at the martyr’s ”much anticipated” elevation to the Roman Church’s roster of saints, saying his canonization is a gift to the order in the Philippines.

“The canonization of Titus Brandsma is truly a milestone and an inspiration, not only for the Church but particularly for Filipino Carmelites,” Prior Provincial of the Philippine Province Rev. Fr. Rico P. Ponce, O.Carm. said in a statement.

Brandsma is the patron of the Order of the Carmelites in the Philippines (formally the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel), a Roman Catholic mendicant religious order for men and women.

“Having our Province named after this modern-day martyr and mystic is made more meaningful by our own present struggles against the venom of deceit, lies, fake news, historical revisionism and all other forms of disinformation,” Fr. Ponce said.

“We have much to learn and to imitate from Titus Brandsma, who defended Truth and Press Freedom until his dying breath,” Fr. Ponce added.

The Carmelites in the Philippines named an institution and a program after the “martyr of the faith” patron.

The Titus Brandsma Media Center in Quezon City is learning resource institute for media education and pastoral care for media professionals while its Titus Brandsma Media Awards honors media practitioners “whose work reflect of truth, freedom, and genuine service to the poor and marginalized.”

Fr. Ponce said Brandsma’s canonization comes at a time when the country is “currently embroiled in a battle against the vicious enemies of truth, as well as those who try to manipulate the use of media and communication technology for their own selfish ends.”

“It is a great consolation for us to have someone from a not-so-distant generation praying and interceding for us in our current struggles, and who knows how it is to be persecuted for defending his beliefs in the light of his faith,” Fr. Ponce added.

Brandsma was director of Catholic newspapers in The Netherlands like Maximilian Kolbe who the Roman Church earlier named patron saint of journalists. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

AMARC Asia-Pacific condemns attacks on Radio Ada, Ghana

KATHMANDU, Nepal–AMARC Asia-Pacific, the regional chapter of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) joins the world community of free media and freedom of expression in denouncing the attack by armed men on Community Radio Ada, situated in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana on 13 January 2022. AMARC Asia-Pacific supports the call for Ghanaian authorities to hold to account the people behind the attack on the station and ensure that journalists can work safely in Ghana.

According to media reports, the attackers left the radio station completely vandalized and threatened to return to shoot the staff if Radio Ada continued reporting on a recently granted mining contract.

Radio Ada is a member of the Ghana Community Radio Network, (https://gcrn.org.gh), that hosted the AMARC World Conference, 2015.

Radio Ada logo.

“As a member of one global family of community radios, AMARC Asia-Pacific feels the pain of the attack on Radio Ada,” said Dr. Ramnath Bhat, President, AMARC Asia-Pacific.

“It is unacceptable that community radio broadcasters have to be subjected to attacks and intimidations for carrying out their duties as independent journalists. We demand that the urgent steps are taken by the concerned authorities to ensure that such incidents are not repeated,” he said. 

AMARC Asia-Pacific expresses solidarity with the staff and volunteers of Radio Ada who have suffered physical and mental abuse by the attackers. #

NUJP demands arrest of media killing ‘mastermind’

Joel Reyes campaigning to reclaim Palawan governorship despite arrest warrant

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) called for the arrest of former Palawan governor Joel Reyes, alleged mastermind in the killing of Palawan broadcaster Gerry Ortega in 2011.

In a statement on Ortega’s 11th death anniversary on Monday, January 24, the NUJP said former Palawan governor Joel Reyes is campaigning to reclaim the top provincial post even as he remains a fugitive from law.

“[N]ot only is former governor Joel Reyes evading his warrant of arrest for Ortega’s killing, he is running for Palawan governor, according to news reports, and is campaigning while a subject of a manhunt,” the media group said.

Reyes and brother and former Coron mayor Mario fled the country in 2012 to evade arrest related to Ortega’s murder.

Both were arrested in Phuket, Thailand in September 2015 but were freed by the Court of Appeals (CA) in January 2018.

The appellate court however reversed itself and ordered the Regional Trial Court in Puerto Princesa to “issue a warrant of arrest against the petitioner (Joel) and to conduct proceedings in Criminal Case No. 26839 with purposeful dispatch” in November 2019.

“What is clear is that due to a Court of Appeals directive in 2019, the Regional Trial Court of Puerto Princesa had released an arrest warrant against him for [the] murder [of Ortega],” NUJP said.

Reyes is also facing separate graft charges over the alleged misuse of P1.5 billion in Malampaya funds.

Ortega, an environmentalist and known critic of the Reyeses, was the first media killing under the then Benigno Aquino government.

The broadcaster was shot in broad daylight in downtown Puerto Princesa City after leaving radio station DWAR.

The NUJP said the lack of justice over Ortega’s murder and Reyes’ bid for the governorship despite a graft conviction add to the impunity that has surrounded attacks against journalists as well as land and rights defenders.

READ: NUJP: Where is justice in Doc Gerry’s killing?

The group added the lack of justice in Ortega’s killing is emblematic of the culture of impunity in the Philippines, reminding them how the powerful seem to make a mockery of the justice system.

“We stand with the Ortega family, Doc Gerry’s colleagues and friends in the environmental movement and colleagues in the media in calling for justice and in demanding the service of the arrest warrant against Reyes,” NUJP said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Media groups reveal renewed Baguio PNP red-tagging of journalists

Media groups slammed renewed efforts by the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Baguio City to red-tag journalists it alleges are members of Leftist organizations.

In an alert, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said at least two journalists in the Cordillera region have been invited to a fake dialogue with the Baguio City Police earlier this month that turned out to be a witch-hunting activity against journalists and activists.

On January 14, the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club Inc. (BCBC) and NUJP’s Baguio-Benguet chapter said BCBC president Aldwin Quitasol was invited by the Baguio City Police to attend a so-called dialogue that turned out to be part of its Community Support Program White Area Operation (CSP-WAO), a component of the government’s Oplan Kapayapaan targeting suspected sympathizers of communist rebels in conflict-affected areas.

The second journalist refused to be identified.

 ‘Stop red-tagging’

In their joint statement BCBC and NUJP Baguio-Benguet demanded a stop to the red-tagging and witch-hunting of journalists.

“We are strongly concerned by the renewed effort of the (PNP) to drag us in their counterinsurgency campaign through Dumanon, Makitongtong (Seek and Talk), which the Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) adopted from Oplan Tokhang of the Duterte administration,” the local media groups said.

Whatever name it carries, the PNP’s counter-insurgency campaigns involving journalists as well as activists aims to harass and intimidate, they added.

“We urge law enforcers to cease this madness, stop targeting activists and the media in their counterinsurgency actions. We also call on local governments to take a stand and protect the people against institutionalized red-tagging and political vilification,” BCBC and NUJP Baguio-Benguet said.

Human rights violations

This month’s incident is not the first time that Baguio City Police has accused journalists of links to supposed Communist fronts.

In February 2021, the Regional Law Enforcement Coordinating Committee in CAR endorsed tokhang-type campaigns against alleged left-leaning personalities, including activists and the media.

The proposal was quietly dropped after widespread criticism, but police officials last August revived the proposal for the so-called seek and talk strategy against alleged members of left-leaning organizations, the NUJP said.

Cases of red-tagging in the Cordillera Administrative Region rose to 15 incidents in 2021 from eight complaints filed in 2020, the NUJP, quoting the Cordillera office of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR-Cordillera), said.

The campaign is patterned after the tokhang campaign used in the Rodrigo Duterte government’s so-called war on drugs that, according to government data, has killed at least 6,000 victims, it added.

Following earlier police summons of Quitasol, CHR-Cordillera in June 2021 issued a resolution warning that red-tagging — linking individuals and groups to the communist armed rebellion — violates human rights.

Other rights organizations, including the UN Human Rights Office, have also warned against the practice, which they said can lead to harassment and physical attacks. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Media orgs join mounting calls for profane lawyer’s disbarment

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said it joins the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) and several others in condemning lawyer Larry Gadon’s verbal assault on journalist Raissa Robles on social media as well as mounting calls for his disbarment.

“We urge the Supreme Court and Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to act on them and on this recent incident,” the NUJP in a statement said.

The group said it joins with FOCAP’s and other calls to “discipline this wayward member of the bar of the boorishness and clearly unbecoming conduct. It is truly unfortunate that social media sites could be wantonly used as a platform to attack independent journalists in this gruesome manner.”

FOCAP earlier described Gadon’s online rant against Robles as “violent and aggressive verbal assault” as well as “atrocious and beastly behavior.”

“The profanity, expletives and sexist insults against Robles violate Philippine law on public decency, gender respect and the core principles of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP)/It was utterly despicable, and reflective of the belligerent impunity independent and courageous Filipino journalists face for doing their constitutionally protected work in the country,” FOCAP said.

Robles is the Philippine correspondent for the South China Morning Post.

Gadon, a senatorial aspirant and backer of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., was furious over Robles’ remarks on social media platform Twitter that the failure of the son of the late Philippine dictator to file income tax returns in the past raises the question of whether he paid the taxes at all.

“Like all Filipinos, Gadon has the right to challenge statements from journalists in the interest of public discourse, but never with such venom and malice that openly flout civility, respect and human rights which are protected by the country’s laws,” FOCAP said.

The media group said Gadon’s tirade is concerning because of his large following on social media who may be led to believe that using violent, misogynistic and sexist language is acceptable just because it is done online.

“We are concerned as well because online harassment can lead to or encourage harassment offline,” it said.

“This is not the first time Gadon has displayed the kind of behavior and speech that is in every sense an attack not only on Raissa and other journalists but all decent, God-fearing and law-abiding Filipinos,” the group added.

The NUJP said that, according to reports, Gadon already facing at least one disbarment complaint for maliciously alleging former President Benigno Aquino died of HIV.

Gabriela Women’s Party on Saturday said Gadon’s speech was full of profanities and misogynistic remarks and was a dangerous incitement of hate and violence toward Robles in a lame attempt to dispute the reportage on Marcos Jr.’s failure to file income tax returns.””We support calls for the disbarment of Attorney Gadon as we should no longer tolerate such barbaric behavior that tarnishes the legal profession. The rabid supporter of the Marcoses must be taught a harsh lesson for all his grossly inappropriate verbal assaults,” the group added.

Rights group Karapatan has also condemned Gadon’s “barrage of violent and misogynistic insults” against Robles that “portray the increasingly hostile and violent online environment threatening press freedom in all fronts in the country.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

Gunmen attack broadcaster; media group demands probe

Another broadcaster was shot in Cebu City on Thursday, five days after Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa told the world about attacks against journalists in the Philippines.

Rico Osmeña of Cebu radio station dyLA was shot by two unidentified riding-in-tandem gunmen aboard a bus and was injured with another passenger at around 1 pm last December 16.

Both victims survived and are recuperating from their injuries.

Osmeña just finished his radio program when the attack happened.

Osmeña is also a correspondent for The Daily Tribune.

The Cebu chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condemned the incident and called for a swift and impartial investigation.

“Osmeña’s shooting happened proximate to the upcoming election period – a period in our country perennially marred by violence and extrajudicial attempts to stifle media,” the group said.

NUJP Cebu noted that Visayas media had been victims of a series of attacks, recalling the assassination of DyRB radio commentator Rey Cortes last July, also in Cebu City.

“The reports of attacks on our colleagues in the Visayas are a result of the culture of impunity that prevails in our country. It is a culture that affirms the killings are a valid way to forward an agenda,” the group said.

The media security task force of the government also denounced the attack, adding it has already asked the regional police to find and apprehend the perpetrators.

Presidential Task Force on Media Security executive director Joel Sy Egco said it is too early to determine the motive behind the attack but said they presume it is work-related as a matter of policy.

Egco acknowledged that the election period may see more threats and violence against media workers.

In her speech in Oslo, Ressa called attention to the plight of journalist and broadcaster Frenchie Mae Quimpio who had been in jail for more than two years and the murder of Central Luzon-based journalist Jesus Santiago earlier this month.

The NUJP said at least 21 journalists have been killed under the Rodrigo Duterte government. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

NDF-Bikol: Radio station closure an attack on press freedom

The National Democratic Front in Bikol (NDF-Bikol) said the recent closure of a radio station in Legazpi City is another suppression of press freedom in a region that has seen one of the biggest numbers of media killings and attacks in recent years.

In a statement, NDF-Bikol spokesperson Ma. Roja Banua said Radyo Zagitsit DWH1 100.3 News FM’s forced closure is a “brazen attempt to limit the avenues for the Bikolano masses’ voices.”

Banua said the closure is connected with the coming 2022 elections.

The NDF spokesperson in the region said the radio station had existed in six years as “a platform for the masses and ordinary Bikolanos’ demands,” bewailing that the incident also deprived its workers their means of living amidst a pandemic.

‘Politically motivated’

NDF-Bikol’s statement agrees with Zagitsit FM’s claims the closure order issued by the regional office of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) was “politically motivated.”

Radio station manager Hermogenes “Jun” Alegre said they were ordered to cease operations last November 8, several days before the expiration of their extended permit today, November 19.

Alegre blamed Rodrigo Duterte ally and Ako Bikol Rep. Alfredo Garbin for the forced closure, alleging Garbin has influenced the House Committee on Legislative Franchises, of which the lawmaker is a member.

Alegre said that the Committee has pressured the NTC to issue the closure order against his radio station.

In news reports, Alegre revealed that Garbin’s own station Radyo Oragon violates broadcasting laws by using repeaters to cover the entire Bikol Region.

Garbin has denied involvement, saying the closure order is purely an application of law.

Alegre and Garbin are both candidates for different local government positions and are allied with opposing political forces in Albay province.

Press freedom issue

NDF-Bikol said the closure is part of the worsening state suppression of press freedom, citing other cases of attacks on press freedom in the region.

“This is no different from the innumerable cases of threats and harassment that other media practitioners in the region constantly experience,” Banua said.

NDF-Bikol cited Camarines Norte Gov. Edgar Tallado’s filing libel and cyber-libel charges against journalists Virgilio Avila Jr., Nolito Banaria, Irene Cambronero, Mia Concordia, Rommel Ibasco Fenix, Bernie Patiag and Deo Trinidad in 2020.

It added that charges were also filed against broadcasters Ramil Soliveres and Jing Rima in Catanduanes while Albay-based alternative news site Baretang Bikolnon repeatedly suffered intimidation from the military and police.

“Worse, it has become commonplace for politicians and the AFP-PNP-CAFGU (Armed Forces of the Philippines-Philippine National Police-Civilian Auxiliary Force Geographical Unit) in Bikol to openly kill media practitioners who stand for truth and fearlessly expose crimes and anomalies that influential personalities, businessmen and government agencies are involved with,” Banua said.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines reports four Bikol journalists have been killed since July 2016, including the first two cases of media killings in the country under the Rodrigo Duterte government : Larry Que and Joey llana.

Two of the more recent incidents are the killings of Jobert ‘Pulpog’ Bercasio last September 15, 2020 in Sorsogon and Pastor Ronnie Villamor of DYME last November 14, 2020 in Brgy. Matanglad, Milagros, Masbate.

NDF-Bikol said Bercasio was killed by two motorcycle-riding assassins who were seen by witnesses to have retreated to a nearby military detachment after the shooting.  

Villamor, meanwhile, along with land surveyors he was with during the incident, were alleged to be members of the New People’s Army by the military after killing them.

“In both cases, investigations have not prospered and military elements are yet to be punished even though the lies used to cover up the crimes were already publicly exposed,” NDF-Bikol said.

The group called on Bikolanos to support the embattled Zagitsit FM and the “journalists’ battle against state attacks.” # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

REPORT: Philippine Army source of cyber-attacks vs. media outfits

An internet protocol (IP) address assigned to the Philippine Army was the source of cyber-attacks on media websites Bulatlat.com and Altermidya.net, a government agency confirmed.

Bulatlat and Altermidya said the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-PH), an agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), finally gave them a copy of its initial findings confirming earlier reports state agents were behind the attacks on their websites.

In an August 11 report, CERT-PH said its analysis and investigation revealed that IP address 202.90.137[.].42 that conducted unauthorized vulnerability scans of the said websites, was assigned to the Philippine Army.

“CERT-PH noted the 2182 lines of logs with destination bulatlat.com from the IP 202.90.137[.].42, which was submitted by the investigation requester,” part of the report said.

A vulnerability scan seeks potential weaknesses in the targeted network without permission from the system owner.

READ: Group reveals attacks on media and human rights websites

CERT-PH’s report said additional analysis of the incidents did not prosper due to Philippine Army’s refusal to reply to requests for “coordination.”

In a joint statement, Bulatlat and Altermidya said CERT-PH’s report validated findings made last June by their hosting provider, Sweden-based Qurium Media Foundation.

The media outfits said the Armed Forces of the Philippines at the time feigned ignorance and issued a statement claiming it upholds press freedom.

The DOST, which provides the infrastructure to the Philippine Army, also refused to reveal the agency behind the IP space and to this day has not communicated with Bulatlat and Altermidya regarding its promise to ask the DICT for an independent probe, despite repeated requests.

“As of today, we have not received any communication from the DOST regarding its investigation, which we requested a copy of. We tried reaching out to them via office phone and email, but we have yet to receive a response,” Bulatlat and Altermidya said.

The media outfits said they condemn the Philippine Army for carrying out cyber crimes against independent media outfits.

“We take offense at the duplicity they have shown regarding this incident – publicly professing respect for press freedom but launching vicious digital attacks, and never cooperating with other government agencies,” the outfits said.

Bulatlat and Altermidya also expressed disappointment with the DOST for “covering up for the Philippine Army.”

“DOST should not allow its infrastructure be used to suppress the truth, and should impose penalties for agencies found to commit abuses,” they said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)

CERT-PH’s report.