RP press freedom declining sharply — Freedom House

The Philippine has joined countries where freedom of the press declined most sharply as it maintained a rating of "partly free," according to the latest study of the New York-based Freedom House.

Freedom House said the Arroyo administration has "generally shown considerable intolerance toward the media, especially foreign, for exposing corruption."

"Despite the Arroyo administration’s launch of a $92,000 Press Freedom Fund to curb violence against the media, a general culture of impunity continues to predominate, and critics claim that journalists’ killers are not brought to trial intentionally," it said.

Freedom House lamented the state of press freedom in the Philippines in its study "Freedom of the Press 2006: A Global Survey of Media Independence" which was released in time for World Press Freedom Day on May 3.

The group maintained that the Philippines, East Timor, Nepal and Thailand are the countries where press freedom declined most sharply.

It also maintained its rating of the Philippine media as "partly free," giving it an overall score of 40. The Philippines ranked 89th among 194 countries and 22nd in Asia-Pacific.

The group cited an incident on June 27 last year where only pre-selected reporters were allowed to ask questions at a press conference of Mrs. Arroyo after delivering her "I’m sorry" speech on national television for calling an election official during the canvassing of votes for the May 2004 elections which led to allegations that she cheated.

Freedom House pointed out that representatives of foreign-based media outfits were barred from the event.

The group also said that in cases where suspects have been identified and arrested, those who ordered the killing generally have not.

Freedom House noted the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines had criticized government for not doing more to prevent the murders, while the International Press Institute has identified government non-intervention as a critical part of the problem.

On the other hand, Freedom House cited two "landmark developments" at end of 2005 with the conviction of former police officer Guillermo Wapile for the murder of journalist Edgar Damalerio.

It was the first conviction in 22 cases of journalist killings since the wave of violence began in 2000, Freedom House noted.

In December 2005, the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of the trial of suspects in the killing of Marlyn Esperat from Mindanao to Cebu, though this came a few days before Cebu radio reporter George Benjoan was shot dead.

As early as December 2005, Freedom House already noted that the "outright decline" of press freedom was "most significant" in the Philippines when it first downgraded its status from "free" to "partly free."

The downgrade was based on "credible allegations of massive electoral fraud, corruption, and the government’s intimidation of elements in the political opposition."