Palace questions low RP ranking on press freedom

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang questioned yesterday the basis for the drop in the Philippines’ press freedom ranking, saying that it was more a product of perception than reality.

The Philippines dropped 11 notches this year in the annual press freedom ranking of the Reporters Without Borders report.

In its Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2008, the Philippines ranked 139th this year in a list of 173 countries, down from 128th in 2007.

Presidential Management Staff director general Cerge Remonde expressed disappointment over the report, arguing that evaluating press freedom in the Philippines could be done simply by monitoring what comes out daily in the newspapers, television and radio media.

He said that those behind the ranking of countries could easily see that the Philippines has an “aggressive and very free press just by monitoring the news.”

“There is not one day that was created by God that the (Philippine) government is not being criticized more than any government as freely as it’s being criticized rightfully or wrongfully here in the Philippines,” Remonde said over state-run dzRB.

Based on the report of the organization, the bottom ranking countries were mostly from Asia and were classified as dictatorships.

The Philippines has failed to perform well in the organization’s rankings because in 2006, it placed as low as 142nd on the list.

But Remonde said that the government would continue to find ways to change the perception of the organization and hopefully, improve its ranking.

“Being from media myself, I’m very sad about that and I think the government will do its part to improve our ranking. But the truth is, this is more perception than reality,” he said.

Remonde used to serve as head of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas.

President Arroyo occasionally talks about the Philippines “having a very free press” and how this has painted her in a bad light.

Even though she complained of being treated unfairly in the media, the President accepted that freedom of the press as part of democracy.

The President said that the Philippines has the most liberal press in the region. – Marvin Sy