Press freedom in RP not deteriorating, says Palace

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang disputed yesterday the report of the US-based Freedom House on the deteriorating press freedom in the Philippines.

Speaking over government-run dzRB, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the Freedom House report “has no basis.”

Remonde said at the rate President Arroyo and the administration are being criticized everyday, this was the best proof that the country is enjoying press freedom.

Many newspapers and TV and radio stations here are privately owned, compared with other countries where media are controlled by the government, he added.

The Freedom House reported that a number of emerging democracies, including the Philippines have suffered considerable decline in press freedom over the last five years.

“The journalism profession today is up against the ropes and fighting to stay alive,” said Freedom House executive director Jennifer Windsor.

Over the last five years a number of emerging democracies have suffered considerable declines in press freedom including the Philippines, Thailand, Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Senegal, according to Freedom House.

In the 2009 report released on Friday, not one of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was deemed to have a free press.

Three – the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand – were rated partly free while the rest – Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar – were rated not free, the statement added.

World Press Freedom Day

Various media organizations observed World Press Freedom Day yesterday.

Members of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), the Malacañang Press Corps (MPC), the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) laid wreaths at the shrine of hero and journalist Marcelo H. del Pilar in Bulacan.

Del Pilar one of the leaders of the Philippine revolution against Spain co-founded the newspapers La Solidaridad and Diariong Tagalog. – With Artemio Dumlao