Arroyo gov't continues to uphold press freedom - Palace

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang maintained yesterday the Arroyo administration continues to uphold press freedom and attributed the dangers faced by journalists to the country’s long history of political violence and numerous insurgencies.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde and presidential economic spokesperson Gary Olivar were responding to the report of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) that named the Philippines as among the top three countries most dangerous for journalists.

The officials said the Philippine media are one of the freest in the world as they cited the various initiatives of President Arroyo to protect press freedom and the welfare of journalists.

Remonde said the IFJ report did not come as a surprise because of the massacre of 57 people - mostly journalists and women - in Maguindanao on Nov. 23 last year.

“I hope it is clear that the Philippine press is one of the freest in the world and has nothing to fear from the national government, nor from a President who only last year - and all by herself - opposed the right to reply bill,” Olivar said.

“What we have instead is a decades-old legacy of violent local politics, exacerbated by criminal and ideological lawlessness,” he said, referring to attacks and atrocities committed by communist rebels and Islamic extremists.

The press is often caught in the crossfire, the latest incident being the Maguindanao massacre, he said.

“This is the real culture of impunity, to which the President responded by imposing limited but effective martial law, and now by creating a commission to dismantle the private armies before the elections,” Olivar said.

Remonde said the fact that the Philippine press remains among the “freest and liveliest” in the world is “a testimonial to the courage of Filipino journalists and the government’s adherence to press freedom.”

Olivar said Mrs. Arroyo and other administration officials, including Remonde, have met several times together or separately with leaders and members of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), IFJ, the National Press Club and other media organizations on various concerns.

“Most of their recommendations were in fact already initiated earlier by the government and we have substantially adopted the rest,” Olivar said.

“We are also aggressively pushing for a peace agreement in Mindanao which will cap the President’s legacy,” he said.

Remonde said the government welcomes all recommendations and support to promote the protection of journalists in the Philippines.

‘Journalists, lawyers in Maguindanao massacre should be honored’

The 30 journalists and two lawyers who were killed in the Maguindanao massacre should be honored because they are exemplary models of courage and dedication to public service and professionalism, two sectoral representatives said.

Reps. Rafael Mariano and Joel Maglunsod of party-list Anakpawis filed House Resolution 1514 that aims to recognize the heroism of the 32 victims, out of the 57 people who were allegedly killed by Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.

“Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day,” said Maglunsod.

The journalists and lawyers, mostly women, accompanied the wife of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu in filing his certificate of candidacy for governor. They were in a six-vehicle convoy when attacked by a private army, purportedly of the Ampatuans.

Maglunsod stressed that despite extreme danger, the victims continued to perform their duties, making them exemplary models of courage and dedication to public service and professionalism.

Maglunsod said the killing was condemned by Reporters Without Borders and the NUJP.

For his part, Mariano, who, like neophyte Maglunsod is representing farmers’ groups, condemned how the journalists and lawyers, along with other civilians, were helplessly killed in broad daylight.

“This massacre of innocent civilians who are out to exercise freedom to participate in electoral activities deserves utmost condemnation. Such acts of impunity can lead to more vicious cycle of violence, blatant and gross abuse of power, arrogant trampling of the rule of law and insensitive and callous murder of innocent people,” he said.

The slain lawyers were Concepcion Brizuela and Cynthia Oquendo of the Union People’s Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM).

Also killed were Mindanao-based journalists and media workers from various media outfits including Dadiangas Times, Forum, Central Mindanao Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, dzRH, Bombo Radyo, UNTV who were dispatched to cover the filing of certificate of candidacy of Mangudadatu.

Reports showed that minutes before the incident, unidentified men riding motorcycles asked the hotel attendants of BF Lodge in Tacurong City about the identification of journalists covering Mangudadatu’s COC filing.

The journalists who were in the convoy stayed at the lodge the night before the massacre.

Task Force Usig

The Task Force Usig handled six cases of media killings in 2009, including the murder of 30 members of the media who were among the 57 massacred in Maguindanao.

TF Usig was created in May 2006 to investigate rampant unexplained killings of journalists nationwide.

TF Usig head Director Raul Bacalzo said the statistics of media killings in 2009 would have been the same as in 2008 with fives cases if not for the Maguindanao massacre.

Along with Task Force Usig, Bacalzo clarified that the killings of journalists in Manguindanao was a special case, being investigated by different task forces and government agencies, including TF EGO, which investigates attack against elected government officials, Task Force HOPE, which handles security preparations for Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections, and Women Concern Protection Center.

Bacalzo added that the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Department of Justice are jointly leading the investigation.  

He said TF Usig listed the massacre the same as one media case for statistics purposes, but TF Usig is not the lead investigation group.

Leading international watchdog the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the Philippines has the highest single national toll of journalists killed in 2009, making RP the deadliest place in the world for journalists in 2009.

IFJ said that it recorded worldwide “a grim total of 137 journalists and media personnel killed during 2009.” – Delon Porcalla, Cecille Suerte-Felipe