Press freedom watchdog hopeful new administration will address media issues

BAGUIO City, Philippines — New York-based press freedom watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed hope that president-elect Benigno Aquino III will end the culture of impunity in the country on matters of killings, especially of journalists.

“With your recent election to office, we are looking forward to engaging with your administration on press freedom-related issues in the years ahead,” Joel Simon, executive director of the CPJ, said in his official communiqué to the incoming president on the heels of Aquino’s proclamation Wednesday afternoon.

In his letter to Aquino, a copy of which was furnished to Philippine Ambassador to the United States Willy Gaa and US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr., Simon recommended a probe into the circumstances surrounding the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre wherein more than 30 journalists were killed.

Simon said in his campaign speeches and press interviews, Aquino had promised to break the corruption that has plagued previous governments and create an independent commission to investigate the various allegations of corruption and misgovernance leveled against President Arroyo.

CPJ also expressed concern over reports that relatives of the Maguindanao massacre victims have been offered money to drop the charges against accused Ampatuan clan members.  

“With these developments in mind, we urge you to provide full support and ample resources to the relevant Justice department agencies to ensure a free, fair, and speedy trial in this landmark case,” Simon said.

The CPJ, which tagged the Philippines in April in its Global Impunity Index as “having the third-worst record in the world for bringing the killers of journalists to justice – trailing only Iraq and Somalia,” showed deep concern about the deteriorating press freedom situation in the country.

Meanwhile, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, the country’s largest labor group, offered to help the Aquino administration in fighting corruption and curbing the high unemployment rate in the country.

The Bureau of Customs Employees Association (BOCEA) also vowed to support Aquino’s reform agenda and enhance the agency’s revenue generation performance.

Rommie Pagulayan, BOCEA president, said they aim to introduce real reforms in the bureau which would re-orient or even replace measures put in place by previous administrations, including that of Mrs. Arroyo.

The customs bureau is perceived as one of the most corrupt government agencies.

CHR disappointed

In a related development, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) yesterday expressed disappointment over the failure of Congress to pass the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill.

Citing the issue as significant to human rights advocates and public interest circles, CHR chair Leila de Lima said the failure of the FOI Bill showed the lack of commitment of the Arroyo administration.

“The significance of the Freedom of Information Bill isn’t only found in some abstract and hypothetical future scenario of governmental transparency. It is significant because of very real, concrete and compelling past events during the Arroyo administration,” De Lima said.

“We are aware of the several social legislation that the Arroyo administration had passed, strengthening human rights statute. But numbers are relative, and reputations are often tarnished by the timing of even one false move, one failure. And this administration disappoints tremendously with its nonchalance in burying the FOI Bill,” she said.

De Lima likewise pointed out that corruption had been a very important theme in the last nine years.

“Corruption is abetted by secrecy, opacity, and suppression of information. The ZTE deal, ‘Hello, Garci,’ fertilizer scam, North Rail, C-5 and so many other sensational cases all substantiate this theme. In a system of governance which allows the establishment of an allowance to self-correct and to rectify, I have to say that the FOI Bill would have been the most trite and obvious solution to rampant corruption. And despite that, Congress snuffed it out by a show, not of votes, but by mere implication, by procedure, wrought by those in absentia. It failed because of truancy!” De Lima said. – With Mayen Jaymalin, Perseus Echeminada, Rhodina Villanueva