MANILA, Philippines – The Facebook page of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) was restored yesterday after it was taken down following the release of a statement criticizing president-elect Rodrigo Duterte.
Although the page was restored, its previous posts were still unavailable as of yesterday afternoon.
The EJAP page was reportedly taken down after it was “mob reported” by alleged supporters of the incoming president.
“It’s unfortunate that our organization’s account, EJAP Pilipinas, was taken down by Facebook after we posted our statement regarding president-elect Duterte’s pronouncement about media killings in the country,” a statement of the group posted by STAR business reporter Iris Gonzales read.
“We are talking with Facebook representatives in order to restore our account, which was created prior to the authenticity policy of Facebook,” it added.
In its statement, the group condemned Duterte’s statement that supposedly justified the killing of corrupt journalists.
“While corruption is a grave concern, violence is never a solution to addressing the problem. It may also be worth noting that practitioners on their own and collectively as an industry are working to address the issue,” said the group.
“But more importantly, and is worth reiterating, violence as a means of redress is never an option and would be a slap in the face of a democratic country like the Philippines that prides itself to be a society governed by the rule of law yet has a president who justifies killing sans due process,” it added.
Another page that has published critical posts against Duterte, Juan Nationalist, has been restored following a personal appeal of its administrator to Facebook executive Katie Harbath.