With fewer journalists being murdered, the Philippines rose a few notches in this year’s World Press Freedom Index. From 139th last year, the Philippines is now 122nd among 175 countries. For a democratic country, that’s still not much to crow about. The Philippines was ranked behind Cambodia (117th), Uganda (86th), Nicaragua (76th) and El Salvador (79th). Though these countries have a history of suppressing civil liberties, they are deemed to be faring better in improving their record in the protection of press freedom.
This is one area where the Philippines is traditionally rated better than its Southeast Asian neighbors. The country was ranked ahead of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, and of course Burma. But with the exception of China, which ranked 168th, northeast Asian economies were rated better than the Philippines, starting with Japan (17th), Hong Kong (48th), Taiwan (59th) and South Korea (69th). Among other Asian countries, Bhutan, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, Nepal and Mongolia also rated higher than the Philippines.
The report noted the continuing violence in the Philippines against journalists, which Reporters Without Borders said “is fed by corruption and links between politicians and criminal networks and constitutes a permanent danger to journalists who are too critical.” Again, impunity was mentioned in the report, which noted that most of the murders of journalists remain unsolved. In parts of Mindanao, death squads “controlled by politicians” sow terror among human rights activists and the independent press, the report said.
The report also took note of the Right of Reply Bill, drawn up by “parliamentarians confronted by criticism of the press.” Not mentioned in the report was the failure of the Senate to pass its version of the Freedom of Information Act, which would improve journalists’ access to official records and promote transparency in government. Though lawmakers are now preoccupied with the forthcoming elections and are not acting on the Right of Reply Bill, neither have they moved on the Freedom of Information Act. In this democratic country, as in much of the rest of the world, press freedom is a continuing struggle.