Report: State top threat to PHL press

A PRESS FREEDOM monitor said on Sunday that conditions for Philippine journalists remain unsafe due to ongoing threats and harassment, citing “state repression” as the biggest danger to media freedom.

In a statement on World Press Freedom Day, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) reported that it has documented 242 incidents of rights violations against the press under the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.

The organization noted that the state has largely ignored recommendations to end systemic repression, allowing a climate of impunity to flourish.

“The Marcos administration has refused to abolish the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict, which is notorious for red-tagging, despite calls from two UN (United Nations) independent experts and from local and international human rights groups,” the NUJP said. 

“The Marcos administration has also chosen to ignore the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling which declares red-tagging as a threat to life, liberty and security,” it added.

Of the total number of attacks recorded, the group highlighted that 10 journalists have been slain and identified government and state security forces as the perpetrators in 43% of all documented cases.

The watchdog further reported that the violations have targeted 313 total victims, comprising of 238 individual reporters and 75 media outfits, with the highest concentration of incidents occurring in Luzon at 197 cases.

“In other parts of the country, libel and the Data Privacy Act have been the weapons of choice by the powers that be,” the group said.

“In some instances, politicians threatened colleagues with charges of libel and Data Privacy Act, often as a warning against pursuing controversial stories. Other forms of harassment include surveillance, physical and verbal attacks,” it added — Erika Mae P. Sinaking