Hands Off Environmental Journalist Deo Montesclaros
January 29, 2025

Altermidya Network strongly condemns the baseless terrorism financing complaint filed against Deo Montesclaros, a multimedia reporter for Pinoy Weekly and former correspondent of The Northern Dispatch. These false accusations are part of the state’s ongoing attempts to silence independent and community journalists.

On January 10, 2025, the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor in Cagayan Province issued a subpoena requiring Montesclaros and several activists to submit counter-affidavits in response to allegations against them. These allegations stemmed from a December 23, 2024 letter from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Regional Field Unit 2 in Cagayan Valley, which accused them of gathering supplies for the New People’s Army in 2018.

Montesclaros has been a community journalist since 2017, covering human rights, social justice, the environment, and indigenous peoples. He also contributes as a photojournalist for international agencies such as IMAGO Images and Alto Press.

This is not the first time Montesclaros has been unjustly vilified. In 2020, he was forced to flee Cagayan province due to red-tagging and threats after the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) falsely labeled him a communist rebel during a Senate hearing. 

At the time, he was leading humanitarian efforts, raising donations, and coordinating relief for 1,809 families affected by Typhoon Ulysses. His reports on environmental issues—particularly against large-scale mining and illegal logging in Nueva Vizcaya and Cagayan Valley—made him a target of the government’s anti-communist witch-hunt.

These accusations reflect a broader pattern of state repression that endangers community journalists, who remain highly vulnerable to harassment, legal threats, and red-tagging. By weaponizing anti-terror laws to silence the press, the government creates a climate of fear, discourages critical reporting, and allows misinformation to thrive unchecked.

We fear for the safety and liberty of Deo Montesclaros and demand the immediate withdrawal of all baseless charges against him. 

Hands off community journalists! Defend press freedom! End red-tagging now!

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