By ALYSSA MAE CLARIN
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The Philippines continues to be one of the countries in the world with the worst record on prosecuting killers of journalists, according to the annual Global Impunity Index of the international watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists.

“The Philippines remains a dangerous place to work as a reporter, especially for radio journalists. While Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has adopted a more conciliatory approach toward the media since becoming president in June 2022,” said CPJ, adding that a culture of self-censorship persists as Marcos Jr.’s administration fail to undo the damage brought to the country’s press freedom by his predecessor, former president Rodrigo Duterte.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) found no comfort in the slight improvement of the country’s ranking, which remained in seventh place in the last two years, restating that cases of journalist killings remain unresolved until today.

Yesterday, the NUJP decried the killing of journalist Juan Jumalon, also known as DJ Johnny Walker, of 94.7 Calamba Gold FM in Calamba, Misamis Occidental, who was shot by unidentified attackers while he was airing his program.

“Government can help finally remove the Philippines from the top spots of the index by resolving pending murder cases — including those outside the CPJ monitoring period and by deterring further attacks,” said the NUJP in a statement.

“It must make clear that media killings are unacceptable and will be investigated and prosecuted swiftly and thoroughly,” the group said.

At the same time, in an annual report on the state of free expression on the internet, the Freedom House said that the Philippines had ‘the second worst’ decline in internet freedom out of the 70 countries covered by the report.

Worsening conditions, heightening digital repression

This year the Philippines went down four places in the Freedom on the Net 2023 report of the Freedom House. Previously with a score of 65 out of 100, the country’s score went down to 61 after the organization noted how conditions have worsened in the Philippines as outgoing president Rodrigo Duterte used an antiterrorism law to block news sites that had been critical of his administration.

Last June 2022, former National Security Advisor to the National Security Council Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr. ordered the blocking of Bulatlat and 26 other websites.

In his capacity as the NSA, Esperon “requested” for the blocking of the 27 websites, alleging that they were affiliated to “communist-terrorist” groups, and citing the Anti-Terror Act as justification for the request. The order was left untouched when President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. eventually took office in the same month.

Freedom House also pointed out how the Marcos Jr. administration also required all Filipinos to register their SIM cards under their real name, undermining anonymous communication in what remains a dangerous environment for journalists and activists.

“The Philippines’ decline in internet freedom occurred amid an erosion of political and civil rights under former president Duterte, who completed his six-year term in June 2022 and whose war on drugs led to thousands of extrajudicial killings,” said Freedom House.

Censorship problem

According to Freedom House, the government does not systematically order the removal of online content but there has been an unusual spike in recent years.

The report cited how some contents about former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. became inaccessible before his son, Marcos Jr., took office in 2022.

In March 2022, Marcos Sr.’s Guinness World Record (GWR) for the “greatest robbery of a government” was deleted from their website; it has remained inaccessible until now. Aside from that, the website of the Presidential Museum and Library, which documents the history of the martial law era, also became inaccessible.

Journalists in the country have also started practicing self-censorship due to the persistent pressures and threats they face, including threats of violence, as well as civil and criminal cases related to online activity.

“The authorities’ use of red-tagging, a form of harassment whereby targets are accused of having links with local communist groups, continued during the coverage period,” Freedom House said in its report.

Freedom House cited a conversation with the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), where the organization asserted that former president Duterte’s criticism of the press and online harassment have led journalists to use caution when investigating and reporting.

“The trolling and red-tagging of journalists, as well as the threats, arrests, and other forms of harassment and attacks on media personalities like Maria Ressa have also deterred people from freely expressing themselves online,” they said.

“Many journalists double and triple-check their stories before publishing to prevent negative consequences or to avoid offending the wrong person,” the report said.

The CMFR reported that 10 cases of libel and cyberlibel were filed against media workers between June 30, 2022 and April 30, 2023, while the NUJP had recorded at least 198 journalist killings since 1986. (RTS, RVO, JJE)

You can read the full report on their website.