CMFR Staff, Author at CMFR

Stonewalling DOJ’s drug war deaths report: Rappler sounds the alarm

IN THE fifth year of the Duterte presidency, media have reported less on the “war on drugs” even as drug-related killings continued. But Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra made headlines... Read more

Advertorials for mask product sideline public safety issue

JEERS TO Inquirer.net for running two advertorials about a face mask in the market whose effectivity in preventing COVID-19 transmission has been questioned by medical professionals. “CopperMask” has been... Read more

Dacera case: Media echo, fail to check sloppy police work

IT HAD all the elements of the sensational. A young flight attendant had been found unconscious in a posh Makati hotel room on New Year’s Day. She was brought... Read more

Vaccinations in secret: Media miss public safety issue

IT CAME straight from the horse’s mouth. Last December 26, President Rodrigo Duterte announced in a public address that “almost all” soldiers have been inoculated with the Chinese anti-COVID-19... Read more

“Isolated incident?”

THE COLD-BLOODED double-murder of a woman and her son by an off-duty policeman in Tarlac rocked the nation just a few days before Christmas. Footage of Police SMSgt. Jonel... Read more

Domini Torrevillas, 80

AT 80, Domini Torrevillas was still writing and filing her column, “From the Stands” for The Philippine Star. A brief fatal illness ended 49 years of work as a... Read more

Lack of context in government testing policy

THE PUBLIC clamor for mass testing began as early as March 2020 when the World Health Organization (WHO) advised all countries to “test, test, test” in order to curb... Read more

Media on the questionable arrests of the ‘Human Rights Day 7’

ON DECEMBER 10—Human Rights Day no less—the PNP arrested a journalist and six activists on charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives as part of what critics denounced... Read more

Justice for judges: Rappler flags impunity in lawyer killings

NOT EVEN those who administer justice are spared from the country’s culture of violence and impunity. Since Duterte became president in 2016, 54 lawyers, prosecutors and judges have been... Read more

The Sub Judice rule and cases of public interest

SEN. LEILA de Lima’s trial has moved at a snail’s pace, dragging on for more than three years since her arrest in February 2017. Charged with conspiracy to commit... Read more