Peace Journalism Archives

Media and the Butig Siege: Covering the Unfolding Crisis

CHEERS TO the media organizations that provided more than the usual combat information in their reporting of the recent attack of the terrorist Maute group. Violence struck on Saturday morning, Nov. 26, as the terrorist Maute group returned to Butig, seizing a school, a mosque and the town...

The Peace Process: Clarifying Issues, Explaining Concepts

CHEERS TO the People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya) and Manila Today for publishing articles that help explain the ongoing peace talks between the government and National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). Altermidya published on Aug. 25 an alphabetical list of issues related to the peace process(“Want peace...

Mamasapano Revisited: The Press Got Played

SENATE HEARINGS in aid of legislation are an important part of democracy. The very nature of these hearings – senators have subpoena and contempt powers and are immune from legal action – make them a potentially great venue for ferreting out the truth on issues of national import....

Closing the Pandora’s Box—A Difficult Task

PRESIDENT AQUINO finally gave closure to the Mamasapano incident’s “alternative truth,” a controversy which the President himself publicly raised when he announced the government was probing another version of events in the SAF operation that led to the death of Malaysian bomb maker Zulkiflibin Hir alias Marwan during the...

An Alternative Truth?

NEARLY EIGHT months after, the Mamasapano incident once again found its way into the headlines after President Benigno Aquino III announced during a “Meet the Inquirer Multimedia forum” on Tuesday, September 8, that there could be an “alternative truth” to the bloody encounter that took the lives of at...

Voices of Faith on the BBL

FAITH-BASED communities have always played significant roles in addressing national crises, their leaders raising the call for change or speaking on possible actions that will help the country through difficult passages. And yet, the media had not featured the voices for peace from these groups since the tragedy in...

MEDIA ON MINDANAO: Revisiting Mamasapano and the BBL

AT LEAST 50 journalists and media practitioners based in Manila and Mindanao attended the forum “Beyond Mamasapano: Reporting on the Bangsamoro Peace Process” in Cotabato City last July 24-25. The forum served as a timely reminder for media, presenting them with the perspective of the communities in Mindanao, especially...

Serious charges, unidentified sources

ON MARCH 5, the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) issued an order to deport an alleged Chinese crime lord named Wang Bo who is being sought by the International Criminal Police Organization and the Chinese government for allegedly embezzling $100 million.

Reporting education and peace in the south

CHEERS TO the Philippine Daily Inquirer for publishing news reports on some underreported stories on education and peace in Mindanao.

Briefer on Seven Roundtable Discussions in the Senate of the Philippines on Muslim Mindanao Autonomy (June – October 2015)

The Institute for Autonomy and Governance is organizing the discussions in partnership with the Senate Economic Planning Office (SEPO), Local Government Development Foundation (LOGODEF) and the Senate-Muslim Advocates for Peace and Progress.