Attacks and threats against the media

PTFoMS tags media attack as “fake news”

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – Presidential Task Force for Media Security (PTFoMS) Executive Director Joel Sy Egco in a Facebook post published on 28 July 2020 took a swipe at the media organizations that carried the news about the seizure of more than a thousand copies of Pinoy Weekly magazine in a...

Police confiscate copies of alternative magazine in Bulacan

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – Police confiscated issues of Pinoy Weekly magazine during a raid in Pandi Bulacan on 26 July 2020 claiming that the publication is illegal and carries anti-government propaganda. Bulacan is 43 kilometers north of Manila. According to Pinoy Weekly, members of the Pandi police headed by PCPT Jun...

Funeral wreaths sent to ABS-CBN station in CDO

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – Unidentified persons sent three funeral wreaths to the ABS-CBN station in Cagayan de Oro on 25 July 2020 as different groups in the city held a protest against the non-renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise. Cagayan de Oro is 1,385 kilometers south of Manila. On May 6, the National...

NTC orders shutdown of ABS-CBN’s Sky Direct, TV Plus channels

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) ordered Sky Cable Corporation’s cable satellite dish service, Sky Direct; and ABS-CBN TV Plus digital broadcast channels, to stop operations on 30 June 2020. Sky Cable Corporation is an affiliate of the ABS-CBN Corporation. The NTC previously ordered the shutdown of ABS-CBN...

Palace Spokesperson berates reporter during live broadcast

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque berated a reporter during a televised media briefing for her supposedly misleading report on his statement on mass testing as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. During a May 19 press briefing, Roque accused CNN reporter Triciah Terada of failing to report accurately...

Radio station in Nueva Ecija harassed by local government

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — Radyo Natin Guimba (RNG) in Nueva Ecija and its reporters have been receiving threats and other forms of harassment from the local government according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP). Nueva Ecija is 131 kilometers south of Manila. In a statement, NUJP said...

Rappler reporter removed from NCRPO messaging group

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — A Rappler reporter was removed from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) messaging group after the online news organization published the story on NCRPPO chief Major General Debold Sinas’ birthday celebration inside Camp Bagong Diwa on May 8 which violated quarantine protocols. NCRPO’s public information officer...

Government anti-communist task force posts propaganda against ABS-CBN, Rappler’s Maria Ressa

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), the government’s anti-communist task force, published social media posts on 9 May 2020 denying that the closure of ABS-CBN network is an attack on press freedom and accusing Rappler’s Maria Ressa of spreading fake news about...

Dumaguete broadcaster gets death threat

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – Two days after a radio broadcaster was killed in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, a journalist in the same city received a death threat on 7 May 2020. Dumaguete City is 639.71 km south of Manila. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines reported that Roy August...

ABS-CBN goes off air following NTC’s cease and desist order

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — The country’s biggest broadcast network, ABS-CBN, ceased its radio and television operations nationwide on 5 May 2020, in compliance with an order from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), which reneged on its earlier commitment to provide the network with a provisional license. The NTC issued a cease...

Press Freedom Protection