Press Freedom Protection Archives | Page 8 of 76

State of Media Freedom in PH

Introduction The period saw the long awaited decision from the trial of the accused of the massacre of 58 persons, including 32 journalists in Ampatuan, Maguindanao; promulgated at the end of nearly 10 years. But this high point did not lighten the dreary landscape of press freedom. It is...

Philippines Graphic website hacked

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – The website of a Manila-based weekly news magazine was hacked by still unidentified parties on 18 April 2020. Clicking links to stories published by the Philippines Graphic redirects readers to a pornographic website, according to editor-in-chief Joel Pablo Salud. Salud told the National Union of Journalists of...

Student journalist harassed in Nueva Ecija

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — A student journalist was forced by barangay officials in Nueva Ecija on 6 April 2020 to publicly apologize after a heated exchange with his former teachers in Facebook over the government’s poor response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nueva Ecija is 140 kilometers north of Manila. Joshua Molo,...

2 journalists, 17 others face charges for alleged coronavirus ‘fake news’

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — Two journalists in the province of Cavite are facing the possibility of two months imprisonment and a fine of up to PHP1 million pesos ($19,706.72) as a result of charges filed by the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Unit in Region IV-A on 28 March 2020. Cavite is...

Journalist arrested in police raid

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — Eastern Vista newspaper Executive Director Frenchiemae Cumpio was arrested, along with four others, in simultaneous raids by Leyte police today, 7 February 2020 in Tacloban City. Tacloban is 572 kilometers south of Manila. In an earlier report, Cumpio told CMFR about the continuing harassment she has been...

Community publication executive director threatened

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – An unidentified man bearing a bouquet of flowers and a photo of Eastern Vista newspaper Executive Director Frenchiemae Cumpio visited the office in Tacloban City, Leyte on 31 January 2020. Tacloban is 572 kilometers from Manila. Cumpio told CMFR the unknown visitor was described as “military-looking” by the...

Journalists barred from press briefing in evacuation center

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — Police barred members of the media from an evacuation center for displaced indigenous people in Davao City on 25 January 2020. The media were there to cover a press briefing by human rights groups on an earlier incident involving alleged paramilitaries from Davao del Norte and Bukidnon...

Radio reporter harassed, detained for covering protest

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — A Tagum, Davao-based Radyo ni Juan reporter was detained by police in the municipality of Carmen, Davao del Norte on 21 January 2020. Carmen is 947 kilometers from Manila. Glenn Jester Hitgano told CMFR he was covering the protest of workers from the Philippine Dream Farm Development...

Metro Manila Police district chief takes reporter’s phone, deletes video

CMFR/PHILIPPINES — Metro Manila’s Southern Police District (SPD) Chief took the cellphone of GMA 7 TV reporter Jun Veneracion he was using to video an altercation between police officers and a devotee of the Black Nazarene during the Traslacion on 9 January 2020. The police officer allegedly deleted the...

Tagum-based radio station’s transmitting equipment torched

CMFR/PHILIPPINES – Unidentified assailants set on fire equipment in the transmitter house of a radio station in Mindanao on 11 December 2019. The transmitter of 99.9 RPFM is located in the municipality of Mawab, Davao de Oro (formerly Compostela Valley). Mawab is 953.71 km south of Manila. RPFM’s station...