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 as a questionable string of such arrests.

Lady Ann Salem, editor of online news site Manila Today, was arrested at her house in Mandaluyong City, while six trade unionists were arrested in separate operations in Quezon City and Manila. All the suspects denied the charges and, along with their friends and families, called on the government for their release. They also expressed the suspicion that the pieces of firearms and explosives the police said were recovered from their houses were “planted.” The CIDG, which led the operations, insisted that the operations and the consequent arrests were legitimate.

Circumstances added more questions about the dubious operations. Without presenting any evidence, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) previously accused Salem’s leftist news outfit of being part of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The NTF-ELCAC, established to fight communist insurgency, is known for red-tagging activists and journalists.

Questionable charges against activists and journalists are not new in the Philippines, certainly not under the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who in public speeches has encouraged the police to disregard human rights in going after government critics whom he has lumped together with criminals.

Media could not resist giving prominence to the widespread condemnation of the so-called “Human Rights Day 7” arrests. Reports highlighted the views of various sources on the impact of such operations: that these create a climate of fear, particularly among sectors involved in the defense of human rights and that are critical of government policies.

CMFR monitored reports from three major broadsheets (Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star and Manila Bulletin), two primetime newscasts (ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol and GMA’s 24 Oras), and select news websites and other newscasts from December 10 to 17.

Reports from these media organizations cited sources who pinned the responsibility for the police’s actions on President Duterte. A Rappler report quoted a statement of the organization Karapatan, which called the arrests a “mockery” of Human Rights Day and described how Duterte’s “fascist regime…ramps up its crackdown on dissent in the most brazen of ways.”

Nonoy Espina, chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said in an interview on ANC that the CIDG aimed to “demonize” activists and critical media and “paint them as criminals.” In the same interview, Espina suspected that the timing of the arrests was deliberate. “We have a president who openly shows contempt, disdain for human rights,” he said. “The timing was saying, ‘We don’t care about human rights, we’re going to get you.’”

Media also included the views of the accused and their families and lawyers, who found such police procedures in violation of the rights of the accused.

A TV Patrol segment reported on what the activists have observed to be a “pattern” in similar arrests: the search warrant is served at dawn, the case filed is always illegal possession of firearms and explosives, and that, in the case of the “Human Rights Day 7,” only one judge issued all the warrants: Judge Cecilyn Burgos-Villavert of the Regional Trial Court Branch 89 in Quezon City.

Bayan Muna party-list and the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives have pushed for a Lower House investigation into this matter, the same report stated.

An Inquirer article, quoting independent lawyers Stephen Cascolan and Dexter Calizar as sources, explained the rules for searches and raids. Noncompliance with procedures and guidelines in such police operations will void the results or lead to the dismissal of charges due to technicality, the lawyers told the Inquirer in an interview.

TV Patrol reported on the bigger context of the recent arrests: presenting these as the result of government agents’ red-tagging of critical media and activists. Citing progressive groups, the report pointed out that a series of arrests and killings of red-tagged individuals happened after the NTF-ELCAC was formed.

The arrests deserve to be followed up with reports on the impact of the NTF-ELCAC on media coverage, noting how many stories may not be sufficiently reported by mainstream media. Media should also investigate whether the killings of lawyers and other activists that are happening outside of Metro Manila are part of the pattern and an effect of the policies of the NTF-ELCAC.