PHILIPPINES – A journalist in General Santos City claims that unidentified men have been watching his house.
General Santos City is a chartered city in the southernmost Philippine island of Mindanao. It is approximately 1,049 kilometers south of Manila.
Aquiles Zonio, a correspondent of the Manila newspaper Philippine Daily Inquirer, said two men riding tandem on a motorcycle took his photograph last 24 October 2010 while he was in front of his house. The following day, on 25 October 2010, Zonio said a motorcycle-riding man was “peeking through our gate… He seemed to be checking if my motorcycle was there.”
In a text message to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) last 29 October, Zonio said the surveillance might be related to his continuing reports on the Ampatuan Massacre. Zonio was one of the journalists who were supposed to be part of the Mangudadatu convoy last 23 November 2009, but he and two others had to go back to their Sultan Kudarat hotel to get their valuables. (Zonio’s account of their experience can be accessed at http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20091125-238187/Hotel-incident-made-us-skip-media-convoy-at-last-minute.)
Two other men he did not know also checked out his house on 26 October (around 8:40 p.m.), and on 27 October (around 4:30 a.m. local time), leading Zonio to suspect that they were trying to establish what his daily routine was. Zonio has reported the incidents to the local police.
On 23 November 2009, about 100 men allegedly led by Andal “Unsay” Ampatuan Jr. stopped and killed 58 persons including 32 journalists who had joined the wife and sisters of now Maguindanao Governor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu in filing his certificate of candidacy in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan town, Maguindanao.
Unsay Ampatuan and 195 others are now facing multiple murder charges before a local court in Quezon City. (For more information on the Ampatuan massacre, visit http://www.cmfr-phil.org/ampatuanwatch/.)
Link: http://www.cmfr-phil.org/2010/10/29/reporter-fears-his-being-surveilled-could-be-connected-to-massacre/
Showing posts with label Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. Show all posts
Friday, October 29, 2010
Reporter fears his being surveilled could be connected to massacre: CMFR
Friday, September 25, 2009
Roundtable on impunity of crimes against journalists took place in Philippines
SAN JUAN CITY, Philippines - Experts in law, human rights, history, political science, psychology, anthropology and communication joined media representatives recently in a round-table discussion on the culture of impunity of crimes committed against journalists.
According to Florangel Rosario Braid, Chair of the Communication Committee of the Philippine National Commission for UNESCO, the discussion aimed to examine the problem of impunity of crimes committed against Filipino journalists, from a multidisciplinary perspective, with inputs from experts in social sciences. Through an analysis of the causes of impunity and of case examples, a policy framework and an action plan will be recommended to address the continued killing of journalists.
The Director-General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, already sounded an alarm for the increasing deaths of Filipino journalists, “who have been made to pay an intolerably heavy price to exercise the basic human right of freedom of expression”. He has called on the Philippine authorities to “spare no effort in bringing to justice the culprits of these crimes which undermine the rights and freedoms of all the citizens of the Philippines”.
The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility reports that 134 Filipino journalists were killed from 1986 until August 2009. 80 of these murders were work-related. Since the beginning of 2009, six journalists have already been killed.
At the roundtable discussion, funded by UNESCO’s Office in Jakarta, and organized by the Asian Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC) and the Philippine National Commission for UNESCO, the participants decided to undertake a research that would examine culture, history, child rearing, education, media and economics of the Filipino society.
They also recommended that the content and context of reports on the killings be analysed, and the families of victims, as well as the perpetrators of crimes, be heard and considered in the study.
The participants of the roundtable, together with other experts, will form an e-group to finalise the research framework and to share papers and case studies.
AIJC President, Ramon Tuazon, facilitated the roundtable discussion. Other participants represented the Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility, the Centre for Community Journalism and Development, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (National Association of Philippine Broadcasters), the Philippine Press Institute, the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, the Philippines Communication Society and the Philippine Association of Communication Educators. (UNESCO)
Link: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/fr/ev.php-URL_ID=29176&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Warrant against suspects in Filipino journalist’s slay lifted
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines (CMFR / Feb. 18, 2009) - A judge in the Philippines lifted the warrant of arrest he himself had issued against the alleged killers of radio broadcaster Dennis Cuesta.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 36 judge Isaac Alvero Moran of General Santos City revoked February 12 the warrant of arrest issued early this month against Police Inspector Redempto Acharon and several other suspects in the killing of Cuesta after the city's RTC Executive Judge ordered the case to "be included in the regular raffling of cases…and to be considered as a newly filed case." General Santos City is approximately 1,049 km southeast of Manila.
Moran in his order said that "…the probable cause order and warrant of arrest issued on February 3 must of necessity end up in smoke as the legal basis of its issuance has been virtually stripped. Consequentially, said Order and Warrant are hereby RECALLED, LIFTED and SET-ASIDE to pave way for Hon. Panambulan M. Mimbisa, presiding Judge of RTC-37, to make his own finical and evangelical (sic) findings therein."
Mimbisa has yet to decide if a warrant against Acharon should be issued.
RTC Executive Judge Oscar Noel Jr. ordered on 11 February 2009 that the case be re-raffled "to give peace of mind to the concerned party" acting on the "Very Urgent Motion to Recall Case Raffled to Branch 35 (sic)" filed by Acharon’s lawyer Rogelio Garcia last 10 February.
Gloria Cuesta, wife of the slain broadcaster, told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) that she was shocked by the lifting of the arrest warrant against Acharon. "It was unfair…. Are they trying to delay justice by recalling the warrant of arrest?" Cuesta said in Filipino.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in Davao said in a statement that "some colleagues…had predicted that this development would happen."
"That their prediction has been accurate makes us fear the Cuesta murder may end up like the majority of other cases of our slain colleagues," NUJP added.
Only in two cases since 2001 have there been convictions against the alleged gunmen—in the killing of Pagadian journalist Edgar Damalerio and of Sultan Kudarat journalist Marlene Esperat. No mastermind has been convicted.
An unidentified gunman on a motorcycle shot Cuesta on August 4, 2008 along a national highway near a shopping mall in General Santos City. Cuesta, program director and anchor at the local station of Radio Mindanao Network, was on his way home from an outreach program.
Cuesta sustained wounds in the head and near the spinal column after being shot five times with a .45 caliber pistol.
Cuesta died five days after the attack.
Cuesta was the second RMN broadcaster killed in 2008. Martin Roxas, program director of dyVR-RMN in Roxas City, died on August 7, 2008 after a gunman shot him a few kilometers away from the station.
Thirty-nine journalists and media practitioners have been killed in the line of duty in the Philippines since 2001, more than half of the total number of work-related killings since 1986.
Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 36 judge Isaac Alvero Moran of General Santos City revoked February 12 the warrant of arrest issued early this month against Police Inspector Redempto Acharon and several other suspects in the killing of Cuesta after the city's RTC Executive Judge ordered the case to "be included in the regular raffling of cases…and to be considered as a newly filed case." General Santos City is approximately 1,049 km southeast of Manila.
Moran in his order said that "…the probable cause order and warrant of arrest issued on February 3 must of necessity end up in smoke as the legal basis of its issuance has been virtually stripped. Consequentially, said Order and Warrant are hereby RECALLED, LIFTED and SET-ASIDE to pave way for Hon. Panambulan M. Mimbisa, presiding Judge of RTC-37, to make his own finical and evangelical (sic) findings therein."
Mimbisa has yet to decide if a warrant against Acharon should be issued.
RTC Executive Judge Oscar Noel Jr. ordered on 11 February 2009 that the case be re-raffled "to give peace of mind to the concerned party" acting on the "Very Urgent Motion to Recall Case Raffled to Branch 35 (sic)" filed by Acharon’s lawyer Rogelio Garcia last 10 February.
Gloria Cuesta, wife of the slain broadcaster, told the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) that she was shocked by the lifting of the arrest warrant against Acharon. "It was unfair…. Are they trying to delay justice by recalling the warrant of arrest?" Cuesta said in Filipino.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in Davao said in a statement that "some colleagues…had predicted that this development would happen."
"That their prediction has been accurate makes us fear the Cuesta murder may end up like the majority of other cases of our slain colleagues," NUJP added.
Only in two cases since 2001 have there been convictions against the alleged gunmen—in the killing of Pagadian journalist Edgar Damalerio and of Sultan Kudarat journalist Marlene Esperat. No mastermind has been convicted.
An unidentified gunman on a motorcycle shot Cuesta on August 4, 2008 along a national highway near a shopping mall in General Santos City. Cuesta, program director and anchor at the local station of Radio Mindanao Network, was on his way home from an outreach program.
Cuesta sustained wounds in the head and near the spinal column after being shot five times with a .45 caliber pistol.
Cuesta died five days after the attack.
Cuesta was the second RMN broadcaster killed in 2008. Martin Roxas, program director of dyVR-RMN in Roxas City, died on August 7, 2008 after a gunman shot him a few kilometers away from the station.
Thirty-nine journalists and media practitioners have been killed in the line of duty in the Philippines since 2001, more than half of the total number of work-related killings since 1986.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Journalists' suit against president's husband to proceed
MANILA, Philippines (Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility / Oct. 3, 2008) - The Philippine Court of Appeals has denied a motion by the husband of President Gloria Arroyo to quash the case, filed against him by journalists in response to his numerous libel suits.
The Court of Appeals also lifted a writ of preliminary injunction and directed the trial court to continue with the hearing.
"(T)he petition is denied for lack of merit. Accordingly, the writ of preliminary injunction is lifted and the case remanded to the trial court which is ordered to conduct further proceedings with dispatch," the 22 September 2008 23-page Court of Appeals decision, penned by Associate Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta, stated.
Thirty-six journalists, together with the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and the Manila newspaper "The Daily Tribune", filed the P12.5 million (approx. $ 264,600) class suit against Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, husband of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on 28 December 2006.
The journalists argued that the 11 libel suits Mr. Arroyo had filed against 46 members of the press were an abuse of his right to litigate and was an attack on press freedom.
After surviving a high-risk heart surgery, Mr. Arroyo announced through the presidential spokesman on 3 May 2007 that he would withdraw all the libel cases he had filed against journalists. The media practitioners who sued Mr. Arroyo however continued with the case, so that a decision on its merits could define the legal parameters for suing journalists for libel.
Mr. Arroyo's legal counsel Ruy Rondain told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak that he will appeal the decision.
"I'm disappointed. I thought my arguments were clear. Of course, I don't agree with the decision. I have 15 days to file a motion for reconsideration," Rondain told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.
Mr. Arroyo filed a petition for certiorari before the Court of Appeals arguing that Makati City Judge Zenaida Laguilles committed "grave abuse of discretion in admitting the amended complaint" of the journalists as the allegedly insufficient docket fees paid by the latter did not give Laguilles jurisdiction over the case.
A certiorari is a writ which could be issued by a superior court to a lower court to annul or modify ongoing proceedings if the latter judge acted on a case outside his jurisdiction.
In the original complaint filed by the journalists, the word "each" was written in the section asking for damages amounting to P12.5 million. Mr. Arroyo noted that the word "each" meant each petitioner is asking for P12.5 million in damages, with a docket fee totaling P9 million.
The journalists filed an amended complaint to Laguilles to then delete the word "each" and replace it with "aggregate" in the section pertaining to damages sought, as well as to include the names of additional journalists.
The appellate court did not pass judgment on the issue of docket fees, as it only ruled on the issue of "jurisdiction and grave abuse of discretion," about which allegation the Court of Appeals ruled was "wanting in this case."
Libel is a criminal offense in the Philippines, and many media organizations including CMFR have been campaigning for its decriminalization for years.
The Court of Appeals also lifted a writ of preliminary injunction and directed the trial court to continue with the hearing.
"(T)he petition is denied for lack of merit. Accordingly, the writ of preliminary injunction is lifted and the case remanded to the trial court which is ordered to conduct further proceedings with dispatch," the 22 September 2008 23-page Court of Appeals decision, penned by Associate Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta, stated.
Thirty-six journalists, together with the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and the Manila newspaper "The Daily Tribune", filed the P12.5 million (approx. $ 264,600) class suit against Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, husband of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on 28 December 2006.
The journalists argued that the 11 libel suits Mr. Arroyo had filed against 46 members of the press were an abuse of his right to litigate and was an attack on press freedom.
After surviving a high-risk heart surgery, Mr. Arroyo announced through the presidential spokesman on 3 May 2007 that he would withdraw all the libel cases he had filed against journalists. The media practitioners who sued Mr. Arroyo however continued with the case, so that a decision on its merits could define the legal parameters for suing journalists for libel.
Mr. Arroyo's legal counsel Ruy Rondain told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak that he will appeal the decision.
"I'm disappointed. I thought my arguments were clear. Of course, I don't agree with the decision. I have 15 days to file a motion for reconsideration," Rondain told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.
Mr. Arroyo filed a petition for certiorari before the Court of Appeals arguing that Makati City Judge Zenaida Laguilles committed "grave abuse of discretion in admitting the amended complaint" of the journalists as the allegedly insufficient docket fees paid by the latter did not give Laguilles jurisdiction over the case.
A certiorari is a writ which could be issued by a superior court to a lower court to annul or modify ongoing proceedings if the latter judge acted on a case outside his jurisdiction.
In the original complaint filed by the journalists, the word "each" was written in the section asking for damages amounting to P12.5 million. Mr. Arroyo noted that the word "each" meant each petitioner is asking for P12.5 million in damages, with a docket fee totaling P9 million.
The journalists filed an amended complaint to Laguilles to then delete the word "each" and replace it with "aggregate" in the section pertaining to damages sought, as well as to include the names of additional journalists.
The appellate court did not pass judgment on the issue of docket fees, as it only ruled on the issue of "jurisdiction and grave abuse of discretion," about which allegation the Court of Appeals ruled was "wanting in this case."
Libel is a criminal offense in the Philippines, and many media organizations including CMFR have been campaigning for its decriminalization for years.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
‘Unethical Practice’ Is Threatening Journalism
MANILA, Philippines - There is a growing consensus among journalists and media practitioners around the world that “unethical practice” is slowly killing journalism. The threat has become so serious that the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) last year launched an “Ethical Journalism Initiative.”
The initiative is supposed to be journalism’s response to the challenges the craft faces – the increasing polarization around the globe, the clamor for change in a number of countries on the fringes of development, war and terrorism.
Amid these developments – racial, religious, cultural and political conflicts that most of the time lead to shooting wars – are the media, which most of the time are used by partisan interests to deceive, sow falsehood and speculation, and provoke misunderstanding, hatred and violence.
“The manipulation of public opinion by media-savvy extremists and the poisoning of public discourse happen because individuals and groups that express themselves freely do not aim at truth,” said Aidan White, IFJ secretary general.
It should not be the norm for journalism and the media whose basic tenets are accuracy and fairness, to aid the spread of lies and deception.
Unfortunately, technological advances in the delivery of news, the growing commercial interests of media organizations, and the drive for dominance by institutions and states, have contributed to the erosion of the tradition of truth-telling in the media.
Apparently commenting on the trend of sensational, celebrity- and scandal-oriented coverage of many media newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets, blogger True Focus, in an article reprinted by BC Culture observed that “most of the news rooms have gone from media bias to engaging in media corruption.”
He added that many journalists do not seem to be interested anymore in source accuracy and reliability in news reporting, but in ratings.
“With the proliferation of technological advances, and subsequent increased ambitions on the global socio-political/economic platform, so too have the ambitions in newsrooms across the nation increased,” the blogger said.
The IFJ’s White admitted during a global media conference in Bali, Indonesia, last May that the scope for quality journalism has been “dramatically curtailed” even in countries where free speech is supposed to have taken roots.
Among the factors he cited to explain the problem are “changing market conditions and deep cuts in editorial budgets.”
Several studies in the United States have found a decline in advertising, especially in newspapers, with the growing popularity of the Internet as a source of news. News sources are even competing for popularity, high ratings and advertising dollars, blogger True Focus said.
“With full access and control of the news outlets that reach the masses, and no one to ‘answer to,’ media (have) ceased to be reliable tools for information, but… powerful tools for fraud and manipulation,” he added.
Indeed journalists have been found to be accepting bribes and fabricating stories. Some even work with interest groups to sabotage rivals and defame enemies.
Reclaiming the ‘ethical tradition’
The media must reclaim their “ethical tradition” to survive the changing landscape, said White, even as he urged journalists and media practitioners to rethink their attitudes on how media and journalism contribute to democratic life.
“When journalism is inaccurate, when it marginalizes important issues or denies access to different voices and when it is manipulated to serve narrow interests, it damages democracy,” White said.
For democracy to work in a society dominated by conflicts and deceptions, journalists must commit to an “ethic of communication” to help the public “better understand the complexities of the world.”
For journalism to survive and to function effectively, “it must open itself to scrutiny and challenge,” White said. Journalists must make a conscious effort to “protect and nourish the values and public good that flow from committed, ethical journalism.”
It cannot be right that with the supposed expansion of free expression, the quality of information delivered by the media should be declining. Journalists must start standing up for principles “to circulate the worries, fears and inquiries of people who have no institutional voice.”
It is admittedly hard for many in the media to make the shift after years of working in what could be a culture of corruption fed by a culture of silence and sustained by a deep-seated fear of exposing their own weaknesses.
But with initiatives like that of the IFJ, there might be some hope for the future. Practical is the inclusion in the campaign of a stress for politicians not to meddle in “journalistic affairs.”
There is of course no debate that governments can contribute “to building an enabling environment for media freedom” by creating conditions for decent, safe and fair employment conditions for people in journalism.
It is not enough to leave journalism to the market. Priorities must be set. In the Philippines, for instance, the culture of impunity must be eradicated by punishing the killers of journalists, the welfare of media practitioners must be looked into, and laws that threaten free expression repealed.
Journalism must first of all be safe, and attacks on media practitioners must be stopped; a fresh start for journalism based on its ethical traditions must be encouraged; and a dialogue between citizens, the government and media must take place to raise awareness of free expression and independent journalism.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda made it clear in Bali last May: “One inconvenient truth that cries out for concerted action is the fact that too many journalists are being killed in the line of duty, often in areas that are free of armed conflict.”
He called on journalists to “ennoble their audiences” by using the media’s power “to educate, enlighten and to unite perceptions…to take collective and concerted action for good causes and for good fights.”
The return to ethical practice in the profession is the good fight that must be waged by journalists themselves.(Jose Torres Jr., chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. He is also the editor in chief of the online news magazine GMANews.TV)
The initiative is supposed to be journalism’s response to the challenges the craft faces – the increasing polarization around the globe, the clamor for change in a number of countries on the fringes of development, war and terrorism.
Amid these developments – racial, religious, cultural and political conflicts that most of the time lead to shooting wars – are the media, which most of the time are used by partisan interests to deceive, sow falsehood and speculation, and provoke misunderstanding, hatred and violence.
“The manipulation of public opinion by media-savvy extremists and the poisoning of public discourse happen because individuals and groups that express themselves freely do not aim at truth,” said Aidan White, IFJ secretary general.
It should not be the norm for journalism and the media whose basic tenets are accuracy and fairness, to aid the spread of lies and deception.
Unfortunately, technological advances in the delivery of news, the growing commercial interests of media organizations, and the drive for dominance by institutions and states, have contributed to the erosion of the tradition of truth-telling in the media.
Apparently commenting on the trend of sensational, celebrity- and scandal-oriented coverage of many media newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets, blogger True Focus, in an article reprinted by BC Culture observed that “most of the news rooms have gone from media bias to engaging in media corruption.”
He added that many journalists do not seem to be interested anymore in source accuracy and reliability in news reporting, but in ratings.
“With the proliferation of technological advances, and subsequent increased ambitions on the global socio-political/economic platform, so too have the ambitions in newsrooms across the nation increased,” the blogger said.
The IFJ’s White admitted during a global media conference in Bali, Indonesia, last May that the scope for quality journalism has been “dramatically curtailed” even in countries where free speech is supposed to have taken roots.
Among the factors he cited to explain the problem are “changing market conditions and deep cuts in editorial budgets.”
Several studies in the United States have found a decline in advertising, especially in newspapers, with the growing popularity of the Internet as a source of news. News sources are even competing for popularity, high ratings and advertising dollars, blogger True Focus said.
“With full access and control of the news outlets that reach the masses, and no one to ‘answer to,’ media (have) ceased to be reliable tools for information, but… powerful tools for fraud and manipulation,” he added.
Indeed journalists have been found to be accepting bribes and fabricating stories. Some even work with interest groups to sabotage rivals and defame enemies.
Reclaiming the ‘ethical tradition’
The media must reclaim their “ethical tradition” to survive the changing landscape, said White, even as he urged journalists and media practitioners to rethink their attitudes on how media and journalism contribute to democratic life.
“When journalism is inaccurate, when it marginalizes important issues or denies access to different voices and when it is manipulated to serve narrow interests, it damages democracy,” White said.
For democracy to work in a society dominated by conflicts and deceptions, journalists must commit to an “ethic of communication” to help the public “better understand the complexities of the world.”
For journalism to survive and to function effectively, “it must open itself to scrutiny and challenge,” White said. Journalists must make a conscious effort to “protect and nourish the values and public good that flow from committed, ethical journalism.”
It cannot be right that with the supposed expansion of free expression, the quality of information delivered by the media should be declining. Journalists must start standing up for principles “to circulate the worries, fears and inquiries of people who have no institutional voice.”
It is admittedly hard for many in the media to make the shift after years of working in what could be a culture of corruption fed by a culture of silence and sustained by a deep-seated fear of exposing their own weaknesses.
But with initiatives like that of the IFJ, there might be some hope for the future. Practical is the inclusion in the campaign of a stress for politicians not to meddle in “journalistic affairs.”
There is of course no debate that governments can contribute “to building an enabling environment for media freedom” by creating conditions for decent, safe and fair employment conditions for people in journalism.
It is not enough to leave journalism to the market. Priorities must be set. In the Philippines, for instance, the culture of impunity must be eradicated by punishing the killers of journalists, the welfare of media practitioners must be looked into, and laws that threaten free expression repealed.
Journalism must first of all be safe, and attacks on media practitioners must be stopped; a fresh start for journalism based on its ethical traditions must be encouraged; and a dialogue between citizens, the government and media must take place to raise awareness of free expression and independent journalism.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda made it clear in Bali last May: “One inconvenient truth that cries out for concerted action is the fact that too many journalists are being killed in the line of duty, often in areas that are free of armed conflict.”
He called on journalists to “ennoble their audiences” by using the media’s power “to educate, enlighten and to unite perceptions…to take collective and concerted action for good causes and for good fights.”
The return to ethical practice in the profession is the good fight that must be waged by journalists themselves.(Jose Torres Jr., chairman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines. He is also the editor in chief of the online news magazine GMANews.TV)
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