July 21,1999
His Excellency Joseph Ejercito Estrada
President of the Republic of the Philippines
Office of the President
Malacañang Palace
Manila, Philippines
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned over persistent evidence that an ongoing advertising boycott of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, one of the Philippines’ top newspapers, may have been instigated at the urging of your office.
Several large private and government-run corporations have recently withdrawn their advertising from the Inquirer, despite the fact that the newspaper is the largest-circulation daily in the country. Your Excellency, meanwhile, has been openly critical of the Inquirer,contending that the paper publishes only negative stories about you–a charge the Inquirer denies.
Movie producers–whose ads constitute an important segment of the newspaper’s revenue base–have stated in the local and international press that they withdrew their advertisements from the Inquirer as a “gesture of sympathy” for you. The pullout came after a group of producers met with you on July 8 and requested tax breaks for their industry. Your spokesman has since announced that the tax breaks have been approved.
The publisher of the Inquirer, Isagani Yambot, wrote in a letter to CPJ: “Our sources said the President asked [the movie producers] to pull out their ads from the Inquirer as a quid pro quo for the tax incentives for the movie industry that they were asking from him. Two other newspapers–Business World and the Manila Times– ran basically the same story.” The Inquirer also reported that three large government-run corporations–the Land Bank of the Philippines, the Philippine National Bank and the Social Security System–have withdrawn their advertising from the paper, along with the Philippines’ largest telecommunications company, Philippine Long Distance Telephone, and its sister company, Smart Communications.
The actions come after months of deteriorating relations between Malacañang Palace and newspapers critical of your administration. In early March, you filed a libel suit against the Manila Times newspaper seeking $2.6 million in damages over a story that allegedly linked you to a government contract scandal. The suit was settled after the publisher issued a public apology. On June 21, however, the Manila Timeswas shut down, having been bought by investors who reportedly have close political connections to your administration.
In April, staff members of the Inquirer told reporters privately that officials within the presidential palace had pressured them to downplay a story about a government consultant who was linked to a textbook purchasing scandal. In June, you announced that you would no longer entertain questions from print reporters. Instead, you have vowed to address the nation exclusively through television and radio.
As an organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of press freedom around the world, CPJ joins the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) and the editorial staffs of the Inquirerand the Manila Times in warning that economic retaliation against the media by powerful officials poses a grave threat to press freedom. Such abuse of power undermines the guarantees set forth in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which establishes the right to free expression “without interference.”
The strength of the free press in the Philippines has been the envy of journalists throughout the region. The preservation of this tradition is crucial to maintaining the health of any democracy.
Because even the appearance of government interference with the media can have a profoundly chilling effect, CPJ respectfully requests that you publicly urge an end to the advertising boycott of the Inquirer and disavow any support for such a strategy of harassment. We further ask you to ensure that no government official or political ally of the palace uses undue influence to affect the ownership or editorial integrity of any media outlet in the Philippines.
We thank you for your attention to these urgent matters, and await your response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
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His Excellency Joseph Ejercito Estrada
President of the Republic of the Philippines
Office of the President
Malacañang Palace
Manila, Philippines