In Marcos Jr.’s Philippines, milder tone belies harsh media reality
At a waterfront courthouse in Tacloban City, a long-time hotbed of communist insurgency in the Philippines’ Eastern Visayas island region, heavily armed guards were escorting jailed journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio to trial. The picturesque setting belied the harsh reality of the April 17 hearing. Cumpio could be put behind bars for life if found guilty…
‘Red-tagging’ of journalists looms over Philippine elections
As Philippine presidential candidates wind up their campaigns before the May 9 election, journalists in the country are demanding that whoever succeeds President Rodrigo Duterte put an end to “red tagging” – the labeling of individuals as rebels or supporters of the communist insurgency – that helped put their colleague Frenchiemae Cumpio behind bars. Cumpio, the 23-year-old executive director…
Philippine police arrest journalist Lady Ann Salem for alleged weapons possession
Bangkok, December 14, 2020 – Philippine authorities should immediately release journalist Lady Ann Salem without charge, and open an investigation into police officers’ alleged planting of weapons during her arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 9 a.m. on December 10, police arrested Salem, an editor at the Manila Today English-language news website and…
American journalist shot, critically wounded in Philippines
Bangkok, August 9, 2019 – An American journalist working in the Philippines was shot and critically wounded on August 6 while retrieving his daughter from school in the northern province of Ifugao, according to his outlet and other press reports.