NUJP Calls On Duterte Admin To Probe Threats vs Journos

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) has asked the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to stop the so called "penchant" for blaming the media over controversies derived from its own statements and actions.

“We urge the administration to end its penchant of constantly blaming the media for any controversy its words and actions give rise to. As communicators, we are only too aware of the power of words, especially when uttered by those in positions of leadership, for these may be, and have many times been, taken as gospel truth and a license to precipitate action by true believers,” the NUJP said in a statement.

“As journalists, it is our duty to report events as faithfully as we can. To blame us for the consequences of what those we cover utter or do is tantamount to asking us to abrogate our duties and be silent. This we cannot and will never do,” the NUJP further said.

Some Filipino journalists like Gretchen Manalad, a tagged Filipino freelance journalist and netizen Mocha Uson, a vocal Duterte supporter received threats online after they commented on the Facebook post of Rishi Iyengar.

Iyengar wrote a story with a headline “Night falls on the Philippines,” on TIME Magazine Asian edition.

Al Jareeza correspondent Jamela Alindogan-Caudron was also on the verge of experiencing the same but from Duterte supporters after giving her two cents on the cost of the president's call to wipe out members of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf on the social media site.

Duterte has been in a rocky relationship with the media since his assumption to office as he was quoted saying that some corrupt journalists deserved to die and had also accused journalists of sensationalizing his statements, which are typically laced with expletives.

With this, the NUJP calls on former media practitioner Martin Andanar, presidential communications office secretary, to initiate an investigation against persons who threatened media practitioners.

“We do take some measure of hope from the Duterte administration’s creation of a special task force to investigate media killings and other threats against the Philippine press. This might be the perfect opportunity for the task force, or an equivalent mechanism currently available, to prove its worth,” the group said.

“The media, whether here or elsewhere, will always welcome engagement, including criticism, from their audience for this is also how we learn to be more effective communicators. However, we will never take any threats, whether of physical harm or to silence us, lightly for we have lost far too many of our colleagues and hardly seen justice for them,” it added.

Duterte had earlier ordered the creation of a task force on media killings in July, Andanar said, adding that his office was already drafting an administrative order that would define the parameters of the task force but no update has been given since.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer