Mike Arroyo, husband of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, has filed a total of 42 libel charges against several journalists, research from the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) revealed.

This is the highest number of libel charges filed by a single person. Arroyo has been “fighting back” against journalists and media outfits publishing articles criticizing him by filing libel suits.

“This situation highlights the predicament of journalists who risk imprisonment when reporting on controversial issues, particularly those involving powerful individuals,” said Jose Torres Jr. and Rowena Carranza-Paraan, NUJP chairman and secretary-general, respectively, in a letter to fellow journalists.

“It also highlights the need for the decriminalization of libel to allow greater room for open debate and public discussion of socially-relevant issues,” Torres and Paraan added. “Decriminalization of libel will strengthen the safeguards on free speech and expression and promote free flow of information – ingredients necessary in a democracy which we claim to enjoy.”

SEE LIST OF JOURNALISTS CHARGED WITH LIBEL HERE

The Movie and Television Review and Classifications Board (MTRCB) has demanded that the producers of a new public affairs show of TV network ABC 5 delete some portions from its maiden episode that would feature the New People's Army (NPA).

Reports received by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said the MTRCB, after reviewing materials for Frontline's episode called "Shadow" (a story about the shadow government of the NPA), has told producers to delete portions of the show.

Aside from the questioned story, Frontline will also feature the Mayon volcano eruption, NUJP learned.

The MTRCB move constitutes prior restraint which is a grave infringement on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and of the press.

NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES

National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales spouts an old, tired line in attributing news reports of human rights violations and other government anomalies to a communist conspiracy. This government has a track record of blaming the media for its troubles -- if not the communists, it blames "terrorists," or "destabilizers" -- never mind that investigations later validate so-called propaganda.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) warns Gonzales of the repercussions of his irresponsible remarks. With the spate of killings of legal activists, groups behind the murders could interpret his remarks as a green light to make journalists fair game for more of the same. This can only worsen the tragedy of a country already infamous for being second only to Iraq as the world's most murderous place for journalists.

Mr. Gonzales' statement is great cause for concern, especially as it comes on the heels of a recent Philippine National Police briefing that blamed the bad press about journalists' killings on an International Media Organization that allegedly receives its reports from the National Democratic Front.

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Related article:

Communists have Infiltrated Media, Says Gonzales

The Quezon City Independent Media Center (QC Indymedia) vehemently condemns the proposal by Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) deputy chief of staff, to sanction journalists and media outfits that interview "known terrorists or terrorist groups."

Adan may argue to high heavens that the proposal is not meant to stifle press freedom, as he was quoted as saying in a recent press interview. But it cannot be denied that the proposal carries grave implications for press freedom, a sacred right enshrined in no less than the Philippine Constitution as one of the foundations of the democracy that the government claims the Republic of the Philippines to be.

If there is anything that the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has proven so indisputably in the three years since the people catapulted her to power, it is that its use of the term "terrorism" is not at all founded on an even remotely accurate definition of the word.

The public has not forgotten that Macapagal-Arroyo called nationalists and legal cause-oriented groups "terrorist lovers" amid the controversy over the RP-US Balikatan military "exercises" in late 2001 and early 2002.

These same nationalists and legal cause-oriented groups have at various instances been called "communist fronts" or "communist sympathizers" by Malacañang spokespersons. Which also means danger for them, considering that the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is included in the US Department of State's list of "foreign terrorists," together with its armed component the New People's Army (NPA) and its founding chairman Jose Maria Sison.

There can be no denying that the Macapagal-Arroyo government has been dubbing as "terrorist" anyone it pleases to, but most particularly those personalities and groups critical of its anti-national and anti-people policies.

With his proposal, Adan is advocating a return to the days of dictatorship, when the military had a monopoly of access to the media while the torture and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of freedom-loving and justice-loving Filipinos went unreported and those who reported on these paid dearly -- like Henry Romero who remains missing nearly 30 years after he disappeared.

QC Indymedia is committed to joining all efforts at fighting off this attempt to further constrict our already limited democratic space and imposing a regime of open state terrorism against Philippine media and the Filipino people -- all in furtherance of a US-led war on "terror" that had long ago bared itself to be totally devoid of moral and legal basis.

A photo-journalist was shot in the head in Mindanao while a radio broadcaster critical of drug syndicates in his province of Aklan also succumbed to gunshot wounds, bringing to 10 the total number of members of the Philippine media who have been killed this year alone.

In response, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) will lead a nationwide mediapersons' protest on Nov. 17 to seek justice for their slain members and to demand an end to the killings and intimidation of members of Philippine media which, the group laments, continues to this day.

Gene Boyd Lumawag (in photo), 26 years old, was shot dead by still unidentified assailants in downtown Jolo Nov. 12 after taking photos of the sunset at the pier. He had come to Jolo along with fellow journalist Carolyn Arguillas of the MindaNews news agency to pursue a story on graft in local governments.

Herson "Bombo Boy" Hinolan, 38, was shot by a lone gunman a day after Lumawag's killing. He died yesterday while undergoing medication at a local hospital.

Lumawag and Hinolan the 57th and 58th casualties in the unending spate of murders of journalists since the so-called restoration of democracy in 1986 with the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship.

The Antonio Zumel Center likened the situation to the post-1986 media atmosphere with the martial law years, "when journalists like the late Antonio Zumel were relentlessly pursued by the state, and many of them landed behind bars and not a few were killed or abducted, for exposing the fascist regime's atrocities against the people. Journalists were among the first to be arrested following the Sept. 21, 1972 declaration of martial law."

In a brief statement, Indymedia QC (Pilipinas) expressed full support to the NUJP and the AZC, vowing to expose on the worldwide alternative media network the ongoing murderous spree against Filipino journalists. "We will fight back by exposing to the whole world these cold-blooded murders and the refusal of the Philippine government to protect Filipino journalists."

(In photo: Gene Boyd Lumawag)

The Quezon City Independent Media Center (QC Indymedia) stands in full solidarity with the Operation: Hard Drive By activity that is being organized in protest against the Oct. 7 seizures of the hard drives of two Indymedia servers in London at the request of the US Justice Department, apparently in collaboration with Italian and Swiss authorities.

The seizures led to the closure of an Indymedia radio station and around 20 Indymedia websites including those serving Ambazonia, Uruguay, Andorra, Poland, Western Massachusetts, Nice, Nantes, Lilles, Marseille, Euskal Herria (Basque Country), Liege, East and West Vlaanderen, Antwerpen, Belgrade, Portugal, Prague, Galiza, Italy, Brazil, UK, and parts of Germany Indymedia. While the hard drives were returned on Oct. 13, the entire Indymedia community is still in the dark as to the legal reasons for the seizures, as there has been no explanation from the US, Italian, and Swiss authorities involved.

But one thing is for sure: the hard drive seizures had among their objectives the intimidation of a media network specializing in reportage and analysis exposing the canards behind the US-led war on “terror.”

We in QC Indymedia condemn the US-led international genocidal war and its perpetrators in the Coalition of the Willing, among them Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. In our particular capacity as media-makers, we stand against the suppression of press freedom led by a government that claims to defend democracy, especially in furtherance of a war that sheds blood for gold.

We support Operation: Hard Drive By and are committed to the defense of press freedom and democracy against imperialist terrorism.

US authorities issued a federal order to Rackspace's office in the US ordering them to provide Indymedia's hardware located in London to the requesting agency. Rackspace is one of Indymedia's web hosting providers with offices in the US and London. Rackspace complied, without first notifying Indymedia, and turned over Indymedia's server in the UK. This affects some 20+ Indymedia sites worldwide. [Full story]

Related stories:
Italian and Swiss authorities request the seizure of Indymedia's hard disks

See also:
IMC: FBI and other legal breaking news
Was the seizure of Indymedia's servers in London unlawful or did the UK government collude?

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and other media groups -- among them the Press Photographers of the Philippines, the Philippine Center for Photojournalism, the Mindanao Institute for Journalism, College Editors Guild of the Philippines, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines-UP, the Batangas Newswriters Association, and several provincial members of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas -- will hold a nationwide protest rally on Monday, Aug. 16, on the failure of the authorities to solve the killings of journalists over the years. Several chapters of the NUJP in the provinces will also hold their own protest actions on the same day.

The NUJP had earlier slammed what it called the constriction of democratic space for media, referring to the Philippine military's plan to embed soldiers in media organizations. It called the plan "a heavy-handed attempt at news management and the latest sign of the constriction of democratic space in the country."

In letters to AFP Chief of Staff, Gen. Narciso L. Abaya; AFP civil relations service chief, Brig. Gen. Victor Corpus, and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, the NUJP had questioned how the embedded soldiers would be able to maintain objective, much less critical, reportage. The letters were signed by NUJP chairperson, Inday Espina-Varona and NUJP secretary-general Carlos Conde.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) has called for an independent investigation into the killings of journalists and on Vice President Noli de Castro to help protect his colleagues in the media. This developed as two journalists have been killed in the past five days alone.

De Castro, a media practitioner since the 1960s, was known as news anchor of ABS-CBN's TV Patrol and host of Magandang Gabi, Bayan for several years.

Radio commentator Roger Mariano of Ilocos Norte was gunned down July 31 by still-unidentified assailants. Yesterday, columnist and reporter Arnel Manalo of Batangas was murdered in Bauan town, same province. Full story

IMCistas and other media activists travelled from around the Asia Pacific region to gather in Melbourne for the first ever Oceania Indymedia Conference. Highlights from the four day conference included workshops on online video compression and distribution, writing news and features, analysis and direction of the international Indymedia project.

Indymedia QC was represented by Alexander Martin Remollino who talked about Journalism as an Agent of Change in the Philippines. Other Indymedia Centers or working groups represented in some way included: Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Aotearoa, Vancouver, Indybay, UK, Global features and the Sydney tech collective Catalyst. [Full story]

[Oceania Indymedia | Melbourne Indymedia]

The year 2003 was one of the worst years for journalists in the Philippines. Seven of them were killed in this year alone.

A total of 14 journalists have been killed under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. Many of them were critical of the government.

Not one has been held accountable for these killings.

But this is only a reflection of the over-all human rights situation in the country under the present government.