As press freedom is threatened, so is democracy

As press freedom is threatened, so is democracy

Award-winning journalist Inday Espina Varona

By Irish Mae Silvestre
The Philippine Reporter

These days, Danilo Araña Arao rarely sleeps before 3 a.m.

As the associate professor in journalism at the University of the Philippines and Polytechnic University of the Philippines, editor of peer-reviewed journal Media Asia and associate editor of online news magazine Bulatlat, it’s easy to assume it’s due to a hectic schedule.

Rather, it’s the anxiety that keeps him awake after the arrest of Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem after an early morning raid on December 10. Manila Today, an alternative news site, was “red-tagged” just over a week before Salem was arrested for illegal possession of firearms and explosives, a common charge against journalists and activists.

“It’s not paranoia when I tell you I can only sleep beyond 3 am because there’s that pattern,” said Arao, adding that Salem was one of his students who doesn’t condone violence. “The clearer pattern of arrests of activists and in the case of Salem is they’ll be planting something specific like a grenade or explosives because under the law if you’re caught with illegal possession of a grenade that would be a non-bailable crime.”

Arao’s fears are very much a reality for many Filipino journalists critical of the current Duterte administration.

Red-tagging and threats against press freedom were some of the pressing topics discussed during the Malaya Movement Alberta’s December 11 webinar ‘Persecution of the Press: Suppression of Truth.’

Mila Astorga-Garcia, The Philippine Reporter managing editor and author

One of the speakers was Mila Astorga-Garcia, managing editor and co-founder of The Philippine Reporter and twice recipient of the Human Rights and Social Justice Award of the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada. Another was veteran journalist Inday Espina-Varona, former chair of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and the first Filipino journalist to receive the global prize from Reporters Without Borders in 2018.

A Sense of Déjà-vu

Garcia knows only too well what it means to be a journalist caught in a witch hunt.

While working for a newly established paper in 1969, she, along with colleagues and her husband Hermie Garcia, was arrested on “trumped up charges” after the paper published stories on student protests and land-grabbing cases.

“My interrogators would not allow me to rest or even sleep a wink in a room with bright, blinding lights left permanently on,” recalled Garcia. “They were forcing me to sign a statement admitting to the charges and even asked me to become a state witness against my husband and the other staffers, in exchange for my freedom.”

Members of the press heard of their predicament and put pressure on the Marcos administration to ensure fair treatment. Eventually, charges were dropped and the Garcias were released.

Reflecting on her experience Garcia said, “There’s something I learned as a young journalist who had just experienced my first year in journalism through this baptism of fire 51 years ago when I was only 20 years old. And this lesson has resonated in affirmations through the years of continuing my journalistic practice: it’s about what makes a newspaper or a journalist for that matter an enemy of the powerful but a friend of the oppressed.”

UP journalism professor and Bulatlat associate editor Danilo Araña Arao

Looking Ahead

With the Duterte administration’s demonization of the press, is history doomed to repeat itself?

Despite the grim situation, not necessarily, according to Varona.

“There is hope because people have started to go back to the media for information after those first two terrible years,” she said. “I think the attack on Rappler and ABS-CBN made people sit up and consider what they were losing or would lose if respected media institutions went under.”

Arao said that the international community could help by raising funds for non-government organizations helping targeted journalists and activists. Another is by contacting local leaders to create “international solidarity for what the Philippine media is going through.”

He said that there’s been a growing movement to defend press freedom with more people taking part in offline or online protests. “There are people who are becoming aware of the need to defend press freedom,” said Arao.

Varona added that in an effort to combat the lies spread by the current administration, the media should return to citizen journalism, thereby giving people the tools to tell a story.

“When you teach them to tell the story, they’ll eventually be more responsible users of information,” she said. “It’s going to be a long slog but there are no shortcuts.”