Status: Partly Free
Legal Environment: 11 (of 30)
Political Environment: 23 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 11 (of 30)
Total Score: 45 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)
While reports are often rooted in sensationalism and innuendo, media in the Philippines have historically ranked among the freest, most vibrant, and outspoken in Southeast Asia. However, press freedom in 2007 continued to face limits due to the ongoing threat posed by journalist-targeted violence and the use of defamation suits to silence criticism of public officials, while the arrests of 30 media workers covering a coup attempt in November and subsequent warnings infringed upon news coverage of a significant national event.
The constitution guarantees freedom of speech, of expression, and of peaceful assembly. There are no restrictive licensing requirements for newspapers or journalists and few legal limitations such as privacy, or obscenity laws. However, the year brought the introduction of new national security legislation that may limit journalists' traditional rights and access to sources. On April 20, shortly before the May 7 legislative elections, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo issued Executive Order 608 (EO608), which established a National Security Clearance System "to protect and ensure the integrity and sanctity" of classified information against "enemies of the state." The order calls on the heads of government agencies to implement a vaguely defined security clearance procedure approved by the national security adviser. Watchdog groups further expressed concerns that the new Human Security Act, or Anti-Terror Law, enacted in July, will allow members of the media to be wiretapped based on mere suspicion in involvement in terrorism.
The country's penal code makes libel a criminal offense punishable by prison terms and, in some cases, extreme fines. The prevalence and extremity of libel cases in recent years prompted a broad-based movement calling for the decriminalization of defamation in 2006. An August 2006 bill approved by the House of Representatives now requires that libel suits against members of the press be filed at the court in the province or city where the journalist or media outlet maintains its principal office and that civil actions connected with such libel suits be filed in the same court as the criminal complaint. Jose Miguel Arroyo, the president's husband, has been the most notorious public figure to file libel charges, with 11 suits filed against a total of 46 different journalists as of May 2007. Arroyo continued to launch defamation suits in early 2007, including charges against seven staff members of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, despite a major civil class action suit collectively launched against him in December 2006 for using the courts to harass the media by more than 40 of the media workers he sued. Arroyo dropped all 46 complaints on May 3, World Press Freedom Day, in what he called a "gesture of peace" following his release from the hospital and survival of risky open-heart surgery. Local press freedom groups welcomed the development but attributed the decision to the political costs for his wife's regime presented by the class action suit. Despite calls for the case against Arroyo to proceed, it was effectively put on hold in September when a court of appeals granted his request for a preliminary injunction.
Although a censorship board broadly has the power to edit or ban content for both television media and film, government censorship does not generally enforce political orientation. Both the private press (most print and electronic media) and the country's many state-owned television and radio stations cover the country's numerous controversial topics including alleged election fraud, ongoing counterinsurgency initiatives, and high-level corruption cases. Media coverage of the campaign period in the run-up to the May legislative elections was perceived to be generally unbiased, although there were a few cases in which the media was prevented from conducting interviews with high-level opposition members. For example, the media was prevented from interviewing Bayan Muna's Satur Ocampo, arrested in March for alleged involvement in communist purges in the 1980s, and members of the foreign press were prevented from interviewing jailed opposition candidate, Senator Antonio Trillanes in May. The arrests of 30 media workers, including four members of the foreign press, at the scene of a failed coup attempt at the Peninsula Hotel in Manila's financial district in November was criticized as a serious infringement on the media's ability to report on significant national events. The Department of the Interior called the media presence an obstruction of justice and subsequently issued a warning that arrests would be repeated if members of the press continued to defy orders to leave similar scenes in the future.
Filipino journalists continued to face danger in the course of their work throughout the year. While violence slightly declined in 2007, with two journalists killed clearly in connection with their work as opposed to three in 2006, the Philippines continues to rank as one of the most dangerous places in the world for members of the press. Exposing corruption scandals or criticizing the government, army, or police can prove lethal, with the Committee to Protect Journalists counting 32 total journalists killed since 1992 (with a 90 percent impunity rate). Both murder victims in 2007 were radio broadcasters: in April, Carmelo Palacios, a frequent critic of police policies in Nueva Ecija province in the north, and in December, Ferdinand Lintuan, known as a vocal critic of local government corruption in Davao. Radio broadcasters outside major urban centers – known for sensational political reporting intended to attract high ratings – are the most common targets; at least four other radio journalists were killed or shot and wounded over the year, plus additional murder attempts, under unclear circumstances.
The nature of advertising and prevalence of "block timing" in radio broadcasting contribute to sensational reporting on the part of radio broadcasters while prevalent local political rivalries, corruption, and family vendettas often make the cause of journalist murders difficult to conclude. Still, only two convictions against the perpetrators of journalist murders have ever been issued, and – with unknown gunmen often hired by local government officials – no mastermind of a journalist murder has ever been held accountable. In 2006, the president established Task Force Usig, a police task force, and the Melo Commission to Investigate Media and Activist Killings, in an effort to address the problem but the official findings of the former are disputed by local human rights groups, while the latter lacked any sort of enforcement capacity. Harrassment and death threats are common; Attorney Harry Roque, who led the class action suit against Mike Arroyo, received several death threats via text message early in the year.
Most print and electronic media are privately owned, and while some television and radio stations are government owned, they too present a wide variety of views. Since 1986, however, there has been a general trend toward concentration of ownership, with two broadcast networks owned by companies of wealthy families, dominant among audiences and advertising. Often criticized for lacking journalistic ethics, the press is likely to reflect the political or economic orientations of owners and patrons, and special interests reportedly use inducements to solicit favorable coverage. Approximately 15.4 percent of the population made use of the internet in 2007, and the government did not restrict their access.
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