State of Philippine Media, World Press Freedom Day

This is a  summary report and data graphics on the state of Philippine media, with reports on attacks and threats recorded from June 30, 2016 to April30, 2019 under the Duterte Administration.

This  third semestral report is produced by the “Freedom for Media, Freedom for All Network” that is composed of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Philippine Press Institute (PPI), MindaNews, and Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).

From our second report (June 30, 2016 to Nov. 23, 2018), to this latest report, our monitoring of cases of attacks and threats on the Philippine media shows:

* An increase in the number of cases of “Killings, Attacks, and Threats” from 99 cases/incident to 128 cases/incidents, across media platforms across the nation. in the last six months;

* A significant increase — from six to 16 cases — in the number of incidents of intimidation, including “red-tagging,” visits by police teams to the offices of certain media agencies, and the exposure of independent media organizations and their officers and staff in the so-called “associational matrix” of an “oust-Duterte plot”;

* A significant increase in the number of threats and harassment of online news organizations from 30 to 50.

* A significant increase — from 10 to 16 cases — in the number of DDoS attacks on alternative media sites; and

* An unchanged number of 12 journalists killed from June 30, 2016 to October 30, 2018, under the Duterte administration.

By gender/entity, the attacks had targeted 66 males and 33 females, and 29 media organizations.

By medium, of the 128 cases/incidents of attacks and threats on the press, online has shot to top spot with 50 cases, followed by radio with 36, and print with 25, television with 13, multimedia with 3, and photojournalism,

By region of the country, from 41 cases/incidents of attacks and threats in November 2019, media agencies in the National Capital Region or Metro Manila recorded 63 cases by April 30, 2019. Metro Manila’s media has retained this dubious record as No. 1, by number of cases of attacks and threats, since 2014.

By island group, the 128 total cases include 89 cases recorded in Luzon, 26 in Mindanao, and 13 in the Visayas.

By alleged perpetrator or suspect, nearly half or 60 of the cases involved state agents or public officials.

They include 16 local government officials and employees; 14 national government offices and officials; 11 officers of the Philippine National Police; seven officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines; three officers of the Presidential Security Group; two cases each involving, ironically, an official of the Presidential Special Task Force on Media Killings (PTFOMS) and of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency; and one case involving the director of the Philippine Information Agency.

 

Here is  “The President and the Press: A Timeline of Hostilities Against the Media” that documents the major instances when President Duterte called out journalists and media agencies, for various issues and reasons that had caused him displeasure.

 

THE PRESIDENT AND THE PRESS:
A TIMELINE OF HOSTILITIES AGAINST THE MEDIA

 

2016

May 31, 2016

“Just because you are a journalist, you are not exempted from assassination, if you are a son of a b****.”

Duterte during a press briefing in Davao City days after he was declared President-elect.

June 4, 2016

“If I tell you, ‘What’s the condition of your wife’s vagina?’ Well??”

Duterte during his victory party in Davao City, calling out Karlos Manlupig of the Inquirer when it was actually Dennis Santos who prodded about his health.

July 25, 2016

“Eh tapos nandiyan ka nakabulagta and you are portrayed in a broadsheet na parang Mother Mary cradling the dead cadaver of Jesus Christ. Eh yan yang mga yan magda-dramahan tayo ditto.”

Duterte on the Philippine Daily Inquirer during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Batasang Pambansa, Quezon City.

September 9, 2016

“When they are after you, they make it appear to be the worst of you. Kaya ako, bantay sa press. They can spin everything.”

President Duterte during his speech has he faced the Filipino community in Indonesia.

2017

March 30, 2017

“Because you know journalism is so… It’s always antag – antagonistic ‘yan eh. That’s their role. Pero huwag ninyong sobrahan ‘yan ‘yung slant. Napakabaho naman ninyo kayong mga Prieto, kayong mga Lopez. You’re full of s***,”

President Rodrigo Duterte during the Awarding of the Go Negosyo’s Inspiring Filipina Entrepreneurs in Malacanang.

March 31, 2017

“If you keep listening to this itong mga basura ng media particularly Inquirer parti ABS-CBN. Ah putangina, kalokohan.”

Duterte during the Digong’s Day for Women in Malacanang.

April 4, 2017

“Kaya sinasabi ko diyan sa Inquirer, huwag kayong magbasa niyan, basura ‘yan. Iyan si Prieto, Prieto mukha ni Prieto. The owner? Kita mo mukhang pera. And just like ABS-CBN. You’re all bunch of shit.”

Duterte during the inauguration of the Metro Manila Crisis Monitoring Management Center.

April 12, 2017

‘So when I go back (to the Philippines), I will raise hell. Kayong mga Inquirer, kayong mga crusaders kuno. Gusto ninyo tama lahat pero kayo hindi nagbabayad.”

Duterte speaking to the Filipino community in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during his state visit

May 16, 2017

“So what is your moral authority to tell us, what to do, ‘yung mga programa ninyo? Editorial criticizing us. Who would ever believe you? So I told the Filipino community, huwag kayong magbasa niyang Inquirer pati ABS-CBN.”

Duterte upon arriving from his visits to Cambodia, Hong Kong and China

May 19, 2017

“Press freedfom, press freedom kayo ‘yung number one magnanakaw, ayaw niyo isaulo ‘yung propiedad, press freedom. Kami? How about our freedom? We have our freedom of expression, to express our anger and that is my constitutional right. You, you’re bitches. You, mukha kayong pera, kakapal ng mukha ninyo. Kayong taga-media. You want to know my sentiments? Fuck you.”

Duterte speaking before soldiers in Davao.

July 1, 2017

“Ila pa ang taxes. Kanang mga tag-iya ng Inquirer kaya…pero kung magsalita kayo kontra sa akin, akala ‘nyo sino ang malinis. Kayo ang mga tulisan (The taxes are theirs. The owners of Inquirer. But when you speak against me, it’s like you’re the ones who are clean. You are the thief).”
Duterte during 50th founding anniversary of Davao del Norte in Tagum City

 

July 17, 2017

 

“These newspaper owners, who do they think they are? The way they editorialize people in government saying they are thieves…. You have hostaged a government property for so long a time and collected the rentals there. That is swindling.”

Duterte accuses the Prietos of swindling at the oath-taking of new government appointees at the Malacañang

 

July 24, 2017

 

“Have you tried to pierce your identity? And I would lead you to America. Do you know that? And yet the Constitution requires you to be 100-percent media, Filipino. Rappler tried to pierce the identity, and you will end up American ownership.”

Duterte during his State of the Nation Address (SONA)

 

October 12, 2017

 

“Never confuse your search for answers with the need to engage the public through sensationalized news and overpublicizing political propaganda.”

Duterte at the relaunching of the Malacanang Press Briefing Room

2018

 

January 16, 2018

 

“Listen very carefully. ‘Yung, ‘yung release ninyo. We never had a hand and I don’t give a s*** if you continue or not continue with your network.”

Duterte to Rappler during the inauguration of the new communications, navigation, surveillance / air traffic management systems

 

“Since you are a fake news outlet then I am not surprised that your articles are also fake,”

Duterte referring to Rappler

 

February 22, 2018

 

“Because it is not a legitimate agency according to SEC, so I am now invoking executive action based on the SEC ruling, na kung sabihin na sila, legitimate sila, pasok kayo uli. Walang problema sa akin ‘yan. But unless hindi ka legitimate, hindi naman Pilipino pala ang may-ari. Eh bawal ‘yan eh,”

 

“Baka CIA sponsored e bawal yan,”

 

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he was just “invoking executive action” when he ordered the ban on all Rappler reporters

 

March 1, 2018

 

“Mahirap kasi ‘pag palabas ‘yan, kita mo ‘yung mga newspaper, mga Rappler. Iba itong speech ko ngayon. Bukas, iba ang presentation niyan. Kaya bawal ngayon sila,”

 

Duterte says he banned Rappler from Malacanang because it ‘twists’ what he says in speeches during a SWAT event in Davao City

 

August 3, 2018

 

“Now, ABS-CBN, their franchise is due for renewal… But I will never also intervene. But if I had my way, I will not give it back to you.”

Duterte during a speech during the opening of a drug rehabilitation facility in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon

 

October 4, 2018

 

“Kung mag-criticize sa atin sa gobyerno, akala mo mga — we are brigands. P*** sila nga ‘yung — ABS, remember during the time of Marcos, Lopez group of companies borrowed heavily from DBP. Sikat ‘yang DBP noon. P***** i**, at the end of the day, kinondone ‘yung utang. Kaya dumive (dive) ‘yung DBP. [The way they criticize the government, you’d think we are brigands. Son of a b*tch. Remember during the time of Marcos, Lopez group of companies borrowed heavily from DBP. DBP was famous then. Son of a b*tch, at the end of the day, the loans were condoned. DBP nosedived],”

 

President said before an assembly of the Philippine Military Academy Alumni Association Inc. in Malacañang

 

November 8, 2018

 

“Hindi ko palusutin. Iyong franchise niyo matatapos. But let me ask you questions first. Kasi ako talaga mag-object na ma-renew kayo. Alam mo bakit? Magnanakaw kayo, estapador.”

 

Duterte on ABS-CBN while he was in Boracay to distribute land titles to Aklan’s Indigenous People

 

2019

 

March 20, 2019

 

“Yung malisya nila, kasi ayaw ninyo ako maging presidente.  Kasi kayong mga mayaman, may mga newspaper, mga UP graduates kayo, ‘yong mga commentator, sila ang may ari […] kasi in the first place, you did not want me.”

 

“Because I do not belong to any of the ruling elite in this country. P*tang ina I am not your president, manigas na kayo. Para sa tao ako, kasi ang tao ang nagboto sa akin.”

         Duterte said during the PDP-Laban’s campaign sortie in Marikina

 

April 6, 2019

 

“So ‘yung… Makita mo ‘yung utak ng mga investigative journalism kaya… Pera-pera lang. Binabayaran ‘yan kung ganun kalaki. Pati nung lawyering ko.”

 

Duterte on PCIJ during the 25th annual convention of the National Federation of Motorcycle Clubs in the Philippines in Iloilo

 

April 14, 2019

“Isulti ko na karong pila ka adlaw. Huwat lang mo. Ayaw gyud mo’g tuo nga kaning mga taga-Manila. Og kamo, anak mo’g pobre unya mga baho mo’g ilok kay wa mo’y kwarta, mas baho pa siguro nang inyong – ayaw gani mo’g inarte. Sige lang kay naa ko’y ipagawas pud kontra nila. Makit-an ninyo. Abi ra’g kamo ra (I will spill the beans one of these days. Just wait. Do not ever believe those from Manila. And you who are children of poor parents and your armpits smell, don’t be pretentious. One of these days I will let out something against them. You will see. You’re not the only one).”

Duterte warning media practitioners at a rally of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan in Bukidnon province

 

April 17, 2019

“Bayad ‘yan lahat. Kasi itong mga p***** i**** ‘to, kung ang negosyo lang nila magsulat-sulat lang, mga pulubi kayo sa totoo lang. Hindi kayo makabili ng mga kotse, mga ganun. P*** mapupunta pa kayo doon sa mga — kay Belo nagpaganda. Saan niyo kunan ng pera? Milyonaryo kayo?

Duterte on PCIJ, during a speech in Batangas City

 

The  infographics were produced by, and should be credited to, The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), with research by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).