Pass the Freedom of Information Bill Now!

In a few days time, Congress will wrap up its session to give way to the start of the election campaign period. It will reconvene in July with a hopefully, new, interesting and more dynamic set of lawmakers and with more progressive national policies to craft.

But many of these significant bills are also pending in both chambers and are up for bicameral approval this week.

One of these is the Freedom of Information Bill, which will have a key role in ensuring clean, orderly and peaceful elections in May in the short term, and good governance, transparency in public service and people-empowerment, in the long term.

The Philippines will conduct its first ever nation-wide automated elections in May and the Filipino electorate and the whole world are just as eager to see how this historic event will impact on the country’s electoral democracy, which has been described as elitist, violent and controversial.

Surely, the passage of Freedom of Information Bill will help give the media greater leeway to capture this historic conjuncture for the general public to witness.

We therefore urge house and senate leaders to pass the Freedom of Information which is now in its final stage of deliberation in the bicameral conference. #

Statement on the death of Press Secretary Cerge Remonde

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) condoles with the family, friends and colleagues of the late Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who died this morning at 51.

Cerge rose from the ranks as a Cebu broadcaster to become national chairman of the Kapisanan ng mga Broadcaster sa Pilipinas (KBP) for six terms.
Even after he joined government service, Cerge retained the respect of former colleagues and continued to be friendly and open with the media.

The NUJP may have differed with Cerge on many issues including government’s response and action, or lack of the same, on the unabated killings of journalists in the country.
But he remained a friend and did not fail to express his solidarity with the Philippine press.
When NUJP officers and members of the International Solidarity Mission who came in response to the Ampatuan massacre met with Cerge on December 9, 2009 in Malacañang, he expressed his grief for the journalists slaughtered in the massacre and vowed to help find justice for the victims and to help the victims’ families.

Amid passionate discussions and debates with the mission members, Cerge expressed his desire to return to his first love – media – after June 2010, when his term and that of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo end.

It is unfortunate that Cerge never realized that desire.

For reference:

Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
NUJP Chairman
0917-7256333

When has wearing Stop-Killing-Journalists shirt become a security threat to the President?

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)- Iloilo chapter condemns the actuation of a member of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) who prevented Cirilo Renduque, cameraman of GMA-7 in Iloilo City, from nearing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo because he was wearing a shirt demanding justice for victims of the Ampatuan massacre.

In an insensitive, arrogant and high-handed manner, the PSG personnel prevented Renduque and reporter Fabian Paderes from nearing and getting video footages at the tarmac of the Iloilo Airport during the arrival of the President on Tuesday, January 12.

Despite repeatedly showing his identification card accredited by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and the Media Accreditation and Relations Office (MARO) of the Office of the Press Secretary, Renduque and Paderes were not allowed to enter the tarmac because the cameraman was wearing a black shirt emblazoned with “Stop Killing Journalists” and the names of 27 journalists who were among those butchered in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao on November 23, 2009.

We find no logical reason for preventing the crew from nearing the tarmac and thereby preventing them from doing their job.

Wearing the shirt is an act of grieving for the victims and sympathizing with the victims’ families. It is also an expression of condemnation and to demand justice.

When has this become a security threat to the President? Is this offensive to the highest official of the land? Didn’t the President herself declare a national day of mourning after the massacre and has not her various spokesperson repeatedly condemned the hideous crime?

We hope that the actuation of the PSG member is a result of his overzealousness in doing his job and not a policy of the PSG and other government agencies.

But based on accounts of the television crew, what adds insult to injury is that the PSG personnel even joked that he would have let them through if Renduque was instead wearing a “Kapuso”shirt. He also even told Renduque that he could by a shirt at a shopping mall so he could change the black shirt.

It is ironic that a shirt condemning the world’s worst attack on journalists and demanding justice for the victims is used as an excuse to trample on the rights of journalists.

We urge colleagues to collectively condemn this incident and we call on the concerned agencies to ensure that this will not happen again.

Ilocos Sur broadcaster ambushed just a few meters away from provincial police office

Unidentified gunmen ambushed but failed to kill Eugene Paet Y Piano, 49, a radio commentator of DWRS Commando Radio station, which is located in Brgy. Tamag, Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

Reports received by NUJP said that Paet, known among members of the local media community as “Commando Uno”, was rushed to Metro Vigan Cooperative Hospital after he was shot around 7:20 PM yesterday (January 7). The incident occurred along the national highway in Bulag Sentro, Bantay town, Ilocos Sur, just a few meters away from the Ilocos Sur provincial police office at Camp Pres. Elpidio Quirino.

Colleagues of Paet said the anchorman was heading home after his program at his radio station when waylaid by the gunmen.

Police reports said unidentified men riding in tandem on a red yamaha motorcycle with no plate number overtook Paet and shot him, hitting him twice. Paet was able to run away and sought help from residents of a nearby house. The suspects immediately fled the scene.

The suspects were armed with .45 caliber as evidenced by the recovered cartridge shells and slug.

Paet was first employed by Bombo Radyo-Vigan in the ‘80s before transferring to the dwRS, which is owned by Rep. Ronald Singson, son of Deputy National Security Adviser Luis Singson.

Paet’s son, Eugene Jr., believes someone wants to silence of his father because he said he could think of no one who bears any personal grudge against him except those that might have been irked from his commentaries in the radio.

Broadcaster Arlon Serdenia, chairperson of the local chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in Ilocos Sur, condemned the incident and appealed to authorities to immediately solve the attack.

(NUJP-IFJ Media Safety Office)

Ilocos Sur Broadcaster Ambushed Just a Few Meters Away from Provincial Police Office

NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES (NUJP)

Alert

January 8, 2009

Ilocos Sur broadcaster ambushed just a few meters away from provincial police office

Unidentified gunmen ambushed but failed to kill Eugene Paet Y Piano, 49, a radio commentator of DWRS Commando Radio station, which is located in Brgy. Tamag, Vigan, Ilocos Sur.

Reports received by NUJP said that Paet, known among members of the local media community as “Commando Uno”, was rushed to Metro Vigan Cooperative Hospital after he was shot around 7:20 PM yesterday (January 7). The incident occurred along the national highway in Bulag Sentro, Bantay town, Ilocos Sur, just a few meters away from the Ilocos Sur provincial police office at Camp Pres. Elpidio Quirino.

Colleagues of Paet said the anchorman was heading home after his program at his radio station when waylaid by the gunmen.

Police reports said unidentified men riding in tandem on a red yamaha motorcycle with no plate number overtook Paet and shot him, hitting him twice. Paet was able to run away and sought help from residents of a nearby house. The suspects immediately fled the scene.

The suspects were armed with .45 caliber as evidenced by the recovered cartridge shells and slug.

Paet was first employed by Bombo Radyo-Vigan in the ‘80s before transferring to the dwRS, which is owned by Rep. Ronald Singson, son of Deputy National Security Adviser Luis Singson.

Paet’s son, Eugene Jr., believes someone wants to silence of his father because he said he could think of no one who bears any personal grudge against him except those that might have been irked from his commentaries in the radio.

Broadcaster Arlon Serdenia, chairperson of the local chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in Ilocos Sur, condemned the incident and appealed to authorities to immediately solve the attack.

(NUJP-IFJ Media Safety Office)

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NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF THE PHILIPPINES
www.nujp.org
4/F FSS Bldg. Scout Castor cor Scout Tuason Streets
Quezon City, Philippines
Email: nujphil@gmail.com
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“There can be no press freedom if journalists
exist in conditions of corruption, poverty or fear.”
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