Media groups not surprised with the Philippines' rise in impunity index

Journalists’ groups are not surprised with the Philippines’ rise in an international media organization’s global index on impunity, given the “worsening" state of press freedom in the country. National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) director Rowena Paraan that Philippines’ third place ranking in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ)’s 2010 Global Impunity Index all the more “crystallized the real situation of the Philippine press." “Hindi na nakapagtataka (This is not surprising anymore) given what’s happening in the country now. Marami pa ring (There are still a lot of) attacks against journalists, at mayroon pang mga ginagawa ang gobyerno (and the government are taking more moves) to suppress press freedom, such as the right of reply bill," she told GMANews.TV in a phone interview. “Ang mas nakakapagtaka pa nga diyan ay kung bakit hindi pa tayo number one (What is more suprising is the fact that we are not yet number one)," she added. The Philippines went from sixth place in 2009 to third place this year in the CPJ index, which lists countries where continued attacks on journalists occur without much action from the government. In a press release posted on its website, the CPJ cited the November 23 Maguindanao massacre as one of the reasons why worsened to third place, next to Iraq and Somalia. Paraan said the country’s high ranking in the CPJ impunity index is also proof of the world’s “worsening perception of press freedom in the Philippines." “Nakakahiya tayo. (What a shame.) This is something to be ashamed of. It is a travesty of democracy," she said. The NUJP director likewise said she hopes the country’s CPJ index “pressures" the government to act on continued media repression in the Philippines. “Sana maisip ng gobyerno ito bago sila gumawa ng policies na lalo pang makakasama sa media (I hope the government considers this ranking before making policies that can harm the media even more)," she said. Likely to get worse Vergel Santos of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) meanwhile said that the country’s CPJ impunity index is likely to get worse in the coming year, given the recent developments in the Maguindanao massacre case. Santos criticized Justice Secretary Alberto Agra’s decision to clear two Ampatuan clan members in the case. “If the very credible suspects in this case are allowed to be released, then I won’t be surprised if we worsen our ranking. Very clearly, the ethical thing to do here is to leave the case to the courts," he said in a separate interview on Tuesday. Santos added that more violence towards the press is expected due to the upcoming May polls, which may further worsen the country’s CPJ index ranking. “I cannot imagine that we will improve our ranking, given the election season. Chances of violence are increasing, and are traditionally high during elections," he said. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV