Media watchdogs question Davao radio station manager's dismissal

Local and international media watchdog groups have joined workers of a Davao City-based radio station in questioning the dismissal of their station manager. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) criticized the dismissal of Maximo "Dodong" Solis on September 6. "Solis was fired without pay after 12 years of service, during which time the station had consistently topped ratings surveys in Davao City," said the IFJ, representing more than 600,000 journalists in 125 countries, on its website. IFJ and NUJP expressed their solidarity with the workers taking industrial action at Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) dxDC Davao by forming a union and protesting the dismissal of Solis. According to IFJ, Solis led the staff in rejecting alleged attempts by the senior management and the station’s owners to influence programming at the station. Solis and the staff also allegedly rejected the management's move to support a presidential candidate in the May 2010 elections after a lucrative advertising deal was reportedly negotiated by RMN account executives. NUJP's Davao chapter added that Solis rejected the cost-cutting measures proposed by RMN executives, wherein regional staff were either fired or forced to take on account executive tasks aside from their regular reportorial duties. The staff of dxDC Davao reportedly formed a union amid these concerns about staff cuts, restructuring, and editorial independence, IFJ said. “The IFJ is heartened to learn that colleagues of Dodong Solis are taking his unwarranted dismissal as an opportunity to stand together in unity and oppose further attempts by management to pursue a particular partisan or inappropriate cost-cutting agenda," said IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park. “Their display of strength on such important matters of principle serves as an example to media workers throughout the Philippines, where we have seen that job security is just as threatened as journalists’ safety and freedom of expression," she added. The group noted the Philippines remains one the world’s most dangerous countries for media professionals. –VVP, GMANews.TV