Labor group scores state's press freedom record

The workers' rights group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) on Tuesday called for added protection for Filipino journalists, calling out the state's apparent neglect for their welfare and security. The group's call coincided with the launch of FreedomHouse.org's report, Freedom of the Press 2011: A Global Survey of Media Independence, which showed that the Philippines is still considered just "Partly Free" despite having improved its ranking from 97 to 93 out of 196 countries in terms of press freedom. According to the report, the Philippines still exhibits a high rate of impunity for perpetrators of crimes against media persons. PM chairman Renato Magtubo said that this prevalent impunity, coupled with weak labor policies and an apparent lack of political will to address warlordism and organized crime, places journalists in danger. “While journalists are trained to be placed where the line of fire is, putting their lives in constant threat of violence makes them suffer the unnecessary consequence of inexcusable state neglect," said Magtubo. “On the other hand, the nature of their job requires strong job security and just compensation as they perform both mental and manual labor," he added. The PM attended a forum on press freedom facilitated by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), which underscored the need for fair compensation and protection of media practitioners. Magtubo said that, despite the profitability of commercial media companies, journalists receive unfair compensation and little job security. According to the NUJP, 144 journalists in the Philippines have been killed since 1986, despite the supposed restoration of democracy after the end of the Marcos regime. Of these, just ten cases have seen the conviction of the victims' killers and no mastermind of any of the killings has yet been brought to justice. “The perceived weaknesses of President (Noynoy) Aquino’s administration hinder the resolution of these cases," Magtubo said of the present administration. — TJD, GMA News