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The Presidential Working Group on Media Safety (PTFoMS) said on Thursday that the Philippines was finally out of the five worst countries for journalists and was declared the “biggest driver” in a recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalists ( CPJ), based in New York. ).
In its Global Impunity Index released Wednesday, CPJ reported that the Philippines ranked seventh among the countries with the worst prosecution records for murderers of journalists.
“The Philippines is the fastest moving country in this year’s rankings, improving from the fifth worst country in the world to the seventh worst,” the global media watchdog said.
“The Philippines has 11 unsolved murders in the current 10-year index period, compared to 41 in last year’s index,” he added.
CPJ’s 2020 report explained that the country’s remarkable jump from fifth to seventh place “reflects the fact that the massacre of 58 people in November 2009 in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, of 58 people, including 30 journalists and two workers from the means, it no longer falls within the 10-year framework for calculating the index. “
“The landmark convictions late last year led CPJ to adjust the status of the Ampatuan cases to ‘partial impunity’ from ‘total impunity’ previously, meaning that they would no longer have figured in the index calculation regardless of the period of time, ”he added.
On December 19, 2019, the Quezon City Regional Court of First Instance issued a guilty verdict against the masterminds and their accomplices in the heinous crime and sentenced them to long years in prison.
The president and secretary of Justice of PTFoM, Menardo Guevarra, affirmed that the country’s achievement “marks the beginning of bigger goals and greater success.”
“We will stand firm in our commitment to protect and promote media safety by all legally possible means, relentless in the face of adversity,” he said, adding that the latest GII ranking “is a clear manifestation of the country’s justice system. “.
PTFoMS Co-Chair and Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said despite the fact that the task force would continue to safeguard press freedom in the Philippines.
“This is a testament to the government’s tireless efforts to protect our media workers from threats and violence. There is no other way to interpret this great improvement than to think that we are on the right track and, at the same time, that we must do more ”, he continued.
Meanwhile, PTFoMS CEO and Presidential Communications Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco vowed to work harder to finally remove the Philippines from the top ten list.
“Despite the many challenges our media workers are facing at this time due to the pandemic, the country has reason to be happy about this very welcome development,” Egco said.
“We will not rest until we are completely off this list and until the day when no media worker has to be killed in the name of their sacred duty and regardless of motive,” he added.
Egco said PTFoMS would have to clear up the 11 unsolved cases, as most of them were being tried in various courts.
He promised that the government would not let any murderers of media workers go unpunished.
Egco noted that the task force has so far assisted hundreds of journalists, including victims of online harassment.
“The Presidential Task Force tirelessly pursues and monitors all cases of media violence in the country and provides the public with updated information on the progress of these cases,” he said.
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