[APCPress] Statement on unrest in Philippines from FMA

[Karen Higgs]

 From APC member in the Philippines, Foundation for Media Alternatives
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FREE MEDIA, FREE SOCIETY

<Statement of the Foundation for Media Alternatives on the Arrest of 
Media Persons in relation to the Manila Peninsula incident of 29 
November 2007>


Yesterday, in yet another brushfire igniting in the Philippine political
landscape under the Arroyo Administration, a naval lieutenant and 
elected senator of the Republic, a decorated Army general, and about 
thirty (30) of their military comrades, reiterated their withdrawal of 
support for the President and called for the creation of a new government.

They walked out of a hearing of their pending case of rebellion, and 
holed up in a 5-star hotel to deliver their statement. Whether as an 
exercise of political self-sacrifice to rally the disenchanted, or as a 
signal for an attempted power grab by military adventurists—they again 
brought to the surface the simmering political crisis which has not seen 
any closure since 2004.

We do not wish to comment on the the so-called “rebellious” act of these
men, for these involve complex political questions which are still being
debated in many fora.

But we feel compelled to raise our voice on the disturbing State 
response to the incident, in a way which affects all Filipinos and 
threatens our cherished freedoms.

After re-arresting the rebels, the police and military—clearly 
sanctioned by the highest political leadership—placed under detention 
last night scores of media persons and journalists who were covering the 
event since it first broke. Initial reports indicate more than thirty 
(30) members of the working press were handcuffed, detained and bused to 
a police camp for “processing” together with the military rebels.

Justifications for these unprecedented acts were ostensibly to verify
their identities and check if any of the rebels were posing as media
people, even as all media persons possessed clear identification, and 
many of them were well-known national broadcasters or beat reporters.

In a country which in the past twenty years has seen two popular
uprisings, numerous coup attempts, and scores of violent political
encounters, this is the first and only time where the Philippine working
press has been treated as suspects and lumped together with suspected
wrongdoers for merely doing their job as media persons.

We see this as a brazen attack of the State on the autonomy and freedom 
of the press. We believe that this act of arbitrarily detaining and
investigating media without just cause creates a chilling effect on 
media practitioners and even ordinary citizens, and establishes a 
dangerous precedent on how to handle those who deliver vital information 
to all in times of political conflict.

We cannot allow this to happen. A line has indeed been crossed in the 
name of national security. And it is a line which has protected media 
since 1987 as an essential pillar of a free and democratic society. Such 
an act by the State brings us disturbingly close to the abyss of martial 
rule, which we all fought to turn back twenty one years ago.

Let us not forget that this is a State which has been taken to task on
many issues which impinge on communication rights—problematic portions 
the Human Security Act, Executive Order 464, and most infamously, the
extra-judicial killings of hundreds of journalists and activists.

We call on all media organizations to challenge this disturbing
development in all legal fora possible, and for all democratic forces to
rally the people in raising our voices against this threat to our rights
and freedoms. There can be no free society without a free media.

In this struggle to assert our communication rights, we draw strength on
the example of Andres Bonifacio, whose birth anniversary we commemorate
today, as a beacon of courage and steadfastness against tyranny and
oppression.


FOUNDATION FOR MEDIA ALTERNATIVES (FMA)
30 November 2007

contact:
Al Alegre/Executive Director, FMA
info AT fma DOT ph

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Background information on the arrest of media persons:
http://services.inquirer.net/mobile/07/11/30/html_output/xmlhtml/20071130-103940-xml.html

Background on the Manila Peninsula incident:
http://www.inquirer.net/specialreports/makatistandoff/view.php?db=1&article=20071129-103771