President Rodrigo Duterte accused some members of the media of aiding the cause of communists rebels but did not provide proof to substantiate his claim.
This prompted condemnation from a media advocacy group who warned that the chief executive’s red-tagging makes the situation even more perilous for journalists in the Philippines.
The country last week was ranked as the deadliest place for media workers in Asia by the media freedom group Reporters Without Borders.
“Who’s a member of the NPA [New People’s Army] here?” Duterte asked reporters covering him during a wake visit in Pasig City.
“No one is raising his hand now, but when I turn my back, there’s plenty of you. Don’t be shy. I know of some journalists who belong to the left, or even became a cadre in Cordillera,” the President said.
Duterte recently branded the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the NPA, as a terrorist group. Pending a court ruling to legally tag the CPP-NPA as terrorists under the Human Security Act, the President deemed it wise to declare a staggered holiday ceasefire with the rebel group.
On Sunday, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said Duterte’s “sweeping” and “unsubstantiated claim” was a “potential death warrant” against journalists covering the communist insurgency.
“Apologists may again try to make light of Mr. Duterte’s latest drivel, but in a country that remains one of the deadliest in the world for journalists, there is cause to worry about the consequences of this irresponsible claim from the highest elected official of the land,” the group said in a statement.
“At best, it is bound to cast a chilling effect on journalists who intend to cover the communist rebels in continuing efforts to better explain the roots and directions of the close to half-a-century old civil strife, at worst it would embolden those, including state agents, who seek to silence us by giving them the convenient cover of counterinsurgency,” they added.
The NUJP stressed there is “nothing wrong” to have links with all sectors, groups and personalities in and out of government, including the NPA, as news sources.
“With this penchant for such wild and dangerous claims added to his well-known aversion to those who do not agree with him, we fear it will not be long until Duterte directly targets the critical media in his government’s efforts to stamp out dissent,” the group said.
