Return of press freedom

Some quarters, even those who claim they are supporters of the Duterte administration, have been busy pushing their vested interests to see the remarkable as well as unprecedented gains made by the government in the area of expanding our countrymen’s freedoms.

When we rebooted the political-economic experiment called Philippine democracy 32 years ago, the euphoria of those “revolutionary” days in the first quarter of 1986 made us feel we had retaken our freedom and had charted a path towards manifesting the gifts of democracy.

But those feelings fled as soon as we realized that all the things that restrained us politically and economically didn’t go away. Poverty, crime, political unrest and a variety of social ills still had over 90 percent of our people in their grips.

For the 10 percent comprising the elite of Philippine society, life continued to be a party — well, maybe not for the Marcoses and their people – for a couple of years.The one shining thing that came out, that most people will not refute, is the return of press freedom.

To this date, we have more than 400 newspapers nationwide, more than 400 television broadcast stations, more than 400 AM radio stations and over 1,000 FM radio stations.

But those numbers say nothing about media’s limited access to government documents, making it difficult for news organizations to expose corruption and criminality.

Members of media were still as vulnerable to harassment and violence as they were during the years before Cory Aquino took power.

While news organizations were still able to expose corruption and criminality, it took almost extraordinary skill to overcome the lack of access to government documents and rare bravery to surmount their vulnerability to intimidation.

Perhaps members of media would have taken these conditions in stride, up until the Maguindanao massacre in 2009 where 34 journalists were killed.

The second Aquino to ascend the presidency in 2010 after the first one took power over from the Marcoses would do little to hasten the trial of those accused in the Maguindanao Massacre or stop the killing of more journalists.

It was in the first few months of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s term that he signed Executive Order 2 (otherwise known as the Freedom of Information Executive Order) and Administrative Order 1 establishing the Presidential Task Force on Media Security.

Both measures were spearheaded by Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar.

Two years into the Duterte administration, all government agencies are now covered under EO 2 with compliance being monitored closely.

Likewise, the Presidential Task Force on Media Security has responded to even the slightest reports of threats against journalists and has pursued the filing as well as pressed the resolution of police cases involving the killing of journalists.

And yet, how come little credit is being given to the current administration for these accomplishments?