Press Freedom Can't be Defended in Isolation from the Broader Assault on Civil Society
By Carlos Conde
This is unprecedented, I think: 14 European and western embassies in the Philippines have spoken out in support of press freedom and journalists, in the wake of the convictions of Frenchie Mae Cumpio and Mariel Domequil. I don’t recall this level of embassy solidarity at the height of the “drug war” killings, or even after. (Maybe I missed it.)
Yes, the statement came from embassies that are members of the Media Freedom Coalition, so perhaps they felt focusing on Cumpio was enough. But that’s precisely the problem: This is bigger than Cumpio.
These embassies know how insidious and destructive red-tagging and the government’s counter-insurgency campaign have been. Yet you wouldn’t know it from this statement. Is it because press freedom is a “safer” issue, one that won’t put them in an awkward position with a Philippine government whose long-running and often brutal counter-insurgency drive many of these same governments quietly support? Over the years, as I’m sure these embassies know, the human rights situation in the Philippines has worsened because of the madness of this campaign.
And when will these Western governments use their clout to pressure the Marcos administration to ensure that its campaign against “terrorism financing” does not trample the rights of critics, activists, and civil society groups?
A quick background: Manila went after so-called “terrorist financiers”—often civil society groups and activists—to get off the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) gray list. (FATF, a multilateral money-laundering watchdog, is based in Paris.) To meet the deadline for delisting early last year, the government filed terrorism-financing cases left and right. In its haste, it cut corners, as it so often does, something many of those targeted told me in interviews.
Make no mistake: this show of solidarity is welcome and needed. But if these governments are serious about human rights and civil liberties, they need to get their act together. PRESS FREEDOM CAN'T BE DEFENDED IN ISOLATION FROM THE BROADER ASSAULT ON CIVIL SOCIETY.