DAVAO CITY (October 25)-Â Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Jesus G. Dureza has urged media members to protect themselves and help “create an enabling environment conducive to human rights and exercise of free speech.”
In the opening of the Mindanao Media Safety and Security Summit today, October 25, Dureza said that journalists and media workers should “take care of basic issues, like safety and security; the environment conducive to respect to human life and human rights, and to see to it that with your organization, you can come together and discuss. This is how we deal with issues that are internal to us.”
“Should the environment threaten us from reporting? No way!,” he said, as he shared with an amused group of Mindanao journalists his own experience as a member of the working media before.
Dureza said that journalists should take care of the issue on safety and security so that they can be truthful in their reportage. “If it is necessary, journalists may need to arm themselves to secure their safety, but this must be determined by journalists themselves,” he added.
He also pointed out to the important role of the media in building peace. “Media has a role to play because while we negotiate in the formal peace process, the bigger table, which is the public, is addressed by the media, 24/7.”
The Summit was hosted by the Mindanao Independent Press Council (MIPC), an organization of Mindanao-based journalists, recently registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)- NewsLine
