DAVAO CITY (October 31)– The Mindanao Independent Press Council (MIPC) has accepted the invitation to join the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) as a media observer and resource person.
MIPC President Editha Caduaya said that the participation of media in the task force “will be mutually beneficial” to all stakeholders working for press freedom.
“It will also spell out the government’s sincerity in looking into the plight, protection, safety and security guarantees of the working journalists in Mindanao,” Caduaya said.
PTFoMS Undersecretary Joel Maquiza Sy Egco said that journalists in Mindanao “should have a voice, an active participation in the preparation of policies and programs of the Task Force.”
“The PTFoMS recognizes that Mindanao has the most vulnerable provinces in terms of media violence: incidence of harassments, threats and even deaths,” Egco emphasized. The task force, he added, will continue to fulfill its mandate in “ensuring the protection of life and of assuring the security of all media workers” in the country.
On May 11, 2016, President Rodrigo R. Duterte formed the PTFoMS in response to the “continuing attack on media workers.” “All forms of political violence and abuses of power, whether by agents or elements of the State or of non-State forces against the so-called Fourth Estate, must stop,” Duterte declared.
The President cited a 2014 Human Rights Watch report which identified the Philippines as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist because of killings and enforced disappearances.
“The continuing attack on media workers is not only erosive of press freedom and free expression but also impedes the flow of information in the community,” the President said.- NewsLine
