The Dark Cloud of Media Repression Hanging Over the Philippines

The Philippines wasn’t the only invitee to U.S. President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy to carry the baggage of human rights abuses. But it stood out as one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists, thanks to a culture of impunity and libel laws that hinder freedom of the press.

In the same week as Biden’s democracy summit, journalist Jesus Malanaban was killed by unidentified gun-wielding assailants on the evening of December 8 as he visited his mother’s store in Calbayog, Samar province. Malanaban became the 22nd journalist murdered in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016.

Malanaban was based in Pampanga, northwest of Manila, where he was a correspondent for the Manila Standard, Manila Times, and Bandera newspaper. He was also a longtime stringer for Reuters, for whom he contributed to the news agency’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Duterte’s deadly war on drugs.

The Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines said the murder “underscores the threats and dangers Filipino journalists continue to face.”

It’s unclear why Malanaban was killed. His wife, Milagros, who was also inside the store when Malanaban was killed, said she did not know why her husband was killed, and recalled that he had helped farmers resolve a land dispute in Calbayog in 2018. Police are looking at the land dispute as a possible motive in the killing.

These stories, along with the frequent killings of political activists, often follow a familiar pattern where police begin looking for other motives, the investigation dies out, and the killers go unpunished. The Philippines is the seventh worst country when it comes to prosecuting the killers of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Global Impunity Index.

Malanaban was killed just days before Rappler CEO Maria Ressa received the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, for her work advocating for press freedom despite facing numerous trumped-up legal cases and frequent threats, including attempted shutdowns of Rappler and tirades against the media platform from Duterte himself.

The Philippine government has filed 10 arrest warrants against Ressa in the past two years, and Ressa was only allowed to travel to Norway to accept her Nobel after international pressure led Philippine courts to reverse their earlier decision. “I’ve had to post bail 10 times just to do my job,” she said during her Nobel acceptance speech.

Last year, Ressa and a former colleague were convicted of “cyber libel” for a story published eight years earlier – well before laws against “cyber libel” had even been passed. Prosecutors determined the article was subject to the law because it had been updated two years later to correct the misspelling of one word.

Ressa said then her conviction was meant to be a “cautionary tale,” and that’s exactly how it has played out. Libel is a criminal offense in the Philippines, and this is frequently weaponized to allow powerful, well-connected politicians and businesspeople to discourage journalists from reporting negative stories.

Last month, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and entrepreneur Dennis Uy, a friend of Duterte’s, filed libel and cyber libel cases against 21 journalists and seven media organizations after they reported on potential corruption in an energy deal. Cusi complained that the stories caused him “reputational damage.” Critics decried the lawsuits as an attack on press freedom.

Journalists working for smaller, local outlets have seen their work derailed by libel lawsuits they cannot afford to fight in court. For instance, when Davao radio broadcaster Alex Adonis was accused of libel by a congressman in 2001, he was unable to afford legal representation and was convicted and sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

The Philippines has a democratic constitution that ostensibly safeguards press freedom, but its criminal libel laws give the rich and powerful an avenue to easily silence less connected, less financially secure reporters who dare to criticize them. In practice, it means countless investigations and story ideas die before ever gaining traction, giving the corrupt room to reign.