EP 10: Lip Service on Press Freedom?

There’s an interesting piece of legislation that came out of the House of Representatives recently. Despite their very busy schedules, congressmen still found time to promote press freedom which, we probably all agree, is important in a democracy. So our good congressmen saw it fit to pass a bill declaring August 30 of each year as National Press Freedom Day.

It was a unanimous vote on third and final reading - but wait.  Just last year, July 10, 2020 to be exact a committee from this same chamber voted to “kill” the application for a new broadcast franchise by ABS-CBN, the largest media network here in the Philippines. That vote took ABS-CBN out of free TV and radio sending thousands of employees out of jobs especially in the middle of the pandemic.  

But more worrisome was chilling effect on journalists -- if the president could shut down ABS-CBN, imagine what this administration can do to others unless they toed the line.

Remember that despite congressmen’s insistence that they voted based on evidence and their conscience, president duterte himself had repeatedly vowed to shut down ABS-CBN. And this exactly what happened.

The network, to this day, has been trying to get by with whatever news platform still available to it. 

In this episode, Christian Esguerra sits down with NUJP's Jonathan de Santos and Rep. Alfredo Garbin who abstained from the ABS-CBN vote.

They talk about the state of press freedom here in the Philippines, and what difference this so-called “National Press Freedom Day” bill can actually make under the current political environment.