DURING the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media hearing on the killings of journalists and broadcasters this week, Senator Grace Poe said there should be an agency that will ensure the safety and protection of journalists working in the country.
And that agency should be independent, meaning it won’t be under the Office of the President.
In the hearing, University of the Philippines (UP) journalism professor Danilo Arao said the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMs) should be a separate body from the Malacañang, stressing the agency has to be independent to “objectively analyze official statements, decisions, policies and programs which could threaten press freedom.”
Arao said the agency should be run by news media outfits.
At present, PTFoMs is headed Undersecretary Joel Egco. The task force was mandated for ensuring a safe environment for media workers.
Among the agencies that composed PTFoMS are the Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor-General, Presidential Communications Operations Office, Department of Interior and Local Government, Department of Defense, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation and the Presidential Human Rights Committee while the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Ombudsman and media organizations, such as the National Union of Journalist of the Philippines (NUJP), National Press Club (NPC), Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP), Publishers Association of the Philippines (Papi) and Philippine Press Institute (PPI) are just mere observers and resource persons.
In a post-hearing interview, Poe said she is mulling to file a bill that will create an independent body to protect the welfare of journalists.
The legislation would take long, but it’s a start. After all, no other than President Rodrigo Duterte, himself, had been hostile against news entities.