{"id":237136,"date":"2019-11-11T20:50:04","date_gmt":"2019-11-12T01:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=237136"},"modified":"2019-11-11T20:50:04","modified_gmt":"2019-11-12T01:50:04","slug":"ressas-remark-on-state-of-ph-media-exaggerated-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/11\/11\/ressas-remark-on-state-of-ph-media-exaggerated-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Ressa\u2019s remark on state of PH media \u2018exaggerated\u2019: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo pointed out that only those involved in the illegal drug trade who resisted arrest could compare their environment to a war zone. (File Photo<\/a>: Office of the Presidential Spokesperson\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Rappler CEO Maria Ressa is exaggerating by characterizing the media and press landscape in the Philippines under the Duterte administration as \u201cworse than any war zone\u201d that she has been in, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Monday.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo pointed out that only those involved in the illegal drug trade who resisted arrest could compare their environment to a war zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is always exaggerating. It\u2019s only a war zone to those who are involved in drugs and who resist violently any warrant of arrest being served to them or when they are subject to a buy-bust operation and they violently resist as well as imperil the lives of the law enforcement officers,\u201d Panelo said in a Palace briefing.<\/p>\n

In an interview over 60 Minutes, a program aired at the news site of American mass media company CBS, Ressa said the Philippine media environment has been \u201cliving through three years of this kind of hell\u201d.<\/p>\n

For Panelo, media workers in the country remained \u201csafe\u201d and remained free to cover events in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is that every journalist whether here or abroad is free to cover any event in this country and they come out alive and well and very good at reporting even if sometimes exaggerating,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Under investigation, not under attack<\/strong><\/p>\n

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar, for his part, disputed Ressa\u2019s claims that her arrests and charges are meant to “pound her into silence\u201d for reporting about alleged extrajudicial killings tied to the drug war.<\/p>\n

Andanar emphasized that cases filed against Ressa and Rappler were for the violation of the Anti-Dummy Law, tax evasion charges, and a cyber libel case filed by a private individual that has \u201cnothing to do with the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe environment for journalists perceived by Ms. Ressa isn\u2019t reflective of the actual environment for journalists in the Philippines,\u201d Andanar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Ressa claims that she is \u2018under attack\u2019 by the government; when in fact, she is \u2018under investigation\u2019 due to her criminal liabilities, from which no one, not even members of the press are exempt from,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He said Ressa\u2019s case is not an issue involving press freedom but an issue in violation of the Philippine laws acted upon by respective government agencies.<\/p>\n

The PCOO chief said Ressa ignored the Duterte administration\u2019s policies that promote the press\u2019 freedom, rights, and security citing Administrative Order (AO) No. 1 which created the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) to address media killings and harassments.<\/p>\n

Apart from AO No.1, Duterte also issued Executive Order (EO) No. 2, s. 2016, also known as the Freedom of Information (FOI) Program which requires complete public disclosure of public records, contracts, transactions, and any information, with exceptions for information relating and affecting the national security, requested by a member of the public from all government agencies under the Executive Department.<\/p>\n

Criticisms welcome<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andanar said the media environment in the Philippines is \u201cvibrant and alive\u201d since criticisms from all sectors of the media are welcomed and encouraged by the Duterte administration.<\/p>\n

He also denied Ressa\u2019s allegation that the Duterte administration employs social media “trolls” to spread misleading information that is \u201cbaseless and unproven.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRappler and Ms. Ressa, herself, have been deemed to be sources of fake news just as some government oppositionists lie and claim that the government spreads propaganda. Needless to say, the spreading of fake news is rampant nowadays, in both traditional and social media, utilized by those who have vested interests in fooling the public,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He said Duterte administration is in pursuit of the truth, to weed out disinformation, to uphold the free press, and to protect the media.<\/p>\n

EJKs not state-sanctioned<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andanar, meanwhile, described Rappler\u2019s reports of drug war deaths as \u201cpurely estimates cited from sources that suit their agenda and not actual statistics from authorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said there is no concrete proof that the government sanctions extrajudicial killings.<\/p>\n

Citing Panelo, Andanar also defended President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s supposed admission of his act of killing and that of Operation Tokhang\u2019s, describing them as \u201chyperbolic expressions\u201d which are not representative of the facts on the ground.<\/p>\n

He said Rappler’s reportage \u201coverlooks\u201d the drug war\u2019s favorable outcome such as the decline in the Philippines\u2019 crime rate by 16.16 percent in 2018 from 2016, according to the Philippine National Police (PNP).<\/p>\n

Data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) from July 2016 to August 2019 show that PHP35.66-billion worth of illegal drugs were seized, 208,279 individuals have been arrested in relation to illegal drugs, and 445,669 drug addicts have surrendered, he added.<\/p>\n

Andanar, however, acknowledged that there are circumstances the involvement of rogue cops has resulted in injustices.<\/p>\n

He ensured that these cops will undertake reformation and that the government will continue to respond to any unfounded allegations through legal means.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Rappler CEO Maria Ressa is exaggerating by characterizing the media and press landscape in the Philippines under the Duterte …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":186205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237137,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237136\/revisions\/237137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}