NUJP will continue to campaign against criminal libel

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) welcomes the Supreme Court circular urging judges to forgo imprisonment as a punishment for those convicted of libel.

Justice Puno’s bold move, one of many he has taken in defense of basic rights and liberties, gives us hope to continue calling on Congress to act on our demand to decriminalize libel.

We note, however, that Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s announcement does not remove libel from our criminal statutes or prevent those who want to silence the media from filing cases against journalists.

The NUJP will continue to campaign against criminal libel. We urge our lawmakers not to pass up this chance to strengthen press freedom and democracy.

References:
Joe Torres Jr., NUJP chair
Rowena Paraan, NUJP Secretary-General

NUJP protest letter on media repression in Pakistan

To His Excellency Mr. Muhammad Naeem Khan
Ambassador of Pakistan

Your Excellency,

On behalf of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines , I wish to express our strong condemnation of actions taken by the Government of President Pervez Musharraf in recent days which have accompanied the imposition of emergency powers. This has involved the suspension of democratic rule and a national clampdown on the media, including the installation of military personnel in television stations, the closure of domestic airwaves to non-state media and the banning of anti-government reports in the press.

Commissioned mural on press freedom altered without artists’ knowledge - IFJ

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is concerned by the changes made to the press freedom mural commissioned from the Neo-Angono Artists Collective by the National Press Club (NPC) in Manila , the Philippines .