Marcos admin vows safe, secure environment for media workers

MANILA – The Marcos administration is committed to providing a “safe and secure” environment to the Philippine press, the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) said on Friday.

PTFoMS executive director Paul Gutierrez said the decision of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to support the task force’s continued operations under his watch is a testament to the current administration's dedication to upholding and protecting the media workers’ rights.

“The decision of President Marcos Jr. to continue with the PTFoMS is the clearest demonstration of his administration’s commitment to the strengthening of our democracy and in sustaining an environment that is generally safe and secure for all members of the press,” Gutierrez said.

“The corollary aim is to ensure that all transgressors of media rights are made accountable before the law,” he added.

Gutierrez issued the statement to refute the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s 2023 report that the Philippines’ media landscape remained “largely grim” even after the end of six-year term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The report also claimed that attacks on journalists, including red-tagging, killings and the use of “lawfare,” continue under the Marcos administration, an allegation dismissed as “false” by Gutierrez.

Gutierrez said the supposed escalation of attacks was not data-based.

“How can the Philippine media environment be described as ‘grim’ when the perpetrators of even sensational cases are identified and charged in court,” he said, stressing that reports of threats and harassments against media workers should be treated with caution.

“Experience shows that in most cases, the threats and harassments are due to personal reasons involving a reporter