Who We Are

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) is an independent, nonprofit media agency that specializes in investigative reporting. It was founded in 1989 by nine Filipino journalists who realized, from their years on the beat and at the news desk, the need for newspapers and broadcast agencies to go beyond day–to–day reportage.

While the Philippine press is undoubtedly the liveliest and freest in Asia, deadline pressures, extreme competition and budgetary constraints make it difficult for many journalists to delve into the causes and broader meanings of news events.

The PCIJ believes that the media play a crucial role in scrutinizing and strengthening democratic institutions, defending and asserting press freedom, freedom of information, and freedom of expression. The media could—and should—be a catalyst for social debate and consensus that would redound to the promotion of public welfare. To do so, the media must provide citizens with the bases for arriving at informed opinions and decisions.

The PCIJ was set up to contribute to this end by promoting investigative reporting on current issues in Philippine society and on matters of large public interest. It does not intend to replace the work of individual newspapers or radio and television stations, but merely seeks to encourage the development of investigative journalism and to create a culture for it within the Philippine press.

The PCIJ funds investigative projects for both the print and broadcast media. It publishes books on current issues and an online investigative reporting magazine on its official web site, www.pcij.org. The PCIJ also publishes www.pcij.org/blog, an institutional news blog; www.moneypolitics.pcij.org, a data journalism and citizen’s resource tool on governance, campaign finance, and public funds; and ifoi.ph, a resource and advocacy website on freedom of information.

In the 27 years since its founding, PCIJ has published over 1,000 investigative reports and over 1,000 other stories in major Philippine newspapers and magazines, produced dozens of full-length documentaries, and published over two dozen books and training tools.

In addition, the PCIJ organizes training seminars, and offers the services of its journalism trainers, for news organizations in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

From 1990 to 2013, the Center has conducted over 200 training seminars for journalists, journalism teachers and students in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Japan, and other countries in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and southern Africa.

The PCIJ has won over 150 major awards, including nine National Book Awards, a Catholic Mass Media Award, and more than two dozen awards and citations from the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Investigative Journalism.

PCIJ stories make an impact. Well–researched and well–documented, these reports have contributed to a deeper understanding of raging issues, from politics to the environment, from health and business to women and the military.

Some of these reports have prodded government action on issues like corruption, public accountability and environmental protection. Still some other reports have triggered the transfer or resignation of senior public officials and justices, and formed part of the evidence in the impeachment, and eventual trial for plunder, of a Philippine president, Joseph Estrada.

In August 2009, the PCIJ published a series of investigative reports into the political favors and corruption that marred the awarding of over 27,000 road and civil–works contracts, and the prevalence of political appointees in middle– and senior–level executive positions.

A founding member of the Access to Information Network (ATIN) and the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition in the Philippines, the PCIJ has pioneered in asserting and indexing access to information practices of various government agencies, and co-led the public advocacy for the passage of a Freedom of Information Law by the Philippine Congress over the last eight years.

A founding member of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), the PCIJ has conducted most of the journalism skills and investigative reporting seminars for journalists in the open restricted democracies of the region, notably Burma, Vietnam, and Cambodia.

In addition, the PCIJ is a founding member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN) and works as the Philippine partner of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that are both based in Washington, DC.

Since 2006, the PCIJ has served as the country researcher of the global Open Budget Survey (OBS) project of the US-based International Budget Partnership. Since 2012, the PCIJ executive director has also worked as the Philippine researcher of the Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) of the Open Government Partnership (OGP).

A founding member of the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ), the PCIJ coordinated, edited and published the Fact-Finding Mission Report of the FFFJ into the massacre of 57 persons, including 31 journalists, in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao on November 23, 2009.

The report has been cited by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as “the most authoritative” thus published.

The PCIJ has been acknowledged as a model among independent media organizations in the report Global Investigative Journalism: Strategies for Support, authored by investigative journalist David E. Kaplan. The report was published in December 2007 by the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), United States (US).

Kaplan’s report was commissioned “to determine the size and strength of the field of investigative journalism and what types of assistance are needed to help the field expand. The report “explores the rapid growth of investigative journalism overseas and suggests ways to best support and professionalize its practice in developing and democratizing countries.”

As well, the PCIJ has been cited for its exemplary record in doing investigative reports and journalism training, as an independent media organization, in the publications of the Joan Shorenstein Center for Journalism — Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and in the 2008 edition of The Nieman Reports published by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

In December 2009, the PCIJ won two more institutional awards – the Agence France-Presse’s Kate Webb Award for exceptional journalism work in difficult or dangerous circumstances, and the AJA Award for Press Freedom from the Asia Journalist Association (AJA), an organization of journalists from over 20 countries throughout Asia.

The government of France, in a message from the spokesman of the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, has cited the PCIJ thus:

“The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), which was recently granted the 2009 AFP Kate Web Award, is an organisation which has pursued its investigative work with courage and tenacity for the past twenty years. France extends its warmest congratulations to the members of the PCIJ and to its director, Ms. Malou Mangahas, for this award, which honours its courageous work for the freedom of information.”

No. 11 Matimtiman Street
UP Village Central 1101
Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

Executive Director: (632) 433-0331
Training/Multimedia: (632) 434-6193
Research: (632) 433-0152
Admin: (632) 2836030

Web: www.pcij.org | www.pcij.org/blog | www.i-site.ph