by Vi Tran, Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
“NO, NO. I think Facebook is worse than your communist government.”That was a retort from a friend of mine, a foreign researcher on international laws on human rights, after hearing me comparing Facebook’s handling of its content restriction policies to the authoritarian ruling style of the Vietnamese regime.“At least,” my friend continued, “Vietnam will charge […]
RODRIGO R. Duterte’s presidency has altered and controlled the public discourse so radically in its favor in ways rude and bold. Its tragic result: it has restricted and narrowed the celebrated freedom of the Philippine press and the people’s cherished right to know.In his first 22 months in power, Mr. Duterte has earned the dubious […]
by Vino Lucero
MORE THAN a year after President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed the Freedom of Information executive order, a practice completely reverse of the policy has been creeping onto some documents requested by the public. The likely tool for the unexpected move: a black marker.Redactions on items declared by Cabinet officials in their Statements of Assets, Liabilities, […]
R2RKN report on first 3 months of FOI EO
by The Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition,
ANGKOP, and Action for Economic Reforms
HAVING HAILED Executive Order No. 2 (s. 2016), operationalizing for the Executive branch the people’s constitutional right to information, as a major step forward, the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition (R2RKN) committed to engage processes related to it, and launched a new round of FOI practice centered on its implementation. This report covers the […]
by The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
ALL THE CANDIDATES and political parties in the May 2016 elections received sundry donations from an amorphous mass of donors. All, too, are required to report these to the Commission on Elections’s Campaign Finance Office (CFO).Did the candidates tell the Comelec the full and true details of what they received in cash or in kind, […]
The Death of Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr.
by Nancy C. Carvajal and Davinci Maru
LEYTE –- As authorities seem to be standing pat on their claim that a shootout occurred between Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. and the operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 8 at the sub-provincial jail in Baybay, Leyte before dawn on Nov. 5, photos provided by a police insider to PCIJ appear […]
Aguirre defends Laud vs. CIDG, CHR
by Malou Mangahas
TWO YEARS AGO, the existence of the “Davao Death Squad” or DDS was enrolled and confirmed in the dockets of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.In a decision issued on Nov. 9, 2014, the Supreme Court’s First Division upheld the grant of a search warrant to uncover the bones of six victims who, on the […]
'I will kill all the drug lords'
by Sheila Coronel*
IN THE PHILIPPINES, the end of Ferdinand Marcos’s 20-year dictatorship in 1986 was a tumultuous time. The new government of Corazon Aquino was being challenged on all fronts: from the Right, by ambitious military factions plotting coups; from the Left, by peasant guerrillas and angry protesters demanding radical reforms. In those days, I was working […]
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| Posted Wednesday, September 21st, 2016
PNP data, July-August 2016
by Vino Lucero
TANAY, RIZAL — The fresh wind blowing through the spacious rundown facility can make one feel relax, energized, or even nostalgic. But many of those who had taken temporary residence here had been constantly plotting to escape it – until recently.“They tell me, ‘we no longer want to get out of here because of what […]
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| Posted Wednesday, September 21st, 2016
Investigating bad cops
by Malou Mangahas and Vino Lucero
THEIR TASKS have never really been easy, but President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s war on drugs has most probably made their life much more toxic.Aside from their regular duties, they are now expected to run after “ninja cops” or coddlers of drug syndicates, as well as investigate the cases of violent deaths that keep on multiplying […]
