Despite falling several places in the ranking, Malacañang pointed out that the Philippines is not red-tagged in Reporters Without Borders's (RSF's) 2022 world press freedom index.
Communications Secretary Martin Andanar made this statement after the RSF placed the Philippines at the 147th spot out of 180 countries regarding press freedom, a nine-rungs fall from its rank of 138th last year.
In his press briefing on Wednesday, May 4, Andanar said that despite the low ranking, press freedom in the country is still vibrant compared to other nations.
"Although the Philippines ranked 147th in this year's Index, Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, has acknowledged that the Philippine media are extremely vibrant," he said.
The acting Palace spokesman added that it was necessary to note that the Philippines is not included in RSFs' red list.
"It should be pointed out that the Philippines is not included in its category of countries in the so-called red list, which RSF says indicates 'very bad press freedom situations,'" he said.
#RSFIndex: RSF unveils its 2022 World #PressFreedom Index
1: Norway
2: Denmark
3: Sweden
16: Germany
24: UK
26: France
42: USA
58: Italy
71: Japan
110: Brazil
134: Algeria
150: India
178: Iran
179: Eritrea
180: North Koreahttps://t.co/nrqbVRGVUJ pic.twitter.com/WO3izABZ56
— RSF in English (@RSF_en) May 3, 2022
Andanar likewise said that the Philippines is not included in RSF's list of the 10 worst countries for press freedom.
According to Andanar, a former journalist himself, the following countries are at the bottom of RSF's list:
- Myanmar
- China
- Turkmenistan
- Iran
- Eritrea
- North Korea
The RSF assesses the countries' state of journalism in terms of political context, legal framework, economic context, sociocultural context, and security.
In its country profile for the Philippines, the RSF noted "countless verbal attacks coupled with judicial harassment targeting any media overly critical of the government." It added that the Philippines was one of the deadliest countries for journalists and cited an "almost total" impunity for media killings.
Last month, President Duterte signed Republic Act (RA) No. 11699, declaring August 30 of every year as the National Press Freedom Day in honor of Marcelo H. del Pilar, the father of Philippine Journalism.