PAGBABAGO

Last Nov. 2 had been declared the International Day to Eliminate Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists by UNESCO which launched a report on attacks committed against journalists. This is very timely for the country as we had just gone through an important political exercise - the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan election, an event which continues to challenge the vulnerability of journalists. 

The month of November also happens to be a dark date in our history as it was on Nov. 23, 2009 when 30 of the 57 people killed in the infamous Maguindanao massacre were journalists. 

The report, “The Role of Law Enforcement Agents: Ensuring Safety of Journalists During Public Demonstrations and Elections” noted these key trends:

• Attacks against journalists and violations of these rights are particularly frequent during election periods.  Between January 2019 and June 2022, UNESCO documented 759 individual attacks against journalists including five killings during 89 elections in 70 countries around the world.  Forty-two percent of attacks against journalists was committed by police and security forces who blocked the public’s right to access information by implementing internet blackouts and disruptions, as well as censoring the media and critical voices through digital surveillance of journalists. These interventions were made in the name of public order and national security. 
• 
  “Intimidation and violence against women journalists online have likewise increased,” according to its other report, “The Chilling Global Trends on Online Violence Against Women Journalists.” 
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  It defined a principal role of law enforcement agents (LEAs) which is “to  balance the right to freedom of expression while maintaining public order.” 
  The other important event was the inclusion of Iloilo City in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) for its “one-of a-kind gastronomic experience.” Iloilo City now joins Casablanca, Morocco, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Toulouse, France, the other five named in the list which now has a total of 350 cities. 

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda who hails from the island of Panay welcomed the addition of the Visayan city in this prestigious list created in 2004, saying that it was intended to “foster international cooperation across cities in the world that invest in culture and creativity as accelerators of sustainable development. “The list represents seven creative fields – crafts and folk art, design, film, gastronomy, literature, media arts, and music. In 2007, Baguio was included in the crafts and folk art category, and Cebu City, a creative city of design.  Legarda has also filed several measures for conserving Philippine traditions and heritage. 

Among these are Senate Bill 244 or the Philippine Culinary Heritage Act of 2022, SB 624 or An Act Establishing the Linangan ng Likhang Bayan (Institute for Living Traditions) and SB 622, which would amend the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009,  strengthen heritage conservation in the country and mandate local government youth to conduct a comprehensive cultural mapping. She also filed SB 242 to integrate arts and culture into the basic curriculum.  ([email protected])