JUST A DAY after we commemorated World Press Freedom Day, the National Telecommunications Commission issued an immediately executory cease and desist order against radio-television network ABS-CBN “absent a valid Congressional Franchise required by law” despite having all the legal and historical grounds to issue a provisional permit .
Ordering the shutdown of a media network in the middle of a pandemic is a blatant attack on press freedom that dangerously infringes on the people’s right to information.
In the middle of a public health crisis where the free press plays a crucial role in keeping the public informed on relevant, verified, and life-saving information about the COVID-19 pandemic, attack dogs of the administration appear to be fast-tracking their Marcosian delusions and brazenly exploiting the pandemic to impose de facto martial law. They are ruthlessly putting thousands of media workers at the risk of losing their jobs in the face of mass hunger and a looming socioeconomic crisis. Even alternative media outfits and community journalists face red-tagging, harassment, death threats, and even assassinations.
Since the lockdown began, emergency powers are being used to suppress free speech and dissent. The National Bureau of Investigation Cybercrime Division, for example, has been issuing subpoenas against individuals allegedly spreading “false information,” the inciting to sedition charges against public school teacher Juliet Espinosa in General Santos City, the arrest of writer Maria Victoria Beltran in Cebu City, and the threats of deportation lodged against Taiwan-based migrant worker Linn Ordidor — all for critical social media posts drawing attention to the government’s incompetence and inadequate response to the pandemic.
ABS-CBN is the latest casualty in this crackdown on press freedom and freedom of expression after facing relentless threats from the President himself. Amid the government’s militarist response to the pandemic, repeated threats of declaring martial law, the rapid shrinking of civic spaces in the country, and an intensified crackdown on dissent, the grave repercussions of the shutdown of the biggest broadcasting network in the company cannot be ignored or sidelined: it sends a chilling effect and a stern warning from the State that expressing dissent will mete out reprisals such as trumped-up charges, arrests, closure orders, and even death.
We call on all freedom-loving Filipinos to stand against the attacks on press freedom and human rights.
