The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines vehemently condemns the dubious Facebook group Phil Leaks that tagged our former director and veteran journalist Julie Alipala of the Philippine Daily Inquirer as a terrorist supporter and accusing her of being a paid hack.
Phil Leaks accused Alipala of being a paid propagandist of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf just because she reported on the alleged massacre of seven peasants by the military last September 13.
If this dubious group knew any better, it could never accuse Alipala of being a supporter of Abu Sayyaf, much less being its paid propagandist.
Alipala merely reported on claims made by the victims’ families that they were civilians simply out to harvest fruit crops when arrested and later killed by the military. The same story has been reported by many other media outfits throughout the country.
Our colleague’s life is endangered by the irresponsible claim and criminal act of the creators and administrators of this social media group. We demand that government authorities, including the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police investigate this attack and prosecute the perpetrators. We demand as well that Facebook take down the page Phil Leaks for endangering Alipala and other known critics of this Rodrigo Duterte government.