The National Union of Journalists denounces the renewed red tagging in Cagayan do Oro of journalists by cowards who hide behind anonymity to spread their calumny.
The latest round of false accusations has grown from the handful of local journalists – NUJP-CDO chair Pamela Jay Orias, long-time members and former officers Froilan Gallardo and Cong Corrales, and Joey Nacalaban, all of them also members of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club – and now includes NUJP chair Nonoy Espina and his sister and former chair Inday Espina-Varona, the Radyo ni Juan network and its reporter Loi Algarme, and a Radyo Natin anchor, Dan Morgado.
It is interesting to note that the distribution of the flyers containing the names and pictures of the red-tagged journalists appeared to have been timed right after the Cagayan de Oro media participated in a coordinated nationwide protest in support of calls to renew broadcast network ABS-CBN’s franchise amidst government efforts to shut it down.
The red-tagging therefore appeared to have two aims:
1) to continue the vilification campaign against NUJP and other independent journalists parallel to the efforts of the government’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict
2) to paint the campaign for the renewal of ABS-CBN’s franchise as an anti-government activity
Both, of course, intend to intimidate journalists and the general public.
But they will inevitably fail as all attempts, including that of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, to silence the independent Philippine media have failed.
Mabuhay ang Malayang Pamamahayag!
Mabuhay ang Malayang Pagpapahayag!
National Directorate
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