Philippine politics took a comic-opera turn in May when action-movie
star and avowed philanderer Joseph Estrada won the presidential election.
Former First Lady Imelda Marcos emerged from political oblivion, claiming
in December that far from being world-class kleptocrats, she and her late
husband had legitimately amassed some $12 billion in assets during their
21 years in power. "We own practically everything in the country," she declared
in an interview with The Philippine Inquirer newspaper. She has
filed suit to try to recover the presumed assets.
In many other countries such shenanigans might be cause for political
instability, but in the Philippines, with its rollicking democracy and perhaps
the freest press in Asia, a skeptical public has access to dozens of news
sources with little government interference. The open public discourse has
strengthened the country's democratic institutions.
Since the overthrow of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, the free press has become
so well entrenched that many analysts credit it with shielding the country
from the worst effects of the Asian economic crisis by making economic
information widely available to investors. And despite the economic crisis
and shrinking revenues, newspapers are expanding, with some 20 new tabloids
opening in the last year and several mainstream dailies adding color pages
and new editions in a bid to capture readers.
Along with a free press can come danger, however, and in 1998 outspoken radio
commentator Rey Bancayrin was murdered in rural Zamboanga City while he was
on the air at station DXLL. Thirty-two journalists have been murdered in
the line of duty since the restoration of democracy in 1986. Almost all of
the murders are unsolved.
Responding to the ethical challenges of a free press and the need to protect
journalists from harm on both a national and a regional basis, Filipino
journalists played a leading role in the founding of the
Southeast Asian
Press Alliance (SEAPA) in Bangkok in November. "We can learn from one another
and draw strength from each other throughout Southeast Asia," said Melinda
de Jesus, the executive director of the Center for Media Freedom and
Responsibility, one of SEAPA's founding organizations. |
| Attacks on the Press in
the Phillippines in 1998 |
| Date |
Journalist |
Incident |
| 03/30/98 |
Rey
Bancayrin, DXLL |
Killed |
|
|
