BELOW is the statement under the name of yours truly as president of the National Press Club, in remembrance of the ‘Ampatuan Massacre’ that took place 11 years ago.

Aside from a simple mass, the NPC shall also distribute another round of ‘ayuda’ to our members and other members of the press starting yesterday and until the stocks we have run out. This is our simple way of letting our colleagues know that you have a Club that always has your best interest in mind. Read on…

The National Press Club of the Philippines joins the media community in the country in remembering today, November 23, the Maguindanao Massacre 11 years ago that killed 58 people, 32 of whom were journalists.

As we remember those who died in the gruesome incident, we urge every Filipino to cherish the freedom that we enjoy today and to continue to stand for it and defend it.

The 2009 massacre of our colleagues was dubbed “the worst incident of electoral violence” in recent history and remains the single deadliest attack on journalists globally.

With another election year coming, we assure the Filipino public that we will not be cowed by threats of lies and deception as we face the challenges that next year’s democratic exercise brings.

To our media colleagues, let us stand for our freedom to exercise the right to expression and the right to information.

Let us, however, also be reminded of our responsibility to search and speak the truth and to protect the integrity of our profession through the practice of ethical journalism.

There will always be challenges, there will always be threats as we continue to commit to our mission in bringing out the facts to the public so that they will be able to come up with informed decisions, especially during crucial moments like the elections.

We continue to demand justice for those who fell victims to threats, attacks, and killings in the exercise of their journalistic profession even as we also laud the efforts of the authorities, particularly the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, in pursuing the investigation and prosecution of cases.

We warn those who are out to sow disinformation and misinformation, those who spread fake news and lies, those who threaten media practitioners, we will not allow you to tarnish this profession that we love.

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