Proclamation 1959: Proclaiming a State of Martial Law and suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the province of Maguindanao except for certain areas.

DON’T KILL FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: WE BEG OUR SENATORS TO ACT ON S.B. 3308 NOW!
Last 9 November, we welcomed with deep appreciation the Senate’s commitment to pass the Freedom of Information Act without delay. We gave our full confidence to their assurance, made through Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, that Senate Bill 3308 will be passed on second reading by November 18, and on third reading by 1 December. This timetable only gives enough time to convene the bicameral conference committee and report back for final approval of the bill …

The brutal, indiscriminate mass murder on Monday in Ampatuan town, in Maguindanao province, raises the ultimate challenge of conscience. It carries the culture of impunity at work in this country to such levels of horror that,  if it remains unpunished for long,  can send the nation into an inexorable descent into absolute dehumanization.

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato.–What is now known here as the Ampatuan massacre has wiped out the staff of the five-year-old pioneering vernacular newsweekly Periodico Ini (This Periodical) based in the city and left many news organizations in five towns missing a staff member or two.
Police and military officials said Wednesday the total casualty list has breached the 57th mark, with the recovery of the remains of 10 more victims, three of them journalists.
A list pieced together by CenterLaw from interviews with victims’ families and information provided by local journalists associations show …

How do we make sense of the aberration of that Monday morning, the darkest day in the history of Philippine journalism, the day democracy was mocked with impunity and human rights were used as a floor mat with which to wipe blood-stained feet?
As the list of the murdered journalists became longer each day, familiar names stand out seemingly reaching out for help from those of us fortunate enough to have been out of harm’s way.  Many of them were acquaintances, some were eager learners in training workshops conducted so rarely …

Described by journalists and press freedomn groups as arguably the blackest day in the history of Philippine journalism, the murder of 36 people including 14 journalists Monday in Maguindanao goes beyond the issue of press freedom.
It is an insidious and horrific disrespect for human rights and the dignity of the person and once again underlines the inability of the state to protect its citizens from harm. More than anything else the cold-blooded murders are a blatant display of impunity made even more appalling by the fact that a local …

INSI horrified by Philippines massacre
Brussels, 23 November – the International News Safety Institute on Monday expressed horror over the massacre of at least 36 people, including more than 12 journalists, in the Philippines.
It was the blackest day in the history of journalism in the Philippines, already one of the deadliest nations on earth for the news media.
Gunmen abducted and killed the group of people in Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines on Monday, apparently to prevent a woman filing her husband’s nomination to run for provincial governor in elections next …

International Right to Know Day was established by access to information advocates from around the globe. It was first celebrated on 28 September 2003, and 2009 will see the 7th International Right to Know Day. The aim of Right to Know Day is to raise awareness of every individual’s right of access to government-held information: the right to know how elected officials are exercising power and how the tax-payers’ money is being spent.
International Right to Know Day on 28 September 2009 will be celebrated by organizations from around the world. …

Community journalists and barangay human rights officers (BHRAOs) from Davao City and nearby Davao provinces participated in a training workshop on reporting human rights from July 30 to August 1, probably the first attempt to enjoin the two sectors to help address the need to report human rights better.

More than 70 journalists from nine Asia-Pacific countries attended the first safety conference for the news media in the region at the Manhattan Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia from 15 to 16 December 2008. The conference “Killing the Messenger: News Media in the Firing Line” was organized  by the International News Safety Institute (INSI) in partnership with the Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD) with grants from the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) under the Media, Democracy and Development project.