Today, May 3, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines – UP commemorates World Press Freedom Day with a firm commitment to protecting journalists and media practitioners.

Throughout his term, Marcos Jr. has repeatedly touted improvements in the state of press freedom in the country, supposedly proven by the reported decline in the killings of journalists. This however is a thin benchmark for freedom, especially when intimidation, censorship and impunity remain prevalent.

Press freedom violations under Marcos Jr.

The persistence of press freedom violations under Ferdinand Marcos Jr. points to the absence of laws that effectively protect journalists from repression.

The state often points to mechanisms such as the establishment of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFOMS), which claims to “protect the life, liberty and security” of media workers. But the Union calls this mandate into question when journalistic duty clashes with the interests of the state, as seen in the recent killing of community journalist RJ Ledesma in the Toboso 19 massacre.

This conflict of interest even undermines the country’s compliance with international standards such as the International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which states under Rule 34 that civilian journalists engaged in professional missions in areas of armed conflict must be respected and protected as long as they are not taking a direct part in hostilities.

The clear violation of this law, the refusal of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to acknowledge its failure to uphold IHL, and the silence of PTFOMS despite their mandate are a revelation of their true nature as Public Relations buffers–a communication strategy used mitigate backlash rather than a shield meant to safeguard journalists’ rights.

It is also a reflection of the state’s selective justice. When the perpetrator is the state itself, its own “safety mechanisms” malfunction, protecting its forces over the lives of truth-tellers.

The fragility of press freedom in the country is even more pronounced in campus publications that uphold journalism in its most uncompromising form.

Student journalists have been held hostage by the Campus Journalism Act of 1991 (RA 7079) – a statutory facade that masks repression with democratic rhetoric. While it nominally recognizes editorial autonomy, the law’s lack of penalty clause grants school administrators the license to harass, censor and intimidate student writers.

This “toothless” nature of the current law has fueled a surge in Campus Press Freedom Violations (CPFV), ranging from financial strangulation to the outright criminalization of student journalists. The law’s failure to adapt to the digital age is strikingly evident in the February 2024 takedown order against TomasinoWeb (UST), where the UST administration ordered them to delete a photo. This was then followed by the April 2026 digital suppression of The Catalyst (PUP), in which the primary platform was hacked and deleted following critical reportage on labor strikes.

Beyond censorship, the state has escalated to judicial harassment to silence the campus press. In October 2025, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) subpoenaed The Catalyst Associate Editor Jacob Baluyot following his coverage and presence at the September 21 anti-corruption protest.

These incidents prove that the vestigial protections of RA 7079 offer no shield against state power. Without a law penalizing state infringement of free expression, the campus press remains in a state of constant risk.

Comparison of CJA and CPF Bill

Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution’s Bill of Rights explicitly mentions the freedom of the press. However, there have been no laws that operationalize the freedom of the press, while journalists face state intimidation, unjust arrests, trumped-up charges, and extrajudicial killings. There has been no national law criminalizing red-tagging – journalists have been falsely labelled as terrorists.

Not only does this country lack the proper laws and provisions to safeguard media workers, it also weaponizes laws such as Cyberlibel, Criminal Libel, Inciting to Terrorism, Terrorism Financing, Illegal Possession of Firearms, and Tax Evasion.

Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio and community worker Marielle Domequil have been falsely charged with illegal possession of firearms in 2020 and terrorism financing in 2021. They were acquitted of the former, but convicted of the latter in January 2026. An appeal for bail was dismissed in February 2026.

As we commemorate World Press Freedom Day, we refuse to celebrate a ‘peace’ built on the silence of the intimidated. We call for the decriminalization of libel, an end to the weaponization of terror laws against journalists, and for the government to properly enforce safeguards and operational laws for the safety of journalists in the country. In the first place, these calls should not even exist in a democratic country that supposedly acknowledges the freedom of the press in its Constitution.