MANILA, Philippines — A female journalist from red-tagged alternative news site Manila Today was arrested on Thursday, media organizations National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) and International Association of Women in Radio and Television (IAWRT) confirmed.
The information posted by NUJP on its Facebook page showed that Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem was “among those arrested” in operations conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Thursday morning, December 10 — which also coincides with the global Human Rights Day.
Salem’s Manila Today is a part of the NUJP, while she is also the communications officer of IAWRT.
NUJP added that the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) arrested Salem in her Mandaluyong home.
“Journalist and Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem was among those arrested in a wave of arrests conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) this morning. The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the PNP arrested Salem at her house in Mandaluyong City at approximately 9 AM this morning,” NUJP said.
“The police has yet to release details of the charges against the journalist,” they added.
IAWRT meanwhile uploaded a photo of Salem inside a white vehicle after her arrest.
“Filipino journalist Lady Ann Salem was arrested in her house this morning, International Human Rights Day. Her colleagues have learned of a ‘raid’ in her Mandaluyong house at 9:00 a.m.,” IAWRT said.
“Icy, as referred to by friends and colleagues, is the editor of alternative press Manila Today and sits as communications officer of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television,” it added.
NUJP meanwhile condemned the police for arresting Salem, of all days, on International Human Rights Day.
Manila Today is one of the alternative news sites tagged by government officials, including those from the controversial National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Insurgency (NTF-ELCAC) as part of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
“The [NUJP] condemns the arrest of our colleague, Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem, and demands her immediate release. We are further outraged that authorities chose to seize Icy, as she is known to kin and colleagues, on International Human Rights Day,” NUJP said in a separate statement.
“The arrest violates a long-standing agreement between the Philippine National Police and media organizations on the arrest of journalists […] Icy’s arrest is proof that this administration is bent on silencing the independent and critical Philippine media so it can manipulate the flow of information to the detriment of our people and of our democracy,” it added. [ac]