FILE PHOTO: A protester displays a placard calling for press freedom during a protest with journalists in Manila on January 19, 2018. – Philippine journalists took to the streets on January 19 in support of a news website facing state-enforced closure, accusing President Rodrigo Duterte of trampling on press freedom. (Photo by TED ALJIBE / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill declaring August 30 of every year as National Press Freedom Day.
Voting 19-0-0, senators passed Senate Bill No. 670, which aims to honor Marcelo H. Del Pilar, the father of Philippine Journalism. Del Pilar was born on August 30, 1850.
The proposed legislation requires all government agencies and instrumentalities, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, government-owned and controlled corporations, local government units, as well as the private sector to “afford sufficient time and opportunity for their employees to engage and participate in any related activity to be conducted on the premises of their respective offices or establishments” to ensure the “meaningful observance and celebration of National Press Freedom Day.”
The measure also directs the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in consultation with the Office of the President, government, and private media organizations to “lead public and private schools at all levels in organizing consciousness-raising activities on the importance of the press, their rights and social responsibilities, and the elimination of all forms of violence against the press.”
The House of Representatives approved its version of the measure in June 2021.
According to the 2021 Committee to Protect Journalists’ Global Impunity Index, the Philippines remains to be one of the worst countries when it comes to unsolved killings of journalists.
The Philippines ranked 7th in the list of the New York City-based media watchdog, with 13 unresolved killings in the last 10 years. It retained its position from a year earlier.
READ: PH retains ranking as 7th deadliest country for journalists in global index
Recently, veteran journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa became the first Nobel laureate from the Philippines.
She shared a Nobel Peace Prize with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”