The National Telecommunications Commissions Office in Quezon City. (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — More groups have denounced the order of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to block websites, including those of independent media, that would be accused of being “affiliated to and are supporting terrorist and terrorist organizations.”
The NTC should retract the order and “allow the alternative media to fulfill our duty to the public,” PinoyMedia Center Inc. (PMC), publisher of the alternative news magazine Pinoy Weekly, said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
The statement was signed by PMC Chair Rolando Tolentino and Secretary Antonio La Viña.
“NTC and NSC’s [National Security Council] action is an outright violation of our freedom of the press and of expression and an affront to the people’s right to information, especially with the proliferation of disinformation, misinformation and malinformation on social media,” said the PMC statement.
PMC also noted that its publications — Pinoy Weekly and Film Weekly — had been consistent targets of DDoS attacks, harassment, and foul language just for releasing progressive commentaries on current issues.
“PMC, along with other alternative media outfits, decry this violation of our rights and abuse of authority of NTC and NSC in the name of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency,” said PMC.
“Our mission to provide the public with alternative views on issues concerning the marginalized sectors will be hampered with such issuance,” it added.
Arbitrary tagging?
In a separate statement, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) also condemned the NTC order.
ILPS said the NSC had arbitrarily tagged it as a terrorist organization. It called the move “a cheap tactic of guilt by association” meant to “curtail the Filipino people’s right to free speech and to information.”
“This is not the first time that the ILPS has been targeted and labeled as ‘terrorist’ or associated with ‘terrorist organizations by the Duterte government. This comes without surprise from a desperate regime that grapples to cover up the international exposition of its crimes against the people,” ILPS General Secretary Liza Maza said.
She called the order “a last-ditch effort to silence criticism and prevent the people to speak up against crimes.”
Maza pointed out that the pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) had already authorized its prosecutor to open an investigation into the crimes against humanity complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte.
“By vilifying its growing number of critics as ‘terrorists’ or ‘supporters of terrorism,’ the Duterte government is actually intensifying dissent among the Filipinos who are geared to solidify resistance against the incoming Marcos Jr.-Duterte government,” she said.
She was referring to Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and Sara Duterte.
The ILPS is composed of over 400 organizations across the globe. It had been campaigning to defend and protect peoples’ rights since its formation in 2001 by José Maria Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
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