NUJP signs legal aid pacts to strengthen press defense

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines on October 22 signed memoranda of understanding with two legal aid groups to strengthen its legal defense mechanisms for journalists and support freedoms of the press and expression.

As part of its Media Legal Defense Network launched in May, the NUJP partnered with the Ateneo Human Rights Center and Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services Inc.

The agreements formalize their roles as network partners under the NUJP’s Media Legal Defense Network, which also includes the Adamson University College of Law Legal Aid Office, National Union of People’s Lawyers, Movement Against Disinformation, and Union of People’s Lawyers in Mindanao.

The Media Legal Defense Network is part of Project Lawfare, a broader initiative launched by the NUJP in 2023 to build a legal support system for timely, strategic responses to threats, harassment, and legal action against journalists.

Under the agreements, the Ateneo Human Rights Center and IDEALS will each assign a contact person to coordinate on press freedom cases, attend at least one of four NUJP-led conferences on lawfare, assist with active and potential cases, and contribute to other legal support initiatives.

Both groups will have access to NUJP research, data, and other materials developed under Project Lawfare, while the NUJP will participate in advocacy campaigns on attacks targeting Filipino lawyers.

The memoranda also support efforts to foster dialogue between lawyers and journalists, emphasizing the latter’s role in documenting events and preserving evidence critical to human rights cases.

The partnerships come amid what the NUJP describes as worsening attacks on media practitioners and organizations under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration.

As of May 1, 2025, the NUJP had logged 177 attacks on media since Marcos Jr. took office on June 30, 2022.

The incidents included 58 cases of harassment, 29 of red-tagging, 19 cyberattacks, 13 online threats or harassment, 12 cases each of libel or cyberlibel and judicial harassment, 9 death threats, 7 physical attacks, 6 killings, 4 arrests, 4 denials of coverage, 2 censorship incidents, 1 theft or property damage, and 1 closure order.

Victims comprised 177 individuals, 59 media organizations, and 236 combined cases involving both individuals and organizations.

Luzon accounted for the highest number of incidents at 150, followed by 33 in the Visayas, 23 in Mindanao, and 6 incidents overseas.

Perpetrators were identified as private individuals (26.5 percent), government officials or agencies (17.7 percent), state security forces (16.6 percent), private organizations (13.8 percent), and unknown actors (25.4 percent).

NUJP chair Jonathan De Santos noted a 38.28 percent increase in attacks under Marcos Jr.’s first two years compared to the same period under former President Rodrigo Duterte.

He cited continuing impunity despite minor improvements in the Philippines’ World Press Freedom Index ranking, which rose from 134th in 2024 to 116th in 2025, and its Global Impunity Index ranking, which improved from 8th in 2023 to 9th in 2024.

De Santos pointed to unresolved journalist killings, including that of Percy Lapid in Las Piñas in October 2022 and Gerry Ortega in Palawan in January 2011, as evidence of persistent impunity.

He also referenced legal harassment cases involving Maria Ressa of Rappler, Anne Krueger of Paghimutad, Lady Ann Salem of Manila Today, Frenchie Mae Cumpio of Eastern Vista, and freelance journalist Deo Montesclaros in Cagayan.

“The call is always to resolve the cases [of violence against journalists] and to end the culture of impunity against journalist attacks,” De Santos said during a forum in Makati City.

“Our belief is that, as long as the enemies of press freedom are confident that they can get away with it, [impunity] will continue,” he added.