03/05/2025
FOCAP STATEMENT ON WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2025
On this World Press Freedom Day, the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) honors the courage of fellow journalists and media workers who continue to inform the public despite the growing threats they face in pursuit of truth.
FOCAP mourns the recent killings of Hossam Shabat, a young Palestinian journalist targeted while reporting in Gaza, and Juan "Johnny" Dayang, a veteran Filipino journalist who was killed in his own home on April 30 in Kalibo, Aklan. Their deaths are reminders that journalism remains a dangerous profession in many parts of the world, where truth is often met with violence and impunity.
Digital harassment and powerful machineries that wrongly brand journalists as sources of misinformation and enemies of the state often lead to physical or legal attacks, like in the case of Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who has been incarcerated in a Tacloban jail for over 5 years now.
Economic security is a challenge for the press, too. The struggles of Radio Free Asia and Benar News, a FOCAP member, underline the volatile situation the media is in as the world faces political and economic uncertainties.
We do not need to go that far. On the eve of World Press Freedom Day and a day after the International Workers’ Day, on May 2, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, regarded as the country’s “newspaper of record,” announced its “integration” with its sister company Inquirer.net, which could mean job losses for hundreds of their employees.
FOCAP offers solidarity to its colleagues in PDI, as well as in other places where media workers remain vulnerable to all kinds of risks and attacks.
Founded under the dark days of the Marcos regime in 1974, FOCAP has relentlessly stood for press freedom in the Philippines, braving dangers that came along with the profession.
