NUJP slams 'Communist Party's legal front' accusation

MANILA, Philippines — The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines on Wednesday slammed the “absurd” allegation floated by a certain “Mario Ludades” about the journalists’ group being a legal front of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

In a statement, the NUJP’s national directorate said: “The charge of being a ‘legal front’ of the communists is so absurd it is tempting to dismiss it outright.”

The allegation was said to be contained in a story quoting “Ludades” who identified as a spokesman of the “No to Communist Terrorist Group Coalition” and a leader of indigenous peoples in the Cordillera people. The piece, the NUJP said, was published in several news outfits.

Ludades also accused the League of Filipino Students, College Editors Guild of the Philippines and Students Christian Movement of the Philippines of being “legal fronts” of the CPP.

The NUJP called the allegation a “lie,” that, absurd as it is, “puts the organization, its officers and members in potential risk.”

Militant groups have reiterated that red-tagging endangers the lives of people as they are accused without presentation of evidence and due process.

Last September, a dubious Facebook group targeted Inquirer journalist Julie Alipala and called her "a paid propagandist of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf just because she reported on the alleged massacre of seven peasants by the military last September 13."

The NUJP called on the Presidential Task Force on Media Security then to look into the post and the group that put Alipala’s life in danger.

Alternative media sites taken down

The journalists’ group also pointed out that the simultaneous takedown of Bulatlat and Kodao—independent media sites—before noon on Wednesday, the same day that the CPP is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The NUJP said that the takedown of the said websites is an “[assault] on freedom of the press and of free expression.”

They noted that the attack on the two sites was similar to when NUJP’s site was shut down earlier in 2018.

“We stress that the ‘alternative media’ are a legitimate part of the Philippine media community whose take on current events and issues broaden the national discourse and provide an invaluable contribution to the growth of democracy,” the statement read in part.

“The NUJP and all independent Filipino journalists have not and will never be cowed into giving up the continued struggle for genuine freedom of the press and of expression in the country. This is not a boast. It is a fact,” they added.