IRENE Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and Opinion, spent two days in discussions with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS).
On the second day, Khan inquired about the status of complaints that did not reach the court from the prosecution.
The DOJ responded to this inquiry.
Meanwhile, the PTFoMS highlighted the high resolution rate in media killings.
Over 50% of media killing cases in the country resolved; Data surprises UN Special Rapporteur
According to PTFoMS data, over 50% of media killing cases have been resolved, including the Ampatuan case in 2009.
This report surprised and amazed Khan.
Despite this, the DOJ clarified that the focus is not only on cases of slain media practitioners.
Philippines remains in top 10 global impunity index due to gov’t discrepancies, data of media groups—PTFoMS
Meanwhile, PTFoMS Executive Director Usec. Gutierrez stated that the government aims to remove the Philippines from the top 10 global impunity index.
The challenge lies in the different data presented by the government and various media groups like the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), who do not coordinate with them.
Additionally, Khan also visited the magistrates where discussions focused on the anti-terrorism act and judicial reform.
The Supreme Court provided Khan with a copy of the law’s rules and the court’s decision on its provisions.
The meeting also tackled the declaration of unconstitutionality in two parts of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Khan reportedly understood the distinction between freedom of expression and security issues.
“We fully appreciate that the Special Rapporteur understands that there is always a balance between expression and security. We have also, in some of our cases, already acknowledged that there may be differences in the regulation of hate speech and per formative speech from declaratory speech. But of course, we are waiting for the proper case to flesh this out some more, and we are just hoping that the pleadings would be up to our standard so that we can continue to explore this,” according to Senior Associate Justice Leonen.
