Philippine Declaration for Press Freedom

PHILIPPINE DECLARATION FOR PRESS FREEDOM (1987)

WE BELIEVE THAT PRESS FREEDOM is an inalienable birthright of the people which no one can take away without violating a basic human right, and we hold that while facts are inviolable, expression of opinions should be free.

WE BELIEVE THAT PRESS FREEDOM is the foundation and guardian of a strong and enlightened public opinion without which democracy cannot be possible, and that the guarantee of this freedom is among the best deterrents to authoritarian governments.

WE BELIEVE THAT PRESS FREEDOM is more than the right to express approval of prevailing political structures and dominant political beliefs and policies, for the right belongs as well, if not more, to those who question, who differ, who oppose.

WE BELIEVE THAT PRESS FREEDOM is the right of the people to inform and be informed, the people’s right to unhampered reportage and to access to channels of information and opinion, and that this guarantees the people’s right to utilize government-operated media facilities.

WE BELIEVE THAT PRESS FREEDOM necessarily encompasses the right of professionals and workers in the mass media to job security, fair compensation, just and humane working conditions and self-organization, as well as the right of media establishments to be protected against undue sanctions from sources of revenue.

WE BELIEVE THAT PRESS FREEDOM and the broader right to freedom of expression concern not only professional, businessmen and workers in the mass media but the people as a whole, and that vigilance for the defense of these freedoms should therefore be a recognized responsibility of the entire body politic.

WE BELIEVE IN PRESS FREEDOM, and we declare our conviction to uphold it. We therefore unite to establish and continue to strengthen a movement for press freedom as an active and effective channel for solidarity and coordination among media people and other citizens in promoting, asserting and defending this basic and inalienable right.

This document was drafted in January 1987 by the organizing committee of the People’s (now Philippine) Movement for Press Freedom and first adopted by the First National Convention for Press Freedom in April 1987. This Declaration has more than 700 individual signatories among Metro Manila and provincial mediapersons by September 1987. Signatories to this Declaration include the National Press Club (by an Annual Convention resolution of May 1990) and all-member organizations of the PMPF (52 as of July 1992) which has this Declaration as the preamble of its constitution.

Source: The book “Press Freedom: The People’s Right” by Ed Aurelio C. Reyes, pp. 160-161

Retyped for information campaign by: Gregorio V. Bituin Jr.