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Committee to Protect Journalists’ Beh Lih Yih says President Marcos ‘has the opportunity to right past wrongs’ and should seize the moment as ‘all eyes are on the Philippines’
MANILA, Philippines – An international press freedom delegation has decried the continued detention of 26-year-old Filipino community journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who’s been detained in Tacloban City for five years now.
Cumpio is part of a broader picture of media repression in Asia, the region with the most number of detained journalists in 2024.
“Frenchie is emblematic of the criminalization of journalism that we’re seeing across the region….It’s never been more dangerous to be a journalist than today,” said Beh Lih Yi, the Asia-Pacific director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Beh said she shares the view of United Nations Special Rapporteur Irene Khan that there has not been enough meaningful change in the state of press freedom in the country since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office three years ago.
“[President Marcos] has the opportunity to right past wrongs, end the injustice, for all these people killed or imprisoned for their work. And he really should seize it because all eyes are on the Philippines,” she said.
Rappler’s senior reporter Lian Buan talks to Beh in this Rappler Talk streaming 7 pm on Friday, June 20. – Rappler.com
