The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and the Presidential Task Force on Media Safety (PTFoMS) have signed an agreement to ensure the safety and rights of media workers during the elections.
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“While violent incidents cannot be prevented, especially during elections, we hope that this MOA will deter those who consider harming the media from doing so, especially among the candidates and their supporters,” COMELEC Chairman George Erwin Garcia and PTFoMS Director Paul Gutierrez said in a joint statement.
The MOA, signed by the two officials on Tuesday (July 23), aims to provide the media with a safe and secure environment, free from unnecessary interference, to fulfil their duty to report truthful election news.
The agreement also seeks to consider any form of threat, intimidation, unlawful detention, torture or physical violence against a member of the press as a violation of the role of the media under the Fair Election Act, the Omnibus Election Code or the Revised Penal Code.
