The Philippines moved up 15 spots to rank 132nd in the World Press Freedom Index 2023, based on a report released by Reporters Without Borders.

A total of 180 countries were assessed for this year’s edition by the RSF, a Paris-based group committed to safeguarding freedom of information.

In its report, the RSF said after six years of verbal attacks by former President Rodrigo Duterte and “judicial harassment” of any media “deemed overly critical” of the government, “there seem to have been fewer and less violent attacks of this kind since Bongbong Marcos became president, but they are still worrisome.”

It also noted Rappler CEO Maria Ressa’s acquittal in a tax evasion case in January 2023 as “an encouraging development.”

Marcos came to power in June 2022. 

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“Under Duterte, who was nicknamed the ‘Punisher,’ journalists who tried to cover his expeditious ‘war on drugs’ were the target of the worst attacks. In this respect, the policy of his successor, Bongbong Marcos, is more consensual,” the report said. 

“But the authorities still often resort to ‘red-tagging’ – a practice inherited from the colonial era and the Cold War, whereby journalists who do not toe the government line are branded as ‘subversive elements’ or ‘reds,’ which amounts to pointing them out to law enforcement as legitimate targets for arbitrary arrest or, worse still, summary execution.”

On media safety, the RSF said the Philippines is one of the world’s deadliest countries for journalists, highlighted by the Maguindanao massacre in 2009, when 32 members of the press became casualties of political rivalry in the area.

Since January 2023, no Filipino journalists have been killed; however, two have been detained, according to the RSF.

“The Philippine media are extremely vibrant despite the government’s targeted attacks and constant harassment, since 2016, of journalists and media outlets that are too critical,” said the RSF, which published the report on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3.