Philippines: CFWIJ condemns the persistent harassment of Inday Espina-Varona

March 8, 2021— Inday Espina-Varona, a senior contributing editor for ABS-CBN, has faced persistent harassment and threats. She says the hostile environment towards journalists has worsened since President Duterte took office in 2016. Inday has been targeted online by slurs, hurtful comments and accusations of providing sensitive information to rebel groups. The journalist admitted she lives in constant fear given the precarious position of press freedom in the country. CFWIJ condemns the harassment towards Inday and asks President Duterte to end the crackdown on critical voices. 

Inday Espina-Varona said that she was labeled as a communist by trolls. A right-wing extremist group accused the journalist of terrorism charges for allegedly sharing sensitive information with a rebel group on June 4, 2020. The journalist claims the government did not bother to investigate the accusations, nor the perpetrators responsible. The post was a blatant lie and was reported by Varona and her peers. In response, they received an automated answer that the post did not violate Facebook community guidelines. 

The journalist was threatened with attacks on her family when she investigated the president for blaming rape on drug-use. Inday was labeled as an addict advocate, and in retaliation, her daughter was threatened with rape. When Facebook removed these posts, several of the offending accounts were found to be linked with military officers and government officials. Inday has filed complaints against some of those government officials, but the justice process is slow. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is appalled by the vicious harassment and threats against women journalists in the Philippines. We demand that President Duterte end these tactics of silencing the press in the country. We urge the social media executives of sites like Facebook to be more diligent about monitoring online content that could be life-threatening to journalists. The community guidelines across these platforms must prohibit the spread of dangerous disinformation and prevent online targeting and threats.