NUJP-Iloilo holds candlelight vigil

The Iloilo chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) yesterday commemorated the ninth anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre with a candlelight vigil at the Plazoleta Gay in the City Proper district of Iloilo City, together with members of the Panay chapter of local human rights organization Karapatan.

“The Iloilo chapter of the NUJP joins the commemoration of the Maguindanao Massacre, which killed 32 of our colleagues nine years ago,” NUJP-Iloilo President Elyrose Naorbe said in a statement. “We are also calling on our colleagues and the public to be more vigilant than ever and defend the right to press freedom.”

Naorbe urged fellow journalists to stand against intimidation.

The group also hit out at the administrations of both President Rodrigo Duterte and former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, claiming the former “threatens” mass media, while the latter’s Justice Department responded to the incident with a “case designed to fail.”/WDJ