Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Monday, February 18, said key officials from the Presidential Communication Operations Office (PCOO) are in Europe for the Press Freedom Caravan.
He said those officials will use their time there to clarify issues confronting the government such as involuntary disappearances and anti-communist terrorist groups, as well as tell the European media groups that Rappler CEO Maria Ressa’s arrest over cyber libel charges is not an attack on Philippine press freedom.
“Eh dinadala natin iyong Press Freedom Caravan para maintindihan nila, para maliwanagan sila sa kaso ni Maria Ressa. (We are bringing this Press Freedom Caravan there so they will understand, so they will be enlightened about the case of Maria Ressa),” said Andanar on February 16 on Radyo Pilipinas.
Ressa was arrested after office hours on Wednesday, February 13 at the Rappler office. The cyber libel case was brought about by a story published in May 2012 — four months before the law she allegedly violated was enacted.
Andanar also explained that the caravan is a “side event” to official meetings with “officials from the EU Parliament, Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, European Commission, and leaders of the Filipino community.”
Officials included in the caravan traveling to Brussels, Bosnia, and Switzerland for the campaign are PCOO Undersecretary Joel Sy Egco, Undersecretary Lorraine Badoy, and Assistant Secretary Kris Ablan.
The Europe trip, however, has prompted several people to question its real intention.
Senator Francis Pangilinan on Monday spoke up about the trip.
“Why is the government suddenly interested in clearing its name before the international community on the arrest of Maria Ressa when before, it has ignored criticisms on extrajudicial killings as a result of the drug war?” he said.
“Could it be that Secretary Andanar and the PCOO people just want a whiff of winter, thus, the sudden urge to go into this information caravan? How much is the PCOO spending for this trip in taxpayers’ money?” he added.
Senator Grace Poe vocalized her concerns, as well.
“Is it really necessary to spend people’s money on this? It is not enough that various officials have spoken about this issue? It’s also with the courts already so let’s just let the process unfold,” she said.
“It’s more appropriate for PCOO to use these funds to spread information to encourage parents to have their children vaccinated or else to help in the information dissemination for an orderly and peaceful elections,” she added.
For rights group Karapatan, however, the trip is nothing but a PR stunt and the government officials are on a “mission for damage control.”
“Instead of resolving these cases and adopting a human rights based approach in its policies, the Duterte government is instead wasting taxpayers’ money on these junkets to deodorize the stench of this government’s human rights records. These efforts are superficial,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general, on Tuesday.
“Victims are instead branded as terrorists and mechanism to safeguard people’s rights pushed forward mainly by the efforts of civil society are being co-opted and twisted in this government’s desperate PR stunt,” she added.
