The Central Luzon Media Citizen-Council (CLMCC) on Friday joins the nation particularly the media rank in the country in the celebration of the third National Press Freedom Day on the occasion of the 174th birth anniversary of Marcelo H. Del Pilar, the father of journalism in the Philippines.
The CLMCC reiterates its role as providers of truth to the public and with a deeper commitment of safeguarding the truth against false news both in the traditional and social media.
It also upholds the media self-regulation and accountability mandate of the media-citizen councils in the Philippines which in return will help ensure the protection and security of its members.
The CLMCC expresses its heartfelt thTheanks and appreciation to the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) office in Region 3 for reminding members of the fourth estate of their vital role in society and recognizing their importance as both duty-bearers of brininging truth to the people and they themselves being similarly a vulnerable sector that also needs protection from the government through a seminar and media training conducted by Atty. Hannah Rosario in Bolinao, Pangasinan under the direction of CHR Region 3 director Atty. Leorae Valmonte based on the agency’s initiative to provide human rights training to various sectors in our society.
The CLMCC headed by Carmela Reyes-Estrope was established in December 2023 through the initiatives of the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) and the International Media Support (IMS) to help further uplift media professionalism, accountability and responsibility as one way of keeping media members free from charges of libel and cyberlibel.
Through the joint efforts of the PPI and the IMS, the Philippines now has nine media-citizen councils, namely CLMCC, the Iloilo, Aklan, Batangas, Surigao del Sur, Agusan del Sur, Region 8, Davao and Agusan del Sur.
The media councils were first created by the PPI and IMS in 2022.
President Rodrigo Duterte in 2022 has signed into law Republic Act (RA) 11699 declaring August 30 of every year as National Press Freedom Day in honor of Marcelo H. del Pilar, the father of Philippine Journalism.
Del Pilar, who wrote under the pen name “Plaridel,” was born on August 30, 1890 in San Nicolas, Bulakan, Bulacan. A shrine in his brithplace is being maintained by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.
The Aug. 30 Marcelo Day is an annual Bulacan holiday as officials and residents remember and pay tribute to the national hero through wreath-laying and gun salute activities and speeches of local officials including a national figure as guest of honor and speaker.
