Right to truth is a human right: Pangilinan

"Hours from now, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and journalist Maria Ressa will formally receive her award, together with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov.

This should be a glorious, shining, and joyful moment for all Filipinos.

Our celebration for Maria's landmark feat, however, will be brief. As the killings of her colleagues in the Philippines continue.

We mourn and remember slain journalist Jesus "Jess" Malabanan, who helped the Reuters news service in its data-gathering for its Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the bloody drug war ongoing in the country. Jess was killed by still unknown persons on Dec. 8, 2021.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded 87 killings of Filipino journalists between 1992 and 2021.

As the Norwegian Nobel Committee has said 'freedom of expression is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.'

We need to safeguard and protect all journalists who are warriors for freedom of expression and for Philippine democracy and lasting peace."