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| Southeast Asia |
| Philippine Police Arrest Journalist Accused by Military of Communist Links |
| 2020-12-17 |
| 10 December [BenarNews] Philippine police on Thursday arrested a news hound working for an independent media outlet, which the military accused of being a front for communist murderous Moslems, a journalists’ union said. Police early in the day picked up Lady Ann Salem, an editor with the online publication Manila Today, from her home in Mandaluyong city, in Metropolitan Manila, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said. Salem was one of seven people taken into custody when officers allegedly found weapons and explosives in their homes after serving them with search warrants, the Philippine National Police’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group confirmed in a statement. "Journalist and Manila Today editor Lady Ann Salem was among those arrested in a wave of arrests conducted by the Philippine National Police this morning. The police has yet to release details of the charges against the journalist," the union said in a Facebook post. Salem is also a communications officer for the Philippine chapter of the International Association of Women in Radio and Television, a London-based organization. RED TAGGED During a senate hearing last week, Manila Today was "red tagged" by the military’s National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. As part of red tagging, the Philippine military and police label groups or individuals as being supporters of communist rebels, or as faceless myrmidons themselves involved with alleged legal fronts for the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army. Police alleged that when they searched Salem’s house, they found four .45-caliber pistols, four grenades, laptops, hard drives, mobile phones and "assorted" identification documents. The police didn’t give more details. Salem is the second red-tagged journalist to be arrested and placed in durance vile You have the right to remain silent... for alleged possession of firearms and explosives, a crime for which judges usually deny bail. Frenchiemae Cumpio, 21, of Eastern Vista community papers in Leyte province, has behind bars on the same charge since February. Colleagues said Cumpio, who denied the allegations. No, no! Certainly not! might have been arrested because of her reports that focused on alleged corruption and abuses by the military. A third journalist, Anne Kreuger, with the Paghimutad publication on Negros Island, was arrested late last year for alleged firearms possession, but is out on bail. Last month, National Police Chief Gen. Camilo Cascolan said counter-narcotics operations had led to the arrest of "357,069 suspects, 7,987 deaths and the surrender of 1,290,768" since mid-2016. Spokespersons for Duterte were not immediately available on Thursday to comment on activists’ allegations. |
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