{"id":12707,"date":"2026-02-20T06:55:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T05:55:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/?p=12707"},"modified":"2026-02-19T12:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T11:23:15","slug":"negros-journalists-arrest-raises-alarm-over-press-freedom-in-the-philippines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/negros-journalists-arrest-raises-alarm-over-press-freedom-in-the-philippines\/","title":{"rendered":"Negros journalist\u2019s arrest raises alarm over press freedom in the Philippines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erwin \u201cAmbo\u201d Delilan, a journalist based in Negros Occidental, was arrested<\/a> at his home in EB Magalona town on January 19, 2026, by members of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG). He was charged<\/a> with unjust vexation, a minor offense under Philippine law.<\/p>\n

The arrest warrant, issued<\/a> on January 12, 2026, by Judge Phoebe Gargantiel-Balbin of the Bacolod Regional Trial Court, did not specify the alleged act constituting the offense.<\/p>\n

Delilan, a former president of the Negros Press Club and current manager of radio station Hapi FM in Bacolod City, said<\/a> he was confused by the charges did not know his accuser or the act he was accused of committing. He spent<\/a> the night in police custody and was released on bail the following day.<\/p>\n

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in Negros Island Region and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) \u2013 Negros Occidental condemned<\/a> the arrest, calling<\/a> it harassment aimed at intimidating journalists and restricting press freedom. Media groups raised<\/a> concern over the late-night execution of the warrant and the lack of due process, warning that such actions create a chilling effect on critical reporting.<\/p>\n

Delilan\u2019s arrest highlights the persistent dangers faced by journalists in the Philippines. Three journalists were killed<\/a> in the Philippines in 2025, contributing to a total of 128 journalist deaths worldwide, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The Philippines ranked<\/a> 9th in the 2024\u00a0 Global Impunity Index released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), reflecting the high number of unsolved journalist murders over the past decade.<\/p>\n

Justice also remains<\/a> elusive fifteen years after the killing of environmental journalist Gerry Ortega, a vocal critic of corruption and environmentally destructive projects in Palawan. He was shot<\/a> dead in 2011. Although former Palawan governor Joel T. Reyes was convicted<\/a> of graft in 2025 over issues Ortega had exposed, no verdict has been reached in the journalist\u2019s murder. Ortega\u2019s family and international observers continue to call<\/a> for a fair and impartial trial, highlighting the country\u2019s ongoing crisis of impunity for crimes against journalists.<\/p>\n

The unsolved killing of broadcaster Percy Lapid also illustrates the challenges in holding perpetrators accountable. A commentator for DWBL radio, Lapid was known<\/a> for his radio show where he was a vocal critic of fake news, so-called \u201cred-tagging\u201d (i.e., branding individuals or organizations as supporters of the communist insurgency or \u201cterrorist\u201d) and government corruption. He was shot<\/a> and killed on October 3, 2022, while on his way home in Las Pi\u00f1as City.<\/p>\n

While the Philippines improved<\/a> its standing in the World Press Freedom Index, rising to 116th in 2025 from 134th in 2024, NUJP noted<\/a> that the higher ranking does not reflect meaningful improvements in press freedom on the ground.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Foto \u00a9 Raffy Lerma<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Erwin \u201cAmbo\u201d Delilan, a journalist based in Negros Occidental, was arrested at his home in EB Magalona town on January 19, 2026, by members of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG). He was charged with unjust vexation, a minor offense under Philippine law. The arrest warrant, issued on January 12, 2026, by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73,61,63,58,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aktuelles-en","category-freedom-of-press","category-human-rights-defenders","category-human-rights-news","category-news-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12707"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12728,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12707\/revisions\/12728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amp.ngo\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}