MANILA, Philippines – The 2026 iteration of the World Press Freedom Index sees the Philippines ranking 114th out of 180 countries and territories, a slight bump upwards from its ranking as 116th in 2025.

Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) World Press Freedom Index has been ranking countries and territories every year since 2002. It attempts to reflect how much freedom journalists, news organizations, and netizens have in their respective locales, alongside the efforts made by authorities to respect these freedoms.

The page for the Philippines in the Index notes that, “Despite its extremely dynamic media landscape, the Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists.”

Red-tagging and chilling effects

Politically, despite a change in administration from Rodrigo Duterte to current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the practice known as red-tagging continues. Some journalists who don’t follow government narratives or are critical of the government are accused of being “subversives” or “terrorists.” RSF added in a summary report of the slide in press freedoms around the world that Frenchie Mae Cumpio is emblematic of such repression.

According to the RSF, despite a 1987 Constitution that guarantees freedom of the press, Philippine law doesn’t protect journalistic freedom in practice. For example, defamation charges are misused to prosecute journalists and threaten prison sentences on them, creating a chilling effect. Meanwhile, online defamation charges under the Cybercrime Prevention Act are even harsher.

Additionally, laws relating to media ownership and taxation are also used by the government to harass media outlets critical of authorities.

The economic context

The RSF cited as part of the economic context in the Philippines the concentration of media to a few players, with “closer ties between media owning families and political barons at regional and national levels.” Meanwhile, smaller outfits that operate online continue to struggle with economic viability.

Further, the RSF called the growing influence of Marcos cousin and former House speaker Martin Romualdez in media “even more worrying.”

In 2023, Romualdez’s company Prime Media Holdings Inc. entered into a joint venture with ABS-CBN Corporation — Media Serbisyo Production Corporation. Under the joint venture, ABS-CBN (49%) is responsible for content, while Prime Media (51%) handles distribution. 

Political polarization and disinformation

Meanwhile, Philippine poltical polarization has led to disinformation flooding the spaces people go to for information, especially social media. Fake accounts flood social media platforms with false information that then influences online debate.

RSF added, “The 2025 general election campaign highlighted the scale of the problem: according to Cyabra, a company specializing in disinformation analysis, up to 45% of online discussions about the election originated from fake accounts, such as bots and fake users.”

Dangers of Philippine journalism

The RSF noted that the Philippines is “one of the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, as highlighted in 2009 when 32 reporters were massacred in the southern province of Maguindanao. Impunity for these crimes is almost total.”

While the Philippine government set up a Presidential Task Force on Media Security in 2016, the body was not able to stem the vicious cycle of violence against journalists.

Regionally speaking, journalists are also the target of threats and lawsuits, while women journalists are subjected to specific gender-based threats — these include rape and cyber-harassment alongside the divulging of personal details. – Rappler.com