Dipolog calendar chronicles struggles for press freedom in Zamboanga del Norte

DIPOLOG, Philippines – A printing company in Dipolog City has taken on the task of keeping alive the fight for press freedom in a place where journalists and activists have long faced threats and violence. 

Young Printing Press has released its 2025 Defend Press Freedom calendar, designed not only to mark the passage of time but to remind its community of the struggles that have shaped their press freedom, and why people in Zamboanga del Norte need to continue supporting unrestricted media.

The calendar features cartoons depicting the province’s struggles to protect press freedom.

“It’s our humble way of reminding everyone the vital role of freedom of speech in our democracy,” said human rights lawyer Anecito Young, owner of Young Printing Press, which also published the weekly Press Freedom.

“Our Defend Press Freedom calendar should teach us never to forget those who perished, harassed, or those who were threatened while performing their duties to inform the public and to give voice to those who have no means to be heard,” he said.

The calendar features cartoons illustrating notable events, including the killings and harassment of media practitioners in Zamboanga del Norte, from the Martial Law era to the present.

Clo D. Acis, a retired fireman, told Rappler on Tuesday, January 21: “Tinuod tong gipresentar nga cartoons sa kalendaryo, nahitabo to sa Dipolog ug sa laing mga lugar sa probinsiya. Dili to angay kalimtan, dili angay nga moundang ta sa pakigbisog tungod kay mura nag naapil sa atong sistema ang pagyatak sa tawhanong katungod.”

(All those presented in the cartoons are true; they happened in Dipolog and other parts of the province. We should not forget those events. We should not stop our struggles because the systemic violation of human rights seems ingrained in our system.)

Aside from direct killings and harassment of journalists, lawyers, and others, “equally evil corruption” persists, Acis said.

He pointed to “legal actions that fund officials’ propaganda efforts, buy votes, and exploit poverty and the newly created ‘ayuda mentality.’”

The cartoons serve as reminders on unsolved killings, including the murders of Mindanao Observer editor Jacobo Amatong and columnist Zorro Aguilar on September 23, 1984; lawyer Ferdinand Reyes, editor-in-chief of Press Freedom, on February 13, 1996; and DXAA radio commentator Klein Cantoneros on May 4, 2005.

Another incident depicted is the alleged abuse of press freedom during the period when Colonel Reynaldo Maclang served as Dipolog chief of police and commander of the police’s 102nd Mobile Company, or from 2010 to 2017.

The local police under Maclang, who served in Dipolog during the administration of former mayor Evelyn Tang-Uy, was widely accused of orchestrating attacks on media practitioners’ homes, radio stations, and offices, including the editorial office of Press Freedom.

One cartoon shows Maclang and his officers barging into the DXFL radio booth on May 3, 2013, World Press Freedom Day. Police arrested commentator Rodolfo Tanquis without a warrant while he was on-air. Tanquis was allegedly targeted for criticizing police failures to solve extrajudicial killings in Dipolog and the towns of Polanco and Sindangan.

The weekly Press Freedom began as Dipolog Extra in 1981, nine years after Martial Law was declared by the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos. Young recalled that period as one marked by political repression, economic hardships, and suppression of the press.

Newspapers in Dipolog were shut down after Martial Law was declared and were only allowed to resume under Marcos’ National Media Production Center (NMPC).

To maintain his newspaper’s independence, Young refused to register with NMPC. On July 1, 1982, he established Young Printing Press for his weekly paper, later renamed Press Freedom.

Press Freedom remained a “mosquito newspaper” until the 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. – Rappler.com