The National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC), the largest and one of the most firmly established organizations of professional media practitioners in the country, on Sunday said the media under the Duterte administration is a lot safer now and that the government gives premium to transparency and accountability. Armed with the FOI law, journalists and any Filipino can now request official records by going straight to concerned agencies in the executive branch. Duterte, through Memorandum Order 10, assigned to the office of Andanar the implementation of the FOI program and the PTFoMS. Duterte, even during the 2016 presidential campaign, vowed to build a conducive environment for working media people. The report cited the impressive uphill climb of 11 places, from 138th in 2016 to 127th this year.

Source: Manila Times July 23, 2017 12:22 UTC