PNG activist blogger Martyn Namorong protests online in defiance of gag order

PNG blogger Martyn Namorong ... gagged but not silenced. Image: MN Twitter

By Mong Palatino of Global Voices

A Papua New Guinea court has issued a gag order against Martyn Namorong, a prominent political blogger and activist accused of defaming Patilias Gamato, the country’s Electoral Commissioner.

Gamato this week sued Namorong after Namorong compared him to a "fruit" (tomato) on social media, as reported by Pacific Media Watch. When Namorong learned about the court order, he posted this image on Twitter before adding the above blue gag selfie image:

He added that he also needed a lawyer.

Gary Juffa: Why these PNG elections are taking us towards dictatorship

Oro Governor Gary Juffa speaking at a PNG campaign gathering ... explaining the qualities to look for in
national leadership. Image: JuffaFB

By Gary Juffa, Oro Governor and an opposition MP writing for Asia Pacific Report.

I SUSPECT that these Papua New Guinea elections have been so deliberately set to fail, leaving much room for fraud and confusion, and distracting from what is really going on – the establishment of a dictatorship.

Already Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has his own special police unit that flies around Papua New Guinea escorting him in his private airlines, he has a special army unit of 40 exclusively for his callout, he controls the media and Public Service, and, it seems, the Police and Defence commands — and perhaps the judiciary -- the signs and red flags are blinking bright red now…

Yet many people do not see it. We are inching closer towards dictatorship and the ensuing bloodshed and violence that must come from the hostility towards it. But, like lemmings and sheep, we are led to that reality with little resistance at all. Is this the Papua New Guinea we all believed in once upon a time?

Last Wednesday in Oro province, provided a demonstration of how much the PNG government is not for PNG.

Fiji, PNG lead betrayal, but still West Papuans triumph

A massive crowd at Timika, Papua, greets the MSG decision to grant West Papuans observer status.
Image: Free West Papua Campaign

COMMENT By David Robie

THE Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders’ summit in Honiara this week must go down as the most shameful since the organisation was founded two decades ago.

It had the opportunity to take a fully principled stand on behalf of the West Papuan people, brutally oppressed by Indonesia after an arguably “illegal” occupation for more than a half century.

Host nation Solomon Islands Prime Minister and chair Mannaseh Sogareve set the tone by making an impassioned plea at the start of the summit, predicting a “test” for the MSG. He said it would be an issue of human rights and the rule of law.

In the end, the MSG failed the test with a betrayal of the people of West Papua by the two largest members. Although ultimately it is a decision by consensus.

Instead, the MSG granted Indonesia a “promotion” to associate member status – an Asian country, not even Melanesian?

Improving Pacific media freedom record … but let’s get real

Pacific press freedom ... maybe not as bloody as elsewhere in the world, but vigilance still needed. Image: AFP/RSF

IT’S GREAT to get some bouquets on media freedom issues instead of brickbacks in the Pacific for a change. But let’s not get carried away. Instead of all the backslapping, what is needed is more vigilance because really it is all about more than watching this space.

Tonga did best in the latest Reporters Sans Frontières World Press Freedom Index, climbing some 19 places to 44th (yes, actually above the United States, but still below the best-paced Pacific island Samoa at 40th).

You would expect a healthy climb during the year, especially with former school teacher and public broadcaster (not to mention publisher of the pro-democracy Koe Kele’a) ‘Akilisi Pohiva finally becoming prime minister of Tonga.

This was an encouraging result in the November 2014 election following the first “democratic” election in 2010.

And it was expected that Fiji would also improve in the rankings after the “return to democracy” election in September – first since the 2006 military coup – flawed though that might be.

Politics, human rights and asylum seekers media conference lined up for NZ

An update on Ces Oreña-Drilon and the Maguindanao massacre investigation. Her justice corruption allegations have led to a National Bureau of Investigation inquiry. Video: GMA News

PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW, the only politics and media research journal in New Zealand and the Pacific, will host an international conference late next month marking its 20th anniversary of publication.

With the overall theme of “Political journalism in the Asia-Pacific”, many editors, investigative journalists, documentary makers, human rights advocates, media freedom activists and journalism educators and researchers will be converging on Auckland for the event at AUT University on November 27-29.

One of the keynote speakers at PJR2014, television journalist Ces Oreña-Drilon of ABS-CBN and an anchor for the celebrated current affairs programme Bandila, will give an address on the killings of journalists with impunity in the Philippines.

She has been investigating the 2009 massacre of 34 journalists by private militia while they were accompanying a candidate’s entourage to register for elections and she has a grim story to tell in her “Losing the landmark Maguindanao massacre case” presentation about the legal and political fallout from the tragedy.

She is attending the conference with the support of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

Dangerous trend in copycat cybercrime laws in the Pacific [video]

             Video by Pacific Media Watch editor Anna Majavu.

COPYCAT cybercrime laws designed to curb freedom of expression on social media and independent blog news sites are becoming a major threat to the Asia-Pacific region.

Café Pacific today publishes a video from the book launch of David Robie's new book Don't Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific, which raises these issues.

Speakers at the event included the AUT Dean of Creative Technologies, Professor Desna Jury; Wiremu Tipuna, Takawaenga Māori at AUT (Ngati Kahungunu); Dr Steven Ratuva, president of the Pacific Islands Political Studies Association (PIPSA); publisher Tony Murrow of Little Island Press; and Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) chair Sandra Kailahi.

TV New Zealand's Pacific correspondent, Barbara Dreaver, sent a "launch" message which was read out by Kailahi.

Fighting PNG corruption and social media gags with … outspoken blogs

Graphic: shutterstock.com

THE BLOGGING war is hotting up in Papua New Guinea – just when things are getting riskier with draconian proposals over cybercrime law on the horizon. The state target for Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s government appears to be social media. Trample on any possible dissent.

O’Neill is seen as a proxy for Canberra’s strategic interests in the region. As PNGexposed claimed in one posting, the Australian government “has already assumed the role of regional sheriff and wants to sit astride a region of compliant states and micro-states”.

“This means other countries markets and resources should be open to foreign capital without barriers such as the muscular protection of landowner rights, or strong environmental laws. Australia is targeting its aid spending to ensure Bougainville fits this model.

“Whatever the future for Bougainville, Australia wants to ensure the island is a subservient neighbor providing a supporting role to Australia’s own economic and political interests. Australia is therefore targeting its aid spending to ensure that outcome, placing consultants in key political and financial roles and neglecting health and other people-centered sectors.”

According to figures released by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (see table here) show that more than 90 percent of $2.9 million a year spent on the salaries or commissions of consultants working for Australia on Bougainville is directed at ensuring Australian political structures, policy priorities, economic models, and security interests dominate in the new Bougainville government and bureaucracy.

Border ‘butchers’, absentee poll reps and West Papua’s growing strife

A West Papuan in handcuffs at a recent “Free West Papuans” rally in Auckland. Photo: Del Abcede/PMC

THE INDONESIAN parliamentary elections this week were disappointing on a number of fronts, especially for presidential frontrunner Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. His Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) which gained just 19 percent of the vote, was far less than the expected 25 percent. But the presidential vote is not until July.

What about West Papua? What was the fate of representation for the two Melanesian provinces bordering Papua New Guinea this week? Who among the Jakarta hopefuls really have the future of the Papuan region at heart?

Bobby Anderson, one of the rare journalists filing from West Papua, wrote in New Mandala:

In Papua, where state sovereignty and legitimacy is deeply contested, representation matters. So in this national election, who purports to represent Papua?

Candidate residence is one way of sizing up the candidates and the results are telling. Sixty three out of 114 candidates running for the DPR (National House of Representatives) seats in Papua province live within the greater Jakarta area.

PNG money laundering - 59 charged over corruption, alleges Today Tonight

By James Thomas of Today Tonight

Billions of dollars in foreign aid going to PNG are being siphoned off by corrupt politicians and officials - and into Aussie companies.

The Australian property market, casinos, and the banks are playing host to millions of dollars in foreign aid allegedly being siphoned off by corrupt Papua New Guinea politicians and officials.

The money trail ends up in Australian companies, caught up in the multi-million dollar corruption ring.

Sam Koim, head of PNG's Anti-Corruption Task Force, is on a mission to lift the lid on billions of dollars of dirty money leaving PNG to be laundered in Australia.

About 59 people have already been charged with corruption offences in PNG, and it is alleged much of their illegally obtained money is spent in Cairns.

Koim says Australia contributes about $500 million to the PNG budget, and 40 percent of that budget is lost to corruption annually.

Australia complicit in PNG's Bougainville blight

Pacific conflict: Associate Professor Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, of the University of Hawai'i, and others speak about conflict and transition. How can conflict-affected countries break cycles of violence, low trust or weak institutions? A Praxis panel seminar series.

OPINION by Ellena Savage of Eureka Street

THE PNG Solution is in breach of international law. It doesn't serve the best interest of the asylum seekers it will affect.

And Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship is taking grossly insufficient responsibility for the safety and security of its detainees on Manus Island.

But the PNG Solution is just another in a long line of "border control" solutions which are in breach of legality and morality. There is nothing new about it.

Much has been made of PNG's poverty and gender-based violence, but even more disturbing is its military and police human rights record.

Evidence of abuses in the form of a military blockade, massacres, rape and torture during the Bougainville Crisis, the civil war that spanned the 1990s, are well-documented.

Is Australia's new Asia-Pacific asylum policy the harshest in its history?

Australian protesters rail against the new Rudd asylum-seekers policy outside the
Sydney Town Hall today. Photo: Peter Boyle/Socialist Action

FOLLOWING Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's announcement, asylum seekers who arrive in Australian waters by boat will no longer have the chance to be settled in Australia.

Instead, asylum seekers arriving by boat will be held in an expanded facility at Papua New Guinea's Manus Island and those who are found to be genuine refugees will be settled in PNG under a surprise agreement with the Peter O'Neill government in Port Moresby.

Announcing the changes yesterday, Rudd admitted it was "a very hardline decision".

 Protests in Sydney greeted the new policy.

The Conversation spoke to three policy analysts for their response to Rudd's announcement:

ALISON GERARD, senior lecturer in justice studies at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's "Pacific Solution #3" is irreconcilable with our international refugee obligations. Like other proposals put forward by this government, it is likely to be robustly contested in court as a breach of basic human rights.

Asia-Pacific faces 'alarming scenario' in latest global warming report

THE RISING possibility of a warmer world in the next two decades is magnifying the development challenges South-East Asia is already struggling with, and threatens to reverse hard-won development gains, says a new scientific report just released by the World Bank Group cited on Pacific Scoop.

Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts and the Case for Resilience was prepared for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics. It builds on a World Bank report released late last year, which concluded the world would warm by 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century without concerted action now.

This new report looks at the likely impacts of present day (0.8°C), 2°C and 4°C warming on agricultural production, water resources, coastal ecosystems and cities across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia.

"South East Asia" includes the western Pacific (PNG and Timor-Leste) - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.

“This new report outlines an alarming scenario for the days and years ahead ¬ what we could face in our lifetime,” says World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim.

'Melanesia isn't free until West Papua is free'

In the face of state repression and international indifference by Indonesian authorities, West Papuan
activists have been locked in a life or death struggle for independence.

Al Jazeera's People & Power reports on one of the most forgotten conflicts in the world.

Airi Ingram and Jason MacLeod trace the upsurge in regional Pacific support for the free West Papua movement. They conclude that even if politicians have traditionally been slow to respond, "ordinary people in this part of the Pacific are painfully aware that the West Papuan people continue to live under the gun". And the good news is that even politicians are now starting to wake up and support the cause, especially in neighbouring Papua New Guinea.

MELANESIAN support for a free West Papua has always been high. Travel throughout Papua New Guinea and you will often hear people say that West Papua and Papua New Guinea is "wanpela graun" – one land – and that West Papuans on the other side of the border are family and kin.

In the Solomon Islands, Kanaky, Fiji and especially Vanuatu, people will tell you that “Melanesia is not free until West Papua is free”. This was the promise that the late Father Walter Lini, Vanuatu’s first prime minister, made.

Ordinary people in this part of the Pacific are painfully aware that the West Papuan people continue to live under the gun. It is the politicians in Melanesia who have been slow to take up the cause.

But that may be changing.

RSF media freedom index warns on Fiji, PNG, praises 'Burmese spring'

An archive video of a Paris protest action by RSF over the violence against journalists in Syria. Video: RSF

THREATS to the media in the South Pacific should not be taken lightly in two Melanesian countries, says the Paris-based global press freedom advocacy group Reporters Sans Frontières.

Papua New Guinea has dropped six places to 41st in the latest RSF World Press Freedom Index with the security forces being "regularly involved in attacks on journalists".

 In Fiji, in spite of a 10-place rise to 107th - "explained in part by the decline of other countries in this section of the index, news organisations are threatened under the Media Industry Development Decree with exorbitant fines, or even imprisonment, as in the case of a recently convicted editor of The Fiji Times".

Elsewhere in the South Pacific did not rate a mention in the report, which highlighted the "Burmese spring" in the Asia-Pacific region.

But among other Pacific Islands Forum countries, New Zealand rose five places to eighth and Australia climbed four places to 26th.

Burma was an exception to decline in freedom of information in Asia.

Source: Pacific Media Watch 8187

• RSF World Press Freedom Index

Indonesian border risks becoming 'flashpoint', warns Post-Courier

The two motorbikes and food rations left by Javanese poachers who
fled into the jungle when the soldiers and the team caught up with them
that morning along the banks of Torasi River.
Bottom insert: The motorbikes were set ablaze by the PNGDF soldiers. Photos: PNGDF

Special report by the PNG Post-Courier's Haiveta Kivia and team

PAPUA NEW GUINEA'S inability to man its 760km land border with Indonesia and increasing tension triggered by cross-border raids from Papua and lack of economic opportunities could make the area a flashpoint, the PNG Post-Courier reports.

Wutung villagers in the West Sepik Province and locals from the Morehead local level government area in the Western Province have expressed concern at the lack of intervention by the relevant PNG government agencies to address their problems, the newspaper said in a front-page report in its weekend edition.

Three weeks ago, Wutung villagers forcefully pulled down the Indonesian flag in protest against Indonesia, compelling Waigani to dispatch a team of officials led by the PNG Foreign Affairs Department to the border region.

The lack of income earning opportunities in West Sepik and the allegations that the popular Indonesian-owned Bartas market was built on the PNG side of the international border appear to be key factors that threaten to trigger hostilities.

“We are getting a little money from the trading at the border but it is just about 5 percent and it would be nice if we can capture at least 30 percent of it,” said Patrick Muliale, the Wutung Onne Bewani local level government president.

PNG ombudsman the toast of media freedom

By David Robie in Brisbane

Five months ago, he was the target of would-be assassins. Now he is the magnet for politicians wanting to rein in the powers of his state corruption watchdog.

But Chronox Manek is one of the most popular public figures in Papua New Guinea and thousands of ordinary citizens flocked to a peaceful protest this week against a controversial draft law aimed at curbing his powers.

And he charmed his way to the hearts of freedom of speech and free media advocates gathered in Brisbane for the annual two-day UNESCO World Press Freedom Day conference marking May 3.

Manek, Papua New Guinea’s Ombudsman, is the scourge of the coalition government led by founding “father” Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare – and a problem for Opposition politicians as well.

However, many journalists and public activists see him as a courageous and determined campaigner against corruption by public figures.

More than 7500 citizens took part in Tuesday’s Port Moresby protest against legal amendments – the so-called Maladina Bill, named after the sponsoring MP Moses Maladina – they claim will undermine the Ombudsman Commission.

Corruption epidemic
After marching on Parliament House in Waigani, the demonstrators delivered a petition of 20,000 signatures demanding a halt to the legislation curbing the commission’s powers.
The petition follows several weeks of public protest and condemnation over what critics describe as serious erosion of governance in this country where corruption is an epidemic.

Maladina’s Parliamentary Committee into the Ombudsman Commission tabled amendments impacting on both the commission and the so-called Leadership Code governing conduct by politicians and top civil servants.

One of the critical changes block the commission’s current powers to freeze public funds suspected of being used for corrupt or improper purposes.

The bill also imposes a four-year time limit on investigations, effectively blocking the ability of the commission to probe historical corruption cases.

Another provision means that politicians and civil service heads that breach the Leadership Code will no longer be able to be tried in criminal courts.

The bill has passed two readings with unanimous parliamentary support in spite of the public criticism. However, although the last vote was 83 to nil in favour of the draft law, the Opposition now says that it had been misinformed over the provisions and is now opposed.

Prime Minister Somare, Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch and several prominent government figures are currently being investigated by the Ombudsman Commission.

'Speading misinformation'
Somare has accused the Ombudsman Commission of “spreading misinformation” about the bill, but the final reading has been delayed until July.

Transparency International recently ranked PNG as the 151st most corrupt out of 182 nations.

In Brisbane, Manek spoke in two freedom of information panels in the conference hosted by the University of Queensland.

While saying the free expression and free press provisions in Article 19 of the Universal Human Rights Declaration were enshrined in the country’s constitution and that the courts enforced these rights, he added there was a major problem.

“This is about the availability of records – it is very low priority for government business,” Manek said.

“It is all very well being entitled to the information, but in many cases the government is unable to supply it because of the poor state of official records.”

At the time of independence in 1975 and for several years later, the importance of records and information management had been in good health.

'Fell off the rails'
“But somewhere along the way it fell off the rails,” Manek said.

He said it was the duty of the government to provide basic information to its citizens and to build trust.

The role of the media was important too.

“The government uses the National Broadcasting Corporation with talkback and radio and television to get policies across to the public. That’s a good start,” he said.

“But with media freedom goes great responsibility for the news media.
“Freedom of the press is not a privilege, but a responsibility.”

The media could do more to get information before the public and “we need more investigative journalism”.

He challenged the upholders of the nation’s information policy to recruit “honest” people to rebuild the open culture.

Last December, Manek was left for dead after several gunmen opened fire on him outside his home, gangland style.

They blocked his car as he waited for his driveway gate to open and fired through the windscreen of his Nissan Patrol.

He was hit in the shoulder but he told The National newspaper after the attack that a point-blank shot aimed at his chest glanced off the vehicle door.

Photo of Chronox Manek by David Robie

• PNG Coalition against Corruption warns PNG government
• A line in the sand
  
• Gunmen try to kill corruption fighter

Chan blasts PNG's 'filthy rich' government

NEW Ireland Governor Sir Julius Chan accuses the Papua New Guinea government of being "filthy rich" while many of the country's people still "live in saksak houses [with] no medicine, dilapidated schools and [are] totally forlorn".

“The Parliament is no longer the People’s House, but a rubber stamp for the multi-billionaires who can influence our leaders to introduce laws and agreements we know very little about, yet the long term impact is unpredictable," he is quoted as saying in today's front page splash story in The National.

Chan, a former prime minister who resigned in the wake of the Sandline mercenary crisis in 1997 after defeating a motion for him to step down, was reported as saying at a gathering of women in Faniufa village outside Goroka:

“The Speaker is totally biased, the courts are tired, law enforcement agencies can no longer cope with computerised white collar crimes, whilst our jails have become transit picnic grounds for criminals.

“The people of this country are tired of sitting on the outside and begging for what is properly theirs,” he said.

“For too long, Papua New Guineans have been spectators of resource developments on their traditional lands which do not equate with the wealth and benefits derived from their rich resources.

“It is time for the Government to transfer wealth from the State to the people,” Sir Julius said. “The people are tired of others telling them what they can and cannot do with papagraun.

“The people are tired of seeing pay raises and allowance raises in Waigani, when the State does not even consider it necessary to provide them with the pittance the State has promised to provide.

“Under the current and previous governments, New Ireland has not improved after 15 years of Lihir gold and three years of Simberi mining, and this would be the same scenario in all mining provinces across the country,” he said.

Sir Julius said mothers in Bougainville, after the 16 years of the crises, had shown determination and resilience to sustain a society built out of nothing, making the best use of them to rehabilitate and rebuild families and communities.

“This is the reason we need strong representation of the women in all spheres of endeavour, a step that we, in New Ireland, have accepted and submitted to the autonomy committee to have nine seats of deputy presidents of LLG to be contested only by women and give them free choice to contest all other seats in the provincial elections.

“We need to re-look and reassess our policies and strategies and exercise fairness and justice that will position our people to access more benefits from what they already inherit and own as citizens of our country,” he added.

Sir Julius said women must start exerting their influence as equal stakeholders of the wealth of the land to attain balanced social-economic development for the country.

“In the wake of the mineral, oil and gas boom, they must seize the opportunities to benefit as equal stakeholders of the land,” he said at a gathering of women in Faniufa village outside Goroka yesterday.

He said the role of women needed to be redefined and strengthened to uphold their status.

“They have been taken for granted as participants in the various levels of landowner agreements and investment undertakings with developers and the State irrespective of their special status and role in the communities.

“You have to move on from housemaids to housekeeping and stop the men from squandering and signing agreements that cannot be fulfilled,” he added.

• Sir J: Govt filthy rich, people poor

PNG jailbreak media fallout as police detain 3 warders

JACOB POK reports in The National three Correctional Services officers have been charged over the "great escape" of a dozen of Papua New Guinea's toughest criminals, including bank robber William Kapris (pictured). The three warders were taken to Boroko Police Station, charged under sections 138 and 140 of the PNG criminal Code over helping the January 12 escape from the Bomana maximum security prison and locked up for further questioning yesterday. But hopefully this is not another PNG cover-up where the small fry take the rap for doing the bidding of top political masters.

National Capital District metropolitan commander Superintendent Fred Yakasa said police believed the three officers had breached all security procedures of the CS. He added at a media conference: “We believe it is a planned thing, as there was a clear breach of security.

"The officers know very well that they cannot act upon orders from elsewhere unless it’s from the three [legal] authorities ” - deputy Correctional Services Commissioner (Operations), Correctional Services Commissioner, or a National Court judge.

Police are offering a reward of K10,000 for the capture, or information that could lead to the capture of the 12 fugitives.

Meanwhile, Nau FM news director Titi Gabi gives an insight on Pacific Scoop into the continuing fallout for media over the jailbreak - her twin radio stations were threatened for scooping the story and running with it. The PNG Media Council warned other media to be ready for similar threats - such as one to blow up the PNG FM offices:

Our alerts and breaking stories were linked up on both stations, NAU FM and YUMI FM. Full reports ran at midday and the alerts continued. By mid-afternoon, one caller gave us a rather "friendly" warning about the possibility of attacks from the criminals and their mates. This was a female caller.

On Wednesday, a senior woman leader declined to comment and warned us of possible repercussions and to leave the story alone. By then, we had instructed reception to screen all news calls.

On Thursday, at about 7am- 8am, a male called threatened to blow up our office and attack staff and the company vehicle. I had a meeting with the news team and reminded them gently of the role of the media while also being vigilant.

“We will continue to report what must be reported,” I said.

How sad that they target us as as the media but that is expected in this job. Internal security measures swung into action and my young team was reminded to report “without fear or favour”.

• PNG's 'great escape' an inside job

Bus passenger's graphic pictures of PNG tragedy

FORGET the inane NZ Transport Agency safety advertising campaign on New Zealand television – or anywhere else for that matter. A series of tragic and disturbing photos taken by a young “citizen journalist” at the scene of Papua New Guinea’s reportedly worst bus accident this week is a grim warning. Two 25-seater buses collided head on in the Highlands Highway in the Markham Valley heading towards Lae. They were travelling about 100 kph according to witnesses, and the carnage left at least 43 dead. Samson Nelaho, a resident of Kainantu, missed out on the ill-fated Highlands bus and jumped onto one leaving a few minutes later. He had a digital camera with him and captured several graphic images of the crash scene, some being published by both the Post-Courier and The National. His story and those of survivors such as Gideon Jack (pictured below) have also been featured in both papers. Samson says: "Some were trapped in the crushed buses and we tried to free them but couldn't so we had to leave them."

The shocking accident stressed out the morgue staff at Angau Hospital who were already running short of of space and awaited delivery of two more freezer containers. The morgue’s freezer was already accommodating six bodies from a plane crash and eight prison escapees who had been shot.

Café Pacific thanks Malum Nalu of The National for alerting us and his help for Pacific Scoop coverage.

• 40 killed in ‘horrific’ head-on PNG bus crash
• Crash photographer thanks his lucky stars for missing PNG death bus
• Malum Nalu's blog gallery of the graphic crash photos
  

Post-Courier's Filipino 'aliens' story condemned as fabrication

By ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ in Port Moresby

FILIPINOS in the capital of Port Moresby and across Papua New Guinea woke up on Tuesday, November 10, to find themselves in the midst of 16,000 "illegal Pinoys".

Well, that is, if you are to believe what the Post-Courier, a second-rate Australian-owned daily newspaper, headlined on that day on the front page: "16,000 aliens", with the subhead, "More than 80 per cent of Filipinos are living illegally in PNG".

And the alleged source of the figures, according to the Post-Courier?

Well, no less than the Philippine Ambassador to PNG, Madam Shirley Ho-Vicario, who has been quoted in the report.

Madam Ho-Vicario, the daily reported, testified last Friday, November 6, at the Parliamentary Bipartisan committee probing the anti-Asian riots that occurred last May, where she purportedly revealed the existence of 19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal.

The committee wanted to know the reasons that triggered the marginalised Papua New Guinean to go into rioting and to loot variety shops and groceries owned and operated by Chinese in the Highlands and in Port Moresby.

The locals hate illegal aliens, particularly Asians whose numbers in PNG are growing, because they feel that these undocumented expatriates are robbing them of jobs and livelihood reserved for them under the law.

Flurry of emails
Immediately, a flurry of emails crisscrossed the PNG cyberspace, originating from Pinoy expatriates with access to the internet who expressed disbelief that there are 19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal.

A number have even rebuked the ambassador, calling her "traitor" and "stupid", for making public such highly-sensitive and derogatory information.

One hyper-sensitive Pinoy expat had called the Philippine Embassy with a threat to burn it down "for making the Filipinos look really, really bad in the eyes of the international community".

It couldn't be helped. Most of Pinoys in PNG are employed with valid documents as professionals - accountants, pharmacists, engineers, teachers, IT experts, foresters, miners, managers, administrative officers and others.

And now this damaging news report.

Already, Joey Sena, president of the Filipino Association of PNG (FAPNG), has expressed concern over the safety of his compatriots around the country.

He was quite aware that the recent racist attacks on Asians, particularly the illegal Chinese, and the alleged illegal businesses they operate, could now be directed to PNG Pinoys.

Community warned
But then, he tried to tell the community to remain calm and urged the members to be vigilant of their own personal safety.

That morning when the story broke, Madam Ho-Vicario was already nursing a blood-pressure gone berserk, as she read the Post-Courier, horrified that the newspaper had put words into her mouth.

"How did [the Post-Courier] come up with these figures ?" she asked, as she read and reread the report, while noting that finally, the newspaper got her name right!

"This is pure fabrication!" she said.

Att noon, immediately after arriving at work, I went straight to our library to have a look at the day's editions of PNG's two daily newspapers - The National, the country's leading daily where I work, and the Post-Courier.

Our rival paper's front-page headline "16,000 aliens" quickly grabbed my eyes; and reading through the story, I couldn't believe what I was reading: That our ambassador had spilled the beans before a Parliamentary Bi-partisan committee hearing!

Immediately, however, I doubted the reliability and credibility of the story. You know why?

The night before, at about 7.25pm, I received an email from a long-time colleague working at Post-Courier as a subeditor, asking for the name of the Philippine Ambassador to PNG, and closing his message with: "It's just urgent ." In the newspaper work, it's deadline time at these
hours.

Unethical move
"I saw no harm in giving him our ambassador's name, although I was aware that it's quite unethical for a newspaper to ask for some info from a rival newspaper like The National.

Looking at the news story again, it dawned on me one thing: The reporter who had filed the story on the "16,000 aliens" never saw the ambassador at the alleged committee hearing because such hearing where she had purportedly testified on illegal Pinoys never took place.

First of all, how come he failed to know the ambassador's name?

I assumed that when he filed the story on Monday night, he left the name of the Philippine ambassador to PNG blank. So, when the subeditor, who is my colleague, edited the story, he found the ambassador's name missing in the copy, prompting him to get it from his own source: Me.

When I saw her at the embassy that afternoon, "Amba", as we refer to her during informal chats, was fuming, as she berated the Post-Courier reporter who filed the story and the daily paper - Post-Courier - that allowed a rubbish report to go to print.

"Ka Freddie, I need to counter this report as soon as possible." Amba said immediately after we shook hands. "The (Filipino) community has been put at risk because of these anti-Asian sentiments and I, personally, have been maligned by the report."

So what's the real story?

"I'm denying the report. It's all fabricated. It has no factual basis, it's unfounded and far from the truth.

'Print the truth'
"I demand that the Post-Courier retract the story and print the truth."

"There could never be 19,000 Filipinos living and working in this country," Amba said.

"I never appeared on the said committee hearing on that day to give evidence on this matter.

"I was never interviewed on that matter or present at the Bipartisan Parliamentary Inquiry (last Friday).

"I never knew who MP (Philip) Kilala is, how he looks . I just don't know him," Amba said, referring to the source which provided Post-Courier the fabricated figures of "19,000 Filipinos in PNG, of which 16,000 are illegal".

So, what's the real score on PNG Filipinos? I asked her.

According to official figures submitted by the Philippine Embassy in Port Moresby to the Philippine Congress as required of embassies worldwide, there are only 10,120 expatriates in the country as of June 2009.

About 670 of them are permanent residents, 6600 are temporary migrants (work permit holders), and 2850 which are considered "undocumented or irregular" (these are the holders of business visas and tourist visas).

Since I was the one to file the report on Amba's denial of the Post-Courier report, my boss editor reminded me to get the side of Post-Courier. So, I called the editor-in-chief, Blaise Nangoi, on his cell phone.

Getting both sides
Well, it is SOP in this job - getting both sides of the story. But it is something not practised in by the Post-Courier.

"We stand by our story," he told me over the phone.

The editor said their report was based on information their reporter obtained from a source that was at the parliamentary committee hearing when Amba purportedly gave evidence last Friday.

Categorically denying this, the ambassador told me that afternoon that "I was never at the Parliament last Friday".

The denial story that I filed came out the next day, Wednesday, and was headlined: "Philippine Embassy denies 'aliens' report".

On the same day, the chairman of the Parliamentary Bipartisan Committee on Asian-Owned and Operated Businesses in PNG, Jamie Maxton-Graham, Member of Parliament, sent a letter to Amba, stating:

The front page report stated in part that you appeared in person before my inquiry on Friday, November 6, during which you gave evidence that 16,000 out of 19,000 Filipino residents in this country are doing so illegally.

I wish to state categorically THAT YOU NEVER APPEARED [caps mine] before my Inquiry, either in person or through a representative on the date as stated by Post-Courier.

Neither have we received any written submission from your Embassy. The newspaper report is quite erroneous in that respect.

That night when I phoned the Post-Courier's editor-in-chief to get the side of his paper, he told me: "We will not make any further report on this matter. We stand by our report ."

Good journalism?
Talk about fairness in reporting, of good journalism.

However, in today's edition of the Post-Courier, it published the ambassador's denial of having appeared at the committee hearing, obviously in a desperate effort to wiggle out of the mess.

It finally admitted that it made an error in reporting that she appeared before the committee on Friday, November 6. "She did not attend and make a submission," the Post-Courier said.

However, while it earlier reported that Madam Ho-Vicario actually appeared at the bipartisan committee hearing last Friday where she purportedly disclosed the number of Filipinos in PNG and how many of them are illegal, the Post-Courier has made a turn-about and is now saying in today's report that MP Kikala stated on a bipartisan committee hearing last Monday that the Ambassador "informed" him of the 16,000 illegal Filipinos in the country.

He, however, was unable to tell the Post-Courier on what occasion did the ambassador divulge to him the derogatory information. Was it during a formal parliamentary bipartisan hearing? Was it during lunch or dinner? Was it during a drinking spree?

Or was he just fishing for some "blockbuster" story to get some attention and pluck himself out of obscurity?

Funny, while Amba has categorically said she "never knew MP Kikala or had met him", the (dis)honorable MP is claiming to have obtained the information directly from her.

But whatever this occasion was, it never happened. Madam Ho-Vicario was very clear in saying that "I never knew who MP (Philip) Kikala is, how he looks. I just don't know him".

Risk for Pinoys
So, it's very clear that the paper has conflicted itself while making the report in its own confusion to steer away from the heat.

Well, it is very clear now that the Philippine Embassy could not expect anything fairer from the offending daily, even a follow-up story rectifying the salient points of the report - the alleged 16,000 illegal Filipinos - and reporting the actual number of Filipino expatriates, or getting the ambassador's side of the issue.

To seek redress, the embassy is now consulting with the legal department of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila for advice. It is also contemplating bringing the issue to the PNG Media Council.

True, Amba is bent on suing the newspaper.

Meantime, the Pinoys here are jittery as anti-Asian sentiments rage across PNG.

Thanks Post-Courier for making this hatred a reality now for us Filipinos!

Pictured: The "aliens" front page in the Post-Courier on November 10; Freddie Hernandez.

Thanks to Freddie Hernandez, this article is republished from his Letters from Port Moresby blog. He is a senior journalist on The National.

• Pacific Scoop followup on this story
• Philippines envoy blames claim of 16,000 illegal Filipinos on 'poor journalism' [Audio]