The state of the Philippine media is troubling. Three journalists were killed during President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s first year in office. Majority of media channels are also now owned by religious sects, politicians, and tycoons closely affiliated with key government officials such as the President himself.

Thirteen years since the massacre of 58 people, including 32 journalists, in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, families of the victims continue rallying for true and full justice. If the Philippine government enacted policies to protect journalists following the Nov. 23, 2009 massacre, they said there would have been no more killings and attacks against media workers.

The campaign period, which began on Feb. 8, saw the banning of reporters in campaign events, refusal by candidates to attend media-hosted debates, a spate of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on news websites, and online hostility against news organizations and reporters.