[grc] Fwd: Support from AMARC-WIM

[Frieda Werden]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Suman Basnet <sumanbasnet at amarc-ap.org>
Date: Wed, Feb 19, 2020 at 5:25 AM
Subject: Re: Support from AMARC-WIM
To: Jola Diones-Mamangun <jolagirl at gmail.com>
CC: Bianca Miglioretto <bianca at tinig.ch>, Ramnath Bhat <ram at maraa.in>,
Sinam Sutarno <wongmerapi at gmail.com>, nimmi Chauhan <nimmi.chauhan at yahoo.com>,
Frieda Werden <frieda.werden at gmail.com>


Dear Jola and colleagues,
AMARC Asia-pacific has released the following statement today. Please share
it in the relevant networks.
Thanking you and best regards, Suman


*AMARC Condemns the arrest of Broadcaster Frenchie Mae Cumpio of the
Philippines*



February 19, 2020, Kathmandu, Nepal.



The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC Asia-Pacific)
joins its members, human rights defenders and advocates of free media in
the Philippines in condemning the illegal arrest of Frenchie Mae Cumpio,
21, a community broadcaster and journalist associated with the Aksyon Radyo
– Tacloban DYVL 819 kHz. Frenchie Mae is also the Executive Director of the
independent media outfit Eastern Vista, correspondent of Altermidya in
Tacloban City and an active member of the Philippine chapter of the
International Association of Women in Radio and Television. According to
statements, she and four other human rights defenders were arrested in
Tacloban City early Friday morning, February 7, 2020.



According to human rights groups in the Philippines, the arrest of Frenchie
Mae and the others is part of the government's work to silence those media
personalities that are critical to the policies and principles of the
state. Frenchie Mae was under surveillance by the state forces since 2018.
The last one was this year, January 31 where a suspected element of the
Armed Forces of the Philippines visited her office in Tacloban City
carrying a bouquet of flower with Frenchie's photo inserted on it. Even
though it was meant to be a death threat to her Frenchie Mae continued her
work until her arrest.



AMARC and its global family of community radios and advocates of freedom of
expression stand in solidarity with our members and colleagues in the
Philippines in protesting against the attacks by the Duterte administration
against human rights defenders and free media,” said Ram Bhat, President of
AMARC Asia-Pacific.



-END-



*Through service to members, networking and project implementation,
the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) gathers more
than 5,000 community radios, federations and community media stakeholders
in approximately 115 countries.*



*For further information, please contact: Suman Basnet, Regional
Coordinator, AMARC Asia-Pacific Regional Office, Kathmandu, Nepal.
Email: sumanbasnet at amarc-ap.org <sumanbasnet at amarc-ap.org>.*




On Fri, Feb 14, 2020 at 3:26 PM Jola Diones-Mamangun <jolagirl at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Suman,
>
> Thank you for your email. Just arrived from a seminar.
>
> Actually I have no template on how the statement should be written. I
> would appreciate if you can
> write it. Any efforts on your side will be of much help in our campaign to
> release her.
>
> Best regards,
> Jola
>
> On Wed, Feb 12, 2020 at 11:41 AM Suman Basnet <sumanbasnet at amarc-ap.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear Bianca
>> Thank you for forwarding Jola's email.
>>
>> Dear Jola,
>> AMARC Asia-Pacific will be very interested to join the protest and
>> express solidarity by way of a statement / call for action by members.
>>
>> Please let me know if you have a template or I can draft a short message
>> should that not be available. I will wait for your response and we can make
>> the release today.
>>
>> With best regards, Suman
>>
>> PS. I have copied this email to Ram and Sinam, President and Vice
>> President for South East Asia respectively, for their kind information.
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
>>> From: Tinig <bianca at tinig.ch>
>>> Date: Wed, Feb 12, 2020 at 12:01 AM
>>> Subject: Re: Support from AMARC-WIM
>>> To: Frieda Werden <frieda.werden at gmail.com>, Jola Diones-Mamangun <
>>> jolagirl at gmail.com>, <amarc-asiapacific-general at amarc-ap.org>, Suman
>>> Basnet <basnet.suman at gmail.com>, nimmi Chauhan <nimmi.chauhan at yahoo.com>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dear Jola
>>>
>>> Thank you Frieda for forwarding Jola's message to me.
>>>
>>> Jola, Did you also write to Suman and Nimmi? I included them in cc.
>>>
>>> I think the condeming statement should come from AMARC Asia-Pacific, not
>>> just from WIN.
>>>
>>> Do you already have an example letter of protest and addresses to whom
>>> it should be addressed (government officials and media)? Aswell as an
>>> address for solidarity messages?
>>>
>> That would be very useful, like that AMARC Asia-Pacific could send out a
>>> call for action to AMARC-memberstations and as many radio stations as
>>> possible can send protest statement and solidarity messages. I am sure the
>>> board of Radio LoRa in Zurich would be very willing to send them.
>>>
>>> Looking forward to hear from you with more details on how to react.
>>>
>>> In solidarity and all the best.
>>>
>>> Bianca
>>> On 11.02.20 05:23, Frieda Werden wrote:
>>>
>>> Forwarding to Bianca Miglioretto, who I hope can reach anyone with
>>> official standing with AMARC and AMARC-WIN.
>>>
>>> On Mon, Feb 10, 2020 at 9:45 PM Jola Diones-Mamangun <jolagirl at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear Frieda,
>>>>
>>>> How are you? I hope everything is fine with you.
>>>>
>>>> Our colleague Frenchie Mae Cumpio, an IAWRT member and the regional
>>>> coordinator of IAWRT in our Mobile Disaster Community Radio Project in
>>>> Eastern Visayas was illegally arrested last Friday, February 7 early in the
>>>> morning together with other four human rights advocates. She is a radio
>>>> broadcaster of the weekly program in Tacloban City namely Lingganay Han
>>>> Kamatuoran. She is also one of our anchors in IAWRT Radyo Tacloban.
>>>> Frenchie Mae is a community journalist and 21 years old.
>>>>
>>>> We are saying the arrest is illegal because they are suspecting her as
>>>> one of the high ranking officers of the communist organization here and
>>>> possess high powered gun and explosives as what the operatives are saying.
>>>> All of the above is not true.
>>>>
>>>> This is part of the government's work to silence those media
>>>> personalities that are critical to the policies and principles of the
>>>> state. Frenchie Mae has been  under surveillance by the state forces since
>>>> 2018. The last one was this year, January 31 where a suspected element of
>>>> the Armed Forces of the Philippines visited their office in Tacloban City
>>>> carrying a bouquet of flower with Frenchie's photo insert on it. This means
>>>> like a death threat to her. But she continues her work until her arrest in
>>>> February 7.
>>>>
>>>> As of this moment, a group of human rights organization is conducting a
>>>> Fact Finding Mission to know the situation of the five arrested individuals.
>>>>
>>>> May I ask AMARC-WIM to release a solidarity statement on her behalf. I
>>>> hope this will not affect the objective of the organization.
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Jola
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>> Frieda Werden, Series Producer
>>> WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service
>>> websites: wingsradio.org (new)   www.wings.org  <http://www.wings.org/>
>>>  (historic)
>>> email: wings at wings.org  and wingsproducers at yahoo.com
>>> Facebook news feed: https://www.facebook.com/wingsradio
>>> Gifts: https://www.paypal.me/wingsradio
>>>
>>> --
Frieda Werden, Series Producer
WINGS: Women's International News Gathering Service www.wings.org