Czech Embassy gives P1M for Percy Lapid project on press freedom

The Embassy of the Czech Republic in the Philippines on Monday granted P1 million fund to a Philippine-based non-government entity for a series of activities commemorating the life of slain broadcast journalist Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa and underscoring press freedom.

In a statement, the Center for People’s Media said the project, called Keeping the Flame of Freedom Alive, will include three forums which will be held in Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental, Cagayan de Oro City and in Manila on October 3 in time for Lapid’s first death anniversary.

“I am very excited about the future implementation of our Transition Project because projects like this support rule of law and human rights," Chargé d'affaires a.i. Mr. Dalibor Mi?ka of the Czech Embassy in Manila said.

"This is the main purpose of this project. I am more than confident that this one will support both, and that it will facilitate adherence to freedom of speech and freedom of media in the Philippines,” he added.

Veronica Uy, president of the Center for People’s Media, said the project also includes the archiving of Lapid’s broadcast episodes into one website.

Lapid was shot dead at around in Las Piñas City on October 2022 by two suspects onboard a motorcycle on his way home.

He is the second journalist killed under the Marcos administration.

Murder charges have since been filed against suspected masterminds, which included former ex-Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, their cohorts, inmates, among others.

Last June, three New Bilibid Prison inmates were sentenced to spend two to eight years in jail for being accessory to the crime of murder of Lapid.—Llanesca Panti/LDF, GMA Integrated News