FOCAP Condemns Police Intimidation, Calls for Urgent Protection of Press Freedom

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The Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) has voiced grave concern over reports of harassment and intimidation of photojournalists covering the September 21 demonstrations in Mendiola. According to FOCAP, several clearly identifiable journalists — including some of its members — were ordered by police to stop taking pictures, threatened with a baton by a member of the SWAT team, and physically obstructed when a riot shield was shoved against one photographer.

The incidents took place during nationwide rallies marking the anniversary of the 1972 Martial Law declaration, a day often used by civil society groups to highlight issues of corruption, human rights, and government accountability. This year’s demonstrations drew thousands of protesters in Metro Manila and across the country, calling attention to what they described as a “culture of impunity” in governance and law enforcement.

Press freedom advocates warn that such acts are part of a troubling pattern. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) has long documented cases of police and security forces using intimidation tactics against reporters covering protests. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Philippines remains one of the most dangerous countries for journalists in Asia, with over 90 killings recorded since 1992, many linked to political coverage.

FOCAP stressed that the role of the press is to provide independent documentation of events in the public interest. “These actions are unacceptable. Press freedom is paramount, especially in times of civic unrest and public accountability,” the group declared. It further reminded authorities that obstructing journalists undermines democracy itself, as a free press is essential to the people’s right to know.

Local and international organizations — from the NUJP to Human Rights Watch — have also called for stronger protections for journalists and for accountability within the Philippine National Police (PNP). Rights monitors emphasize that dispersing demonstrations does not grant authorities the right to block or endanger reporters, who must be able to carry out their work without intimidation, obstruction, or threats.

FOCAP concluded its statement with a demand for immediate investigation into the conduct of the officers involved, urging the government to reaffirm its commitment to uphold freedom of the press — a cornerstone of democracy that cannot be bargained away, even in tense moments of public dissent.

The Widening Chasm: A World Doubling Down on Fossil Fuels

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Ten years after the historic Paris Agreement, a new report reveals a stark and alarming truth: governments around the world are collectively planning to produce more fossil fuels than ever before, putting global climate ambitions at increasing risk. The 2025 Production Gap Report uncovers a deepening divide between nations' climate commitments and their actions, highlighting how the world is veering further off track from its goal of limiting global warming.

The report, a collaboration of leading research and academic institutions, profiles 20 major fossil-fuel-producing countries that are responsible for about 80% of global fossil fuel production. The findings are a powerful indictment of the world's collective failure to transition away from coal, oil, and gas, and they arrive as countries prepare to submit their third round of national climate commitments (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.

The Production Gap Is Growing, Not Shrinking

The central finding of the report is the widening production gap—the discrepancy between the fossil fuel production planned by governments and the levels required to meet the Paris Agreement's temperature targets. The numbers are staggering:

By 2030, governments' planned production is projected to exceed the levels consistent with limiting warming to 1.5 ∘C by more than 120%. This represents a significant increase from the 110% gap identified in the 2023 report.

The gap for a 2 ∘C-consistent pathway has also grown, now standing at 77% (up from 69% in 2023).

This near-term increase is largely driven by expanded government plans for coal and gas production. Planned coal production for 2030 is 7% higher than projected in 2023, while planned gas production is 5% higher. Looking further ahead, governments' planned production of oil and gas continues to increase to 2050, while coal production, although projected to decline after 2030, does so too slowly to meet climate goals.

The consequences of this delay are profound. Every year that the world fails to curb fossil fuel production, it becomes harder and more expensive to achieve climate goals. The report warns that the cumulative fossil fuel production over the 2020s is likely to be "substantially higher" than what is consistent with Paris-aligned pathways. This means that even if the world manages to reduce production to appropriate levels by 2030, the total amount of coal, oil, and gas extracted this decade will still be too high.

A Global Bet Against the Clean Energy Transition

The report highlights that most of the profiled countries continue to support fossil fuel production at levels inconsistent with their own net zero ambitions. This is often driven by a mix of political and economic factors, such as concerns over energy security and economic development.

China, the world's largest coal producer, is deploying renewables at an unprecedented rate, but its near-term coal production plans have increased due to industry pressure and grid reliability concerns.

The United States, the largest producer of both oil and gas, has seen a new government reverse domestic climate policies and promote new leasing and drilling for oil and gas.

Russia plans to increase coal production until 2050 and gas production to 2050, largely to serve markets in Asia.

India projects growing domestic coal demand to the mid-2040s and continues to view coal-fired power as crucial for economic development.

Brazil and Nigeria are among several countries planning significant increases in oil and gas production, with governments promoting gas as a "transition fuel" but lacking clear plans to transition away from it.

All countries profiled continue to provide substantial financial and policy support for fossil fuel production, with the fiscal cost of these subsidies remaining near an all-time high. This support, ranging from tax incentives to direct investments in infrastructure, encourages the very activities that undermine global climate goals.

Glimmers of Hope and a Call to Action

Despite the grim findings, the report also points to some positive developments. A few major fossil-fuel-producing countries, though not the majority, have started to align their production plans with national and international climate goals.

Six of the 20 profiled countries are now developing scenarios for domestic fossil fuel production that align with net zero targets, an increase from four in 2023.

Countries like Colombia and Brazil have launched energy transition roadmaps and programs aimed at phasing out fossil fuels and supporting affected communities.

International cooperation remains a focus for many countries, with most donor nations (except for the U.S.) remaining committed to Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs).

The message is clear: achieving climate goals requires "deliberate, coordinated policies to ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels". As governments submit their new NDCs, they must reverse the trend of expanding fossil fuel production and integrate plans for reducing it within their wider energy transition efforts.

In a powerful foreword, Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, describes the report as both "a warning and a guide." She concludes, "Renewables will inevitably crowd out fossil fuels completely, but we need deliberate action now to close the gap on time. What we need now is courage and solidarity to move forward at great speed with the just transition".

The Knights in Shining Armor of Paris: A Filipino Explorer’s Journey Through History

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In a city celebrated for romance, art, and fine cuisine, one Filipino adventurer sought something different—not the Eiffel Tower’s glittering lights, nor the serene halls of the Louvre, but the cold steel and battle-scarred echoes of Europe’s medieval past.

The "Pinoy Explorer" journeyed to Paris with a singular mission: to find knights in shining armor—not the storybook saviors of damsels in distress, but the iron-clad warriors who once thundered across muddy fields, wielding swords, axes, and maces in the name of God, country, and conquest.

He found them at the Musée de l'Armée, Paris’ legendary Army Museum, where history is preserved not in ink and parchment, but in steel and scars.

Where War Meets Memory

The museum itself is a colossal chronicle of France’s martial past—from defeats at Alesia in 52 BC, to Agincourt in 1415, to Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Yet within its vaulted halls lies more than defeat; it holds the legacy of survival, strategy, and resilience.

It is also where Napoleon Bonaparte rests eternally—the general whose mere presence on the battlefield was said to add the strength of 40,000 men to his army. His story looms over the museum like a shadow of ambition and destiny.

But his heart was not drawn to cannons and tanks, nor even Napoleon’s stuffed horse. Instead, he wandered into a realm forged by fire and blood—the medieval armory, home to over 2,500 artifacts of Europe’s most violent yet romanticized age.

Echoes of Iron and Valor

Here, he encountered the Great Helm, forged from steel to withstand the crushing blows of war. Dented and scarred, it bore silent testimony to a battlefield where its wearer once stood—perhaps cold, rain-soaked, and staring across the churned mud at enemies charging to meet him in brutal combat.

“This is no replica, no stage prop,” he reflected.

“Each dent is history, each scar a survival.”

Among the gleaming rows stood breastplates polished to perfection, gorgets that once protected the throats of kings, barded armor crafted for horses, and exotic curiosities—like flanged maces with hidden pistols built into the hilt, inventions centuries ahead of their time, foreshadowing the mechanized warfare that would one day render knights obsolete.

The End of the Age of Knights

As he moved deeper into the museum, he found himself in a hall dedicated to jousting helmets—towering, faceless masks that transformed men into human machines of war. Yet for all their imposing grandeur, the illusion faltered.

Because behind each visor, beneath each suit of armor, there was always a man.

A man who felt fear before battle.

A man who swung a sword not as a fantasy hero, but as a survivor in the bloodiest way possible—up close, with hacking steel, amidst screams, mud, and fire.

It was this realization that struck him most deeply: that Knights in Shining Armor were not legends, but living men—warriors who bore steel for those who could not.

History’s Gift to the Present

For two days, he immersed himself in this gallery of iron and memory. Each artifact was a portal to another time, where ideals of honor, loyalty, and courage were tested under the weight of armor and the shadow of death.

And though the age of knights has ended—vanquished by muskets and machineguns—their legacy remains. Not as fairy-tale figures, but as reminders of humanity’s unending struggle to balance war with honor, strength with sacrifice.

A Filipino’s Reflection in Paris

From the heart of Europe, The Pinoy Explorer offers this story not just as a travelogue, but as a call to appreciate history—not the sanitized myths, but the raw truths hidden behind artifacts, scars, and steel.

Because to understand the knights of yesterday is to understand our own battles today: the causes we fight for, the values we protect, and the courage it takes to stand, armored or not, against the storms of life.

In Paris, the Pino Explorer did not just find knights in shining armor.

He found the men who once wore them—and the timeless spirit they carried.