Kathleen Okubo (March 25, 1953 – April 7, 2024) was a Filipino journalist, activist, columnist, dissident and writer based in Baguio.
[2] During the martial law era, Okubo was an activist of the underground communist Kabataang Makabayan[2] and was arrested in Pangasinan in 1973 for organizing youth and students while contributing stories for local newspapers under a pseudonym.
She was later released but was required to report regularly to Philippine Constabulary headquarters in Camp Bado Dangwa in La Trinidad, Benguet.
[3] After the end of martial law, Okubo faced threats from authorities and the Cordillera People's Liberation Army who accused her of subversion and supporting the CPP-NPA for her reporting on human rights violations and other abuses in the Cordillera Administrative Region, which led to her being imprisoned twice during the 1990s.
Despite this, she continued to report critically on such matters and advocated for press freedom by helping to establish a joint chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines in Baguio-Benguet as well as in Ilocos Sur.