Attacks on Filipino Journalists Reach Crisis Proportion

In a span of eight days, six community-based journalists were attacked on separate occasions. Two of them were killed, bringing the number of murdered journalists to 54 since 1986. The police responded by saying it would relax the rules on firearms for journalists, but media groups rejected the plan, saying arming journalists would not alleviate their plight.

BY DABET CASTAÑEDA AND CARLOS H. CONDE
Bulatlat

According to Cris Guarin, the Superadyo station manager, Abayon had been drinking with the suspect, William Pael, the night before. The victim was on his way home when he was shot near the home of Pacquiao in barangay Labangon, General Santos City, Guarin said.

Guarin said Abayon was just a field reporter, not a commentator. "I am not aware that he made enemies because of his job," he said in a telephone interview from General Santos. He said a witness had seen the shooting. The police are still investigating while the suspect is still at large.

Guarin was not inclined to declare the shooting as job-related. "Let's just wait for the complete police investigation," he said. He said Abayon had been with RGMA Superadyo "for years"; he described the reporter as "okay."

This is the second time this year that a General Santos City journalist was attacked. On June 17, Radyo Natin broadcaster Eliseo "Ely" Binoya was shot dead in the same city.

On July 31, Ilocos Norte broadcaster Rogelio Mariano was shot dead in Laoag City; he had just come from his radio program where he, according to a report by the Philippine Daily Inquirer, "was his usual hard-hitting self," criticizing jueteng (illegal numbers game) operations in the city and the police for not doing anything about the problem. According to the NUJP chapter in Baguio-Benguet, Mariano also exposed the alleged irregularities at the the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative. Mariano, 44, was shot at least 10 times in the back and in the head.

Five days later, on Aug. 5, Arnel Manalo, a correspondent for DZRH and the Manila tabloid Bulgar, was killed by unidentified gunmen. He was also known for his hard-hitting brand of journalism.

Less than 24 hours after Manalo's murder, three broadcasters of Bantay Radyo Cebu -- George Benaojan, Kelvin Carillo and Gildoer Fuentes - survived an ambush in Cebu City. There are, however, questions on whether the three were the targets of the attack or whether the attack itself was due to their journalistic work. (The three have other businesses; at least one of them admits that he does "media consultancy" for the National Bureau of Investigation. They were also armed.)

The NUJP has demanded an independent investigation into the murders and asked Vice President Noli de Castro, himself a former broadcaster, to take action.

The police have responded to the crisis by saying that they would relax the rules for journalists to carry firearms, a move the NUJP criticized, calling it irresponsible.

"Allowing journalists to arm themselves is passing the buck. It absolves law enforcers of their failure to protect citizens and to go after criminals. It also assigns blame to journalists: because we're not armed, we're vulnerable -- this is what the PNP seems to be saying. Will PNP spokesman Chief. Supt. Joel Goltiao and PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. soon be blaming the victims of kidnapping and robbery for their plight?" the group said in a statement on Saturday.

"Journalists are not demanding special privileges from the government. Journalists are demanding that law enforcers and other government officials do their job by bringing murderers of journalists to justice, thus destroying the climate of impunity that has only encouraged attacks against the press."

Arming the journalists, the group said, only worsens the problem.  “It prevents the media, the authorities and the public from finding the right measures to solve the continued killings,” it said. Authorities should arrest, prosecute and convict the killers of journalists, it said.

“This lame, knee-jerk response is a virtual admission by the law-enforcement authorities of how inutile they are against those that seek to silence the press of this country,” the NUJP said. 

The PNP’s announcement came in the wake of the death of two community-based journalists, Roger Mariano of dzJC in San Nicolas town in the province of Ilocos Norte, on July 31, and Arnel Manalo, a correspondent of dzRH and the Filipino tabloid Bulgar in the town of Bauan in the province of Batangas on August 5. 

The NUJP reported that Mariano and Manalo were the 53^rd and 54^th journalists-victims since 1986.  The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) said seven journalists were killed in 2003 making it the worst year yet for Philippine media after democracy was supposedly restored in 1986, 14 years after martial rule.  Most of the murders of journalists in Asia occur in the Philippines.

Climate of impunity

Sadly, the NUJP said, not one of the 54 cases since 1986 has been resolved while suspects who have been identified by witnesses are allowed to escape from police custody.  One such case was that of Edgar Damalerio, a journalist from the city of Pagadian in the province of Zamboanga, who, according to eyewitnesses, was murdered by a policeman in 2002. 

The unsolved crimes against journalists create a climate of impunity and only encourage attacks against the press, the NUJP said.

Journalists from other parts of the country condemned the attacks. “We continue to challenge the Philippine government to exercise its political will and bring the perpetrators to justice,” said Ely Suyom, spokesperson of the NUJP-Antique Chapter.

Journalists in Iloilo wore black shirts with the words “Stop Killing Journalists” and black armbands and lit candles of support for their two slain colleagues on Friday, August 6, in front of the old provincial capitol in Iloilo, a province in central Philippines.

The Baguio-Benguet chapter of the NUJP in northern Philippines likewise strongly condemned the killing of the two slain journalists.  In a statement, the group said the assault against media practitioners is an assault of the right of the public to information.  

International support

International media groups also expressed their support for the Filipino journalists under attack. Reporters Without Borders, a media group that defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom around the world, voiced its deep concern about the continuing climate of impunity in the Philippines. 

In a letter to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Reporters Without Borders condemned the murders of Mariano and Manalo and called for “the deployment of all necessary means in the investigations in order to identify both those who carried the killings out and the instigators.” 

Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), called on the authorities to carry out full investigations of the violent acts against the press, to find those responsible and to enforce the law. “We are shocked at the regularity of these deadly attacks on Filipino journalists,” she said.

On the other hand, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), a global organization representing over 500,000 journalists worldwide, called for the establishment of an independent commission to inquire into the failure of the Philippine government to successfully prosecute any suspects involved in the murder of journalists. 

IFJ president Christopher Warren, in a statement, said that the attacks on Filipino journalists are an endemic problem in the country that needs an independent inquiry.  “The culture of impunity in the Philippines that allows journalists to be targeted in this way needs to be defeated,” he said.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said the murders of Mariano and Manalo “appears to be a cold-blooded attempt to silence a critical voice.”

“The link between a free and independent press and democracy cannot be overstated.  Intimidation and murder of journalists is therefore a crime against society as a whole, not just against the individuals targeted,” UNESCO director general Koichiro Matsuura said.  Bulatlat

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