MEDIA
Another Murderous Year for
Philippine Media
12 killed,
harassments continue
Even as media killings remain unsolved and harassments continue, 13 more
Filipino journalists were killed in 2005 and several instances of
harassment and intimidation were recorded.
BY JHONG DELA CRUZ
Bulatlat
As 2005 drew to a close, Filipino
journalists agreed the Macapagal-Arroyo administration failed to protect
them with 12 journalists killed and several cases of harassments recorded.
Previous media killings also remain unsolved.
“This has been one of the worst
years,” said Carlos Conde of the National Union of Journalist of the
Philippines (NUJP).
Worst forecast
Earlier in the year, the International
Federation of Journalist (IFJ) predicted that 2005 will turn out to be
worse than 2004 in its report titled “A Dangerous Profession: Press
Freedom Under Fire in the Philippines.” |
Journalists
commemorate World Press Freedom
Day, May 3, 2005 |
According to the NUJP,
17 journalists were killed during the Aquino administration, 15 under
Ramos, five under Estrada and 39 under Arroyo. This situation prompted the
New York-based Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) to declare the
Philippines the “most murderous country for journalists” in 2004 next to
war-torn Iraq.
On December 1, DYDD
reporter George Benaojan reporter Bantay Balita columnist in
Talisay City, Cebu, was shot dead by a still unidentified attacker.
Benaojan was the third journalist in the Philippines to be killed in only
two weeks.
The latest to be
killed was Robert Namoya, cameraman of the television network ABS-CBN.
Namoya was shot by motorcycle riding men near the station’s gate in Quezon
City Dec. 28.
The killing of Namoya
brought to 12 the number of journalist killed in the country this year, 75th
since 1986 and the 39th since President Arroyo assumed office
in January 2001.
Conde said that what
made this year worse than 2004 was the administration’s decision to
railroad the passage of the anti-terrorism bill which is seen as a threat
to civil liberties including those of journalists. Conde added that
Arroyo’s speech telling media “to shed its bad boy image” has sent a
chilling effect on journalists.
Not surprisingly, the
NUJP has called Arroyo’s term “the worst administration in the history of
the country in so far as the killing of journalist is concerned.”
Death threats and
censorship
In August 2005, IFJ
called on the government to investigate a death threat received by Glenda
Gloria, managing editor of a Newsbreak magazine.
“Considering the
terrible record of ruthless and deadly attacks against journalists in the
Philippines, the Government must recognize the seriousness of death
threats against journalists and investigate these incidents,” said the IFJ.
“If the Government ignores these threats, it will be sending these
criminals a message of impunity. The Government must put an end to the
current environment of intimidation and violence, and take action against
these criminals.”
Aside from death
threats, censorship of media establishments happened in 2005.
Mayor Jose Galario has
revoked the license of Radio Mindanao Network’s DXVR in Valencia due to
“unfriendly broadcast.” DXMV-Radyo Ukay was also ordered closed by Galario.
He also filed multiple libel charges against RMN commentator Zaldy Ocon.
Gagging the press
IFJ noted that the
timing of attempts by the Macapagal-Arroyo administration to muzzle the
media was evident at the height of controversies plaguing the presidency,
particularly calls for her ouster and accusations of corruption.
Filipino journalists
were said to have been excluded at times from government press briefings.
There were also cases when their questions were screened before the
briefings. Members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the
Philippines (FOCAP) in one Malacañang press conference were denied entry
and the slots were limited to 10 chosen reporters who first filled out cue
cards with their questions.
“The Filipino
government is excluding journalists and news organizations that they deem
critical of the Arroyo administration. They are attempting to avoid
answering the hard questions and we have to ask why?” IFJ said. “This is a
blatant manipulation of the media and it must stop.”
Pushing the
envelope
The Arroyo
administration is likely to push the envelope early next year by passing
into law the anti-terrorism bill, said Conde.
“This could be the
darkest day for Philippine media,” he said forecasting that a worst-case
scenario is in store for working journalists should the bill be enacted in
its present form.
“Arroyo is feeling
vindicated because of economic improvements…she might use this to
legitimize all her actions and policies including passing the bill,” he
said.
Concerned media groups
including the NUJP deemed the bill a “threat” to civil liberties. Earlier,
NUJP was perceived by the government as an “enemy of the state” in an
official document prepared by the military. The government also confirmed
some media practitioners are under military surveillance.
In October, the House
and Senate Committees on Justice approved their respective consolidated
versions of the bill.
Critics dismissed the
bill as vague and open to abuse. It also violates the constitutional
rights to privacy, free speech, freedom of assembly and association,
allows illegal exercise of police power. It was considered unnecessary as
problems supposedly addressed are already covered by existing laws.
Killer democracy
Lawyer Neri Colmenares
said the bill’s definition of terrorism is vague, describing it as “a
premeditated, actual use of violence or force against persons, or force or
by any other means of destruction perpetrated against properties,
environment, with the intention of creating or sowing a state of danger,
panic, fear or chaos to the general public, group of persons or a segment
thereof, or of coercing or intimidating the government to do or abstain
from doing an act.”
The journalists’
coverage of activities by perceived enemies of the state could result in a
lifetime imprisonment and a P10-million ($183,183.73, based on an exchange
rate of P54.59 per US dollar) fine as vague concepts of “facilitating,
contributing to and promoting” terrorism are included in sections 6 and 7
of the proposed House bill.
Maintaining links with
suspected terrorists and reporting about false terrorist acts are
similarly sanctioned in the bill.
“The bill will give
birth to a kind of media that serve as mouthpiece of the state,”
Colmenares said. “Those who fail to disclose acts of terrorism shall
suffer a penalty of six years imprisonment, a provision that shall disrupt
work routines of media practitioners as they are required to report first,
not to their editors, but to the police.”
NUJP labeled the bill
a “disregard to a very basic democratic principle…that any person is
innocent until proven guilty. In effect, the anti-terrorism bill would
allow a small group of people to short-circuit democratic legal processes
and cast as wide a net as possible to justify full-scale attacks on civil
liberties.”
NUJP denounced
insinuations that media coverage of the roots and consequences of
injustice backs terrorism and that the media cannot be blamed for
conflicts that have their roots in injustice in the country.
It reiterated that a
free press has its role in resolving long-standing conflicts and that the
measure would only curtail civil liberties as “in the provisions of
anti-terrorism bill lie the death of democracy,” it said.
Arming journalists
as the answer?
Some media
practitioners have given up on the government’s handling of journalists’
killings and opted to arm themselves for much-needed security.
NUJP reiterated that
the move would not solve the problem, and would instead aggravate it as it
would directly invite their perpetrators to legitimize their intent.
“Many of those who
were killed were in fact armed,” it said adding:
“Encouraging journalists to arm themselves is a virtual admission by
law-enforcement authorities of how inutile they are against those who seek
to silence the press in this country.”
“The killings of
journalists are a symptom of a deeper problem of governance rooted in the
failure of the justice system to truly protect the very citizens whose
rights and lives it is supposed to defend,” it said.
The IFJ likewise
denounced the move. “The gun culture
– turning journalists into combatants – is contributing to the escalating
violence directed towards journalists.”
Violent culture
A widespread culture
of violence being tolerated and even condoned by Philippine government
officials may have compounded the issues of struggling journalists in the
country, according to IFJ and NUJP.
A mission led by the
groups early this year found instances when senior government officials,
including mayors in two major cities in the south of the country, openly
supported the use of death squads in dealing with unruly elements in their
towns, said Australian representative Gerard Noonan.
"When such a culture
is allowed to flourish at an official level, it is little wonder that
aggrieved local strongmen or political figures turn to assassins to get
even with the media," Noonan said. "The IFJ treats this matter as one of
utmost seriousness. It is completely unacceptable in a country with
democratic credentials like the Philippines."
NUJP saw that poor
working conditions made journalists more vulnerable to such attacks. "The
vast numbers of journalists are receiving a pittance or nothing at all for
their work. They are being exploited and sometimes forced into
conflict-of-interest situations," NUJP said. "They do not receive safety
support from their employees either," she added.
“These killings are
not just a terrible pain to bear for media in the Philippines,” said IFJ
President Christopher Warren. “They are part of a pattern of continuing
violence against journalists around the world.”
For his part, Conde
said his group would continue pressing the government to junk a planned
anti-terrorism bill. He stressed that the NUJP, along with other media
alliances, would opt to call for Arroyo’s ouster.
“Even a freedom fund
worth P2 million ($36,636.75) reportedly handed by the government would
not keep our fears at bay…much more the families of those who were felled
by bullets of state instruments,” he said. Bulatlat
Name |
Media outfit |
Date killed |
1. Edgar Amoro |
Freelance
broadcaster /
Pagadian
City |
2005 - Feb. 2 |
2. Arnulfo Villanueva |
Asian Star Express
Balita / Naic,
Cavite |
2005 - Feb. 28 |
3. Romeo Sanchez |
DZNL, Baguio |
2005 - March 9 |
4. Marlene Garcia Esperat |
The Midland Review /
Tacurong City |
2005 - March 24 |
5. Klein Cantoneros |
DXAA-FM / Dipolog
City |
2005 - May 4 |
6. Philip Agustin |
Starline Times
Recorder / Dingalan, Aurora |
2005 - May 10 |
7. Rolando Morales |
DWMD-Radio Mindanao
Network, South Cotabato |
2005 – July 3 |
8. Ricardo “Ding” Uy |
DZRS-AM
Sorsogon
City |
2005 – Nov. 18 |
9. Robert Ramos |
Katapat / Laguna |
2005 – Nov. 21 |
10. George Benaojan |
Bantay Balita
/ Talisay
City,
Cebu |
2005 – Dec. 1 |
11. Luciano Razon |
107.9 FM Radyo Natin
/ Paete, Laguna |
2005 – Dec. 22 |
12. Robert Namoya |
ABS-CBN / Quezon
City |
2005 – Dec. 28 |
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