Bullets and Libel
Suits Will Not Stop the Truth!
By the Antonio Zumel Center for
Press Freedom
Posted by Bulatlat
The Antonio Zumel
Center for Press Freedom (AZCPF) strongly condemns the recent attacks on
media people and journalists. The assassins want to prevent the media from
bringing to the public the true state of the nation and the criminal
activities being committed by those in power.
-
Carmelo Palacios, 41, a field reporter
of Radyo ng Bayan, was found dead in Sta. Rosa town, Nueva Ecija, April
18. He is the 51st journalist to be killed under the Arroyo
administration's increasingly blood-drenched watch, and the third this
year.
-
A day after, Delfin Mallari Jr.,
correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the host of a
local radio program and editor of the local paper Ang Dyaryo Natin,
was shot and wounded in an ambush in Lucena City.
-
In Cebu City, Leo Lastimosa, station
manager of the local ABS-CBN radio, was slapped with a libel suit by
Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia because of his exposes on alleged scams
committed during the preparations for the 12th Association of Southeast
Asian Nations there.
The continuing
attacks on media people and journalists can only be linked to the unabated
attacks on militants and activists that are clearly politically-motivated.
Several prestigious
international bodies, including the recent Permanent People's Tribunal (PPT)
have already pointed to the armed elements of the Arroyo regime as being
responsible for these attacks, and have held the regime accountable for
these crimes.
The Antonio Zumel
Center for Press Freedom joins the National Union of Journalists in the
Philippines and other media organizations in defending press freedom.
Bullets and libel suits will not stop the good men and women of the media
from their commitment to bring the truth to the people. Posted by
Bulatlat
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2007 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Media Center
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
