Davao,
Cagayan de Oro Journalists March vs Media Killings
Denounce wave of human rights
abuses under Arroyo
The
rally was significant because it was the first time in years that journalists in
Davao banded together for a common cause. About 90 percent of the marchers wore
black. Many of them had red armbands with the words: “Stop Killing
Journalists!’ Some of the marchers also wore neon stickers that denounced the
summary executions and “state terrorism.”
By
Bulatlat.com Mindanao Bureau
 DAVAO
CITY – In an unprecedented show of unity and force, journalists and media
workers in this city and other parts of Southern Mindanao took to the streets on
Thursday to call for a stop to the killings of journalists nationwide as well as
to demand justice for those who have been killed or murdered.
Around
300 people, majority of them from the media, marched in downtown Davao City
carrying placards and streamers that said “Stop Killing Journalists!”
“Justice for Slain Journalists!” and “Stop State Terrorism!” to name a
few. Joining the journalists and media workers were members of human-rights
groups and children’s advocates.
The
march rally, which was organized by the Davao City chapter of the National Union
of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) in cooperation with the College Editors
Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), was initially conceived as a rally for press
freedom in the wake of the spate of killings of journalists in the country, the
latest of them Juan “Jun” Pala, a commentator of radio station DXGO who was
shot dead on the night of Sept. 6. Pala was the sixth journalist killed so far
this year and the 42nd since 1986, making the Philippines the worst
in Southeast Asia in terms of media killing.
The
organizers, however, widened the scope of the rally to include the condemnation
of the series of summary executions in Davao City that have victimized youth
offenders and suspected criminals. Pala’s murder, said Carolyn Arguillas of
MindaNews who was also one of the organizers, was committed in the context of
the summary executions in this city. His murder, in fact, bore resemblance to
the so-called vigilante killings. Ms. Arguillas said it is only proper that
journalists, as citizens, should also rise to protest the murders.
As
a result, Thursday’s rally, in which almost all media outlets in Davao City
participated, was also attended by members of children’s groups like Tambayan
and Kabataan as well as the Coalition Against Summary Execution (CASE),
Karapatan, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the Free Legal Assistance
Group, the Initiatives for International Dialogue, and Bayan Muna.
“We
should investigate and put an end to all the killings in Davao City,” said
lawyer Carlos Zarate, chair of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Davao.
Impunity
Carlos
Conde, the Davao City chapter coordinator of the NUJP, said “there is an
atmosphere of impunity in Davao City that was the result of the series of
killings. The murder of Pala only heightened it. Anybody can be murdered in this
city, and it seems it is very easy to kill anybody.”
According
to children’s and human-rights groups, more than 70 people, many of them
children and most of them crime suspects, have been summarily executed since
January this year, prompting Conde to remark that the city is “in danger of
becoming the murder capital of the Philippines, if it isn’t already.”
During
the program that followed at the Rizal Park, Conde read a statement from the
NUJP that said “It is not a coincidence that while journalists are being
killed one after the other and with terrifying impunity, the Arroyo regime is
waging a campaign of terror against ordinary people and those who dare to oppose
its actions and policies. All over the country, human-rights violations are
being committed against farmers, workers, peasants, minorities, and activists
with even more terrifying impunity. In Mindanao, the sorry plight of the Moro
people is the best testament to this brutality.”
In
Davao City alone, Conde went on, “the administration of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte
has instilled in the public the idea that it is okay to kill suspected
criminals, that it is okay to slaughter children, that it is okay to snatch
people in the middle of the night without warrants and without due process, that
it is okay to subject the public to the fascistic might of the military as
exemplified by the formation of the Task Force Davao and vigilante groups. No
wonder some people think it is okay to murder journalists.”
He
added that a “a regime that represses its own people with impunity is bound,
sooner or later, to target the press.”
Common
cause
The
rally was significant because it was the first time in years that journalists in
Davao banded together for a common cause. About 90 percent of the marchers wore
black. Many of them had red armbands with the words: “Stop Killing
Journalists!’ Some of the marchers also wore neon stickers that denounced the
summary executions and “state terrorism.” Even the broadcasters from
competing stations whom Pala also lambasted in his popular radio program
attended the march.
As
a result of the rally and of the calls by the journalists for the murders to be
resolved, the NUJP has proposed that a congressional investigation be conducted
by the House into the series of killings of journalists. In an editorial on
Saturday, the Mindanao Times, one of the leading dailies in Davao City,
welcomed the NUJP’s move. “Congress should delve into the killings of
journalists because the rate of murders has become alarming,” it said.
The
paper said an investigation could result in more protection and benefits and
welfare for journalists. “The Philippine press is undoubtedly under siege. It
is the responsibility of our leaders to address the threats journalists are
facing. Doing that is a service to their constituents and to press freedom and
democracy,” the editorial pointed out.
The
past days, especially after the rally, discussions on the plight of journalists
dominated the airwaves in Davao City. Radio Mindanao Network’s DXDC has been
devoting its entire morning programs reporting on the problems journalists face,
including low pay, nonexistent benefit, lack of support from such groups as the
Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas, and the corruption of journalists by
politicians who exploit this predicament. The station aired interviews with
journalists who took bribes as well as people who have bribed journalists.
KBP
resignation
Dodong
Solis, DXDC’s popular morning anchorman, surprised his listeners when he
announced that he was resigning from the KBP as its AM director in Davao City
after the KBP leadership failed to show support for the rally and for failing as
well to do its duty to improve the plight of broadcasters.
Meanwhile,
journalists in Cagayan de Oro City also held a protest rally on Wednesday to
demand an end to the killings. Reports said around 300 media workers
participated in the march. The rally was organized by the NUJP and the Cagayan
de Oro Press Club (COPC), with the support of the CEGP, retired journalists and
the Vatican Press Corps represented by Msgr. Elmer Abacahin.
Jerry
Orcullo, COPC president, said “we have to protect our tribe! This is already
class annihilation!” CEGP Cagayan
de Oro chairperson YR Musni said in a statement that Pala’s death “has sent
shivers not only to the local media industry but to the entire campus press as
well. Like the hideous Martial Law days, the press is totally under siege!"
Herbie Gomez, NUJP coordinator in that city, said, "This is a press under
siege, by a society that increasingly shoots or arrests its messengers."
The
Cagayan de Oro journalists also wore black during the march. For a few minutes,
they put down their equipment on the ground in honor of their fallen colleagues.
Bulatlat.com Mindanao Bureau
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