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Media
Killings Getting Out of Control
14 journalists killed under
Arroyo’s watch
The
attacks against the press do not exist in a vacuum – the context of these
attacks is the same context of the worsening human-rights situation in the
country.
By
Andres Rebana
Bulatlat.com
This
year has so far been the worst ever for Filipino journalists. All over the
country, they are being murdered and harassed, reflecting an impunity that, when
one thinks about, is not limited to members of the press. As the National Union
of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) had pointed out earlier, the attacks
against the press do not exist in a vacuum – the context of these attacks is
the same context of the worsening human-rights situation in the country.
On
the morning of Dec. 2, Nelson Nadura, a radio broadcaster in Masbate, was gunned
down by two unidentified men. Nadura had been a blocktimer, or somebody who buys
airtime from the station – in Nadura’s case, DYME – for his programs.
There had been reports that Nadura’s program was hard-hitting but up to now,
it is not clear who had him killed.
Nadura
was the seventh Filipino journalist killed so far this year. Before him, there
was Juan “Jun” Pala, the fiery radio commentator from Davao City, who was
shot dead on Sept. 6 by still unidentified gunmen.
According
to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, Nadura was the 43rd
journalist killed in the Philippines since 1986, the year the Marcos
dictatorship was booted out of power.
But
according to the tally of Bulatlat.com, 72 journalists have been killed
since 1986, or 104 since martial law was declared in 1972. This includes figures
from the monitoring of the Philippine Movement for Press Freedom.
The
reference to the Marcos years to gauge the attacks against the press is
interesting. All this time, the conventional wisdom was that the attacks were
worst under Marcos. True, Marcos jailed, murdered and intimidated journalists.
But the succeeding regimes did not fare any better.
Marcos,
post-Marcos
From
1972 up to 1999, 87 journalists were killed: 34 of this under Marcos, 34 under
Aquino and 19 under Ramos. In the 14 years of the Marcos regime since martial
law was declared up to the People Power revolt in 1986, an average of 2.5
journalists were murdered. In the six years of the Aquino regime, almost six
journalists are killed each year. Under the six years of Ramos, an average of
three journalists were murdered.
With
seven journalists killed so far this year, the Arroyo regime is proving to be
the most ruthless of all. In all, 14 journalists have been killed since she took
power in January 2001 – or in three years.
Despite
President Arroyo’s much-publicized announcement that she would allot P1
million in exchange for the killers of any of these journalists, and in spite of
her assurances that the police is doing something, not one suspect has been
brought to justice.
"President
Arroyo's statement will be no more than empty words unless those who assassinate
journalists are brought to justice," said Ann Cooper, executive director of
the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, which has issued several
condemnations and protest letters regarding the series of murders. "The
murders of Nadura and his colleagues must be investigated swiftly and
thoroughly, and those responsible must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of
the law."
Last
week, the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists sent President
Arroyo a strongly worded letter urging her to investigate the murders and give
justice to the victims. “The IFJ believes that the situation in the
Philippines is out of control and that it should be treated with the highest
level of concern,” wrote Christopher Warren, the IFJ’s president.
The
government, he went on, should “make a commitment to press freedom and to
ensure the safety of all journalists working in the Philippines, by launching a
full investigation into the death of Nadura and ensure that those responsible
are brought to justice.”
Worst
censorship
Warren
said “there is no worse form of censorship than violence. It is essential that
journalists are free from threats of violence and allowed to work in an
environment free from fear.”
The
attacks against the Philippine press also take the form of other less violent,
yet just as intimidating, means. In November alone in Mindanao, eight
journalists – all of them from radio – were separately attacked and
harassed.
According
to reports, as well as a statement released the other week by the NUJP-Davao
Chapter, armed men raided a Radyo Natin station in Lupon, Davao Oriental, on the
night of Nov. 23. The men beat up a station employee, Jun Castro, and threatened
to kill the station’s owner, Romeo Bote Jr., and the anchorman, Marlo Lim
Roman.
On
Nov. 17, two journalists in Tangub City were harassed by the city's police
chief, Chief Insp. Roberto Destura Jr., after they exposed the continued
operation of video karera, a form of illegal gambling. Destura dared Richard Mañego of DXDD to a
duel and called Bethser Dablo, also of DXDD, over the phone and verbally
harassed her.
Also
that month, three reporters of DXCP in General Santos were accused of being
members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People's Army. The
victims of the red-baiting were Philip Salarda, Vic Madridenio and Boy
Manangquil. A leaflet had circulated in the city urging citizens to report the
three journalists’ alleged underground activities.
NUJP
According
to Carlos Conde, the coordinator of NUJP-Davao, these attacks and harassment
against the Mindanao journalists is “worrisome because, as these incidents
clearly show, journalists working in the provinces and in relatively small media
outlets are easy prey.”
The
attacks and threats, he said, “are meant to discourage journalists from doing
their jobs, especially at a time when so much corruption and bureaucratic
incompetence is being committed. In particular, the labeling as communists of
journalists who dare to expose the ills of Philippine society was meant to
suppress dissent and subvert democracy.”
Jeppie
Ramada, spokesman of Bayan in Southern Mindanao, issued a statement last week
condemning these incidents and the others. “We are also condemning the current
administration for spreading state terror and for breeding state violence,” he
said. “The harassments and killings of journalists, including labelling them
as communists, are components of a desperate plot to discourage journalists from
exposing critical issues such as corruption and other anomalies in the national
and local government, especially those issues involving high-ranking officials
in the government.”
Ramada
said the “interests of the people will be sacrificed when press freedom is
being curtailed.”
In
an earlier statement, NUJP’s
Conde pointed out that “the violence being committed against the press
reflects the violence being
committed against the Filipino people.”
“It
is not a coincidence,” he said, “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.” Bulatlat.com
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