Silencing Journalists
The year media killings united journalists

The year 2003 had been a year of ironies for Philippine media. The biggest irony is that the Philippines, always touted as having the freeiest media in Asia, now holds the record of having the biggest number of media practitioners killed in a year: seven, surpassing Columbia and its own record of six in 1987. Another irony is how media practitioners were galvanized into action by the death of a broadcaster notorious for using his radio program for “personal gains” and in the 1980s supported the formation of a notorious vigilante group. The third irony is how reporters, the workhorses of the industry, continue to receive subsistence wages as well as suffer job insecurity. This, despite the glamour and power that surround media.

BY ROWENA CARRANZA
Bulatlat.com

Nelso Nadura, a radio broadcaster of DYME in Masbate, a province 250 kms from Manila, was the latest journalist to be killed. Nadura just finished his early morning program on Dec.2 and was on his way home on his motorcycle when two unidentified men shot him around a kilometer from the station. 

Ironically, the killing occurred less than a month after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo offered a P1 million reward for information that will lead to the arrest of perpetrators of previous killings. 

The other journalists killed this year were: John Belen Villanueva, Jr. of Legazpi City, Albay (April 28), Apolinario “Polly” Pobeda of Lucena City, Quezon (May 17), Bonifacio Gregorio of Tarlac City (July 8), Noel Villarante of Sta. Cruz, Laguna (Aug. 19), Rico Ramirez of San Francisco town in Agusan del Sur (Aug. 20) and Juan “Jun” Pala, Jr. of Davao City (Sept. 6). 

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, a media monitoring body, places the total number of journalists killed since 1986, the year the Marcos dictatorship fell and press freedom supposedly returned, at 43.

Research by Bulatlat.com however shows that 72 have been killed since 1986, or 104 since 1972, the year when martial law was imposed.  

The killings highlight a pattern which have been obvious even years ago: that provincial journalists are exceedingly vulnerable, with almost 95% of those killed based in the regions. Journalists working in relatively small media outlets are also even easier preys.  

Majority of the killings have been linked to local politicians and/or criminal syndicates.

The killings have earned the condemnation of national and international media groups.  In an open letter to the president, the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said it believes “the situation in the Philippines is out of control and it should be treated with the highest level of concern.” 

“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,” wrote IFJ president Christopher Warren. 

Aside from the killings, there have also been several violent incidents that put the life of journalists at risk. In Davao Oriental, heavily armed men stormed on Nov. 24 a radio station looking for two of its broadcasters. When they failed to find their targets, the ski mask-wearing men beat up a staffer of the station.  

The incident was actually the second in Davao Oriental. Early this year, armed men tried to burn down another station in the nearby town. Both are known for programs critical of local politicians.  

In another part of Mindanao, in General Santos City, an unsigned manifesto branded three reporters of a local radio station as members of the New People’s Army. Radio commentators and reporters Philip Salarda, Vic Madridenio and Boy Manangquil said they were not taking the incident lightly, believing it is a prelude to a crackdown among media practitioners in the area.  

In Tangub City, Misamis Occidental, the chief of police last month challenged a journalist to a duel after he exposed the illegal gambling operations in the city and then called threatened another reporter in a phone call.  

“The attacks and threats,” said NUJP-Davao, “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.” 

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. himself admitted that the movements of journalists are being monitored, bringing memories of the dark days of martial law.  

Pressures from “above” 

Aside from outright killing, Filipino journalists also have to contend with pressures from government officials and influential politicians.  Several incidents this year indicate the strong pressure leveled on journalists in order to keep their stories uncritical of government policies and programs, if not favorable of the officials themselves. 

Among the most recent cases include the incident when President Gloria Macapagal berating in public GMA 7 reporter Tina Panganiban-Perez for interviewing opposition leader and alleged coup plotter Sen. Gregorio Honasan.  

Many also suspect the hand of Malacañang in the incident involving the Probe Team, a magazine-format show produced by Probe Productions and shown on GMA7. The group featured a “lifestyle check” on Philippine Games and Amusement Corp. (Pagcor) chair Efraim Genuino, showing his alleged ownership of several companies which he did not report in his Statement of Assets and Liabilities (SAL). Genuino is known to be a close friend of the president’s husband, Mike Arroyo. 

Sources said that radio and television journalist Arnold Clavio, who was interviewing former Airforce Capt. Panfilo Villaruel when the latter was killed, was “asked” by the president herself not to re-air his interview anymore. The interview revealed that the military did not follow the rules of engagement that led to the death of Villaruel.  

Meanwile, stories such as the strike of Shoemart employees, barely make it to the news since the company is major advertiser. Shoemart is the biggest chain of department stores in the country, owned by Chinese taipan Henry Sy. 

“Pressures” have also come in the form of libel suits, such as the libel faced by Tribune editor Niñez Cacho-Olivarez for publishing a story regarding a bribery case that implicates Malacañang. Or the one faced by Pinoy Weekly writer Ilang-Ilang Quijano for publishing a research on the cancerous effects of pesticides used by a company formerly owned by the agriculture secretary. 

Economic woes

Despite the seeming glamour that surrounds media personalities and the economic and political powers media vests on its owners, the media remains an unstable source of employment since there are more journalists (and graduates of Mass Communication) than can be absorbed by the industry.

Majority of those lucky enough to be employed have to contend with a host of issues, primarily the low pay and disparity in salary scales. The basic pay of an editor is usually three times higher than that of a reporter. Even more disheartening are the fees received by correspondents who are paid by a measly P20-30 per column inch or P200 per story. 

The conditions in the province are worse. In Davao City for example, the average pay of a reporter, according to a report by the Philippine Information Agency, is P3,700 ($67.27) a month.

A prevalent trend is the categorization of journalists working in television stations as “talents” which allow them to be treated as “contract workers” with no job security.  Once a show, even if a news and public affairs type which often does not earn money, proves to be low in rating, it is immediately axed, along with its “talents.” Thus, even journalists’ jobs are tied to the ratings’ game of the big networks.

Most media companies also do not have unions. Media interests consider labor unions a threat to the company and often use the carrot-and-stick approach: buying out union leaders or using repressive measures to those who refuse to “cooperate.” Otherwise, they form their own “company unions” and compartmentalize the company organization to divide the rank-and-file and as a way of preempting the formation of real unions. The use of these tactics shows that media establishments are still, first and foremost, business establishments.

Of the broadsheets, only five are known to have labor unions. The five major television networks also have unions. The presence of the unions however does not guarantee additional benefits for the media workers.

All these problems eventually make the reporter vulnerable to unethical practices. He is usually forced to take on sidelines, such as writing for another newspaper using a different byline, or working as PR (public relations) man for a politician. The temptation to accept “envelops” (or ATM cards) from news sources also intensifies.

The prevalence of this practice has created a media culture that transforms some journalists into appendages of those in power. It discourages critical analysis of issues and deters independence.

Those in power on the other hand realize and exploit this situation, allowing them greater control of the press in a more subtle way.

A restless media

The year 2003 also witnessed a media enraged by the killings and dissatisfied with its lot.

The series of killings galvanized the members of media. By the time the sixth journalist was murdered in September, many members of media were already very agitated. A coordinated protest was launched, with mass actions and statements coming from journalists in Manila, Davao City, Cagayan de Oro City, Iloilo City and Tacloban City.

It was ironic however that it was the death of broadcaster Jun Pala who, in the 1980s, rabidly supported the formation of anti-communist vigilante groups which killed several innocent civilians, that created the most ripple. Pala has apparently become an anti-vigilante crusader, lambasting Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for allegedly supporting death squads.

Pala is widely believed to have been killed by death squad members. More than that, Pala, who was notorious for using his radio program to extort favors and money, became in his death the uniting issue that moved the apolitical media to pour into the streets and denounce the killings of media men.

Pala’s death sparked debates among journalists themselves, creating greater awareness of the issue. When before the death of journalists merited only a few paragraphs in the inside pages, the controversial Pala led to its publication on the front page.

Aside from the killings, another issue prodded the sector into protesting. Although apathy still dominates the sector, several members of the industry were sufficiently aroused to launched a petition called “Media for Peace.” The petition, launched in February just before the U.S. attacked Iraq, encouraged industry members to be critical of the U.S. war on terror and how it affects the Philippines. More than 500 journalists, photojournalists, editors, columnists, media executives and workers signed the petition, including vice presidents of large television networks and well-known broadcasters. 

Forum discussions on the economic conditions of journalists were also held in different cities. One in Davao City last September was attended by more than 90 media practitioners. Bulatlat.com

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