Unabated Murder of
Journalists Could Lead to the President’s Ouster
The undersigned faculty members of the University of the Philippines
College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) strongly condemn the killing last
July 3 of radio broadcaster Rolando Morales of DWMD Radio Mindanao Network
(RMN) South Cotabato.
Morales, 43, is the sixth journalist killed this year and the 69th
since democracy was supposedly restored in 1986. He was riding on his
motorcycle along the national highway in Polomolok town when eight men on
four motorbikes shot him.
That he suffered 15 gunshot wounds proves that the killers wanted to make
sure he was dead. The killers of journalists have become bolder no doubt
as a result of the government’s failure to bring the perpetrators of past
media killings to justice.
The administration should be doubly concerned because 46% of the murders
happened during the incumbency of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Yes,
32 journalists have been killed since she assumed office in 2001! It comes
as no surprise that the Philippines
has been called “the most murderous place in the world” to practice
journalism by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Nothing much has been done to solve the killings. Even the establishment
of the Philippine National Police’s Task Force Newsman did not result in
the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the murders.
The volatility of the political situation should make the Arroyo
administration more responsive to this issue. The movement for the
President’s resignation will only get bigger if the murder of journalists
continues.
The administration should remember that in the context of press
freedom, it has a responsibility to create an atmosphere conducive to the
effective practice of the media profession. The administration must ensure
that those responsible are brought to justice and that journalists will
not end up being punished for engaging in their primary task of
truth-telling.
It must act now. Its failure could help lead to its downfall.
This statement
released on 7 July 2005 was signed by 18 faculty members of the University
of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) led by Dean
Nicanor G. Tiongson. For verification, please call Prof. Danilo A. Arao
(Chair, Department of Journalism) at 920-6852 or (0917) 833-ARAO.
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