This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 6, March 13-19, 2005
Canadian Press Condemns Media Killings in
Philippines
Initially signed by at least
30 journalists and other Filipino-Canadians, a statement is circulating in
Canada calling on the Philippines’ Macapagal-Arroyo government to stop the
killing of journalists and to conduct earnest investigations.
By
Edwin C. Mercurio TORONTO, Canada – At least
30 journalists and other Filipino-Canadians have signed a statement calling on
the Philippines’ Macapagal-Arroyo government to stop the killing of journalists
and to conduct earnest investigations. Aside from the
Filipino-Canadian community, others who have signed are Canadian media
practitioners such as reporters from CKLN and CBC, community leaders and other
Canadians who signified their support to seek justice for journalists killed for
doing their job. The statement, which is now
being circulated all over Canada for more signatories and will be sent to
President Macapagal-Arroyo, was drafted in the wake of the spate of media
killings in Philippines. The statement came up
following a forum on “How Free is the Philippine Press” held here last Feb. 13
at the Filipino Centre–Toronto (FCT). Filipino writer Ms. Ninotchka Rosca, who
was the guest speaker at the forum, denounced the alarming rate of killings of
Filipino journalists The Philippines has earned
the global reputation as the most dangerous country in the world for media
practitioners - second only to war-torn Iraq, Ms. Rosca said. “Journalists are killed
with impunity in the Philippines,” said Ms. Rosca, a book author and journalist.
“If you look at the rate by which media people are killed – over the 14 years of
the Marcos regime, the rate was 2.5 per annum. Under Corazon Aquino, 5.6%. Under
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo the rate was 4.6% over the 2-3 years.” Ms. Rosca had worked as a
journalist in the Philippines before she was forced to go on exile to the United
States during martial law, Killings More than 50 journalists
have been murdered since 1986 after Marcos’ ouster – or over 100 including those
who were killed during martial law. For the past 17 years killings of media
people have continued at an average of three per year. “Last year, 13 media
practitioners were killed in the Philippines under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,
ranking the country the second highest in the world in terms of media killings,
after war-torn Iraq,” Ms. Rosca said. “Unlike Iraq where
journalists are killed covering the war and field battles, most reporters killed
in the Philippines are those from the rural areas writing about graft and
corruption and human rights abuses,” Rosca said. “Nobody has been held
accountable, prosecuted and charged for these killings. If the risk of speaking
out freely is to die, then there is no democratic process.” IFJ alarmed
The concern about the
killing of journalists in the Philippines and other critical areas in the world
also raised the alarm bells of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary, said in a recent statement in the Philippine
media that “the crisis of news safety has reached an intolerable level and must
be addressed urgently.” The January 2005 report of
the recently concluded fact-finding mission organized by the International
Federation of Journalists and the National Union of the Journalists of the
Philippines (NUJP) has found that “a widespread culture of violence is tolerated
and even condoned by Philippine government officials.” Ms. Rosca, who has written
for various Philippine, U.S. and international publications and who authored six
books, one of these entitled “Twice Blessed” earned the 1993 American Book Award
for Excellence in Literature said that whether in the Philippines or elsewhere,
there are many factors that affect press freedom: media ownership, legal and
physical threats to journalists and corruption. Media ownership Ms. Rosca said rich
families and their cronies control most of the major newspapers. “Structurally, the
ownership of all these major newspapers (and broadcast media) is geared towards
the ruling class of the Philippines. So ownership is the first restriction on
press freedom. And if owners of a newspaper or publication happen to run counter
to the dominant bias of the (ruling class) culture, then the owners are going to
be in great trouble.” Toronto’s Balita editor,
Ruben Cusipag and Rosca herself were among the hundreds of writers and
journalists critical of the Marcos dictatorship who were incarcerated in various
detention centers during Martial law. Corruption and
manipulation of the media On corruption in the media,
Rosca explained that vested interest groups and individuals use money and other
incentives in manipulating the generally low-paid media practitioners to serve
the formers’ interests. “You have ‘blood money’
which is given before a journalist does someone a favor. ‘Smiling money’ after
the job is done. And then, there is AC/DC, attack and collect, defend and
collect.” “The average pay of
journalists in the Philippines is P5,000, while the average apartment rent is
eight thousand pesos P8,000,” Rosca explained. Ms. Rosca also pointed out
that there are alternative media organizations that she described as very
independent and write about the real situation in the Philippines such as
Bulatlat, a cooperative that publishes on the Internet and is generating an
increasing readership globally. The forum was organized by
the Philippine Reporter, Balita Newspaper Managing Editor Tess Cusipag and the
support of the Filipino Centre-Toronto (FCT) who made the venue available for
the media event. Media organizations
represented at the forum were: The Philippine Reporter, Balita, Bulatlat,
Filipino Bulletin, Front Page TV, Media Monitor, The Philippine Courier, CKLN
Radio and Taliba. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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