Media Killings: A threat to Press Freedom

By RICKY J. BAUTISTA
August 5, 2006

"...this country is becoming a world of lawless elements and hired killers."

When will killing of journalists stop?

I’m afraid it won’t. It won’t for now. Not until lording apologists and power-grabbing individuals learn to live in society become tolerant of freedom of expression not to their liking or equally dissimilar to them.

Not until, this country considers the value of a human life. It won’t stop not until some intellectuals in the government realize that continuing violence and killings of journalist endangers the whole society.

Since our country gained independence in 1986, some 56 journalists were killed in the line of duty, including some 17 other journalists who were also killed for reasons not connected to their work.

In Eastern Visayas, the latest journalist killed by still unidentified gunmen was Paquito “Pax” Diaz. He was shot at close range past 6 in the afternoon of July 6 near his home in Magallanes, Tacloban City while waiting to his friend at a shed. He suffered two fatal gunshot wounds at his left eye and chest and arrived dead at a hospital.

The police, however, traced the killing of Diaz as not connected to his media works as he is being identified heading the Confederation for Unity Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE), which is very vocal in exposing government corruption and being a human rights advocate.

The serial killings of journalists, including those street demonstrators throughout the country nowadays posed a big threat to Philippine’s Freedom of Expression. The government, as I see it, appears to be inutile, if not disinterested at all, in solving these killings of the journalists, considered members of Fourth State.

Though this media killings, threats of violence and intimidation, nor any other form of illegal interference cannot stop us from our moral and social duty, this still remains the greatest threat to press freedom in the country.

I strongly believe Philippines as democratic society cannot expect to be governed well without the benefit of sharing ideas, freedom of expression and information. It is our lifeblood because we are free and has a right to live in a free country.

Without this freedom, they cannot expect from us to perform our duties as intended - encouraging and facilitating an open exchange of news and views through objectivity in reporting and to exercise of free speech through reporting and making accurate, truthful and timely information available to the general public.

According to a consolidated data released by different press organizations in the country, there has an alarming record of journalists killed in the Philippines from 1986 up to now.

In fact, this horrifying violence against us over the last several years earned the Philippines a ranking as the “most dangerous place for journalists to operate” by the International Federation of Journalists and as the single “most dangerous country for journalists” by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Most journalists killed in action are those noted to be critical on exposing corruption scandals or regularly attacking the government agencies such as the army, police, and politicians with a group of private armies and hired gunmen.

No doubt, this country is becoming a world of lawless elements and hired killers. Though despite the efforts of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration’s launch of a $92,000 Press Freedom Fund to curb violence against the media, a general culture of impunity continues to predominate in the Philippines, and I believe the journalists’ killers are still scot-free and not brought behind bars.

In cases where suspects have been identified and arrested, the person or persons who ordered the killing are still roaming around and enjoys the protection of some powerful individuals.

The end of the year brought lone landmark development, however. In November, former police officer Guillermo Wapile was convicted for the murder of journalist Edgar Damalerio, marking the first conviction among 22 cases of journalist killings since the wave of violence began in 2000.

But, just days later, George Benjoan, a radio and newspaper journalist known for his aggressive reporting on official corruption, was shot and killed in Cebu. Many more journalists in the country sides were killed. President Arroyo gave a 10-day deadline to his policemen to produce results, but as of this moment, no one has ever been convicted of these killings and nobody has been brought to justice. The deliberate targeting of journalists by those who seek to prevent media from exposing their activities represents a worrying trend in the world.

The unabated killings, violence and harassment towards media practitioners in the Philippines must be stop and cannot be allowed to continue. There can no longer be any excuses from this administration, no acceptable cause for killing a journalist. Crime against journalist -- who is also a human rights defender -- is simply unacceptable!

This is enough! Sacrificing our own lives, we and our fallen comrades have paid a high price for press freedom in this country, particularly during periods of military dictatorship. Our free-thinking journalists and hard-hitting commentators have been assassinated, persecuted, arrested or incarcerated and their offices attacked or printing presses destroyed, for insisting on telling the public the truth, for exposing corruption, for upholding public interests or for defending citizen rights to the freedom of expression.

Who are these elements trying to gag the press by silencing the journalists? Why is the process of prosecuting them so slow? The questions are still unanswered, anyone? We have no reason to doubt that the attackers have been greatly aided and emboldened by the law taking a lackluster course. The resolve to punish the killers has to be stronger rather than being rhetoric, and the pace of the legal process quickened, if we really want the lives of the journalists to be a little more secure.

The 2005 Annual Report of the Freedom House during the Freedom in Asian Cyberspace Conference that the situation in the Philippines was actually “partially-free” - better compared to other Asian country, it is still not acceptable to me. Our government should do everything to stop these media killings. This is a real threat to our constitution and independence.

So, we must join our hands in fighting back for freedom must be protected. We must guard that freedom not only for ourselves, but for all of us living in our beloved country, the Philippines.

Defend Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression at all cost!