Worsening media repression
At least 200 journalists from various parts of the Philippines rallied on August 16 in front of the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Camp Crame to assail the PNP's inutility in solving the numerous cases of media killings in the country.
Aside from the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) which led the protest action, 10 other media organizations joined the demonstration. Journalists in the cities of Bacolod, Gen. Santos, Iloilo, Cebu and Pagadian and the province of Antique also staged their own mass actions that day.
The journalists decided to demand justice for the slain members of the print and broadcast media because of the alarming number of media people being killed in the Philippines. The country now comes in second worldwide in the number of journalists killed in the line of duty. It is only wartorn Iraq that now outstrips the Philippines in this regard.
Since the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship in February 1986, at least 55 journalists have been killed in the country, according to the NUJP. Bulatlat, an internet newsletter, maintains a separate listing of up to 78 journalists killed since then. Including those killed during the martial law era, a total of 110 journalists have become murder victims, 20 of them slain under the Arroyo regime.
Six journalists have been killed this year, four of them in the month of August. The figure almost equals the number of journalists killed in 2003.
All of those killed were known for their hardhitting criticisms of corruption and the involvement of police, military, high-ranking government officials and big businessmen in various criminal activities.
Sonny Alcantara, a news presenter of City TV in San Pablo, Laguna was shot after criticizing a local city official. Rico Ramirez, reporter, cameraman and spinner of DXSF in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, was killed in August 2003 because of his intense criticisms against illegal drugs and other crimes in his area. Noel Villarante, a commentator of DZJV in Laguna, was killed that same month due to his attacks on various anomalies. Bonifacio Gregorio, a columnist of Dyaryo Banat in Tarlac, was killed in July 2003 because of his hardhitting criticisms of government corruption, illegal drugs and the illegal conversion of farmlands into a commercial memorial park. The memorial park in question is owned by the mayor of La Paz, Tarlac. In April 2003, John Villanueva Jr., a progressive and courageous broadcaster with radio DZGB was killed in Camalig, Albay.
Just this August, Arnel Manalo, a correspondent of the newspaper Bulgar and radio station DZRH, was killed in Bauan, Batangas after airing the side of one of the enemies of a powerful businessman in the province.
These are apart from cases of frustrated murder. Cirse "Choy" Torralba, a broadcaster of Angel Radio in Cebu City was wounded in an ambush on June 8. Modesto Gutierrez, a commentator of DWSI in Santiago City, escaped death after a grenade was hurled at him on February 13.
In the face of all this, the Arroyo regime has shown no interest in eradicating worsening media repression. On the contrary, no less than the president's husband Mike Arroyo has joined the ranks of powerful people out to muzzle the media.
Just this August, he slapped libel charges against INQ7.net columnist William Esposo and Malaya officials Amado Macasaet and Rosario Galang after they implicated him in anomalies regarding the "charitable groups" he heads. Before this, Arroyo had also sued four other journalists for libel after they accused him of involvement in poll fraud in the May elections and in various cases of corruption.
Aside from those killed, far more media people have been harassed, threatened and mauled and fallen victim to other forms of repression and human rights violations. Many of the cases remain unreported and have not been brought to the public eye.
This August, unidentified men tailed and threatened to kill one of Arnel Manalo's media colleagues and another co-worker was forced to go into hiding for a number of days after the two journalists disclosed in an interview that they knew who ordered Manalo's killing.
The NUJP recorded at least five cases of media harassment from February to June 2004.
Elements of the 20th Special Forces beat up Southern Exposure cameraman Melvin Mamis on May 31 and interrogated and threatened to kill him when he recorded on video a fact-finding mission in Rosario, Batangas.
Another journalist in Ozamis City was charged with libel merely for covering a protest action. Mayor Caesar Dy of Cauayan City repeatedly ordered the closure of Bombo Radyo-Isabela for assailing cases of corruption and violence involving the Dy family in the province.
Rolando Bartolome, a broadcaster of DWBL, was suspended from work because of his criticisms of Gloria Arroyo.
The military tried to force off the air the weekly radio program Radyo Anakpawis, alleging that it was being run by the New People's Army. The program produced by the Samahang Magbubukid sa Timog Katagalugan airs over DZRB in Batangas City. The military and police also threatened to raid the station if it did not put a stop to the program.
Prior to this, the NUJP had recorded six cases of abduction and harassment of media people in the hands of police, military and paramilitary forces from October to November 2002. The most striking case involved Col. Jovito Palparan's harassment of Edu Paringit, a cameraman of Calapan City's local television station TVnet, merely for covering the violent demolition of shanties in the city. | Escalating cases of murder and harassment of journalists and the reactionary government�s continued inaction prove that the alarming trend of media killings is favorable to ruling class interests. |
That same year, three other journalists were abducted and several others threatened merely for reporting news critical of the military and the Arroyo regime.
The PNP's sole response has come in the form of Dir. Gen. Hermogenes Ebdane's "advice" to media people to just gag themselves to avoid becoming targets of violence, and an earlier piece of advice also from the PNP for journalists to arm themselves in self-defense. Gen. Angelo Reyes, the secretary of the Dept. of Interior and Local Government (DILG) which has jurisdiction over the PNP, also shrugged off the media killings, saying he failed to see a trend in the number of media people being murdered.
That the PNP has been washing its hands of the matter should come as no surprise. In many instances, it is police elements themselves who are involved in murdering or harassing media people. Edgar Damalerio, a reporter of the Zamboanga Scribe and Mindanao Gold Star and a commentator of radio DXKP in Pagadian City was killed in May 2002 by a policeman. Despite the positive identification and arrest of PO1 Guillermo Wapile, he was allowed to escape by his fellow policemen. Wapile has not been apprehended and has been allowed to go around Pagadian and other places in the province for the past two years. In fact, he even served as a politician's bodyguard in the last election.
Damalerio's family and other witnesses have recently been dropped from a witness protection program and have been forced to go into hiding.
Escalating cases of murder and harassment of journalists and the reactionary government's continued inaction prove that the alarming trend of media killings is favorable to ruling class interests. Threats to the lives and security of journalists dangle over their heads like the sword of Damocles and are an additional weapon wielded by the ruling classes to suppress expos�s of their involvement in anomalies and other criminal and antipeople activities and to protect their interests.
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