Gov't promises to erase impunity culture in journalist-murder cases

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The government said today that it will work hard to remove the culture of impunity in journalist-murder cases after it remained as the third worst country in the world in the number of murdered journalists and unpunished killers.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma blamed the 2009 Maguindanao massacre for the "continuing stigma on the Philippines' culture of impunity."

According to Coloma, from 2001 to 2011, a total of 39 journalists were killed in the country. He said that in the Maguindanao massacre alone, which is considered as the worst election-related violence in the country, of the 58 dead in the incident, 31 of them were journalists.

"We will resolutely pursue the prosecution of the Maguindanao massacre case as we are determined to erase the culture of impunity in our country," Coloma said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent international group, has ranked the Philippines third in its 2013 Impunity Index. This was the fourth straight year that the country was among the top three, next to Iraq and Somalia.

The Philippines has a rating of 0.580 unsolved journalist murders per million inhabitants.