Palace vows thorough probe of columnist’s slay

Malacañang expressed alarm yesterday over the killing of another journalist, Sultan Kudarat newspaper columnist Marlene Garcia Esperat, and vowed that the case will be thoroughly investigated.

Esperat, 45, who wrote a hard-hitting column for the weekly paper Midland Review, was gunned down in front of her 10-year-old son inside her home in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat last Thursday night.

Director General Arturo Lomibao, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, has formed Task Force Esperat to go after those behind the columnist’s gunslaying.

Lomibao visited Tacurong yesterday to condole with Esperat’s husband, George, and look into the progress of the investigation.

"We are implementing measures that would help prevent this from happening again," Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said, adding that Malacañang has directed Lomibao to personally take charge of the investigation.

For his part, Palace communications head Silvestre Afable Jr. said, "The Palace is very much saddened by this heinous crime in Sultan Kudarat."

Lomibao ordered Chief Superintendent Antonio Billones, Central Mindanao police director, and Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza, head of Task Force Newsman, to leave no stone unturned in the investigation.

In the wake of Esperat’s killing, Reporters Without Borders, an international press freedom watchdog, said it will send a fact-finding team to the Philippines on April 7-13 to investigate the deaths of Filipino journalists.

Esperat was the second journalist murdered in the country this year after 13 were killed in the country last year, making it the second most dangerous place in the world for journalists, next to Iraq.

On Feb. 28, gunmen killed Arnulfo Villanueva, a columnist for the Asian Star Express based in Naic, Cavite.

Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, PNP spokesman, said police have released an artist’s sketch of Esperat’s gunman.

Reports said the gunman entered the Esperat residence in Barangay New Isabela, greeted her "Good evening, Ma’am" and then shot her in the head with a cali—ber .45 pistol in front of her son.

The gunman, reportedly accompanied by a lookout, fled on board a motorcycle.

Esperat, who waged a crusade against corruption and was known for scathing commentaries, was receiving police protection after a series of threats against her but shortly before her murder she allowed her bodyguards to go home for Easter.

In the Senate, Sen. Mar Roxas filed a resolution seeking an inquiry into the killings of journalists.

Roxas cited a report of the International Press Institute (IPI) that at least 56 journalists have been slain in the Philippines since 1986.

Of the 78 journalists killed worldwide in 2004, the IPI said 12 were murdered in the country. The IPI cited "a pervasive culture of violence in the Philippines that is being tolerated by officials."

In a letter to Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo Reyes, Reporters Without Borders said there was an "urgent need to restore a climate that allows the press to work properly after repeated attacks that have gone completely unpunished."

A similar investigation by the Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists in January found a "widespread culture of violence that is tolerated and condoned by the government and officials" was behind last year’s deaths, a claim the government denied. — With reports from Cecille Suerte Felipe, Katherine Adraneda and AFP