Unsolved murders of media practitioners

Yesterday, media groups in Metro Manila and the nearby provinces held a picket rally in front of the Philippine National Police headquarters in Camp Crame. Their purpose was to protest the fact that newspaper reporters, radio and TV broadcasters are now the favorite targets of terrorist assassins.

Since 1986, 55 of them have been murdered. Last year alone, 13 of them were killed. To show that the situation is getting from bad to worst, we cite the fact that four Filipino journalists were killed from July 31 to August 12.

That period marks the very worst in the history of Philippine journalism. Believe it or not, no assassin has to this day been convicted for any of the above crimes.

The Philippine National Police does not agree with that last statement. It claims that it has solved 14 out of those 55 murders of press, television and radio news practitioners. What it means is that it has arrested 14 suspects and turned over the cases to the proper courts, but oftentimes the suspects have yet to be apprehended. This is now the biggest threat to freedom since martial law. As a profession, media practitioners now are the highest security risk.

We are not blaming the authorities for the situation. All we are saying is that a lot of work has to be done. First, were the 55 murders of media practitioners in the past 18 years isolated murder cases or are they the work of a group who holds something against media per se? If they are individual cases, how do we explain the fact that they all happened in the very same period of time. This must be studied by the authorities who have access to the facts of all the cases and the study must be conducted as objectively as possible.

Speaker Jose de Venecia, who started his career as a journalist, has shown great concern for his problem. He knows that democracy cannot survive without press freedom. He has offered a PhP2 million reward to any person who can give confidential information that will led to the arrest of people who have participated in the recent killings of news disseminators.

PNP Chief Hermogenes Ebdane had suggested that journalists who feel that they are under threat should carry firearms. That is up to the decision of the journalist himself. Professional assassins know how to deal with prospective victims who are armed.

What will throw the most light to this present problem is, as we said earlier, a research background of all the past victims. Were they trained journalists? Did they report facts objectively? Were some of them using their media position to make money on the side? A trained journalist always bases his reports on facts, meaning who, what, where, when and how.

The authorities must identify, arrest and prosecute the assassins of the 55 media persons who were murdered.