Government frowns on media killings: Palace

Thursday, February 23, 2012

MALACAÑANG assured Wednesday that the Aquino government has been trying its best to protect journalists in the country amid report by a New York-based watchdog that the Philippines was considered as the second deadliest place for mediamen.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, in a press briefing, said that whenever there is a media killing, the police immediately conduct investigation and file the necessary charges to those who could have perpetrated the incident.

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"What we've always said and the President has always said [is] that we frown on extralegal killings," he said.

"We do not sleep on our protection on foreign journalists especially after the Maguindanao massacre. This is something that we are fully conscious of," he said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, in its 2011 report, branded the Philippines as the second deadliest country for journalists, next to Iraq. It cited that at least 72 journalists have been killed in the Philippines for their work since 1992.

In the case of those journalists who were killed under the Aquino administration, Lacierda said that more often than not, the cases concerned local business or politics. (SDR/Sunnex)