Monday, March 03, 2008 'A culture of impunity in the country' By Ryan D. Rosauro Correspondent
A BOLDER campaign aimed at attacking the culture of impunity in the country was launched on February 29 during the conclusion of a three-day international conference on "Impunity and Press Freedom" at The Peninsula Manila.
The conference gathered legal experts and press freedom advocates from Asia, Europe, the US, and from as far as Latin America.
The culture of impunity is blamed for the persisting problem of journalist killings throughout the country which alarmed both news media leaders and human rights advocates, considering the phenomenon as a mockery of press freedom and democracy.
Journalists, prosecutors, judges, human rights advocates and even high-level justices from such countries as Colombia, Guatemala, Argentina, Spain, the US, Indonesia, and the rest of Southeast Asia shared their experiences in undertaking similar and related struggles in a bid to find solutions to the unabated and unsolved killing of "truth bearers" throughout the country.
No less than Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno egged on conference participants to bond together "in defense of freedom of the press."
"We are the advocates, experts, journalists, and jurists coming from all over the world who share the same concern over the rampant human rights violations around us. I emphasize that it is 'we' who can do something, because we can better effect change not in our individual stations, but as a group working together," Puno reminded in his keynote address.
"It is the culture of impunity that encourages attacks on journalists. Unless and until we do something to submerge this pernicious culture, these attacks will continue to litter our collective consciousness with corpses of people who are bearers of truth," Puno said.
"Democracy in this country is under siege because bullets fired at the direction of journalists pierce not only human flesh, but also our republican ideals," he added.
The chief justice warned that "an enforced silence" about the situation "cannot but give impetus to its growing culture of impunity."
The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility CMFR), co-organizer of the conference, had listed 71 journalists killed in the line of duty since democracy was restored in the country in 1986. Of these, 54 happened under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, although only 34 are work-related.
The State of Press Freedom Report 2007 prepared by CMFR noted that 90 percent of those killed were exposing government corruption.
There have been few arrests, and zero conviction of the masterminds behind the murders, the CMFR further noted.
"That's what impunity means," said Roby Alampay, executive director of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) that also co-organized the conference with support from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Open Society Institute (OSI).
"It is a problem that we all must solve if Philippine democracy is to survive," he added.
The Philippine campaign against the culture of impunity is linked with the CPJ's global campaign on impunity initially focused on Russia and the Philippines.
The CPJ describes Russia and the Philippines as "two very different countries that share two traits: they are among the world's deadliest nations for journalists and they are among the worst in solving these murders."
Joel Simon, CPJ executive director, said there is a "striking record of impunity" in both Russia and the Philippines.
Based on CPJ statistics, journalists killed in the line of duty in Russia have reached 47 while 32 in the Philippines.
Global trend
Both countries belong to the top five in the list of countries worldwide dubbed as "most murderous" with Iraq leading the pack with 125 work-related journalist deaths, and also include Algeria with 60, and Colombia, 40.
A research by CPJ showed that murder is the leading cause of work-related deaths of journalists worldwide, accounting for around 73 percent of the 679 deaths recorded between January 1, 1992 and January 15, 2008.
Simon noted that "justice is served in less than 15 percent of these murder cases."
In these cases, some seven percent only are considered to have attained full justice, meaning masterminds and perpetrators are convicted for the crime; another seven percent attained partial justice, meaning only perpetrators were made accountable; and the rest suffered from complete impunity.
Simon added that CPJ research suggests "the absence of justice promotes a higher incidence of murder."
He cited the impact of "a systematic campaign" in achieving a significant drop in the number of journalist killings in Latin America over the last decade.
Simon pointed as among the key factors in such a campaign the recognition by government that "they have responsibility and obligation to pursue justice."
During the launch of the Philippine campaign Friday, Simon said CPJ will continue to work with local organizations to monitor abuses against the press, put pressure on government to act, and at the same time draw international attention on the obtaining press freedom situation of the country as a result of the unabated killings.
Simon noted that as a result of previous efforts, "there is (now) recognition at the highest level (of government)" about the problem of journalist killings.
He cited that formation of task force Usig by the Philippine National Police and the successful prosecution of two cases--one involving the killing of Pagadian city-based broadcaster Edgar Damalerio in 2002 and the other of Sultan Kudarat journalist Marlene Esperat in 2005.
Ways forward
"(But) I am not suggesting that government is doing enough," he clarified.
Melinda Quintos de Jesus, CMFR executive director, said the stepped up Philippine campaign against impunity would see more vigorous efforts at prosecution and strengthening cooperation with government agencies.
The State of Press Freedom Report 2007 observed that of the 34 work-related killings of journalists since 2001, only two have been resolved minus the masterminds; some 15 percent under trial, another 15 percent dismissed for lack of evidence against suspects, 12 percent pending prosecution and about 52 percent still under investigation.
"It is one of the sad ironies as we celebrated the 22nd anniversary of the People Power revolution. The Philippines' free press -- side by side with human rights advocates -- is under the gun, and this crucial pillar of our democracy has remained vulnerable to lawlessness, weaknesses in the judicial system, and general apathy of the national government," lamented de Jesus.
