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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Legislators urged to back new law protecting journalists
By Aurea A. Gerundio
COUNCILOR Mabel Sunga-Acosta bared plans Tuesday to seek the support of the Philippine Councilors' League (PCL) to come up with a legislation that will protect members of the press from any form of violence.
The plan came following the killing of Mindanao journalist Marlene Garcia-Esperat.
"Before Esperat, many other journalists were killed in line with their job. We cannot just continue expressing outrage every time mayroong event na ganito (there are events like this). We have to come up with a concrete measure on how to protect the media and prevent unlikely situations against the media from happening," Acosta said.
Acosta said she had initially talked with Councilor Danilo C. Dayanghirang, president of the PCL Davao Chapter, regarding her proposal.
"But we have yet to conduct a forum with the media practitioners para malaman din kung ano ang kailangan nila. Maybe we can organize series of seminars on self-defense. When we talk about self-defense, it does not necessarily mean also na kailangan ng baril," Acosta said.
Acosta also suggested for the insurance coverage of every media practitioner.
"It is about time that the outrage and concern be translated into something palpable perhaps with today's reality that the press if the fourth estate in the society," Acosta said.
The judiciary is the first estate, the legislative is the second while the third is the executive.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (April 13, 2005 issue)
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