Saturday, August 07, 2004 Gov't asks for public help in solving killings of mediamen By Jocelyn Reyes
IT APPEARS that the PNP is still at a loss in solving cases of murder of several mediamen.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said Malacañang is still waiting for an official report or an update in the recent killings and past incidents.
Arnel Manalo, a correspondent of the tabloid Bulgar and radio station dRH, was gunned down Thursday in Bauan, Batangas or five days after Roger Mariano, a radio commentator from radio station dJC-Akyson was killed in San Nicola, Ilocos Norte.
Manalo was the sixth mediaman to be killed this year and the 54th since 1986.
Bunye said the P1 million reward for information that would help solve the cases of each killed journalists is still in effect.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) feared that the case of Manalo and Mariano would just be another crime statistics, if past investigations and other official actions are anything to go by.
"The families of Manalo and Mariano can hardly expect to receive justice for their loss. So long as a mantle of impunity continues to protect those who seek to silence journalists in the country, the deaths will continue, mocking national pretensions to democracy," the NUJP said in a statement.
They also warned that if the trend of media killings continues, "we may see the country breaking its infamous record of being tied with Colombia as the world's most dangerous place for journalists." The Philippines and Columbia had the highest number of media killings in 2003 with seven each.
The NUJP called for an independent inquiry on the killings, claiming that the International Federation of Journalists (IFP), the world's largest organization of media professionals with half a million members, has offered to spearhead the investigation.
The NUJP also called on Vice President Noli de Castro, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and local and international advocates of press freedom to join the investigation.
NUJP said de Castro, being a former broadcaster, is in the best position to do something about the killing. They said the Vice President should work for the immediate resolution of the murders and ensure that killers are brought to justice.
"While focusing on the killings of journalists, the investigation should also look into working conditions in Philippine media that threaten press freedom. The NUJP believes that there can be no genuine press freedom if journalists continue to work under conditions of fear, poverty and corruption," the NUJP said in a statement.
The Reporters sans Frontieres and the Committee To Protect Journalists, both international journalist groups, condemned the killings of Mariano and Manalo and have asked President Arroyo to "use all necessary means in the investigations in order to identify both those who carried the killings out and the instigators."
The Reporters Without Borders, in a letter to Arroyo, expressed fear that "the climate of impunity will continue in the Philippines if the work of the police and judiciary does not lead quickly to the trial and conviction of those responsible." JMR
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