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Monday, September 01, 2008
Advocate urges Cebu mayor: Don't take law into your hands
By Katrina A. Balmaceda
CEBU CITY -- A senior policy adviser of an international peace-building organization denounced vigilantism and the killing of journalists in the Philippines.
London-based Ed Garcia, of International Alert, said journalism is "part of the peace process" and media killings are "unjustifiable."
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"Journalists should not be killed for their profession because they have all the right in the world to report," Garcia said in his visit to Cebu to speak to Generation Peace last Saturday.
"The right to dissent is a constitutional right. Journalism expands democratic space," Garcia said.
His message came at the end of August, a month that saw the fourth and fifth murders of journalists this year.
Anchorman Dennis Cuesta, of General Santos City, died days after he was attacked on Aug. 4. Program director Martin Roxas, of Roxas City, Capiz, died an hour after he was shot by two men on a motorcycle last Aug. 7.
Both worked as broadcasters for the Radio Mindanao Network.
According to Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility records, 33 journalists in the Philippines have been killed in the line of duty since 2001.
Last Friday, a balut vendor took the witness stand for the 2001 killing of Rolando Ureta, RMN station manager in Aklan.
It took witness Gerson Sonio three and a half years to surface, saying he feared for his life. The case is being tried in Cebu City, before Regional Trial Court Judge Sylva Aguirre-Paderanga.
Garcia also told reporters last Saturday he had a message to Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña about vigilante killings in the city.
"Once you take the law into your own hands, the rule of law is going to be undermined.
Have the capacity to disagree without being disagreeable," Garcia said.
Garcia was one of the advocates for the abolition of the death penalty in the country. He said studies revealed the death penalty is not effective as a deterrent to crime.
He also served as the principal author of Social Justice and Human Rights, now Article 13 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
His statement came, as two men were killed vigilante-style in Barangay Kamagayan, Cebu City last week.
Esteban Albeos, who previously accused some policemen of extortion, died in the ambush. His companion, Allan Catalan, suffered of gunshot wounds.
Catalan's lawyer Noel Archival said the victim had only recently won an appeal of a court ruling that found him guilty of illegal drug possession.
In another incident, Jomar de Guzman, accused of stealing a trisikad, was shot to death after he was released when the trisikad owner decided not to file charges against him.
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (September 1, 2008 issue)
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