FILIPINO journalists continue to face threats of attack, harassment, intimidation, and red-tagging, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).
On November 5, 2023 alone, the murder of Juan Jumalon, also known as DJ Johnny Walker, of 94.7 Calamba Gold FM in Calamba, Misamis Occidental, was “even more condemnable since it happened at Jumalon's own home, which also served as the radio station.”
The gunmen pretended to be guests with an urgent announcement to make on the radio and entered the station without provocation.
The suspect also grabbed the victim’s gold necklace before fleeing the announcer’s booth.
Jumalon’s killing is the 199th since 1986 and the fourth under the watch of President Fernand Marcos Jr.
The killing also happened in the same week as the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. immediately condemned the killing of Jumalon.
He ordered the Philippine National Police to conduct “a thorough investigation to catch and hold accountable whoever is behind this heinous crime.”
“President Marcos, who quickly and commendably denounced the killing of Jumalon, should ensure that his murder, as well as the continuing attacks against journalists, are investigated thoroughly and impartially, and the perpetrators brought to justice,” said the Human Rights Watch (HRW).
“As Marcos looks to garner support both at home and abroad, he should take this opportunity to demonstrate that his government is serious about press freedom, civil liberties, and human rights in the Philippines,” it added.
Meanwhile, the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), along with fellow progressive media groups organizations staged a vigil at the Commission on Human Rights in Manila to condemn the killing of Jumalon.
Brell Lacerna, national spokesperson of CEGP, said that “the impunity doesn't seem to stop despite the recently commemorated International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.”
In the latest Global Impunity Index of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, the Philippines ranked 8th, one place lower in the past two years.
This is also the 16th consecutive year wherein the Philippines has been reportedly included in the list of countries wherein the perpetrators of killings of journalists are not punished, it added.
As this developed, the Misamis Occidental Police said they had already identified two suspects involved in Jumalon’s murder.
Police are looking into three to four possible motives for the shooting.
“Having known this man as a fearless broadcaster, I share the grief of his family and the people of my province for we lost a truth crusader,” said Misamis Occidental Governor Henry Oaminal.
Paul Gutierrez, the undersecretary of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, called the police for the immediate activation of a special investigation task group to probe the radio anchor’s murder.
The three other journalists who were murdered under Marcos Jr. administration were Rey Blanco, Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa, and Cresenciano Bunduquin.
Most journalists who were killed were from the radio, with 102 deaths.
“The case of Percy Lapid, the most high-profile killing during the Marcos Jr. administration, is far from resolved and the alleged mastermind behind it is still at large. There have been no convictions, and few updates in the killings of Rey Blanco and Cris Bundoquin,” NUJP said.
On November 23, 2009, 32 Filipino journalists and media workers among 58 total victims were killed in an unparalleled attack known as the “Maguindanao Massacre.”