Int’l Media Group Slams Western Countries for ‘Cowardice,’ Cites Constant Threats, Physical Attacks Vs Filipino Journalists

Success in the fight against impunity?

The police task force charged with investigating murders of journalists has had a degree of success. Two suspects in the 2001 murder of journalist Rolando Ureta were arrested in November. According to official statistics, there was a reduction of more than 80% in murders of journalists, trade unions and opposition figures during the year.

However it will be a long struggle to really put an end to impunity. A very detailed report by a UN group of experts, headed by Philip Alston, concluded that some sections of the army were implicated in extra-judicial killings of left wing activists, including journalists.

Families of murder victims who fight impunity have ended up being threatened themselves. This happened to Nena Santos, a lawyer and friend of the journalist Marlene Esperat, who was murdered in 2005. She received several death threats while she was working on the case.

Imprisoned journalists

It is rare in the Philippines for journalists to receive prison sentences but a presenter of dxMF Bombo Radyo, Alex Adonis, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in January for defaming Prospero Nograles, a member of parliament, reportedly close to President Gloria Arroyo, who sued him for remarks about an alleged affair he had in 2001. The young journalist, who was on a salary of 150 dollars a month, could not afford to hire a lawyer to defend him at his trial. He was imprisoned in Davao jail. Director of the radio, Dan Vicente, his co-accused, was acquitted.

Police arrested Gemma Bagauaya, director of the online magazine Newsbreak (www.newsbreak.com.ph), at her office near Manila in March after Luis “Chavit” Singson, governor of Illoco Sur province and a political ally of Gloria Arroyo, opened a libel suit against her. She was released on bail a few hours later. The Bangkok correspondent of the Asia News Network, Jofelle Tesorio, was imprisoned in Quezon jail in June over a series of articles written in 2003 about a natural gas project in Camago-Malampaya, in Palawan, alleging wrong-doing against former deputy Vicente Sandoval, who won his defamation case. The journalist was set free a few days later.

The authorities took it out on the press when in November they faced with a military revolt. Several dozen journalists were arrested close to a hotel in Manila where around 30 soldiers were holed up and calling for the president’s resignation. The journalists, including several foreign press correspondents, were questioned about “obstruction of justice”. Police said they needed to check that none of the rebels had escaped by hiding among the journalists.
Finally, the president’s husband, Mike Arroyo, decided on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, to drop legal action which he had first opened against 46 journalists and editors in 2003. Philippines journalist organisations had campaigned very effectively to get the country’s “First gentleman” to back down, taking him to court themselves in December 2006 over the unacceptable nature of his accusations.