Radio journalist shot, first to die under Noynoy

MANILA — A radio journalist has been gunned down in the northern Philippines, the fourth to have been murdered in less than a month and the first under the week-old administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III.

The victim, Jose Dagio, 75, was in his home on Saturday evening having dinner when a gunman shot him, police authorities said on Sunday, according to ABS-CBNnews.com. He died on the way to the hospital.

Police said Dagio was a reporter for Radyo Natin Tabuk, a community radio station in Tabuk town, Kalinga province. He also wrote a column for a local tabloid, they said.

Authorities have not yet established a motive for the killing but are not discounting the possibility that it was related to his work as a journalist.

Dagio was the fourth Filipino journalist to have been murdered in less than a month. On June 14, Desiderio Camangyan, a commentator for the Sunshine FM radio station in Davao Oriental province, in the southern Philippines, was shot dead while emceeing a singing contest. His wife and their child were in the audience.

The next day, Joselito Agustin, a commentator for DZJC Aksyon Radyo in Laoag City was shot and died the next day in the hospital.

A few days later, on June 19, Nestor Bedolido, a writer for the Kastigador tabloid in Davao del Sur, also in Mindanao, was shot dead outside his videoke bar. Police later said that Bedolido, who reportedly openly supported a local candidate in the May elections, may have been killed for his politics, not his writing.

According to tally of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, 141 journalists have been killed since democracy was restored in the Philippines in 1986. At least 107 of those killings occurred during the nine years of the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The recent killings have alarmed local and international media groups, who called on the new president, Aquino, to do something concrete to stop the killings.

Late last week, the International Federation of Journalists, one of the largest media groups in the world, sent Aquino a letter outlining what it called a “detailed action plan for his administration to end impunity for the killings of journalists in the Philippines.” Aidan White, the IFJ’s general secretary, reminded the president that the Philippines government “is required by international law to remedy the current situation and redress the past injustices carried out against journalists.”

The IFJ recommended that the Aquino administration do the following:
• Immediate prosecution of all perpetrators of the Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao on Nov. 23.
• Establish an independent commission “with full judicial powers to call witnesses to publicly inquire into repeated and ongoing instances of assaults, threats, intimidation, abductions, illegal detention and murder of journalists in the Philippines, and the reasons for the failure of authorities to take action against perpetrators.
• Establish an independent taskforce to implement credible judicial proceedings, endorsed by the Commission on Human Rights Commission and international legal experts, to fully investigate these cases and conduct prosecutions.
• Direct state actors such as soldiers, police and government personnel to stand down from their positions pending full and credible investigations into new attacks on media personnel and human rights defenders (murder, assault, abduction, threats and intimidation) where they are the suspects.
• Issue a congressional statement in defense of the rights of journalists and the media, recognizing the Philippines’ commitment to the Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1738 and acknowledging the vital role journalists play in strengthening democracy by informing communities and scrutinising power.
• Ensure the passage of the Freedom of Information Bill in Congress.
• Commit itself not to pass any legislation or issue any executive order that will curtail press freedom and freedom of expression, and it will move to decriminalize libel at the first sitting of the new Congress.
• In cooperation with the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the Human Rights Commission and media owners, develop and implement a sustained training program for police, military and government employees and elected office holders on the rights of journalists.
• Initiates and conducts a series of public meetings in all provinces to raise awareness among the broader public of the rights of journalists in serving the public interest, and the government’s commitment and responsibility to defend and uphold these rights.

White said these recommendations “serve as indicators which will be used by the IFJ and the NUJP, other international press freedom organizations, and the international community to assess the progress of the government in meeting its responsibilities to protect journalists as civilians and to ensure justice is done for past gross abuses of the rights of media personnel.”

Edwin Lacierda, Aquino’s spokesman, said recently that Aquino was concerned about the killings and promised to act on these. “He will be serious about protecting the rights of the journalists. It will not be just lip service,” Lacierda said last month. “His family’s a victim of human rights violations so it’s natural for him to ensure that the rights of every individual will also be protected.” (PinoyPress)