A panel of public prosecutors found probable cause to file murder charges against the person who allegedly hired the gunman and the gunman’s accomplices in the killing of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN) dwAR broadcaster Gerardo “Gerry” Ortega.

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.

NEW YORK – The Philippine National Bureau of Investigation should immediately investigate the latest killing of a witness to the November 2009 massacre of at least 58 people in Maguindanao province, Mindanao, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the government to act swiftly to protect witnesses and their families.
An unidentified gunman shot and killed Suwaib Upham, …

MANILA — On the seventh month of the Ampatuan massacre, New York-based Human Rights Watch called on the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation to immediately investigate the latest killing of a witness.
The massacre in November 2009 killed at least 58 people, mostly journalists, in Maguindanao province, Mindanao.
Suwaib Upham, a witness to the Maguindanao killings known publicly as “Jesse,” was …

Three journalists murdered in one week, two of them in as many days.
The murder of Nestor Bedolido of the weekly Kastigador in Digos City, Davao del Sur, on Saturday night brings to 140 the number of journalists and media workers killed since 1986, 103 of them under the Arroyo administration alone.
It would be convenient to …

A journalist in Baguio City checks his firearm. (Photo by Artemio Dumlao/bulatlat.com)
MANILA — Following the murder of two radio broadcasters in the past two days, international media watchdog Reporters Without Borders urged President-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino to react firmly.
“Combating impunity and violence against the media must now be a priority for Aquino. The whole country’s credibility is at stake,” …

New York, December 17, 2009�At least 68 journalists worldwide were killed for their work in 2009, the highest yearly tally ever documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the organization said in its year-end analysis. The record toll was driven in large part by the election-related slaughter of more than 30 media workers in the Philippine province of Maguindanao, the …

The fundamental principles of legality and due process have been abandoned, with security forces having unprecedented powers given by the head of state under this martial law.

The declaration of a state of Martial Law in Maguindanao sets a most dangerous precedent for the nation. Not since September 21, 1972 has there been any declaration of Martial Law, not even during the years of tumult under the Aquino, Estrada and, prior to this, the Arroyo regime. For the first time since 1972, the writ of habeas corpus has been suspended in an area in the Philippines.