P-Noy not interested in media killings

P-Noy not interested in media killings

BLURBAL THRUSTS, By Louie Logarta – http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120205com4.html

5 February 2012

The Press Freedom committee of the National Press Club has come up with a finding that is quite disturbing since it seems to underscore the apathy of government toward the plight of members of the Fourth Estate, meaning the press, who have in recent years been increasingly subjected to indescribable atrocities (hey dickheads, remember the Nov. 23, 2009 Maguindanao Massacre wherein 32 mediamen lost their lives?) by certain parties resentful of their prying news stories, as well as their utter helplessness and inutility in preventing these things from happening any further.

Here is the stark reality: There have been more journalists killed during President Aquino’s first 20 months in office than former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the same time frame.

In case concerned authorities have forgotten, the following are the names of the deceased — radio broadcaster Jose Daguio in Tabuk, Kalinga (July 3, 2010); Miguel Belen of dwEB-FM in Camarines Sur (July 9, 2010); Edilberto Cruz of Salida tabloid in Nueva Ecija (Aug. 1, 2010); Edison Flameniana Sr. of the Mindanao Inquirer in Zamboanga del Sur (Dec. 10, 2010); Dr. Gerry Ortega in Puerto Princesa City (Jan. 24, 2011); Cirilo Gallardo of dwWW-FM in Bangued, Abra (Feb. 1, 2011); Len Flores Somera of dzME in Malabon City (March 24, 2011); Romeo Olea of dwEB-FM in Nabua, Camarines Sur (June 13, 2011); radio blocktimer Neil Aranga Jimena in E.B. Magalona, Negros Occidental (Aug. 22, 2011); radio commentator Datu Roy Quijada Gallego in Surigao del Sur (Oct. 14, 2011); Alfredo “Dodong” Velarde Jr. of Brigada News in General Santos City (Nov. 11, 2011); and publisher Christopher Guarin of Tatak News in General Santos City (Jan. 5, 2012).

Going further, it has to be stressed that so far, there have been 150 journalists killed in the country since 1986 when President Cory Aquino (the mother of the incumbent President) assumed power courtesy of the Edsa I mob.

Thanks to this inglorious fact, the Philippines had been classified in 2011 by the Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), a respected France-based media watchdog, as among the world’s most dangerous places for journalists.

One other necessary aside, the RSF in its “Predators of Press Freedom” index, also released in 2011, singled out the cities of Manila, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro as particularly hazardous if you happened to be a member of the press due to the presence of various malefactors, referring to private militia and paramilitary groups.

“The government that took office in July has still not come up with a satisfactory response, so these groups continue to enjoy a total impunity that is the result of corruption, links between certain politicians and organized crime, and an insufficiently independent Judicial system,” the RSF said.

It is precisely for this reason that the NPC has been continually chiding the government, to the point of sounding like a broken record, of its failure in curbing the problem of journalist killings even as they called for more drastic actions in solving previous murders and ensuring that perpetrators are severely punished.

“Journalists are dying at a more serious and alarming rate these days. The sad fact is that the Aquino government’s rhetoric and lip service do not help in solving, much less preventing, attacks on members of the press which we see as an affront to press freedom… if the Arroyo government had not done enough, the Aquino government is practically doing nothing to safeguard the lives of journalists. The President must walk the talk. His campaign against corruption must include wiping out the inept and corrupt government officials and private individuals who caused the deaths of these journalists,” the NPC said in a scathing reminder disseminated recently.

The NPC and the RSF are not the only ones alone in critiquing the Aquino government. Earlier, the Committee to Protect Journalists based in New York City, an independent non-profit organization that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists, placed the Philippines third on its 2011 Impunity Index.

This means that the Philippines is one of the worst countries with regard to the number of media persons murdered, and also refers to the inability or refusal of the government to solve the crimes. Iraq is ranked first on the list, with Somalia in second place.

Another media monitor, the Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign, listed the Philippines as the fifth most dangerous country for journalists worldwide.

Other places listed by the RSF as extremely hazardous for journalists are Mogadishu, Somalia; Cairo, Egypt; Misrata, Libya; Veracruz, Mexico; Khudzar, Pakistan; Deraa, Homs and Damascus in Syria; Sana’a, Yemen; Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire and Manama, Bahrain.