No End In Sight For Attacks On Journalists, Four Victims In 2008

National Union of Journalists of the Philippines Statement

It is only August and already, four journalists fell prey to the unabated attacks against media practitioners.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemns the treacherous attack on broadcaster Dennis Cuesta in General Santos City on Monday.

We pray with Cuesta's family and co-workers for his survival even as we call on authorities to act quickly and arrest the perpetrators of the attack.

Cuesta, anchorman of "Straight to the Point," a morning program on Radio Mindanao Network's dxMD in General Santos City, is fighting for his life after two motorcycle-riding men shot him with a .45 caliber pistol.

The attack on Cuesta came a little more than a month after gunmen shot and killed Quezon journalist Bert Sison and wounded his daughter, also a journalist, on June 30. Sison was the third Filipino journalist to be murdered this year.

The latest attacks, especially on media practitioners, only prove the failure of the government to fulfill its paramount obligation to protect its citizens. The government must issue an unequivocal message that it is ending the culture of impunity by putting its act together and by addressing the attacks on media.

Get the perpetrators, even more important, get the masterminds, and ensure their swift prosecution and punishment. Stop the killings and assaults. Set an example by halting any attempt to try to stifle the media.

References:Jose Torres, Jr, Chairperson
Rowena Carranza-Paraan, Secretary General
August 5, 2008

Broadcaster Wounded In Gun Attack In Southern Philippines

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / 20 Aug) – Unidentified gunman shot and seriously wounded Monday a Filipino broadcaster in the restive southern Philippine region, reports said.

Reports said Manuel Kong, of the radio station dxSN, was attacked while walking along Magallanes Street in Surigao City. The gunman fled after the shooting.

Television news footage showed the unconscious Kong being rushed to hospital.

Police said it is still investigating the motive of the attack. Philippine media organizations condemned the attack and called on authorities to immediately arrest the gunman.

Five journalists were killed and two others wounded in separate attacks in the Philippines since early this year, according to the National Union of Journalists.

The Philippines is branded as one of the most dangerous place for journalists because of unresolved killings. Dozens of journalists were killed the past years and most of the cases remain unresolved. (Mindanao Examiner)

Killer Of Journalist Is Identified

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 25 Jun) – Philippine police have identified the suspect in the fatal shooting Monday of a broadcaster of the state-owned Radyo ng Bayan in the southern Philippines.

Gunmen killed Vicente Sumalpong and wounded another journalist Vema Andam and their driver in the town of Bonggao in Tawi-Tawi island.

The three were on a motorcycle when gunmen ambushed them near the Sea Orchid Subdivision at around 5.25 a.m.

“We have identified the suspect in the killing of the journalist as Nur Suang, who was also involved in the June 20 murder of a female guest relation officer of a bar in Sanga-Sanga (town also in Tawi-Tawi),” Goltiao told reporters.Suang is still at-large, he said.

Goltiao said the survivors in the attack positively identified Suang from a photograph show them by police investigators. He said Sumalpong was helping the family of the slain woman file a case against Suang. (With a report from Juley Reyes)

Journalist Killed In Southern Philippines

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 25 Jun) – A Filipino broadcaster was killed and his companions wounded in an attack early Monday in the southern Philippine island of Tawi-Tawi, officials said.

Officials said gunmen killed Vicente Sumalpong, of the state-owned Radyo Ng Bayan, and wounded another journalist Vema Andam. Their unidentified driver was also injured.

The trio was on a motorcycle when gunmen fired on them near the Sea Orchid Subdivision at around 5.25 a.m.

“We still do not know the motive of the attack, but authorities are investigating this case,” a regional military spokesman, Major Eugene Batara, told the independent regional newspaper, the Mindanao Examiner.

Batara said the gunmen fled after the attack. Crime investigators have recovered empty bullet shells of Uzi sub-machine gun and .45-caliber pistol. He said troops were helping the local police force hunt down the assailants.

Police were also investigating reports that Sumalpong had filed charges against several people in connection with his work and that a court in Bonggao is to decide on the case this week.

It was unknown if the case had anything to do with his murder. Andam is being guarded by policemen in hospital in Bonggao.

The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines condemned the attack. It said 52 journalists have been killed in the country since President Gloria Arroyo rose to power in 2001. The Philippines is second only to Iraq as the most dangerous place for journalists. (Mindanao Examiner)

COMELEC's Rene Sarmiento, Magbibitiw Na!

LANAO DEL SUR (Mindanao Examiner / 28 May) – Pumutok kanina ang balitang magbibitiw na umano si Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento bilang pinuno ng Task Force Maguindanao, na kung saan ay talamak diumano ang dayaan sa nakaraang halalan.

Sa Maguindanao nagwagi ng landslide ang TEAM Unity sa 12-0 swift na umano’y balot sa karahasan at pananakot.

Hindi pa malinaw ang dahilan ng pagreresign ni Sarmiento, ngunit ayon sa ibang mga impormasyon ay kalusugan ang idinadahilan nito. Biglaan ang naging desisyon ni Sarmiento at ibat-ibang haka-haka ang kumakalat sa Mindanao.

Magbibitiw diumano ito dahil sa hindi masikmura ang matinding dayaan sa Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao at posibleng pinagreresign rin dahil hindi umano nagawan ng paraan na maitago ang mga kalokohan sa Maguindanao, Lanao, Basilan at Sulu na kung saan ay namayagpag ang TEAM Unity kontra sa Genuine Opposition senatorial candidates.

Hindi naman makumpirma ang mga balitang ito, ngunit lumutang na ang pangalan ni Elections Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer na posibleng pumalit kay Sarmiento.

Pumutok rin ang balita kasabay ng paglabas ngayon araw sa ABS-CBN ng video footage na nakunan ng grupo ni reporter Ricky Carandang na kung saan ay nahuling bitbit ng mga COMELEC officials ang ilang bundles ng blankong election returns mula Marawi City patungo sa isang hotel sa Iligan City.

Nauna umanong itinanggi ito ni Sarmiento, ngunit dakong huli ay inamin rin matapos na makita ang video footage. Sinabi nitong “safekeeping” lamang ang dahil kung bakit inilipat ang mga ERs.

Nagkaroon pa ng sagutan ang grupo ni Carandang sa isang sigang kasamahan ni Sarmiento ng sila’y komprontahin ng media ukol sa ERs.Halos mabulol naman ang lalaki sa kapapaliwanag at pinag-diskitahan pa ang camera man ni Carandang.

Inulat rin kanina ng ABS-CBN na matapos na mailabas ang nasabing video footage ay pinaghahanap na umano ng mga armadong grupo sina Carandang.

Hindi naman agad makunan ng pahayag si Sarmiento sa Lanao at lumipad na umano ito patungong Maynila kahapon sa kalagitnaan ng eskandalo at dayaan na ibinibintang ng oposisyon sa Malakanyang upang papanaluhin ang ilang mga TEAM Unity bets, partikular ang ika-11 at ika-12 puwesto sa Magic 12.

Itinanggi ng Malakanyang at TEAM Unity ang akusasyon.

Sina failed coup leader Antonio Trillanes at Aquilino “Coco” Pimentel Jr na parehong oposisyon ang nasa dalawang puwesto at kulelat naman sina Jose Miguel Zubiri, Mike Defensor at Ralph Recto ng TEAM Unity. (May ulat sina Mark Navales, Merlyn Manos, Juan Magtanggol at Becky de Asis)

Int'l Media Group Hails Pinoy Journalists

MANILA – The international media watch group, Reporters Without Borders, welcomed Friday the news that Jose Miguel Arroyo, the husband of President Gloria Arroyo, has decided to drop all law suits against the country's journalists and publishers.

It hailed the exemplary campaign waged by Philippines' journalist organizations and called for press offenses to be decriminalized.

Arroyo on Thursday instructed his lawyers to end all "defamation" suits which he had launched since 2003 against a total of 46 journalists, in connection with articles alleging corruption in which he was reportedly implicated.

"In order to express my deep gratitude and in a gesture of peace towards the good people who have helped my family during this crisis, I have instructed my lawyers to drop the cases for defamation. This is a real opportunity for us to begin a positive and constructive relationship with those who accept my outstretched hand", he said after leaving the St. Luke’s hospital in Manila where he had undergone an operation.

In December 2006, journalists took their own legal action against the president's husband because of the abusive accusations he made against them.

Mindanao Journalists Assail AFP, PNP For Spying On Free Press

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY - Filipino journalists expressed alarm Tuesday over spying activities of military and police agents on members of the media in the southern Philippines.

Journalists labeled the spying as "a graphic demonstration of the culture of impunity which has led to killings of a growing number of leftist militants and journalists in the Philippines."

The surveillance started February 14 in Salay town in Misamis Oriental province when armed soldiers identified as members of the Philippine Army's 8th Infantry Battalion took full-face photos of five journalists who were covering the burial of peasant leader Dalmacio Gandinao, the second militant leader slain in Misamis Oriental in Northern Mindanao.

Local newspapers have published the photos of soldiers involved in the surveillance of journalists, but the chief of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, Maj. Gen. Jose Barbieto, denied his men were involved in the spying.

Manila Bulletin and Agence France Presse photographer Gerry Gorit said soldiers also took photos of him. This caused anxiety and sleepless nights, saying, he was violated.

The burial of the slain peasant leader was also attended by Bayan Muna party-list representative Satur Ocampo and other regional and local leaders of Karapatan, Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and the Misamis Oriental Farmers Association.

On Friday, the surveillance was repeated in a larger scale when at least ten military and police personnel in civilian attire and identified to be members of the 4th Infantry Division Civil Affairs Unit, the Philippine Army's Civil Relations Group and the Philippine National Police-Intelligence Division, trailed the indignation rally against the "Culture of Impunity" led by the Cagayan de Oro Press Club all the way from its starting point at the Misamis Oriental Capitol Gardens to the Cagayan de Oro City Amphitheatre in Plaza Divisoria.

"Again, we want to know what these shots are for. The next time it might just be another shot but of a deadlier kind," said COPC president Hugo Orcullo.

"They have been taking pictures of us since we started the rally," said DXCO station manager and former Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas-Cagayan de Oro chapter president, Jonas Bustamante. "I am coming forward to tell them that we know what they are doing and that we will not be cowed."

However, the Army's Press Corps director Vic Cabanag assured the military did not issue any orders ordering soldiers to conduct surveillance of journalists.

But he was quick to say: "If photos were taken and surveillance is being conducted on these media men, it is because they (soldiers) too are taking photos and doing surveillance works."

"As far as we are concerned, we guarantee the safety of all media within the 4th Infantry Division's area of responsibility," Barbieto added.

A police intelligence woman based in Cagayan de Oro City even went around brazenly taking photos of journalists who covered the burial.

The Army's 4th Civil Affairs Unit commander Maj. Samuel Sagun denied his group was involved in the surveillance. "4CMOU man yan, no longer 4ID. Headquarters Phil. Army na yan. Wala ako tao diyan. We're in a democratic country.You are in the AOR (area of responsibility) safest for journalists. Quote me," he said.

But soldiers who were confronted by journalists admitted taking orders from their superiors and said it was a routine surveillance.

Police Press Corps president Michael Angelo Bustamante said he was assured by Chief Supt. Teodorico Capuyan that protection would be afforded to Cagayan de Oro media.

Among those who attended the Friday's rally were Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippine (CBCP) vice chairman and Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and Monsignor Elmer Abacahin, Vatican Press Corps Representative and members of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club.

Bishop Ledesma said the Church is one with the media in calling on government to stop the killings against media practitioners and give justice to the relatives of the victims.

"We join the media in condemning these killings and calling on government to resolve them in order not to (allow this) climate of suppression of freedom of expression," he said.

The rally was held on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the murder of Muhammad Yusop, the first journalist killed during the incumbency of Pres. Gloria Arroyo.

The anniversary coincided with the publication of the findings of the Melo commission and an investigation by the United Nations special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, Philip Alston.
Former COPC President Uriel Quilinguing noted it also marked the declaration of Proclamation 1017 last year that marked the start of a crackdown on media outlets. (Contributed by Rene Banos/Kagay-an.com)

An Open Letter To President Gloria Arroyo

Open letter to the Philippines' President: Act now to dismantle culture of impunity

Ms. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
President of the Republic of the Philippines

Email: opnet@ops.gov.ph

Dear President Arroyo,

On December 20, Laoag City radio broadcaster Andres "Andy" Acosta was stabbed to death in Batac, Ilocos Norte. Acosta's brutal murder now brings the total up to 48 journalists killed since you came to power in 2001.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), as the organisation representing more than 500,000 journalists in over 115 countries, implores you to take immediate action and put an end to the senseless bloodshed, and ensure those responsible for these deaths are brought to justice.

According to IFJ affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), a police official interviewed on radio station dzBB said the Acosta's murder was most likely related to Acosta's "line of work".

Acosta reportedly worked for Laoag radio station dzJC Aksyon Radyo (Action Radio), an affiliate of the Manila Broadcasting Company (MBC). It is the same station where Roger Mariano, a broadcaster killed on July 31, 2004, worked.

The 12th journalist killed this year, Acosta's murder adds to an already appalling record and sends a strong message to the world that your administration does not place any value in the lives of journalists or in an independent media and informed public.

What is even more terrifying about these figures is that the perpetrators of these brutal crimes remain unpunished, and despite the establishment of the Melo Commission, journalist killers still walk free, while journalists continue to be fatally silenced.

The NUJP's tireless efforts, including their latest information campaign for journalists safety - "20 steps to safety", in campaigning for a free and safe media, while admirable, also highlights the terrible reality for journalists in the Philippines.

The IFJ echoes the NUJP's calls for your government to act now to end the culture of impunity and show the world your nation protects its citizens, punishes criminals, and values press freedom and democracy.This has gone on far too long, and too many lives have been wasted, for your government to remain idle.

Yours sincerely,


Christopher Warren
President
International Federation of Journalists

STILL NO WORD OF MISSING RADIO PRESENTER AND ENVIRONMENTALIST EIGHT MONTHS AFTER HIS ABDUCTION

Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage today at the indifference of both local and national authorities to the fate of radio presenter and anti-logging campaigner Joey Estriber, who has been missing ever since he was kidnapped outside an Internet café in Baler, in Aurora province, northeast of Manila, on the evening of 3 March 2006.

"It is eight months to the day since Estriber was abducted and nothing has been done by the authorities to find and identify his kidnappers," the press freedom organisation said.

"It seems that complicity between the local police and logging companies has prevented any progress in the investigation. The authorities in Manila must restart enquiries as a matter of urgency."

A freelance journalist who presented the programme Pag-usapan Natin (Let's talk about that) on local radio station DZJO, Estriber was kidnapped by four gunmen.

According to a representative of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), the kidnapping took place a few yards from a police station, but the police never questioned the witnesses.

Estriber has five dependants - his wife and four children - who have had no source of income since his disappearance.

A well-known critic of deforestation in Aurora province, he often used his radio programme to condemn the intensive logging being carried out by companies with the support of people within the local government, and he had participated in a campaign calling for the withdrawal of the nine licences issued to logging companies in the province.

Estriber also worked for a local development NGO, Bataris, which a military officer speaking on a radio station in February described as the kind of organisation that should be combated. (Vincent Brossel, Asia - Pacific Desk, Reporters Sans Frontières, 5 rue Geoffroy Marie, 75009 Paris; 33 1 44 83 84 70, 33 1 45 23 11 51 (fax),asia@rsf.org,www.rsf.org)