Attacks on media workers continue to worry
international groups

IN what is considered a test case of government’s will to stop the killing of journalists, four suspects in the 2005 murder of Marlene Garcia-Esperat in Sultan Kudarat will face indictment on Monday. On the eve of the resumption of the trial, nine international media groups have called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to ensure that justice is carried out for the killing.

“This case shocked both Philippine journalists and the international community,” the groups said in a statement. “The judicial system must not allow the instigators to go unpunished. Its credibility is at stake.”

Esperat had exposed many cases of corruption and embezzlement at the Department of Agriculture (DA), where, she said, officials could not resist dipping their hands into the agency’s multimillion-peso budget.

She was killed in her own home by a lone assailant, in full view of her children, on March 24, 2005.

The media groups expressed concern over reports that the Cebu court handling Esperat’s case had announced that there will be a rapid trial for the accused.

“While trials should be quick they should not be hasty,” said the groups.

The statement was signed by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, the Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility, Committee to Protect Journalists, International PEN, International Press Institute, Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, The Rory Peck Trust, and World Press Freedom Committee.

The groups also expressed concern that other individuals suspected of commissioning Esperat’s murder have not been named in the formal charges.

Two officials of the regional office of the DA who allegedly plotted the killing have managed to elude justice, with the charges against them dismissed and warrants for their arrest withdrawn. There is strong evidence and testimony linking them to the murder, insist Esperat’s family and their lawyers.

(Click here for a PCIJ report describing the Esperat family’s quest for justice for Marlene.)

Esperat’s murder is the first among all journalist murders since 1986 where the masterminds have been identified and evidence against them found.

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility counts some 57 journalists who have been killed in the line of duty since after the end of the Marcos era.

Also yesterday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said the safety situation of journalists in the Philippines “is going from bad to worse.”

In a statement, IFJ noted what it called “a week of violent attacks on media workers.” The group referred to the reported mauling on Tuesday of a community journalist by a city councilor in Laguna. The journalist, Iring Maranan, is a columnist and host of a local television program in San Pablo City.

“The attack of a journalist by a councillor is shocking enough, but in full view of witnesses and in front of cameras it is particularly worrisome as it demonstrates a total lack of fear of prosecution,” the IFJ said.

Only days before the mauling of Maranan, IFJ noted, a local radio announcer was shot by unidentified men in Naga City. The journalist, Paul Manaog, is still in critical condition.

IFJ urged the government to “make a concerted effort to protect and defend the rights and safety of journalists.”

The group said:

“The escalating violence against journalists in the Philippines is very distressing and highlights the appalling culture of impunity enjoyed by killers and attackers of journalists. When journalists are killed or attacked for their work it is a shocking assault on press freedom and the Philippines government is clearly not doing enough to ensure the protection of media workers, and the prosecution of perpetrators.”