Press group calls for protection of Philippine journalists

FOLLOWING the death of another Filipino journalist on Thursday, Aug. 28, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to work toward eliminating attacks against press in the country.

Radio broadcaster Cosme Maestrado, 46, the most recent victim, was shot to death by four unidentified gunman, according to The Guardian. On Aug. 19, Teodoro Escanilla, a radio anchor for dzMS, was shot in front of his house; on Aug. 18, newspaper columnist and publisher Gregorio Ybanez was shot dead in front of his home, the Associated Press reported.

“We call on President Benigno Aquino to give top priority to swiftly resolving these egregious cases,” said Shawn Crispin, the senior southeast Asia representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists, according to the Associated Press. “Until Aquino demonstrates his government is serious about ending the onslaught, the killings will inevitably continue.”

Maestrado, an anchor at radio station dxOC, escaped a previous attack in November 2011, his colleagues told The Guardian. He was known for his commentary on the abuse of power and local corruption. The publication reported that Maestrado was shot 10 times.

“He was a good man, kind-hearted and helped many people. His cry is for change,” radio station manager Remegio Bonustro said, according to The Associated Press.

Escanilla, according to the news agency, was a spokesman of human rights group Karapatan in the province of Sorsogon and was critical of alleged military abuses.

The Associated Press further reported that Ybanez was a board member of an electric cooperative in Davao, and police are delving into whether a disagreement among board members of the cooperative could have been a reason behind the killing.

In 2015 alone, six journalists have been killed in the Philippines, and 32 since Aquino assumed the presidency in 2010, according to a Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism report.

If the three most recent incidents are determined to have been work-related murders, the number of journalists killed in the Philippines since 1986 will be at 150, according to Philippine media watchdog Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.

“The murder of three journalists in two weeks shows how the lack of progress in ending impunity has emboldened those bent on silencing the press in the Philippines,” Crispin said, according to The Guardian.

Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma has criticized the attacks and told reporters that police have been instructed to search for the killers.

The Philippine National Police Director General Ricardo Marquez, according to the Associated Press, said police have created separate special investigation groups to look into each of the attacks.

The Philippines is ranked the third most deadly country for journalists around the world by the Committee to Protect Journalists, following Iraq and Syria.