Press Release
December 16, 2008

Erase RP's image as dangerous place for journalists, Gordon urges gov't

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today urged the Arroyo administration to erase the country's image as a dangerous place for journalists by raising the conviction rates against perpetrators and masterminds of media killings in the country.

Gordon made the call following a report from the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) that the Philippines ranks fifth most dangerous country for journalists in the world, with six journalists killed in 2008.

"We shudder to think that one of the legacies we shall leave this generation behind is our reputation for failing to make ourselves, notably our media practitioners, as safe as we once felt before," he said.

In the past years, various international media organizations - the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Reporters Without Borders, and International Press Institute - ranked the Philippines either second or third most dangerous place for journalists in the world.

"We are still at a low point in our standing with other nations, and there is no cause to give ourselves pat on our back. We need more than just arresting and filing charges against perpetrators of media killings. Our people demand that real masterminds are convicted," Gordon added.

Since 2001, a total of 62 journalists have been killed, seven of whom were reported this year with Radyo Natin reporter Leo Mila adding to the latest list of slain journalists. Mila was gunned down last Dec. 2.

"Our country has been accused as being perpetrators of extra-judicial killings mainly because we had not been able to conduct any cogent investigation or for that matter, been able to arrest any of the suspects in these dastardly deeds," Gordon said.

Gordon, whose own father was assassinated in the line of public service, has consistently stood up at Senate sessions to condemn killings perpetrated against individuals killed in the line of duty, particularly journalists.

He has recently called on the Philippine National Police to submit to the Senate an updated list of political and media killings and the actions they have taken on each case.

Gordon said it is not enough that police establish the motive behind the killings, identify the suspects and file a case against them. What is more important is to capture the mastermind and prevent more extrajudicial killings from happening, he added.

"The government has to move fast as the continued killings of our media practitioners send not only a chilling effect but also a wrong signal that perpetrators and the masterminds enjoy impunity unless they are put behind bars," he said.

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