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Expect fewer cases of journalists being killed,
whether the killing is done while in the course of the mediaman
doing his job or simply personal vendetta.
President Arroyo on Thursday,
June 14, last week vowed to put an end to the unexplained killings
of journalists (and activists) that began when she assumed office in
January 2001. The number of killed journalists had risen steadily,
from two per year in 2001 to six per year, until a lull last year
(when killings went down to two).
The President invited the leaders
of the various press organizations for lunch at the Aguinaldo
State Dining Hall. The meeting was upon her initiative.
I represented the Manila Overseas
Press Club as its chairman. With me was Emil Jurado, the MOPC
vice-president and a columnist of The Manila Standard Today.
Upon my suggestion, the President
designated a special team of prosecutors to exclusively handle cases
of violence against media practitioners. At the dialogue, I had
requested Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez to assign his crack
prosecutors to the cases but he instead began enumerating who his
top prosecutors are, in order of their rank, from the chief state
prosecutor down.
The President butted in and got
what I wanted to say, that we needed a special team of prosecutors
to handle the cases of media killings. Someone suggested the name of
newly promoted Cavite provincial prosecutor, Emmanuel Velasco, a
former newsman.
Right there, the President asked
that Velasco be brought back to Manila, given a promotion, and
tasked to handle the cases of media murders. Now, that’s aksyon
agad.
I also suggested that a meeting
with top security officials and the media leaders be held once every
quarter. The idea is to keep the AFP, PNP and DOJ on their toes
since during such meetings, they would naturally be asked to report
on the status of the killings. The President adopted the suggestion
and will probably attend, if not host, the meetings.
In her statement read at the
start of the special lunch meeting, the President vowed to punish
rogue members of the military and police who are reportedly involved
in the killings.
“As we have made tough choices
to turn around our economy, we will also get a handle on these
killings to end them once and for all,” Mrs. Arroyo said. “Let
me once again deplore the killings of journalists.”
“We have a sorry history in our
nation for political violence. We aim to break this cycle of
violence once and for all,” she said.
The President told Armed Forces
of the Philippines chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon,
Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Calderon,
Department of Justice Secretary Raul M. Gonzalez and other
law-enforcement agencies to speed up the investigation and
resolution of cases of media killings.
Also at the two-hour meeting were
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye,
Defense Undersecretary Melchor Rosales, Press Undersecretaries Jose
Capadocia and Isabel de Leon, Philippine Information Agency (PIA)
chief Dodie Limcaoco, PNP Task Force Usig chief Director Gerry
Barias and Deputy Presidential Security Group chief Col. Emmanuel
Cacdac.
Representing the news
organizations were myself of the MOPC, National Press Club president
Roy Mabasa, NPC director Samuel Julian, NPC legal counsel Toto
Causing, Malacañang Press Corps president Paolo Romero, MPC
vice-president Mia Gonzalez, Defense Press Corps president Verlin
Ruiz, PNP Press Corps president Nilo Marasigan and PNPPC chairman
Alvin Baltazar, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas chairman
Ruperto Nicdao Jr. and KBP member Butch Canoy.
The Philippine Star on June 15
reported that “Lopez also urged Mrs. Arroyo to take stronger steps
and send a signal to all government officials and law-enforcement
agencies that she will not tolerate such killings.”
Star’s Paolo Romero reported,
quoting me, “Of the 34 suspects in the killings of journalists,
half are either members of the AFP or the PNP or government
officials—including mayors. Of the 111 cases of killings
acknowledged by the government, 27 of the fatalities were
journalists.”
“That means one out of four
cases [is] media killings,” I concluded.
Analyzing the killings, I told
the President the incidents were organized, with more than one
person involved in the assassinations.
I also stressed journalism is the
only profession guaranteed protection under the 1987 Constitution.
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