(RSF/IFEX) – On 22 August 2002, RSF protested the murder of TV presenter and magazine editor Sonny Alcantara. The journalist was shot in the head and killed earlier the same day in San Pablo City (80 kilometres south of Manila). RSF notes that this latest killing took place in a continuing climate of impunity for […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 22 August 2002, RSF protested the murder of TV presenter and magazine editor Sonny Alcantara. The journalist was shot in the head and killed earlier the same day in San Pablo City (80 kilometres south of Manila). RSF notes that this latest killing took place in a continuing climate of impunity for those who attack journalists. Persons close to the victim said he had felt under threat because of articles criticising the city’s former mayor.
“Sonny Alcantara is the third Philippine journalist to be murdered since the beginning of 2002,” noted RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard in a letter to Interior Minister José D. Lina. “The press freedom predators act with such impunity in certain regions of the Philippines that they show no inhibitions about attacking those who dare to denounce their crimes and corruption,” Ménard added.
Referring to the investigations into the murders of journalists Benjaline Hernandez and Edgar Damalerio, which are blocked despite abundant evidence implicating military and police personnel, the letter urged the minister to intervene in order to ensure that both those behind this latest killing and those who carried it out are identified. RSF also asked to be kept informed of the progress of the police inquiry.
Alcantara was editor of the local bi-monthly magazine “Kokus” and presented a political affairs programme called “Quo Vadis San Pablo” on the private cable television station Celestron Cable. He was killed as he was leaving his home on the morning of 22 August. According to a San Pablo journalist questioned by RSF, an unidentified person called out to Alcantara as he was leaving his home, then pulled out a pistol and shot him in the head at point-blank range. Alcantara died on the spot and the killer fled.
The shooting was witnessed by several persons who have so far refused to testify publicly for fear of reprisals. The police have opened an inquiry under the authority of the San Pablo City chief of police, Colonel Ernesto Cuison.
According to his widow, Alcantara had been receiving threats via telephone and mail for the past several weeks. In both his magazine and television programme, he had regularly criticised the municipal opposition, especially former mayor Vicente Amante, a very influential businessman in the region who is reputedly close to certain criminal organisations. A person close to Alcantara voiced the suspicion to RSF that Amante may be behind the killing. At least 15 persons have been murdered in San Pablo City since the start of 2000.
