(CMFR/IFEX) – A Manila-based photojournalist was slain on 31 July 2006 in Malabon City, just north of Manila. According to police reports, Prudencio “Dick” Melendres, a photojournalist working for the Manila-based tabloid “Tanod” (“Guardian”), had just left his home when he was murdered shortly before 9 a.m. (local time). Melendres was reportedly on his way […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – A Manila-based photojournalist was slain on 31 July 2006 in Malabon City, just north of Manila.
According to police reports, Prudencio “Dick” Melendres, a photojournalist working for the Manila-based tabloid “Tanod” (“Guardian”), had just left his home when he was murdered shortly before 9 a.m. (local time).
Melendres was reportedly on his way to cover an assignment, wearing a raincoat, a jacket and a black belt bag, when four armed men shot him in a narrow alley near his house at Gozon compound in Malabon City. The victim succumbed to gunshot wounds in the chest, abdomen, and nape of the neck.
Melendres’s assassins, who wore black jackets with hoods, fled immediately after the incident aboard a passenger jeep bound for the nearby municipality of Navotas, according to a witness. Other sketchy reports said the suspects were riding two motorcycles.
The local police ruled out speculations that the murder of Melendres was linked to his job as a journalist. “Based on initial findings, the case is not work-related,” Malabon City Police Chief Moises Guevarra said.
Local residents, who refused to be identified, believe Melendres’s killing could be related to Albert Orsolino’s case, “The Philippine Star” reported. Melendres was a cousin of Orsolino, a photojournalist himself, who was similarly shot dead during an ambush on 16 May.
Orsolino, who was also a former reporter covering the Malacañang (the Office of the President), worked for another tabloid, “Saksi Ngayon” (“Witness Today”). Police investigation showed that he was killed most likely by a neighbour over a personal grudge (see IFEX alerts of 1 August and 16 May 2006).
Relatives said that after Orsolino was killed, Melendres replaced him as president of Letre Urban People Homeowners’ Association. Both Orsolino and Melendres were also members of the CAMANAVA (Caloocan-Malabon-Navotas-Valenzuela) Press Corps.
According to his uncle Ernesto Rosales, Melendres had been helping residents in the area to acquire the land on which they previously had been considered been illegal settlers, reported the Inquirer News Service.
Northern Police District (NPD) Chief Leopoldo Bataoil confirmed it was “highly probable” that the killings (Orsolino’s and Melendres’s) were related.
Bataoil said Melendres apparently thought he would be killed because he left a sealed letter with instructions that it be opened if he was killed.
“He knew who was out to kill him and detailed it in his letter,” Bataoil said. One of two people mentioned in the letter has been taken in by the police for questioning, authorities said.
Director General Oscar Calderon, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), ordered the creation of a task force, to be led by the NPD deputy director for operations, Senior Supt. Constante Azares, to look into the possible link of the Melendres killing to the Orsolino murder.
Melendres’s slaying brought the total number of slain journalists – whether their killings were work-related or non-work related – to at least 83, since democracy was restored in 1986, based on the CMFR’s working database.
To date in 2006 alone, 10 media practitioners have been killed. However, only four of these were killed in the line of duty, according to CMFR’s records. Scores of activists and peace and human rights advocates have also already been killed in 2006, indicating a worsening climate of violence and impunity in the country.
On 31 July, the same day Melendres was killed, two activists were also slain in separate incidents in Kalinga and Sorsogon provinces, approximately 400 kilometers north and 550 kilometers south of Manila, respectively.
Calderon said several teams of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) special investigators will be deployed in areas where there have been killings of militants and journalists to help local police investigators do their jobs.
Deputy Director General Avelino Razon Jr. – head of PNP’s Task Force Usig (Prosecute), which is in charge of investigating killings of journalists and activists – said they are using the regional offices of the CIDG in investigative efforts.
