(CMFR/IFEX) – On 7 November 2003, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that the government is offering a P1,000,000 (approx. US$18,200) reward for the capture of individuals who have killed journalists in the last five years. Arroyo made the announcement during a speech at the 29th Top Level Management Conference of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – On 7 November 2003, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced that the government is offering a P1,000,000 (approx. US$18,200) reward for the capture of individuals who have killed journalists in the last five years.
Arroyo made the announcement during a speech at the 29th Top Level Management Conference of the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) broadcasters’ association in Tagaytay City.
According to CMFR’s database, 17 journalists have been killed since 1998. Six journalists have been killed so far in 2003. This is double the average of three journalists killed every year since 1986.
On 8 November, the Malacañang Presidential News Desk reported that the president also ordered Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Hermogenes Ebdane to be more “resolute” in investigating the unsolved murder cases.
President Arroyo specifically mentioned the murder of journalist Edgar Damalerio, who was shot dead on 13 May 2002 in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur (see IFEX alerts of 6 August, 8 July, 7 March, 7 and 4 February, 21 and 7 January 2003, 28 August, 19 June, 21, 15 and 14 May 2002).
The prime suspect, a police officer named Guillermo Wapille, escaped from police custody on 28 January 2003. If the case against Wapille had advanced, it would have marked the first time since 1961 that anyone had been charged, detained and potentially punished for killing a journalist.
Since 1961, 59 journalists have been killed in the line of duty in the Philippines. Forty-two were killed since 1986, when democratic institutions were restored after 14 years of dictatorship. No cases have been solved since 1986.
