Articles by Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR)
Damalerio killer sentenced to life in prison
(CMFR/IFEX) – The quest for justice in the killing of print, radio, and television journalist Edgar Damalerio came to a favourable conclusion when the local court convicted his killer, Guillermo Wapile, and sentenced him to life in prison on 29 November 2005 in Cebu City. Damalerio’s widow, Gemma, broke into tears upon hearing the judgment […]
Local court bars publication of blog post
(CMFR/IFEX) – In an unprecedented move, on 4 November 2005 a local court in Quezon City barred the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) from publishing a post on its blog site discussing a government audio expert’s background. In compliance with the order of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC), the PCIJ removed from […]
Television reporter stalked
(CMFR/IFEX) – A local television reporter recently sought police help when two motorcycle-riding men tailed him while he was on his way home in General Santos City, 980 km south of Manila. According to a police blotter dated 10 October 2005, ABS-CBN’s provincial reporter, Sonny Sombreo, was on his way home from a “personal meeting” […]
Photojournalist held by military
(CMFR/IFEX) – After mistaking him for a rebel, a photojournalist working for a national daily was held by local police and military on 4 October 2005 in Tarlac City, around 130 kilometers north of Manila. Rene Dilan, a photographer of “The Manila Times”, was responding to an earlier tip from an unnamed source on a […]
Assassination attempt on journalist unlikely to be work-related, newspaper and police say
(CMFR/IFEX) – A business reporter writing for a local weekly barely clung to life after being shot in the back by a gunman on 4 October 2005 in General Santos City, around 980 kilometres south of Manila. Danilo Aguirre, a marketing executive and business correspondent of the “Mindanao Bulletin”, was about to go to a […]
Authorities close in on two suspects in Agustin killing
(CMFR/IFEX) – With the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), authorities are now reportedly closing in on two suspects in the killing of publisher-editor Philip Agustin. Agustin was killed on 10 May 2005 in Dingalan, Aurora, just northeast of metropolitan Manila. According to NBI reports, Noel “Boyet” Morete and Emmanuel Alday, the two […]
Five journalists face libel suit for linking local official to bank robbery
(CMFR/IFEX) – Five journalists face libel charges for publishing stories implicating a municipal mayor as the mastermind of a 94 million-peso (approx. US$1.7 million) bank robbery in Bogo, Cebu province, south of Manila. “Sun.Star Cebu” editor-in-chief Pachico Seares, managing editor for news Isolde Amante, news editor Maria Carmel Geverola and reporters Mia Abellana and Karlon […]
Damalerio murder trial nears end
(CMFR/IFEX) – Barely two months after the trial of the suspected killer of journalist Edgar Damalerio restarted, a no-show by the accused underscored the last day of hearings on 25 August 2005 in Cebu City, the southern Philippines’s largest city. The suspect, ex-policeman Guillermo Wapile, had refused to testify. His lawyer, Honorato Hermosisima Jr., said […]