Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009asia: philippinesAguak to file documents in support of local political leader Esmael Mangudadatu’scandidacy for provincial governor. Having been warned of a possible ambush,Mangudadatu did not travel with the group but instead sent female family membersand supporters, and invited the press to go along, in the belief that womenand independent witnesses would not be attacked, according to local and foreignmedia reports.Police quickly identified Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay inMaguindanao, as a prime suspect behind the killings. Ampatuan surrendered toauthorities but proclaimed his innocence. Investigators said that about 100 heavilyarmed men loyal to Ampatuan abducted the group, took it to a more remotehillside, and then opened fire. Reuters quoted one of its photographers at thescene as saying that many bodies had both bullet and machete wounds. Some ofthe victims had their hands tied behind their backs, and one of the female victimswas pregnant, Reuters and other sources reported.The journalists were not directly targeted for their work, but were the victimsof a long-running feud between two rival political clans competing for supremacyin the area. The massacre was not linked to Mindanao’s decades-old guerrillabattle between Muslim secessionists and Philippine army troops (many of whomare being trained by the U.S. military). As is the case in more than 85 percent ofjournalist killings worldwide, the victims in Maguindanao were local journalistspursuing a local story.No single event has claimed as many journalists’ lives in the 18 years sinceCPJ began compiling detailed records. According to CPJ research, the deadliestprior event for the press came in Iraq on October 12, 2006, when 11 employees ofAl-Shaabiya television were killed in an attack at the station’s Baghdad studios.It was a massive political setback for the government of President GloriaMacapagal-Arroyo, which had political ties with the Ampatuan clan. A week afterthe killing, Arroyo, whose administration had become increasingly unpopular,announced that she would not seek re-election but would instead run for a congressionalseat in her home district of Pampanga.The response in the Philippines and globally was immediate. CPJ joined withlocal and international media organizations to travel to the area to investigate andraise funds to aid the families of the victims. The investigative and support workwas expected to continue well into 2010.The massacre underscored the deep-seated climate of impunity in the Philippines,an atmosphere in which politicians have felt free to use deadly violence tosettle scores, win office, and further personal interests. To fight the phenomenon,CPJ worked with local partners for a second year in its Global Campaign AgainstImpunity. The campaign presses government officials for greater resolve, provideslegal support and assistance to victim families, and pursues court tactics that im-prove the odds for arrests and convictions.Although overshadowed by the brutality in Maguindanao, some positive developmentswere reported during the year, including a rare conviction and SupremeCourt decisions to change trial venues to more neutral and secure settings.On April 29, a regional trial court in Malita, Davao Del Sur province, convictedthe killer of radio journalist Armando Pace, who was gunned down in Digos Cityin 2006. The defendant was sentenced to 17 years in prison based on the testimonyof a 16-year-old student who witnessed the crime.Court proceedings against two suspects accused of ordering the 2005 killingof investigative reporter Marlene Garcia-Esperat progressed in April whena local court denied a motion from the defendants, Department of Agricultureofficials Osmena Montaner and Estrella Sabay, to dismiss murder charges. Threemen were convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for carrying out themurder. During their trial, the two agriculture officials were identified as the mastermindsbehind the crime.In August, the Supreme Court granted a change of venue in the case fromTacarong City to Manila. The request had been filed by the Freedom Fund forFilipino Journalists, a coalition of six media groups and a CPJ partner in theGlobal Campaign Against Impunity. The coalition sought the venue change dueto concerns about the safety of witnesses and prosecutors, and possible politicalinterference in the local court.Montaner and Sabay evaded warrants for their arrest throughout the year,raising criticism among relatives and press freedom advocates that police were notvigorously pursuing the suspects. Police responded to concerns in this and othercases by announcing the creation of 21 dedicated “tracker teams” to hunt downsuspects and post more than 6,000 wanted posters, replete with rewards.But attacks on the press remained common, continuing an exceptional cycleof violence and impunity. Two radio commentators, Ernie Rollin and CrispinPerez, were murdered for their reporting, and newspaper reporter Jojo Trajanowas killed while covering a police raid on an organized crime group that ended ina gun battle.Rollin, a morning news anchor at DXSY Radio, was killed on February 23while waiting for a bus in Oroquieta City, capital of Misamis Occidental provincein the northern part of Mindanao island. A masked assailant shot Rollin in thehead after firing an initial hail of bullets from the back of a motorcycle, accordingto a witness quoted by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, a localpress freedom group. Murder charges were filed in June against a former memberof the communist New People’s Army.An assailant fatally shot Perez, a commentator at DWDO Radio and a practicinglawyer, on June 9 in San Jose City in the central province of Occidental136137