Philippines 6th most dangerous country for media

Tuesday, 24 March 2009 15:21 Tinette Panogot

The Philippines ranks 6^th on the 2009 Impunity Index entitled Getting Away With Murder, released by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on 23 March 2009, making the country the 6^th most dangerous country in the world for journalists.
Iraq, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Colombia, in that order, are the first five countries on the index. After the Philippines are ranked Afghanistan, Nepal, Russia, Pakistan, Mexico, Bangladesh, Brazil and India. Since the five countries ahead of the Philippines on the Index are countries in armed conflict, the Philippines may be considered the most dangerous peacetime country in the world for journalists, according to ABS-CBN News.

For the index, the CPJ calculated the number of unsolved killings of journalists for the period 1 January 1999 through 31 December 2008 as a percentage of the country's population, unsolved killings being those in which no convictions have been obtained. The deaths of journalists killed in combat or while on dangerous assignments were not included. Only those countries with five or more unsolved cases are included in the index; the Philippines has at least 24, according to the study.

CPJ Killed Journalists in 2008 from Dave Mayers on Vimeo.
It was "no accident" that the release of the index in Manila was timed for the anniversary of the assassination of Sultan Kudarat journalist Marlene Garcia-Esperat, who was gunned down on 24 March 2005 inside her own home and in front of her own child after she blew the whistle on the fertilizer fund scam, said Shawn Crispin, CPJ representative for Southeast Asia. Elisabeth Witchel, the coordinator for CPJ's impunity campaign, called Esperat's case "emblematic of the struggle against impunity."

"The Philippines, with its exceptionally high rate of killings of journalists and especially low rate of prosecutions, has long been a poster-child of impunity in the global context. Our research shows that the impunity rate in killed journalists' cases here still hovers above 90 percent, one of the highest in the world," Crispin is quoted by ABS-CBN News as saying. He pointed out that despite the task forces created by President Arroyo to solve the murders, "the statistical reality is that no journalists' murders have received full justice."

Malacañang, meanwhile, downplayed the results of the impunity index. "The claim that the Philippines is deadliest for journalists may be a bit of an exaggeration," stated Press Secretary Cerge Remonde in a text message to reporters. "You can also take that as a positive indication of the bravery and dedication of Filipino journalists that they are willing to make the supreme sacrifice in the altar of press freedom," he added.

Photo "Call for justice" by Keith Bacongco on flickr; licensed under Creative Commons License BY-2.0.

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