More than 800 activists and journalists have been killed since the start of the Arroyo administration in 2001. The killers have also targeted lawyers and judges–and now, even civil servants like Dalaig. As long as the culture of impunity remains, this series of violence will most likely not be broken.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) – Cite This Source – Share This im·pu·ni·ty Audio Help /ɪmˈpyunɪti/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[im-pyoo-ni-tee] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	exemption from punishment.

2.	immunity from detrimental effects, as of an action.

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[Origin: 1525–35; < L impūnitās, equiv. to im- im-² + pūnitās punishment (pūn- (s. of punīre to punish) + -itās -ity); see punitive]

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez wrote a personal tribute for Dalaig on his blog. Here’s an excerpt:

He was one of the last of his breed – a COMELEC warrior who dealt with politicians fiercely and firmly, had only snarling patience for those who gratuitously bad-mouthed the COMELEC and its personnel, but who was gentler than strangers imagined, and who was every COMELEC employee’s friend.

Jun Macarambon, son of newly appointed Comelec Comissioner Moslemen Macarambon, said the “news is kinda scary“. They learned of Dalaig’s killing while celebrating his father’s appointment.

Now, this just came out:

The first one is funny; the second is disturbing.

Burgos, or Jay-Jay, 38, son of press freedom icon Jose “Joe”� Burgos Jr., failed to come home to his family in Tandang Sora, Quezon City on April 28. His anxious family tried to contact him through his cellphone the whole night, but it was only at 10:46 AM the next day that they received messages from him which did not make any sense. His family was still able to talk to
him on the phone but his voice sounded drowsy and his words did not make sense as if he were drugged.

It was learned that Melisa Reyes, and a still to be identified male companion of Jayjay also failed to come home on the evening of April 28.

Burgos had been giving agri technology trainings to members of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Bulacan (AMB), a provincial chapter of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.

“This is a brazen act which only state security forces will have the motive and gall to carry out. It’s ironic that it happened to a member of the Burgos family that had opposed and survived Martial Law and still continues to defend civil rights and press freedom,” said Ghay Portajada, spokesperson of Desaparecidos.

Portajada also noted that Jay-jay’s disappearance happened, not in a remote village in the countrysides, but here in Quezon City where there is much presence of both police and military elements.

“We call on the responsible elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to surface Jay-jay and his companions. We dare the Arroyo administration to solve this disappearance, and use all possible resources and technologies to locate Jay-jay, whose phone is still active and could actually be tracked,”� said Portajada.

“We pray that Jay-jay and his companions will be surfaced alive, just like urban poor leader Lourdes ‘Nay Ude’� Rubrico, who was abducted, detained and released by intelligence agents for one week at the Fernando Basa Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas”.

According to IFJ affiliate the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), Palacios was found dead in St. Rosa town, Nueva Ecija province on April 17.

A field reporter for government-run Radyo ng Bayan, Palacios’ body was badly battered and he had been shot in the chin.

“This appalling murder, the 51st journalist murdered during Arroyo’s regime, is yet another tragic result of inaction from the Philippines government,” IFJ President Christopher Warren said.

“As the death toll continues to climb, when will Arroyo take the action desperately needed by her people, and put an end this senseless bloodshed?” Warren said.

Geary Barias, Director of Task Force Usig, an investigative unit probing killings of activists in the Philippines, believes Palacios’ hard hitting journalism and anti-crime crusading were the likely motivations for his murder, says the NUJP.

“It is disgraceful enough that journalists in the Philippines are systematically killed for simply doing their job, but the culture of impunity that has developed under Arroyo has seen these journalists’ killers walk free,” Warren said.

Radio program host, Philippine Daily Inquirer journalist and Ang Dyaryo Natin editor Delfin Mallari Jr was also shot and wounded in an ambush in Lucena City on April 18, just one day after Palacios’ murder.

Mallari’s cohost Johnny Glorioso of dzMM, who was also in the vehicle when it was ambushed but was unhurt, reportedly said there was reason to believe the attempted murder was politically motivated. Glorioso and Mallari were officers of the local NUJP chapter.

The IFJ, the organisation representing more than 500,000 journalists in over 115 countries, calls for a full investigation into the attack on Glorioso and Mallari, and for protections to be put in place to ensure another attack such as this does not occur.

“The Philippines government has allowed the situation to go on long enough. The culture of impunity must be dismantled, and Arroyo must make genuine guarantees to protect the safety and security of all media personnel,” Warren said.

For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific +61 2 9333 0919

The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 115 countries

Press Statement
18 April 2007

The Antonio Zumel Center for Press Freedom (AZCPF) strongly condemns the recent attacks on media people and journalists. The assassins want to prevent the media from bringing to the public the true state of the nation and the criminal activities being committed by those in power.

*Carmelo Palacios, 41, a field reporter of Radyo ng Bayan, was found dead in Sta. Rosa town, Nueva Ecija, April 18. He is the 51st journalist to be killed under the Arroyo administration’s increasingly blood-drenched watch, and the third this year.

*A day after, Delfin Mallari Jr., correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the host of a local radio program and editor of the local paper Ang Dyaryo Natin, was shot and wounded in an ambush in Lucena City.

*In Cebu City, Leo Lastimosa, station manager of the local ABS-CBN radio, was slapped with a libel suit by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia because of his exposes on alleged scams committed during the preparations for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations there.

The continuing attacks on media people and journalists can only be linked to the unabated attacks on militants and activists that are clearly politically-motivated.

Several prestigious international bodies, including the recent Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) have already pointed to the armed elements of the Arroyo regime as being responsible for these attacks, and have held the regime accountable for these crimes.

The Antonio Zumel Center for Press Freedom joins the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines and other media organizations in defending press freedom. Bullets and libel suits will not stop the good men and women of the media from their commitment to bring the truth to the people.

This week marks another dark period for press freedom in the Philippines, with the murder of a colleague, the attempted murder of another and a libel case filed by a governor against yet another.

Carmelo Palacios, 41, field reporter of the government-run Radyo ng Bayan, was found dead in Sta. Rosa town, Nueva Ecija, Wednesday morning, his body battered and shot in the chin. He was the 51st journalist to be killed under the Arroyo administration’s increasingly blood-drenched watch, and the third this year.

Director Geary Barias of Task Force Usig has said there is reason to believe the murder of Palacios was an offshoot of his being a “hard-hitting, no nonsense reporter” and “anti-crime crusader.”

A day after, Delfin Mallari Jr., correspondent of the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the host of a local radio program and editor of the local paper Ang Dyaryo Natin, was shot and wounded in an ambush in Lucena City.

Colleague Johnny Glorioso of dzMM and Mallari’s co-host and fellow editor, said they have all the reason to believe the attempt on Mallari’s life was “politically motivated.”

In Cebu City, Leo Lastimosa, station manager of local ABS-CBN radio, was slapped with a libel suit by Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia because of his exposes on alleged scams committed during the preparations for the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations there.

And in Albay, dzRH reporter Jun Alegre was arrested yesterday and jailed over a 10-year-old libel case.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemns these latest assaults on our colleagues and on press freedom as a whole.

Indeed, the assaults on journalists and not just press freedom but freedom of expression and the people’s right to know as well, have been coming more often and becoming more brazen.

In the case of media, while there remains no indication that this is part of a broad, concerted effort, unlike the assaults on other sectors, the fact nevertheless remains that the continued assaults on
our colleagues and on our freedom and liberties are abetted by a climate of impunity that is the result of official inaction, antipathy and, in many cases, even outright hostility.

This is borne out by last year’s attempts by government to clamp down on the media during the ill-conceived state of national emergency, the multiple libel cases filed against 46 journalists by no less than the president’s husband, the sedition charges filed against the Tribune and the comments from sundry government and security officials, notably Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, that a number of our slain colleagues may have deserved their fates — as if there were any justification for murder.

Again, as we mourn our fallen, see to our wounded and give succor to the embattled, we challenge President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to do the one singular act that will prove that her administration is not abetting this climate of impunity that is steadily and with gathering speed and brazenness battering at our most basic rights and liberties — issue a categorical order to put an end to the killings and assaults, to get the perpetrators, and declare the decriminalization of libel an urgent measure.

We urge our colleagues to remain steadfast and band together and call on the people whom we serve to help send a strong signal to those who would deprive them of their right to know that, no, we will not surrender.

References:

Jose Torres Jr., NUJP chairperson
Rowena Paraan, NUJP secretary-general

This press statement released on March 20 (Tuesday) was signed by 18 faculty members of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) led by Dean
Elena Pernia. For verification, please call the UP CMC Department of Journalism at 920-6852.

The undersigned faculty members of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) condemn in the strongest possible terms the filing of multiple murder charges against Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo which resulted in his arrest and detention last March 16.

That the charges were filed during the election season is already questionable, especially since
Ocampo’s Bayan Muna Partylist group is running for representation in the House of Representatives and has been repeatedly accused by the powers-that-be as a communist front. The situation is preposterous as the crimes he allegedly committed happened more than
two decades ago while he was in detention.

The authorities even had the audacity to push for his transfer to Hilongos, Leyte — where the case against him was filed — despite the scheduled oral arguments before the Supreme Court on
March 23. If Rep. Ocampo can be denied due process, what kind of treatment can others similarly accused expect from this government?

Rep. Ocampo’s wife, Prof. Carolina Malay, was a faculty member of the UP CMC Department of Journalism from 1992 to 2000, during the last five years of which she was department chair. We
admired Prof. Malay then for her dedication to the teaching and journalism profession, and we commend her at this point for her strength and unwavering resolve to fight for truth
and justice. We join her in her struggle to uphold and protect our basic freedom.

We call on the authorities to stop harassing Ocampo and his co-accused and to respect their basic rights. An administration that claims to be both legitimate and serving the interest of
the people is expected to do no less.

Dr. Elena E. Pernia, dean
Dr. Lourdes Portus, college secretary
Dr. Arminda Santiago, chair, graduate studies
Prof. Fernando Austria, chair, broadcast communication department
Dr. Nicanor Tiongson, professor, Film Institute
Dr. Georgina R. Encanto, professor, journalism department
Prof. Luis V. Teodoro, professor, journalism department
Dr. Jose R. Lacson, professor, communication research department
Dr. Roland Tolentino, professor, Film Institute
Dr. Perlita Manalili, associate professor, broadcast communication department
Prof. Danilo A. Arao, assistant professor, journalism department
Prof. Marichu C. Lambino, assistant professor, journalism department
Prof. Yvonne T. Chua, assistant professor, journalism department
Prof. Ma. Cristina I. Rara, assistant professor, journalism department
Prof. Violeda A. Umali, assistant professor, communication research department
Prof. Jane Vinculado, assistant professor, broadcast communication department
Prof. Shirley P. Evidente, assistant professor, broadcast communication department
Prof. Andres Sevilla, lecturer, communication research department

The controversial shampoo beauties–Ivory Ibanez, Jeanette Joaquin, Kat de Santos, Kuhdet Honasan, Mikaela Monteverde, Palmolive Palma, Pantene Palomino, Rejoice Rivera–are now invoking freedom of expression.

We keep on crying for freedom, but we often forget that such freedoms come with responsibility. Let me ask you, dear readers, do you think these girls–or their handlers and managers–acted responsibly when they staged that infamous pictorial?

Policemen arrested supporters of Fernando Poe, Jr. in Payatas who were distributing anti-administration flyers. They were later freed because the cops did not know what charges could be filed against them.

In Mendiola, a pro-FPJ protesters’ rally was violently dispersed by the police even if the organizers secured a permit. The road to the Palace was also blocked barbed wires.

Are our rights to freedom of expression and assembly already obsolete in Gloria’s version of Bagong Pilipinas?