The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) demands the Philippines president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo act immediately to protect media safety, following this week’s distressing news of the murder of journalist Carmelo Palacios, and attempted murder of journalist Delfin Mallari Jr.
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.
Antonio Zumel Center for Press Freedom
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.
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
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.
From Prof. Danilo Arao of the UP College of Mass Communication via Bryanton Post:
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.
NUJP Alert
It was 2:45 this morning, according to guards of nearby buildings, when a speeding motorcycle slowed down in front of the dxCC radio station in Cagayan de Oro City and the lone rider threw a Molotov bomb at the station.
“Today is a good day for the struggle for press freedom in the Philippines,” declared the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines as it welcomed the surrender of former police officer Guillermo Wapile, a suspect in the of Pagadian City journalist Edgar Damalerio.
The journalists’ organization reported that Wapile surrendered yesterday to the Philippine National Police in Region 9 and was presented to the media today.
Carlos Conde, moderator of PinoyPress, just sent an e-mail alert on the reported shooting of another journalist in General Santos City.
He wrote that Jonathan “Jun” Abayon, 27, a reporter of RGMA Superadyo in that city, is in critical condition after he was shot in the head early this morning, allegedly by a bodyguard of Filipino world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.