THE PHILIPPINE press is said to be among the freest in the world, yet it has a record number of journalists killed last year—a total of 13, an average of one each month. This has alarmed press freedom advocates here and abroad because it would seem that Filipino journalists, especially those in the provinces, are working in the shadow of death.
Part of the difficulty in dealing with the problem lies in how the victims have practiced journalism. Some had entered into conflict-of-interest situations; they broke ethical standards and even carried guns. This isn't surprising. The environment in which many Filipino journalists practice their work is challenging: poor working conditions, low or no salaries, and a culture that does not encourage debate but allows the use of guns to settle disputes or to talk back to a critical media.
This context is lost in the count of murders released by local and international press organizations. They showed the danger spots where journalists carry out their work, and often these are places far from the capital, hemmed in by conditions of fear and poverty, crime and corruption. They showed who among the journalists are more vulnerable. But they do not clearly explain why last year, for example, more than a dozen were killed, twice as many as the previous years. They fail to explain the impunity surrounding the killings.
The answer lies in the contexts in which the killings took place. And the solutions to journalist killings demand more than effective police performance or making the justice system work for the victims and their families. Harping on the police solution is being shortsighted because it means losing sight of the bigger issue, which is to ensure that a professional media can operate freely in a democracy, however fragile the latter may be.
Press freedom advocates say that one way to prevent killings of journalists is to practice responsible and ethical journalism. They suggest the use of mechanisms for self-regulation that promote responsible journalism. But the Philippine press has limited experience in making press councils work.
There are mechanisms for self-regulation being tried out in the Philippines, but they require more than strong media associations and institutions to check excesses and prevent more deaths of journalists. These mechanisms recognize public participation to pressure the press to properly perform its watchdog role.
Others push for the practice of public or civic journalism, which calls for a more participative and critical but less combative treatment of stories. Forerunners of civic journalism say this style, which tries to involve all sectors in solving a community problem, lessens the possibility of reprisal.
Caught in Local Politics
The complexity of the problem is best illustrated in the case of broadcaster Elpedio "Ely" Binoya of General Santos City, who was killed on June 17, 2004. Ten days before, three people, among them a relative of a mayor who won in the May elections, mauled Binoya, prompting him to file charges against them; those charges were contained in the affidavit that he had tucked in his shirt before boarding the motorcycle that would bring him home.
When Binoya approached the intersection near his house in Batomelong, General Santos City, two men on a motorcycle chased him; one of them shot him thrice. Binoya fell off his motorcycle. The gunman wanted to make sure that Binoya was dead; he shot him once more before he and his companions sped away.
The killing ended Binoya's 24-year work in radio. He joined DXDX as a volunteer reporter in 1982 after quitting his job as an electrician in a hotel near the radio station. Years later, he used his savings to lease a franchise of Radyo Natin, a community radio in Malungon, Sarangani province, and became its manager.
As a broadcaster, Binoya sided with the underdog. He did not only report on labor disputes but joined workers in the picket lines. His wife and colleagues said Binoya wasn't a saint; he had shortcomings and biases. He supported some politicians during the hotly contested May 2004 elections and his stinging commentaries earned him enemies. Two suspects in Binoya's murder, one of them a local political leader, surrendered in August 2004.
Binoya was the second journalist killed in 2004, the 63rd slain journalist since the restoration of Philippine democracy in 1986. Since 2003, when seven journalists were killed, the Philippines has been closely monitored by international media organizations. That year, it joined Colombia in the list of countries where journalist killings had turned for the worse.
Patterns of Risks
From the summary of cases released by the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), a guild that campaigns for the safety and welfare of Filipino journalists, patterns of risk have emerged. Many of the murders happened in the provinces and the victims were targeted for their coverage and hard-hitting commentaries on local corruption and crime. Consider the following cases:
1. Apolinario Pobeda, a broadcaster, was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle while he was on his way to work at DWTI radio station in Laguna on May 17, 2003. Reports said his death could be due to his commentaries linking some local officials to the spread of drugs and gambling.
2. Noel Villarante, reporter of radio station DZIV and local newspaper Laguna Score, was gunned down on Aug. 19, 2003. Villarante had criticized authorities for corruption.
3. Ruel Endrinal, a political commentator with DZRC in Legazpi City, was shot dead by unidentified assailants on Feb. 11, 2004. His family and colleagues believed he was killed for his scathing on-air criticism of local politicians.
4. Gene Boyd Lumawag, a photojournalist, was shot dead while he and a colleague were working on a governance story in Jolo town in southern Philippines on Nov. 12, 2004.
5. Herson Hinolan, popularly known by his radio name, Bombo Boy, station manager and anchor of dyIN Bombo Radyo in Kalibo, Aklan, was shot on November 13 and died two days after. It was believed that Hinolan was killed for his blunt commentaries.
The police have yet to identify suspects in 11 of the 20 killings in the last two years. Of the 60 murder cases since 1984, only two have resulted in conviction, according to the NUJP. "On paper the numbers [of media killings] look pretty bad," said Carlos Conde, NUJP secretary general.
But there are questions about why they were killed. In fact, in 2004, not every slain journalist's name found its way into the lists maintained by two media organizations, the NUJP and the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) under Task Force Newsmen. Each group believes that its list is fairly accurate after verifying whether or not a journalist died of a work-related cause.
The NUJP, with more than 30 chapters and organizing committees all over the country, has the most extensive list of journalists killed in the country. As of January 2005, it had on its list 63 journalists killed since 1986; seven killed in 2003; and 13 in 2004. The NUJP's list was initially based on the count released by the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and the defunct Philippine Movement for Press Freedom, which monitored press freedom violations in the 1980s. But in 2003 and 2004, when the NUJP became active after some years of hibernation, it expanded its count to include cases not found in databases of other media associations.
The NUJP list includes cases where the cause of killing was unclear or the motive for attack was unknown. Conde explains that unless future evidence points to the contrary, they assume that a journalist was killed because of his work.
Another group that tallies the casualties in the Philippine press is the FFFJ, which was established in January 2003 primarily to give assistance to families of victims of violence against the media, especially those in the provinces. The FFFJ is composed of five major media organizations in the Philippines, namely, the CMFR, the Center for Community Journalism and Development (CCJD), the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP), and the Philippine Press Institute (PPI). Ermin Garcia Jr., publisher of Sunday Punch, and Danilo Gozo, publisher of the US-based Philippine News, sit in the FFFJ.
Lower Count
The FFFJ's count is lower at 49. The CMFR, which keeps tabs of the list for FFFJ, said the list does not include journalists whose killings were due to robbery or a family feud. The CMFR evaluates each case based on reports from police and statements of members of the victim's family and the editor or station manager.
The FFFJ's database listed only six journalists killed in 2004, seven names less than that of the NUJP. Because of "unconfirmed motive," the FFFJ list left out Eldie Gabinales (also known as Eldy Sablas), Jonathan Abayon, Allan Dizon, Fernando Consignado, and Romeo Binungcal.
Radio commentator Gabinales was killed in Surigao del Sur by a still unidentified assailant who shot him thrice from behind. One motive believed behind the shooting was his tirades against gambling operators, drug dealers, and illegal loggers in Surigao del Sur.
Dizon, photographer and reporter for The Freeman and its sister publication Banat News, was shot dead on Nov. 27, 2004, in Cebu City. His colleagues said Dizon exposed illegal drugs and gambling operations; others said he gave the police information on drugs and gambling.
Consignado, a correspondent for the Manila-based Roman Catholic radio station Radio Veritas, was found dead on Aug. 12, 2004 in Laguna with a single gunshot wound to his head. His colleagues said his killing could have been due to his work as a journalist. Police said his report on small-town corruption had angered local officials.
Binungcal was riding his motorcycle when he was shot dead by armed men. The police have not established the motive for his killing and have not identified any suspect. Binungcal was a former commercial photographer plying his trade along rows of nightclubs in Sta. Rosa, Pilar, Bataan. He wrote crime stories for Manila-based tabloids Remate and Bulgar.
Criticized by journalists for slowness in solving the murders of journalists, the police created Task Force Newsmen in 2004 to investigate the killings. Police data included 16 cases in 2004, among them deaths related to robbery like that of Today business news editor Jose Luis Villanueva and Iloilo City television news presenter Christopher Misajon. Of the cases in 2004, six were classified NWR or not work-related: Gabinales, Binungcal, John Belen Villanueva, Misajon, Consignado, and Abayon. The task force said that Gabinales was not an accredited journalist; that Consignado was gunned down over a land row; and that Abayon was killed after a drinking spree.
Legitimizing Pseudo-Journalists
Eduardo Jalbuna, president of the Iloilo Press Club, says that determining the cause of death is important. Journalists need to draw lessons from these cases to prevent future killings, he says.
It is tough to make a judgment on whether a journalist was killed because of his work or not. Red Batario of the CCJD said there is always a debate—unless a clear-cut case presents itself—whenever press freedom advocates attempt to determine the cause of a journalist's death. He said many journalists work on several stories at the same time and disdain coordination with editors, thus making it difficult to sometimes get to the bottom of a killing.
Batario said there are also unscrupulous journalists who use their work to extort money or favors, and consequently make themselves vulnerable to attacks.
He said that the media's role as a watchdog should not be made at the expense of ethical standards. The problem with not investigating every journalist's death is that it might lend legitimacy to pseudo-journalists or glorify the actions of those who were slain in the practice of something other than journalism, he explained.
The other vulnerability may have to do with the medium. Fourteen of the 20 journalists killed in 2003 and 2004 in the NUJP list and 15 of 17 in the FFFJ list are radio broadcasters. There are at least 600 radio stations in the Philippines. Radio remains the most popular and powerful medium in the provinces.
Radio listeners are accustomed to hearing blunt words from their favorite commentators. Station owners encourage this as a tool to drive the ratings up. Bombo Radyo network, which had its share of radio personalities killed, encouraged feisty commentaries in its primetime evening show "Zona Libre." In an interview with Life Today newsmagazine, Jenil Demorito, Bombo Radyo area manager for Visayas, said they don't balk at airing their views and commentaries: "Our guidelines on how to expose an issue are clear. If it is the truth and it concerns the public interest, we should have it aired."
Radio commentators, by exposing wrongdoing in the government and the private sector, cause quick resolutions of local problems. They often put to shame powerful persons in the community. In the process, however, they sometimes fall short on facts and context to help the public understand an issue better.
The seeming closeness of radio and even local newspapers to their audience has its downside. Visayas Examiner publisher Jalbuna said that in the provinces and small cities relationships are on a personal level. "Criticisms are not taken as something against one's work, conduct, or position. Criticisms are often construed as attacks against the character of a person. In big cities the aggrieved parties may sue, but in the provinces they take personal actions against the journalist," he said. These personal actions could range from befriending a journalist to bribing or killing him.
Block Timers
The race for ratings and competition has also influenced the way radio stations operate. Some stations in the provinces are not making money, and the easy way out is to sell its airtime to part-time broadcasters in chunks called "block time."
Broadcaster Endrinal was an anchor of a block-time program before he was killed. He did not only tackle corruption in his time slot, he also filed cases against a former governor whom he criticized on the air.
Block-time programs are heard all year-round, but they are more frequent during the election season. "Block-time anchors do the demolition job; they are good in character assassination. They specialize in lambasting and they seem effective," said Ernesto Dayot, columnist of the Visayan Tribune in Iloilo City, who once handled block-time programs for some Iloilo politicians.
Not bound by any rules of the news organization, block-time broadcasters can say anything they want. Block-time program anchors start and end with disclaimers that their opinions are their own and not of the management and staff of the station. While it makes money, the block time system is a bane to the broadcast industry.
Lobrigo said block timing brings problems because it tolerates the hiring of anchors who are answerable not to the news organizations but to the persons who pay them.
Press Cards and Salaries
Indeed, the story of the local media is a sad one.
An anecdote goes that on a journalist's first day of work at a radio station, he asked the owner about his salary. The smug owner replied: "Why are you asking about salaries? I already gave you a press card." It's a tale aimed at driving home a point: many owners of news organizations don't take care of their employees.
A survey by the NUJP last year noted that the average monthly income of a reporter in Davao is P3,700 and in Baguio, P3,500. Of some 250 journalists surveyed in both cities, 80 percent said they were not covered by social security benefits, and 75 percent did not have health insurance.
Many radio reporters in Bicol region solicit advertisements to earn a 40-percent commission because they do not draw salaries from their news organizations, said James Bandol, a block-time anchor and a reporter in Legazpi City.
Luis V. Teodoro, former dean of the University of the Philippines' College of Mass Communication, said that many journalists in the communities are caught in a web of complex relationships in which they accumulate enemies.
Some journalists cross the line and moonlight as a real estate broker, taxicab driver, or public relations person, among others.
Yet, in the community they are known as journalists or media practitioners because they work or have access to radio and television stations and newspapers, whether published regularly or occasionally.
But there are local journalists who struggle to be independent. The PPI, which represents more than a hundred newspapers, said there are newspapers in cities outside Manila where journalists are competent and ethical despite their poor working conditions.
Outside the media environment, the killings of journalists happen also because of the inability of the police to maintain law and order to protect citizens. And the courts do not punish the killers fast enough.
In its assessment of the role of Task Force Newsmen, Police Senior Supt. Rodolfo Mendoza said there has been no negligence on their part to bringing killers to justice. He said that out of 60 cases of journalist killings in the Philippines, 33 were filed in court while 27 are still under investigation. Of the cases filed in court, four were dismissed, 25 are undergoing trial, and five produced convictions. He attributed the difficulty in solving the cases to the reluctance of witnesses to testify probably because of the publicity that the cases have generated and the power that the suspects wield in the community.
But the NUJP recently criticized the police's claim that it had solved the cases after filing charges in court. Under its definition, the PNP doesn't even have to make an arrest, only identify the suspect, and it can declare the case solved, said the NUJP.
Read Part II
In the Line of Fire (2)
By Ma. Diosa Labiste
Reporter
Life is Cheap
Many of the cases arising from killings that took place in 2003 and 2004 have reached preliminary investigation, but the suspects have not yet been indicted. Trial cannot start for lack of witnesses. In some cases such as the killing of Villanueva, Pala, and Binungcal, there are no suspects.
Some of the witnesses were put under the government's witness protection program, but others declined because they did not trust the police. Their fears are not unfounded. Edgar Amoro, the main witness to the 2002 murder of Pagadian editor and broadcaster Edgar Damalerio, was killed on Feb. 2, 2005. Amoro had been asked to leave Pagadian because he was constantly followed by armed men, but he refused. The main suspect in Damalerio's killing is police officer Guillermo Wapile, who once escaped while under police custody but surrendered late last year.
"Life is cheap in General Santos City. For P2,500 to P5,000 you can hire a vigilante killer," said one reporter. The involvement of guns-for-hire in the killings of journalists was noted by members of an international fact-finding and safety mission to the Philippines last January 25 to 31. International Federation of Journalists delegate Gerard Noonan, a senior writer of the Sydney Morning Herald, said there is a "widespread culture of violence tolerated and even condoned by Philippine government officials.... When such culture is allowed to flourish at an official level, it is little wonder that aggrieved local strongmen or political figures turn to hit men to get even with the media."
Because carrying guns and weak law enforcement cannot guarantee the safety of journalists, national media organizations have been asking journalists to clean up their acts, report responsibly, and educate the public on the role journalists play in society.
Connecting with Communities
The CCJD has been training journalists in the provinces to be more responsible and creative when reporting issues. The center champions public journalism, which allows journalists to connect with communities to dig out the issues, foster debates, and find solutions to local problems.
Veteran journalist Vergel Santos said that civic journalism is suited to community conditions. It tackles local gut issues and tries to involve every sector of the locality, turning the press into a catalyst for community action.
Enlisting public support to discuss and find solutions to issues are important, said Batario. While journalists can expose a wrongdoing, or a crook, the subject of the exposé can stonewall the investigation. Unless there is a public clamor to redress a grievance, nothing will come out of an exposé, he said. As it happened, some of the slain journalists singlehandedly filed graft cases against government officials in their communities, without waiting for citizens' groups to move.
There are media groups and institutions that have responded to make the practice of journalism safer and relevant to a larger sense of public duty. They have suggested the strengthening of self-regulation through press councils, training to hone the skills of journalists, and policies and guidelines for dangerous assignments.
CCJD's Batario said the citizens' press councils are fairly new and still in their formative stages, so it would be difficult to determine their effectiveness in responding to complaints, much less in preventing killings or violence. But they hold the promise and hope of bridging greater understanding between media and citizens, he said.
These are excerpts from the author's masteral thesis, "Journalist Killings in the Philippines: In the Line of Duty, in the Line of Fire," submitted to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Center for Journalism at the Ateneo de Manila University.
