MANILA: A New York-based journalists’ organisation identified the Philippines as the third deadliest place for journalists, following conflict-torn countries Iraq and Somalia.
For the fourth consecutive year, the country ranked third in Impunity Index of Community to Protect Journalists (CPJ) for having 55 unsolved cases of slain journalists since 1992.
CPJ said in the report posted yesterday that the index identifies countries where newsmen are “regularly” murdered and where governments are unable to punish perpetrators.
The Philippines, with 94.9 million-strong population, received an Impunity Index Rating of 0.580 unsolved journalist murders for every million inhabitants.
The group paid special attention to the 2009 incident in Maguindanao that claimed that lives of 55 people, including 32 journalists and media professionals. Suspects are yet to be prosecuted for the attack.
“Authorities in the Philippines, ranked third worst on CPJ’s index, have yet to make headway in the prosecution of dozens of suspects in a politically motivated massacre in Maguindanao province.
CPJ also pointed out how three key witnesses to the crime have been murdered in the course of the investigation.
The unsolved murders, however, did not end even when President Benigno Aquino III, who took office in 2010, vowed to reverse cases of impunity, CPJ noted.
“At least four journalists... have been killed for their reporting on Aquino’s watch. Despite executive vows to turn back the tide of media killings, none of the cases has been solved,” CPJ Senior Southeast Asia Representative Shawn Crispin said in a statement.
THE PHILIPPINE STAR
