N.B. – This is an official statement of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication (UP CMC) on the fourth year of the Ampatuan massacre and the third year of the International Day to End Impunity. The statement is signed by 29 faculty members led by Dean Roland Tolentino and former deans Elena Pernia, Luis Teodoro and Georgina Encanto. The other signatories are the president of the UP CMC Alumni Association, 10 administrative staff and REPS and 35 undergraduate and graduate students.
END THE TRAGEDY OF IMPUNITY
Statement of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication on the fourth year of the Ampatuan massacre
November 23, 2013
As the whole world mourns the death and destruction in the wake of Typhoon Yolanda which made eight landfalls last November 8, the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication also remembers and condemns what happened on November 23, 2009. We also denounce the continued lack of political will to give justice to this gruesome attack on press freedom.
Four years have passed and the annual commemoration of the Ampatuan massacre should now go beyond mere remembering. What we need to stress is outright condemnation. As a community of communication and media scholars, we can only make sense of the murder of 58 people, including 32 journalists and media workers, by taking into account the culture of impunity that results in various forms of human rights violations.
It is necessary that the commemoration of the fourth year of the Ampatuan massacre and the third year of the International Day to End Impunity be an occasion to ask the hard questions: Why does justice remain elusive to the victims? Why does the culture of impunity continue? What is the Aquino administration doing to ensure that the killings and other forms of human rights violations would stop?
In November 2010, the UP College of Mass Communication has already issued the following demands: “[We call] on the mass media community and the citizenry to strengthen their support for the prosecution of those responsible for the killing of journalists, and strongly urges the Aquino government, if it is indeed committed to the defense of press freedom, to disband the paramilitary groups that were so instrumental in carrying out the Ampatuan Massacre.”
As in the case of other media organizations, we cannot help but feel frustrated by the continuation of the culture of impunity. Data from the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) show that 19 journalists have been killed during the first three years of the Aquino administration. The Philippines currently ranks third in the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) 2012 Impunity Index. “Despite the Philippines’ tradition of press freedom, the country’s dysfunctional and corrupt criminal justice system has failed to bring justice in 55 journalist murders in the past decade,” the CPJ April 2012 report (http://www.cpj.org/reports/2012/04/impunity-index-2012.php) states.
It is in this context that the UP CMC joins the nation and the world in both remembering and condemning. We remain committed to upholding and promoting press freedom,hence our call for Congress as early as January 2013 to pass an authentic Freedom of Information Act (http://masscomm.upd.edu.ph/event/cmc-calls-authentic-freedom-information-act). We also repeat our call to stop the killing of journalists, as well as the end to the tragedy that is impunity.
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COLLEGE OFFICIALS
Prof. Luis V. Teodoro, Former Dean (retired)
Dr. Georgina R. Encanto, Former Dean (retired)
Dr. Roland B. Tolentino, Dean
Prof. Danilo A. Arao, Associate Dean
Dr. Florinda DF. Mateo, Chair, Communication Research Department
Prof. Lucia P. Tangi, Officer-in-Charge, Journalism Department
Dr. Arminda V. Santiago, Chair, Graduate Studies Department
Prof. Roehl L. Jamon, Director, UP Film Institute
Prof. Shirley P. Evidente, Director of Extension and External Relations
FACULTY
Broadcast Communication Department
Dr. Elizabeth L. Enriquez
Prof. Josefina C. Santos, DZUP Radio Station Manager
Mr. Fernan L. Talamayan
Communication Research Department
Dr. Elena E. Pernia, Former Dean
Dr. Jose R. Lacson, Jr.
Prof. Julienne Thesa Baldo-Cubelo
Prof. Jacques Rusanna Yves DM. Gimeno
Journalism Department
Prof. Evelyn O. Katigbak
Dr. Ma. Diosa Labiste
Ms. Teresa Congjuico
UP Film Institute
Prof. Jose C. Gutierrez III
Prof. Rob Rownd
Prof. Sari Raissa Ll. Dalena
Prof. Eduardo J. Lejano, Jr., Faculty Coordinator for Film, Theater and Extension Services
LECTURERS
Broadcast Communication Department
Ms. Melba S. Estonilo
Ms. Marinela M. Aseron
Ms. Chryl Bhefer Martinez
UP Film Institute
Ms. Maria Lourdes De Guzman
Mr. Carlo Gabriel Pangilinan
Ms. Barbara Politsch
Mr. Cenon Palomares
Mr. Bryan Quesada
UP CMC ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Ms. Gina Lumauig, President
ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AND REPS
Marianita P. Cinco
Rosalita S. Burlat
Israel M. Bufete
Armando H. Hirao
Romana L. Gavina
Norma V. Dampil
Jonathan S. Beldia
Clarissa S. Concepcion
Raquelita C. Bacarra
Ma. Christine Hernandez
35 UNDERGRADUATE and GRADUATE STUDENTS