N.B. – This was published in Asian Correspondent (June 21, 9:20 p.m.) where I write a column (Philippine Fantasy).
Students of communication, media and journalism should properly contextualize the unabated media killings in the Philippines.
While they should know the facts surrounding the murder of three journalists in June 14, 15 and 19, they should also make sense of the statistics regarding media killings from 1986 to the present.
For those who are not familiar with Philippine history, the year 1986 is used as a reference point because the restoration of democracy happened in February of that year when the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted through a people’s uprising (popularly known as EDSA 1 as the mass action happened along Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue).
In a June 20 statement, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said, “The murder of Nestor Bedolido of the weekly Kastigador in Digos City, Davao del Sur, on Saturday night brings to 140 the number of journalists and media workers killed since 1986, 103 of them under the Arroyo administration alone.”
This simply means that in the past 24 years, one journalist was killed once every two months. But if we were to analyze the media killings from the start of the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2001, it would appear that, on the average, one journalist was murdered monthly.
To paraphrase an old saying, however, numbers tend to numb. In this case, one is led to think that three journalists killed in less than a week is irrelevant or a non-issue especially when comparing the sheer number of journalists killed in the November 23 massacre in Ampatuan, Maguindanao. The massacre, after all, resulted in the death of 57 people, including 32 journalists. Judging by the numbers alone, recent media killings are wont to pale in comparison to this single act of violence.
The statistics therefore provide only a dimension of analyzing the issue of media killings. Equally important is knowing the manner in which the murder was carried out. Based on various news reports, it appears that Desidario Camangyan was shot dead last June 14 by an assassin as he emceed a singing contest. Joselito Agustin was shot at least four times last June 15 while on his way home. Bedolido, meanwhile, was buying a cigarette when he was shot last June 19. As regards Bedolido’s murder, a police officer was quoted as saying that the assassin just “casually walked into a waiting motorcycle driven by another unidentified man.”
The impunity becomes apparent as all of these murders happened in full view of witnesses. Those behind the murders apparently wield so much power and influence that they could get away with such heinous crimes. It is in this context that the term “culture of impunity” is used to describe the Philippine socio-political situation that allows such crimes to happen.
It must also be stressed that media killings should also be analyzed in relation to the human rights situation in the Philippines. The rise in media killings is reflective of the high incidence of human rights violations. Data from the human rights group Karapatan show that from 2001 to 2010, the number of extra-judicial killings reached 1,190; and the number of enforced disappearances, 205.
This means that for a period of nine years under the Macapagal-Arroyo administration, an average of 132 activists were killed every year. Those who disappeared, on the other hand, reached about 23 annually.
It is interesting to note that an activist was also murdered on the same day (June 14) that Camangyan was killed. In a June 16 statement, the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan, or New Patriotic Alliance) stressed, “Last June 14, a member of Bayan Muna and Karapatan, Benjamin Bayless, was shot dead in Barangay Suay, Himamaylan City, in Negros Occidental. Last May 19, Jim Galez, a member of the regional secretariat of partylist group Bayan Muna was shot while was driving his motorcycle on the road to Barangay Little Panay in Panabo City in Davao.”
One cannot therefore assume that media killings are isolated incidences because they happen in the larger context of wanton human rights violations. That the Macapagal-Arroyo administration is being held responsible for the killings should be seen in the context of its failure to bring to justice those who are responsible for the crimes.
As the nation commemorates the 7th month of the Ampatuan massacre on June 23, it comes as no surprise that media and human rights groups will once again take the issue to the streets to remind the public of the impunity that needs to end, as well as to remind the powers-that-be of the blood they have in their hands.