#DefendPressFreedom

Getting Away with Murder

According to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the Philippines, after 10 years of being listed among the top 5 deadliest countries for journalists, has finally moved from its dire position. The country however remains high on the list at 7th place in CPJ’s most recent Global Impunity Index released on October 28, 2020.

The reason for this was identified in the methodology of the Global Impunity Index’s calculations: the indicated time frame of the study only covers occurrences from September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2020. Due to the 10 year limit, the 2009 Maguindanao massacre of up to 32 journalists, one of the deadliest in the history of news media, was omitted.

However, it is rather strange that the Philippines still ranks high with the worst disaster in journalism erased.

Under the Duterte administration alone, 12 journalists have been killed as of 2018 according to the National Union of Journalists (NUJP), the most of any administration. The number of journalists killed has since increased and the majority of these cases remain buried.

The President has also long denounced journalists for their coverage of the administration’s deadly war on drugs, and has rather gotten comfortable with it, casually spewing death threats and red-tagging journalists here and there. Though indirectly linked, it is a key point in proving the existence of terrorism against Filipino journalists.

‘Improvement’ in numbers is not the same as improvement in action, journalism is still as bloody as ever.

Despite the ‘improvement’ of the Philippines‘ ranking in media killings, the quality of solving and reducing its cases has not improved in the slightest; several media killings remain unsolved to this day as the number of cases rise under this administration.

The numerous Filipino journalists who have suffered and died from providing quality, genuine reports and pursuing nothing but the truth are still due the justice they deserve.