Rolando “Dodong” Morales, 43, a presenter on radio DXMD, was brutally killed by eight unidentified men on the evening of 3 July 2005 near the city of Polomolok (in the south of Mindanao).

Also on the island of Mindanao, Armando Pace, the host of a programme on local radio station DXDS, who had often been threatened for his criticism of local politicians and drug trafficking, was gunned down on 18 July 2006 in Digos by two men on a motorcycle – a common method of carrying out killings in the Philippines. Two days after his murder, the police arrested three suspects – the motorcycle driver and the shooter (who were confused, one with the other, by the neighbours and relatives who identified them) and the motorcycle’s owner. They were reportedly released. In late July, two policemen were suspended for trying to bring charges against the wrong person. So far the people who ordered the killing have not been identified.

On Mindanao again, George Vigo, a contributor to the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), a news agency, and his wife, Maricel Vigo, the host of a programme on radio dxND, who were both also human rights activists, were murdered on 19 June 2006 in Kidapawan by two men on a motorcycle. The police claimed to have solved the case after identifying three members of the communist guerrilla group, the NPA, as their killers. But the victims’ colleagues dispute this claim and accuse the police of being unable to arrest the real suspects. Several sources say the investigation has been politically manipulated and botched.

Ely Binoya, a Radyo Natin political commentator who was outspoken in his criticism of corruption in the local elite, was gunned down by two men on a moped as he was returning home on 17 June 2004 in the southern city of Malongon. Three months later, the police arrested two of the four men they had named as suspects. Both denied having anything to do with the murder. One of them, Ephraim Englis, was described by the police as the mastermind. Despite evidence pointing to his role, he was acquitted by the regional court in nearby General Santos on 6 March 2006.

Finally, there is an urgent need for the police to find Joey Estriber, the producer of the programme Pag-usapan Natin (Let’s talk about that) on local radio DZJO, who was kidnapped on 3 March 2006 by four men outside an Internet café in Baler (in Aurora province). According to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, Estriber struggled with his abductors and called out as he was bundled into a pickup with tinted windows and no number places.

In the past, you expressed your desire to put an end to the murders of journalists and human rights activists by offering rewards for those providing information. These efforts have been in vain, and both the perpetrators and instigators know they are protected. The culture of violence in the Philippines is not the sole explanation. It is the culture of impunity, for which senior government officials share the blame, that has allowed the hit-men and those who hire them to murder so many journalists throughout the country.

The solving of these 10 cases is a major test for your government in its fight to combat press freedom violations, corruption and organized crime. If it does not pass the test, Reporters Without Borders will again raise this issue with the United Nations, and with the UN human rights council in particular.

I look forward to a positive response to our request.

Sincerely,

(Sgd.) Robert Ménard
Secretary-General

4 August 2006

Posted by Bulatlat

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