Marcos gov’t has not replied to UN expert’s query
By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Kodao Productions/Bulatlat.com
United Nations Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion Irene Khan urged the Philippine government to review cases of journalists facing charges in court, asking as well about the status of yet unsolved media killings in the country.
In a letter dated September 27, Khan asked the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration for updates on the case of jailed journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio following her official visit to the Philippines last January and February.
Khan visited Cumpio and fellow detainees Marielle Domequil and Alexander Abingunia at the Tacloban City jail during her visit, labeling their arrest in February 2020 as “judicial harassment and arbitrary detention” in accordance with information her mandate received from various civil society organizations.
“Please indicate the measures taken to review this case as promptly as possible and, in the absence of substantial evidence of the crime committed, to dismiss the charges as unfounded and to release Ms. Cumpio, Ms. Domequil and Mr. Abinguna immediately,” Khan wrote.
Cumpio and Domequil are facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives as well as terrorism financing while Abinguna is charged with murder after being accused by the government of being members of underground revolutionary organizations.
The three young detainees have denied the accusations.
“I would also welcome information regarding measures adopted to enable the organizations they belong to and their members to carry out their legitimate work free of harassment,” Khan added.
Kreuger’s case
In her letter, Khan also inquired about the status of community journalist Mary Anne Krueger who was arrested with 56 workers, farmers and human rights defenders in Bacolod City in a police raid in October 2019.
Kreuger, along with several others arrested, was accused of being a high-ranking New People’s Army officer and charged with illegal possession of firearms.
The Altermidya and Pahimutad community journalist is currently out on bail.
“Please indicate which measures have been taken to review the charges brought against Ms. Krueger in a prompt and fair trial and, if the charges are found unsubstantiated, to dismiss them fully,” Khan wrote.
“I would also welcome information regarding measures adopted to guarantee her safety and to allow her to carry out her legitimate journalistic work free of harassment,” the UN expert added.
Disproportionate retribution
In her second letter to the Philippine government this year, Khan also inquired about Rappler, The Baguio Chronicle, and Northern Dispatch journalist Frank Cimatu who was convicted on 13 December 2022 of online libel by a court in Quezon City.
Read: Irene Khan asks PH gov’t: Why exclude CSOs, CHR, UN in special rights committee?
Khan described Cimatu’s case as stemming from “a satirical social media post published in 2017 about suspected government corruption referring to a former government official,” referring to complainant and then agriculture secretary Manny Pinol.
A Quezon City court sentenced Cimatu to serve between six months and five years and five months in prison, as a minimum and maximum terms respectively, and fined him 300,000 pesos (USD 5,385) for moral damages.
Cimatu is appealing his conviction before the Court of Appeals and is currently free on bail.
“Please provide information about measures taken to review the case of Mr. Cimatu and ensure it adheres to the relevant international standards,” Khan asked the Philippine government.
“Further, I would welcome information about any measure taken to ensure that Mr. Cimatu and other journalists facing similar charges do not receive disproportionate retributions, including imprisonment and a ban to effectively perform their job as journalists, for the exercise of their freedom of expression,” she added.
Killed journalists
In the same letter, Khan inquired about the status of investigations on the killing of Palawan broadcaster Gerry Ortega, Metro Manila-based broadcaster Percival Mabasa, and human rights defender and community broadcaster Elena Tijamo.
An anti-corruption crusader, Ortega was killed on January 24, 2011, allegedly on orders of then governor Joel Reyes.
Khan asked the Manila government to provide information regarding the measures adopted to guarantee a prompt, fair and impartial trial of Reyes as alleged principal mastermind.
The UN expert also urged Manila “to ensure full accountability for this case, making certain that the prolonged impunity of the suspected masterminds of the murder of Mr. Ortega comes to an end.”
In the same letter, Khan asked about measures the Philippine government may have adopted to guarantee full and effective accountability regarding Mabasa’s death, including arresting former prisons chief Gerard Bantag as alleged chief mastermind.
Bantag remains a fugitive.
Mabasa was shot dead inside his vehicle by unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants in Barangay Talon Dos, Las Piñas City on October 3, 2022.
Tijamo, a sustainable agriculture advocate of red-tagged organization FARDEC when abducted on June 13, 2020 from her home in Bantayan Island, Cebu by six armed individuals suspected to be members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Her abduction took place under strict lockdown protocols and movement restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tijamo was also station manager-in-training of the Radyo Sugbuanon community radio project at the time of her abduction.
On September 1, 2021, Tijamo was found dead in a hospital in Mandaluyong City when no one but government agents have free movement around the country.
Khan complained that according to reports to her mandate, no effective investigation has been conducted into the enforced disappearance and death Tijamo.
In her letter, Khan asked the Marcos administration to “indicate the measures taken to investigate promptly and exhaustively the abduction and subsequent death of Ms. Tijamo, guaranteeing full accountability for those responsible.”
No reply from PH
Khan’s letter made the same inquiries on the status of the cases of human rights violations victims land rights activist Emilio M. Gabales III; social activist Elmer Forro; civil society leaders Jhonggie Rumol, Jaime Paglinawan and John Ruiz III; national minority rights activists Julieta Gómez and Niezel Velasco; labor unionist Elizabeth “Loi” Magbanua;
National minority rights activists Dexter Capuyan and Gene Roz Jamil “Bazoo” de Jesús; peasant rights advocates Lee Sudario and Norman Ortiz; Cordillera activist Stephen A. Tauli; abduction survivors April Dyan Gumanao and Armand Jake Dayoha; environmentalists Jonila Castro and Jhed Reiyana Tamano; volunteer teacher Chad Booc; and community organizer Jose Reynaldo “Jory” Porquia.
The Marcos government failed to respond to Khan’s letter.
Khan’s letter was published on Friday, November 29, on the UN website. Reposted by Bulatlat.com
