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Last week, two Philippine radio broadcasters were killed, gunned down in broad daylight on busy city streets. The murders, only four days apart, highlighted the continuing vulnerability of journalists here and the government's inability to protect them.
The broadcasters were shot in separate, unrelated incidents.
But the killings were eerily similar to other journalist slayings here in the
past years: They were carried out by armed assassins riding tandem on
motorcycles. Last week's casualties brought to 34 the number of journalists
murdered in the
On August 4, Dennis Cuesta, a
program director and anchor for the DXMD radio station was shot at about 4 p.m.
on his way to a shopping mall in Gen. Santos City, on the southern
Cuesta's wife Gloria told Mindanews, a Mindanao-based Web site, that her husband had been receiving death threats for his commentaries on illegal gambling, government corruption, and illegal drugs in his public affairs program "Straight to the Point."
The organization has linked the killing to prominent local
families whom Roxas had criticized during one of his broadcasts. It asked the
radio network and local authorities to provide extra security and protection
for journalists.
The Southeast Asian Press Alliance said the murders were indicative of a continuing crisis of impunity against Filipino journalists. The fact that the assailants have gotten away with murder only encourages more attacks against the press.
(Reporting from
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Is it possible that the killing of Mr. Cuesta could be related to the Islamic rebellion now ongoing in the region, and not exactly what you seem to be suggesting?
Mindanao is an extremely troubled region where Islamist fundamentalists have gunned their way to respectability in a region wihtout clear state authority and certainly no judicial order whatsover.
CPJ will do itself a favor by keeping an open mind and not always assume the stand that governments are solely responsible for the killings of newsmen and -women.