EDITORIAL - The second most dangerous place

In the second most dangerous place in the world for journalists, the bad guys don’t even take a Holy Week break. On the night of Maundy Thursday, Marlene Garcia Esperat was playing with her 10-year-old son at their home in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat when a man armed with a caliber .45 automatic pulled up on a motorcycle and opened fire. Esperat took a bullet to the head.

She was the second journalist to be killed this year, after columnist Arnulfo Villanueva was gunned down in Naic, Cavite last Feb. 28. Esperat, 45, headed the tri-media association in Tacurong and wrote a column in a weekly community paper that was often critical of corrupt local politicians. No one has been arrested for her murder, but the widespread belief is that the killing was work-related. Because of death threats she had been receiving, she had been assigned two police escorts, but she had allowed them to take a Holy Week break.

Esperat was killed a day after the International Press Institute released its 2004 World Press Freedom Review, which showed that of the 78 journalists killed last year, 23 died in Iraq and 12 in the Philippines. Since democracy was restored in the Philippines in 1986, the IPI noted in its report, Philippine journalists have been murdered with "blanket impunity" that prevented impartial investigation.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines listed Esperat as the 65th journalist killed in this country since 1986. Most of the murders remain unsolved. In the few cases where suspects have been arrested, the masterminds remain unidentified. Certain quarters have noted that some of the victims were suspected of involvement in shady deals. There is also basis for observations that the Philippine press can use more responsibility in the exercise of press freedom.

But there is no excuse for murder. There is no excuse for shooting bearers of bad news or using bullets to stifle criticism. This impunity can only be possible with the consent of those tasked to promote public safety and uphold press freedom. When political kingpins themselves are involved, and they have local prosecutors, judges, police and military officers on their payroll, journalists who are permanently silenced have no hope of getting justice. And the nation can expect more killings that will never be solved.