Following a scathing report prepared by a special United Nations rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Philippines, the number of unexplained killings in the country dropped drastically last year. UN rapporteur Philip Alston had said the Philippine military was in an almost total state of denial on the existence of extrajudicial killings. The attacks targeted mostly left-leaning militants, legal professionals and journalists.
But while the number of attacks dropped, there was slow progress in catching those responsible for the killings and disappearances, many of which have been attributed to state forces. The most prominent case — the kidnapping of Jonas Burgos — remains unsolved, and he has been added to the long list of the country’s own desaparecidos. The failure to bring the perpetrators to justice has created a culture of impunity that guarantees future attacks.
Last Monday afternoon another journalist was shot dead. Bert Sison, a correspondent of radio station dzAT and a local tabloid in Lucena City, was driving home with his two daughters at 5:30 p.m. when two men on a motorcycle pulled up and opened fire. Sison died from multiple gunshot wounds while one of his daughters was hit in the arm.
Unless the perpetrators are caught — both the triggermen and the mastermind — and punished, an unsolved killing emboldens others to commit a similar crime. Too many people in this country think murder is an effective means to achieve a particular end. Little has been done to disabuse them from that idea.
After Alston submitted his report to the UN and the country stood to lose additional aid from the US Millennium Challenge Corp. unless it improved its human rights record, the country saw a significant drop in the number of unexplained killings and disappearances. The Philippines used to be regarded as the second most dangerous place in the world for journalists after Iraq. It can quickly regain that dubious distinction, unless the government acts to eradicate the culture of impunity.