EDITORIAL - Breaking the cycle of impunity

According to some reports, the Philippine government persuaded the international community to observe a special day to end impunity in crimes against journalists on Nov. 2 instead of Nov. 23. That doesn’t erase the fact that Nov. 23, 2009 will always be remembered for the Maguindanao massacre, the world’s deadliest attack on journalists, with 32 of the 58 fatalities media workers.

In typical Philippine fashion, the massacre case is crawling along in the justice system, with some of the key defendants arraigned only this year and about a hundred suspects still at large. Several of the defendants have been granted bail, raising fears that the lives of witnesses could be endangered. Several key witnesses have been murdered in the past five years.

The only positive aspect in this case is that members of the Ampatuan clan, the accused masterminds of the massacre, are still in detention, with no one being mollycoddled in a prolonged hospital stay… so far. In most other cases, no one has been arrested and no suspected mastermind identified. This failure has put the Philippines near the top of the global Impunity Index in the killing of journalists.

As of May this year, 28 media workers had been killed under the watch of President Aquino, and more than 160 since democracy was restored in 1986. The country accounts for many of the 370 journalists murdered worldwide in direct retaliation for their work over the past 10 years. A report released in time for the observance of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists showed that in 90 percent of the 370 cases, no one has been convicted for the crime.

The report, “The Road to Justice: Breaking the Cycle of Impunity in the Killing of Journalists,” ranked the Philippines alongside Iraq, Somalia, Mexico and Russia as the deadliest countries for media workers. The report cites “the unchecked, unsolved murders of journalists who seek to inform their societies and the world” as one of the greatest threats to press freedom. It also noted that despite increased awareness of the problem, governments have failed to take necessary action. This is particularly true in this country, where the killings make a mockery of press freedom.