EDITORIAL - Another messenger silenced

A day after the Philippines saw a slight improvement in its dismal ranking in the latest World Press Freedom Index, another journalist was gunned down. Maurito Lim of dyRD was entering the radio office where he worked in Tagbilaran City, Bohol late Saturday morning when a man pulled up on a motorcycle. The man got off, walked toward Lim and shot him once with a caliber .45 pistol, hitting him in the left jaw. Lim died while undergoing surgery in a hospital.

The gunman escaped and probers are still looking into the possible motive for the murder. It was the 34th deadly attack on a journalist since President Aquino assumed power in 2010. Most of the attacks are unsolved.

While press freedom is enjoyed in the Philippines, the violent attacks on media workers have consistently placed the country among the five most dangerous places in the world for journalists. Press watchdogs have confirmed nearly 80 journalist murders in the Philippines since 1992 that are work-related.

In the latest World Press Freedom Index, the Philippines ranked 141st among 180 countries – an improvement from last year’s 149th place. Reporters Without Borders, which draws up the index, ranked the country 147th in 2013 and 140th in 2012.

This year, Finland topped the list again as the safest place for media workers, followed by Norway and Denmark. At the bottom were Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea. China, said to be the world’s biggest prison for journalists, slid one notch to 176th place.

Being in prison is still better than being assassinated for delivering bad news or giving negative commentary on influential individuals. It may offer some consolation that we are not alone; Reporters Without Borders noted a drastic decline in press freedom worldwide last year, with two-thirds of the 180 countries surveyed performing worse than in the previous year. But this cannot be used as an excuse to continue allowing impunity to reign in the Philippines.