ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) - Two journalists have been shot dead in two days in separate incidents in the Philippines, reinforcing the country's image as one of the world's most dangerous for media workers, officials said Monday (Aug 7).

Broadcaster Rudy Alicaway and columnist Leo Diaz were the third and fourth journalists to be killed since President Rodrigo Duterte, a vocal critic of the press, took office last year, said Dabet Panelo, secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

In both cases the victims were riding motorcycles when gunmen on another motorcycle came up behind and shot them dead.

Diaz, 60, a correspondent of Manila tabloid Balita (News) and a columnist for a community newspaper, was killed in the southern town of President Quirino on Monday, said Fort Yerro, a Balita consultant.

Diaz, a former policeman, had covered stories on political corruption, illegal gambling and drugs, said Yerro, but added that he did not know of any threats against him.

Alicaway, 47, who hosted a weekly community affairs show on DXPB radio station, was killed in the town of Molave on Sunday, a police report said.

Rocel Navarro, manager of the government-run station where the victim's show aired, said he had not covered controversial issues.

"We are asking ourselves why this happened to him. He had no enemies as a broadcaster," Navarro told AFP.

Both killings took place on the southern island of Mindanao, where Islamic militants, communist guerrillas and political warlords are active.

"This again highlights the culture of impunity, in the attacks against and killings of Filipino journalists that have remained unabated despite an international outcry," the NUJP said.

Last week Michael Marasigan, a respected former newspaper editor, was shot dead in a Manila suburb.

A study by the International Federation of Journalists said last year that 146 journalists were killed between 1990 and 2015, making the Philippines the second most dangerous country for the media after Iraq.

Duterte, who took office last year, has lashed out at journalists over critical coverage of his anti-drug war that has claimed thousands of lives.

Shortly before taking office, Duterte made comments widely interpreted as justifying the murder of some journalists.

"Just because you're a journalist you are not exempted from assassination, if you're a son of a bitch," he said. </s> Bangkok, August 7, 2017--A Filipino journalist was shot and killed today while riding a motorcycle in the town of President Quirino, on the southern island of Mindanao, news reports said. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the killing and called on Philippine authorities to identify the assailants and swiftly bring them to justice.

Leonardo Diaz, a columnist at the local Sapol News newspaper and volunteer reporter at Radio Mindanao-Cotabato, was shot multiple times near the town's Kalanawi II village at around 9 a.m., the reports said. Senior Police Inspector Joan Resurrecion said Diaz died on the spot, the reports said. Two companions who were with Diaz were injured and were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, reports said. News reports gave conflicting accounts on whether there were one or two assailants, who fled the scene by motorcycle.

"Authorities must quickly apprehend the perpetrators and determine the motive behind the murder of journalist Leonardo Diaz," said Shawn Crispin, CPJ's Southeast Asia representative. "Until President Rodrigo Duterte shows he is serious about protecting journalists, these types of brazen killings will continue in an unbroken cycle of impunity."

Diaz's murder is at least the second attack on a journalist in the country in recent weeks. On July 28, an unknown assailant shot and critically wounded radio commentator Julito Orillandea in the town of Marihatag, also in Mindanao. Police have not announced any suspects or arrests in that crime, according to press reports.

On December 19, an unidentified gunman shot and killed newspaper publisher Larry Que at his office in Catanduanes province's town of Vivac, according to media reports. Que was shot soon after his newspaper published a column he wrote alleging official negligence over an illegal methamphetamine laboratory that police raided in the island province, news reports said. CPJ is investigating to determine if his murder was in direct retaliation for his work.

The Philippines ranked fourth on CPJ's latest Impunity Index, a measure of countries worldwide where journalist are killed and the murderers go free. </s> MANILA, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Twenty-five criminals were killed overnight in the Philippine capital Manila, police said on Thursday, including 14 in anti-drug operations in a second night of heavy bloodshed this week as a fierce war on drugs intensifies.

The killings across Manila followed 32 deaths in near-simultaneous police operations on Monday night through to Tuesday in Bulacan province, marking the deadliest period of a controversial crackdown by President Rodrigo Duterte that has killed thousands of Filipinos.

Joel Napoleon Coronel, director of Manila Police District, told reporters the 14 were killed in sting operations and 11 other deaths were robbers who were also involved in narcotics.

The identity of the killers of the 11 people were not known and the incidents were under investigation, police reports said. (Reporting by Dondi Tawatao; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Kim Coghill) </s> Thirteen alleged drug traffickers were shot dead by the police in 24 hours in the Bulacan province in Philippines as part of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.

The police killed 13 suspects and arrested another 109 during an intensive operation that lasted from Tuesday midnight to Thursday, according to a statement by the National Police in Bulacan, a province located north of Manila with a population of 2.2 million. </s> His article reported that since the beginning of July, about 2,000 people had been killed by the police and that there had been more than 3,500 unsolved killings in the country. These figures match the numbers given to the news media by a Philippine police spokesman, Dionardo Carlos.

Mr. Andanar said that about a third of the unsolved killings had been identified as drug-related.

“The rest are murder and homicide cases perpetrated by riding-in-tandem gunmen which the Philippine National Police (P.N.P.) is now investigating, the results of which will be made public in due time,” he said in the statement. </s> National Union of Journalists of the Philippines

 Statement

 December 20, 2016

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines condemns the murder of Larry Que, publisher of Catanduanes News Now, and challenge authorities, particularly the Presidential Task Force on Violations of the Right to Life, Liberty and Security of the Members of the Media, to immediately solve his killing, the first of a media person under the Duterte administration.

According to the NUJP’s Catanduanes chapter, Que was shot in the head by a gunman as he was about to enter the building that houses his insurance office late Monday morning and died around 1:45 a.m.on Tuesday.

His murder came after his column in Catanduanes News Now, of which he was publisher for only two weeks, in which he criticized what he called local officials’ alleged negligence, which allowed the setting up on the island-province of a recently raided shabu laboratory that authorities claimed was the “biggest” so far discovered in the country.

The NUJP-Catanduanes reports that, aside from Que’s murder, at least one other journalist, broadcaster Jinky Tabor, who acted as a witness to the raid on the laboratory, has also received threats.

These have created a climate of fear within the local media community.

It should be stressed that the murder of Que is not the first assault on journalists under the current administration.

On the day of Duterte’s inauguration, motorcycle-riding gunmen shot and wounded Saturnino “Jan” Estanio of Radio Mindanao Network’s dxRS in Surigao City and his 12-year old son. A bystander was also slightly injured in the incident.

And last month, Pangasinan journalist Virgilio Maganes survived an attempt on his life by gunmen who apparently attempted to disguise the hit as drug-related. They left behind a cardboard placard that said: “Wag nyo akung tularan drug posher ako (sic).”

Thus far, we have to hear back from authorities despite the creation of task forces to investigate these thankfully botched assassination attempts.

It has not helped that Duterte, who has shown a total aversion to criticism, and some of his officials have time and again been openly hostile towards journalists and the media as a whole, with his loyal supporters taking up the cue and heaping insults, curses and even threats through social media on several of our colleagues.

Nor has it helped that an army of trolls and social media operators are waging a campaign of lies through fake news sites that they tout as their “people’s alternative” to “biased” media or that Duterte’s spokesmen are forever having to explain his statements and blaming media for failing to see beyond what they insist is “hyperbole” or, alternately, to apply “creative imagination.”

We call on this administration to walk the talk and prove its professed respect for press freedom, not only by quickly solving these brazen assaults on press freedom but, just as importantly, by ending its penchant of falsely blaming media for deliberately misinterpreting its often inconsistent and incoherent messages and instead working on making its communications crystal-clear. </s> ANTI-COMMIE. Journalist Jun Pala was known for his anti-Communist stance. Graphic by Nico Villarete

MANILA, Philippines – A key witness during a Senate probe into the rise of killings in the government's war on drugs said on Thursday, September 15, that President Rodrigo Duterte, then mayor of Davao City, ordered the killing of broadcaster Jun Pala in 2003.

Speaking under oath during Thursday's Senate probe, Edgar Matobato said that Duterte, through his supposed "right hand man," a certain Arthur Lascañas, ordered Pala killed because the Davao-based radio commentator had been criticizing Duterte repeatedly.

On September 6, 2003, Pala was gunned down by unknown men on a motorcycle in Davao City. He sustained 9 gunshot wounds, mostly on his chest and head, and was pronounced dead on arrival at the San Pedro Hospital. His murder remains unsolved.

Shortly after he won the May 2016 presidential race, Duterte said in press conference that journalists are legitimate targets of assassination "if you're a son of a bitch."

One of these people "who deserved it," he said then, was broadcaster Jun Pala. (READ: Duterte's 'enemy': Jun Pala) – with reports from Jodesz Gavilan/Rappler.com </s> Bangkok, December 21, 2016--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities in the Philippines to establish the motive behind the murder of newspaper publisher Larry Que and bring the perpetrators swiftly to justice.

Que was shot in the head at close range at around 10:00 a.m. on December 19 while entering an office building in Catanduanes province's town of Virac, according to news reports. A gunman wearing a helmet, bonnet, and raincoat escaped on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice, reports said. Que died early yesterday morning while receiving treatment for his injury at the Eastern Bicol Medical Center.

Que was publisher and columnist at the local Catanduanes News Now, a weekly community newspaper established this year, according to local reports. He was also the owner of a local insurance company and ran for mayor of Virac in an election he lost in May, reports said. Teresa Reyes, an off-duty police officer who witnessed the crime, said Que was returning from the local Land Transportation Office when he was shot in front of his company's office building, reports said.

"Philippine authorities should quickly apprehend the assailants and determine the motive behind publisher Larry Que's murder," said Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative. "President Rodrigo Duterte has sent mixed messages on his government's commitment to protecting journalists and upholding press freedom. He should set the record straight by quickly solving Que's killing through legal means."

In October, Duterte created by executive order a new multi-agency government task force to probe unresolved media murder cases and prevent violence against journalists, according to press reports.

Que was shot soon after his newspaper published a column he wrote alleging "official negligence" over an illegal methamphetamine laboratory recently raided by police in the island province, news reports said. The article also speculated that the illegal plant, reportedly the largest ever discovered in the Philippines, may have been established by Chinese nationals working with ethnic Chinese residents of the province, reports said.

Jinky Tabor, a broadcast journalist who also reports for the local Manila Bulletin newspaper, said that she received anonymous death threats after reporting on the police raid of the alleged drug-making facility, according to news reports. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a local press group, said in a statement that Que's murder had sowed fear among local journalists that they could be targeted next for reporting on the laboratory.

The Philippines ranks fourth on CPJ's Impunity Index, a global measure of countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free. More journalists have been killed in direct relation to their work in the Philippines than anywhere apart from Iraq and Syria since CPJ began keeping detailed records in 1992. </s> MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine police official says law enforcers have killed 13 drug suspects and arrested more than 100 suspected dealers and criminals in 24 hours of raids in a province with a record of bloody crackdowns.

Police Senior Superintendent Romeo Caramat Jr. says the 13 drug suspects were killed Wednesday in gunbattles with police in a city and eight towns in Bulacan province just north of Manila. More than 70 raids were launched by the police in Bulacan that day, leading to the arrests of 109 people, including 92 suspected drug dealers and users.

The latest violence raises the death toll in President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug crackdown to 4,239 since it was launched in July 2016. The U.S. and European countries have expressed alarm over the drug killings.
Two more Filipino journalists are murdered in a span of two days adding to toll of more than a hundred journalists killed since 2000.