Philippines / Asia

  
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (left), then mayor of Davao, inspects an assault rifle with Regional Police Chief Miguel Abaya (center) in the late 1980s. (Reuters/Renato Lumawag)

Ex-police official admits role in Filipino radio journalist’s murder

Bangkok, February 21, 2017–Former Philippine policeman Arturo Lascanas in a news conference yesterday acknowledged his role in the September 2003 assassination of radio journalist Juan “Jun” Pala, a crime he claimed was ordered and paid for by then Davao City mayor, now President Rodrigo Duterte.

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Newspaper publisher shot and killed in Philippines

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.

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Getting Away With Murder

CPJ’s 2016 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free By Elisabeth Witchel, CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant Published October 27, 2016. Some of the highest rates of impunity in the murders of journalists can be attributed to killings by Islamist militant groups, CPJ found in its latest Global Impunity…

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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, center, speaks with journalists in June. The new leader has given mixed messages on press freedom. (AFP/Manman Dejeto)

Philippine leader blows hot and cold on press freedom

Newly installed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sent mixed messages on his commitment to upholding press freedom and combating impunity in media murders, a mix of hope and fear that has broadly defined the first months of his leadership. Uncertainty about Duterte’s stance on the media’s watchdog role comes against the backdrop of a “war…

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Gunmen injure Philippines radio journalist and son

New York, July 1, 2016– Philippine authorities should credibly investigate Thursday’s shooting of a Filipino journalist and his son outside their home in Surigao City, Mindinao, and bring the gunmen to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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President-elect sends wrong signal on impunity in the Philippines

Bangkok, June 1, 2016 – The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s comments during a press conference justifying the killing of journalists. Duterte made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question on Tuesday about how his government would handle cases of media murders, according to news reports.

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Radio reporter murdered in the Philippines

New York, February 18, 2016 — Authorities in the Philippines should swiftly bring to justice the killers of radio reporter Elvis Banggoy Ordaniza, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ordaniza was shot and killed on Tuesday in the province of Zamboanga del Sur, on the country’s southernmost main island of Mindanao, according to news…

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Radio reporter murdered in the Philippines

Bangkok, November 4, 2015­–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of Jose Bernardo, a radio reporter who was shot and killed on Saturday in the capital of the Philippines, according to news reports. Authorities must impartially investigate the murder and bring the perpetrators swiftly to justice, CPJ said today.

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Getting Away With Murder

CPJ’s 2015 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free Published October 8, 2015 Elisabeth Witchel/CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant The ambush of a convoy in South Sudan and the hacking deaths of bloggers in Bangladesh this year propelled the two nations onto CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries…

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CPJ welcomes arrests in 2011 murder of Philippine journalist

Bangkok, September 21, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the arrest in Thailand of two former Philippine politicians wanted in the 2011 murder of environmental journalist Gerardo Ortega. Joel Reyes, a former governor of Palawan province, and his brother, Mario Reyes, a former municipal mayor in the same province, were arrested on Sunday by Thai…

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