Philippines / Asia

New York, May 22, 2009–The Philippine government must address a series of shootings that have targeted journalists on the southern island of Mindanao, the latest coming on Wednesday when gunmen critically wounded a local radio broadcaster, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

Gunshots were fired into the home of Abra province journalist Marjorie Bandayrel-Trinidad on May 14, 2009, according to a local press freedom group and news reports. Bandayrel-Trinidad and her husband and child were unhurt, the reports said. Abra is in the north of the Philippines. 

New York, May 20, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Philippines government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to clarify an accusation made by freelance journalist Carlos Conde that his name appeared on a 2007 official Armed Forces “order of battle” document. 

April 2009News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility reports today that a Philippine court has denied a motion to dismiss murder charges against two government officials accused of ordering the 2005 murder of journalist Marlene Garcia-Esperat.

In response to the statement by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s chief aide, Eduardo Ermita, that the 24 murders of journalists in Philippines had all been “properly attended to,” we issued this statement today…

When we launched CPJ’s new Impunity Index today in Manila, the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reacted viscerally. Just after we released the report, which prominently features the Philippines, Presidential Press Secretary Cerge Remonde sent out a statement to journalists by text message describing the report as “a bit of an exaggeration.”

CPJ’s Impunity Index spotlights countrieswhere journalists are slain and killers go free New York, March 23, 2009 — The already murderous conditions for the press in Sri Lanka and Pakistan deteriorated further in the past year, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in its newly updated Impunity Index, a list of countries where journalists…

New York, March 9, 2009–Following the murder attempt against radio journalist Nilo Labares, the head reporter at DXCC Radio Mindanao Network, the Committee to Protect Journalists called today for a thorough investigation into the shooting and an end to impunity in crimes against journalists.