Philippine journalists wounded in suspected militant attack
Suspected militants fired at two low-flying military helicopters in Basilan province in the southern Philippines on August 16, 2009, injuring two journalists who were on board, according to local and international reports. The militants were thought to belong to the Abu Sayyaf Group, which is allegedly linked to Al-Qaida.
Journalists warned of kidnap threat
New York, February 12, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about reported threats to journalists from the Abu Sayyaf, an armed group active in the southern Philippines that American and Filipino officials have linked to the al-Qaeda network. More than 600 American troops arrived recently on the southern island of Basilan to help…
More journalists kidnapped
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in the PHILIPPINES New York, July 10, 2000—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned over the apparent kidnapping July 9 of three French journalists by members of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group in the Philippines. Reporter Maryse Burgot and cameramen Jean-Jacques Le Garrec and…
Gene Boyd Lumawag
An unidentified gunman shot photographer Lumawag, of the MindaNews news service, in the head, killing him instantly in Jolo, the capital of the southern Sulu Province. Lumawag was photographing the sunset at the pier in Jolo on the last day of Ramadan in the Muslim-majority area when he was killed by a single bullet to…
Candelario Cayona
At about 6 a.m. on May 30, three unidentified men ambushed Cayona, a radio commentator for the local station DXLL, as he left home on his motorcycle to host a morning broadcast. Cayona died on the spot from four gunshot wounds, including two to the face. The assailants, all identified as young males, fled the…
Al-Arabiya news team missing in the Philippines
CPJ is monitoring with concern the news coverage of Baker Abdulla Atyani, a Pakistan-based Jordanian Al-Arabiya TV journalist, and his two Philippine crew members, Rolando Letrero and Ramelito Vela, who have been unaccounted for since June 12. Atyani, Letrero, and Vela left their hotel in Jolo, in the southern Philippines, to interview a commander for…
Philippine TV journalist and crew abducted
New York, June 9, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a militant group’s abduction of three journalists from Philippine network ABS-CBN in the southern Philippine province of Sulu on Sunday. ABS-CBN news head Maria Ressa provided CPJ with an official statement today confirming that journalist Ces Drilon, cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion, and assistant cameraman Angelo Valderama…
Despite government claims, Philippine murders go unsolved
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by recent statements made by presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye and the Philippine National Police (PNP) that many of the cases of journalists killed in the country have been solved and that the cases are unrelated to the issue of press freedom.
TWO JOURNALISTS MURDERED IN THE PHILIPPINES
New York, November 15, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the two fatal attacks on Philippine journalists over the weekend, the latest killings in an already record-breaking year for violence against the press in the Philippines. An unidentified gunman shot photographer Gene Boyd Lumawag, of the MindaNews news service, in the head, killing him…