DAVAO CITY. Philippines – A week before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA), radio broadcaster and station manager Erwin ‘Boy Pana’ Segovia of Radyo Gugma (Love Radio) was shot dead in Bislig, Surigao del Sur.
The administration had boasted that there were no media killings reported in 2024. But two broadcasters had been killed this year.
Two months earlier, veteran radio broacaster Juan ‘Johnny’ Dayang was killed in Kalibo, Aklan on April 29, a case which the police has not yet solved.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said if Segovia’s killing is linked to his work as a broadcaster, he will be the fifth journalist killed under the Marcos Jr’s administration since June 2022.
Local police have yet to release an official report regarding potential suspects and reasons for Segovia’s murder, but the NUJP said the broadcaster’s “hard-hitting commentaries” may have gotten attention of influential persons in the region.
“Segovia’s killing follows the disturbing pattern aggravated by the current climate of impunity prevailing in the practice of journalism in the Philippines,” the NUJP said.
The media organization warned that the repeated failure to solve these murders essentially perpetuates the culture of impunity which has plagued press freedom.
They note that journalists in the provinces are much more vulnerable due to the lack of institutional protection and perpetuation of justice, which threaten not only their profession but put their lives at risk.
International concern
The state of attacks on Philippine media has also drawn concern from international institutions.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion Irene Khan visited the country in 2024 and called out the government to ensure more resolutions on the cases involving media killings.
Calling the media killings “the most egregious form of censorship”, she said, “clearly, much more needs to be done to eliminate impunity.”
Another case Khan raised is the detention of journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio in Leyte, whom she said is the only journalist detained in the Philippines on a questionable case based on red-tagging.
Cumpio, editor and manager of the online media outlet Eastern Vista, was arrested following a raid in her house in February 2020 where police claimed was filled with firearms and communist paraphernalia. The trial on her case started only in 2024.
The group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released its first part of their investigation on Cumpio’s case where they noted inconsistencies in the case and evidence seemed fabricated to convict her.
Aside from Cumpio’s case, the NUJP also defended freelance journalist Deo Montesclaros from the Cagayan province who is facing a terrorist financing complaint.
“We call on Congress and the Marcos government to take long-overdue actions in the interest of the safety and well-being of journalists and ensure media killings do not go unpunished,” said the NUJP.(davaotoday.com)
