DAVAO CITY – The College Editors Guild of the Philippines – Northern Mindanao Region expressed alarm on the statement of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte about media killings.
In a press conference on Tuesday night, May 31, Duterte said most of the journalists who were killed are corrupt.
“Sa karamihan, prangka-prangka, may nagawa yan. Kasi hindi ka naman talaga papatayin dyan kung wala kang ginawa eh (Most of them, just to be frank, has done something. Because you will not be killed if you are not doing anything wrong),” Duterte said.
Rochamae Bihag, vice president for Mindanao of CEGP said journalists “have been constantly under attack and harassed in different forms: Red-tagging, physical injuries, death threats and ultimately, assassinations.”
Bihag said it appears that Duterte “does not fully grasps the reality that media killings occur because they expose the corruptions and injustices in their local government and community.”
“Two of them were Cosme Maestrado and Gregorio Ybanez, who were brutally murdered last year,” she said.
CEGP maintained that the culture of impunity has prevailed in the country and that no justice has been served to victims of media killings.
“The Guild is alarmed with the possible aggravation of atrocities done against journalists under the administration of the[President-elect] ,” said Bihag. (davaotoday.com)
