Philippines still among worst countries for journalists

MANILA, Philippines — For the 16th consecutive year, the Philippines has remained on the list of countries where killers of journalists go unpunished.

The Philippines ranked eighth in the latest Global Impunity Index released by New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a slight improvement from seventh in the past two years.

The movement was due to the entry of Haiti in the index, which ranks countries based on the number of unsolved journalist murders in the past decade as a percentage of the country’s population.

The Philippines is one of the six countries that have appeared every year in the Global Impunity Index since CPJ launched it in 2008. The others were Somalia, Iraq, Mexico, Pakistan and India.

The latest index took into account deliberate killings of journalists in retaliation for their work that occurred between Sept. 1, 2013 to Aug. 31, 2023.

From 14 unsolved murders in the country last year, the number rose to 20 in the latest index following the killings of Renato Blanco in Negros Oriental on Sept. 18, 2022; Percy Mabasa in Las Piñas on Oct. 3, 2022, and Cris Bundoquin in Oriental Mindoro on May 31, 2023.

Four other cases that were not included in the previous index were also now on the list after the motive behind their killings has been determined: Virgilio Maganes in Pangasinan on Nov. 10, 2020; Orlando Dinoy in Davao del Sur on Oct. 30, 2021; Audrey Estrada in Lanao del Norte on March 17, 2022, and Federico Gempesaw in Cagayan de Oro on June 29, 2022.

The latest index excluded the case of freelance photographer Mario Sy, who was in General Santos City on Aug. 1, 2013, as it is no longer within the 10-year period.

“The Philippines remains a dangerous place to work as a reporter, especially for radio journalists,” CPJ stated.

“While Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has adopted a more conciliatory approach toward the media since becoming president in June 2022, CPJ reported that a culture of self-censorship persists and Marcos’ change in tone has not yet been accompanied by substantive actions to undo the damage wrought to press freedom under the Rodrigo Duterte administration,” it added.

Data from the National Union of Journalists of the