The court trying the Ampatuan Massacre cases has until
December 20 of this year to announce whether the 197 accused for the murder of
58 victims are innocent or guilty.
In a November 7 memorandum, Supreme Court administrator Jose
Midas Marquez granted Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 presiding
judge Jocelyn A. Solis-Reyes until the said date to read her verdict to the
accused.
The memorandum was Marquez’s reply to Solis-Reyes’ request
for a 30-day extension to the original November 20 deadline.
Justice Midas-Marquez’s memorandum to Judge Solis-Reyes.
In an October 28 letter, Judge Solis-Reyes wrote the Supreme
Court administrator to request for the extension “due to the voluminous records
of these cases.”
The records have reached a total of 238 volumes, broken down
to 165 volumes of records of proceedings, 65 volumes of transcripts of
stenographic notes and 8 volumes of prosecution’s documentary evidence,
Solis-Reyes said.
Marquez replied that he found the ground for the judge’s
request “reasonable.”
Judge Solis-Reyes request for extension.
The high tribunal’s administrator however reminded that the
30-day extension is non-extendible.
He also directed Solis-Reyes to submit to his office a copy
of the decision within 10 days from promulgation as proof of her compliance to
decide the cases within the period requested.
The cases were originally due for promulgation on November
20 after the long-drawn trial was declared submitted for decision last August
22.
Previous to this, groups such as the National Union of
Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said they hoped that the promulgation of
the cases to happen before the 10th anniversary of the massacre on
November 23.
The NUJP, along with other groups such as the Union of
Journalists-University of the Philippines in Diliman and the College Editors’
Guild of the Philippines, have announced a series of activities commemorating
the 10th anniversary of the massacre dubbed as the worst attack on
journalists in history.
Of the 58 massacre victims, 32 were journalists. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ampatuan.jpg432648Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-11-11 10:57:192019-11-11 10:57:20Ampatuan Massacre cases to be promulgated before Christmas
Authorities are preparing charges against a police sergeant, a retired police corporal and a civilian for the murder of Dumaguete City broadcaster Dindo Generoso yesterday, Thursday, November 7.
Philippine National Police-Negros Oriental acting director Colonel Julian Entoma said they have arrested and are preparing charges against Police Corporal Glenn Corsame and civilian Teddy Reyes Salaw for Generoso’s murder.
The third suspect, identified as Police Sergeant Roger Rubio,
remains at large.
Entoma
described Corsame as a “non-duty police officer” under the Negros Oriental provincial
police office.
Screen grab of suspect Corsame’s file.(PTFoMs image)
The Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS), in announcing the arrests, however said Corsame is already retired. A PTFoMS screen grab of Corsame’s file indicates that he is “optionally retired.”
Generoso, 67, was driving to dyEM Bai Radio where he hosts a radio
program at around 7:30 a.m when shot by a gunman riding pillion on a
motorcycle.
He died of eight gunshot wounds to the head and body.
The PTFoMS said reports it received indicated
that the suspects are in the employ of a powerful politician in the province.
The mastermind and the motive for Generoso’s killing are
still the subject of ongoing follow-up operations, PTFoMs said.
Generoso was the second media practitioner killed in Dumaguete
since 2018 when Edmund Sestoso was shot on his way home from work on April 31,
dying of his injuries the next day.
Sestoso’s killing, on the other hand, remains unsolved.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said should
Generoso’s murder be deemed related to his work as a broadcaster, he would be
the 14th media practitioner killed in the line of duty under the Duterte
administration and the 187th since 1986. # (Raymund
B. Villanueva, with reports from Visayas Today)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/gene-1.jpg720960Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-11-08 12:45:532019-11-08 13:11:17Police sergeant, retired corporal and civilian to be charged for broadcaster’s murder
MANILA — Lawyer of the families of the victims of the Ampatuan massacre Nena Santos said she is confident that a conviction in the ongoing 10-year old case is in the offing.
In a press conference organized by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines Tuesday, Nov. 5, Santos said the Quezon City court is expected to issue a promulgation before the tenth year of the gruesome incident that killed 58 individuals, of whom 32 were journalists.
“We are not sure of the 100% (all 197 accused), but we are sure that the principal accused will be convicted,” Santos said.
Principal suspects include brothers Andal Jr., Zaldy and Sajid Ampatuan, sons of the alleged mastermind Andal Ampatuan Sr.
Santos underscored the significance of the Ampatuan massacre case to the state of press freedom in the country.
“If there would be no conviction, I’m sorry to say press freedom is dead,” Santos said. “(Because it means) impunity, because if nobody gets to jail for killing media people, where is democracy, where is press freedom?”
Asked about the highs and lows of the ten-year trial, Santos said her low points included the deaths of witnesses and some witnesses taking offers of money.
She said, however, that all 30 major witnesses did not recant their testimonies despite threats.
“Their lives are no longer normal. Their lives are in danger,” Santos said.
Santos revealed she herself received many death threats.
“I just have one focus: just handle the case to the best of my ability without any favor or without… falling into any offers of money, influence, position until this case is finally resolved,” Santos said.
Asked why the case has dragged on for 10 years, Santos said the defense “mainly caused the delays.”
The Ampatuan massacre, which took place on Nov. 23, 2009 in Ampatuan town, Maguindanao is considered as the single biggest attack on journalists worldwide. #
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/atty-nena.jpg5631000Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-11-06 14:32:292019-11-06 14:32:30‘Press freedom is dead if Ampatuans not convicted’ – lawyer
The
Philippines has the highest number of unsolved journalist murders in the world,
the latest report of international media watchdog Committee to Protect
Journalists showed.
The CPJ’s
2019 Global Impunity Index, which “spotlights countries where journalists are
slain and their killers go free,” also placed the country, the only one from
Southeast Asia on its list, at fifth place while noting that it “has been among the worst five countries nearly every year
since the index was first published in 2008.”
(Illustrations from the CPJ report showing the Philippines’ rank in the Impunity Index and in terms of unsolved media killings.)
The media watchdog counted 41 unsolved journalist murders for the Philippines, compared to 25 for strife-wracked Somalia, which remained the world’s worst country “when it comes to prosecuting murderers of journalists” for the fifth year in a row.
The 2019 Global Impunity Index was released Tuesday, October 29.
CPJ acknowledged that the Philippines’ perennial “worst 5” ranking
has been due in part to the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre, which claimed
the lives of 58 persons, 32 of them media workers.
The incident, considered the worst incident of electoral violence
in recent Philippine history and the single deadliest attack on the press ever
recorded, happened when gunmen stopped a convoy on its way to register the
candidacy of a local politician and gunned down the occupants as well as
passengers of two vehicles that also happened to pass by.
The trial of the more than 100 suspects in the massacre concluded
in August but, with the incident’s 10th anniversary drawing near, a verdict has
yet to be handed down.
PH listing ‘expected’
Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) executive
director Joel Sy Egco said the country’s ranking is “expected,” stressing that
the massacre case has been keeping the country on the list since 2009.
“The CPJ report is not surprising and was actually expected. In
fact, we have been anticipating that because for as long as the massacre case
remains in the equation, following the methodology used by CPJ, we shall remain
on that list,” Egco said during the 67th anniversary celebrations of
the National Press Club last Tuesday, October 29.
He noted that the case is nearing promulgation and that he expects
that by 2020, the country would be given a much improved ranking.
Egco however said
the PTFoMS y find it “appalling” that the CPJ formula does not factor in government
efforts in holding perpetrators to account by running after and eventually
filing charges against them.
“I have
already established contact with CPJ Southeast Asia representative Shawn
Crispin and raised our concern. There is something amiss in their methodology
such as that if state action would not be considered, and that’s for all
countries they cover, then they are not helping at all,” Egco said.
He said there is no impunity in the Philippines as the Philippine
government takes action on all cases brought to PTFoMS’ attention.
He cited the filing of double murder charges against Armando
Velasco, Edgardo Cabrera and a ‘John Doe’ for the death of journalist Jupiter
Gonzales and his friend Christopher Tiongson last October 20 as proof.
UJP UP Diliman members light candles for the 58 victims of the Ampatuan Massacre. (UJP UP Diliman photo)
Month-long
countdown to 10th massacre anniversary
Meanwhile, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
(NUJP) and its student arm, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines at the
University of the Philippines in Diliman, announced coordinated activities a
month before the 10th anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre.
Both organizations shall hold a series of forums in various
schools throughout the country in cooperation with the College Editors’ Guild
of the Philippines and other youth and media groups.
The NUJP shall also conduct its annual massacre site visit with
local and international media groups before the 10th anniversary on
November 23.
The activities shall culminate in a mural painting event in Manila
before a 58-second broadcast silence at 11:23 AM by participating radio and
television stations in honor of the 58 massacre victims and a rally at Mendiola
Bridge on November 23.
The countries in the 2019 Global Impunity Index according to rank
are:
1. Somalia
2. Syria
3. Iraq
4. South Sudan
5. Philippines
6. Afghanistan
7. Mexico
8. Pakistan
9. Brazil
10. Bangladesh
11. Russia
12. Nigeria
13. India
(With
additional reports from Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/fight-2.jpg639960Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-10-30 08:54:382019-10-30 08:54:41Philippines has most unsolved journalist killings in the world – CPJ
Two workers of the Abante News Group were slightly
injured when four masked gunmen attacked its printing plant in Parañaque City
and attempted to burn it down early Monday, September 9, the National Union of
Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said in an alert.
The Group publishes the popular tabloids Abante and Abante Tonite.
The tabloids have been publishing and posting online stories critical of the
Rodrigo Duterte government.
Abante managing editor Fernando Jadulco called the
attack “the first violent act against our group and its facilities since
1987.”
The NUJP said it is also believed to be the first
attack of its kind on a news outfit in recent history.
Jadulco told NUJP said the attackers stormed the
printing plant around 2 a.m. “just as we had finished printing.”
The attackers quickly poured gasoline on the
machines and printing supplies and set these on fire.
But the quick response of the Parañaque Fire Station
prevented any serious damage to the facility, the NUJP said.
National Capital Region Police Office director
Guillermo Eleazar ordered an investigation of the incident, the media group
added.
Jadulco said the incident would not disrupt their
operations.
“We will continue to publish,” he told the
NUJP.
In a separate statement, Jadulco said: “We will
not be cowed by this attempt to strike fear into our reporters, editors and
staff. Our commitment to hard-hitting journalism remains unshaken.”
There are no reports yet of the identities of the gunmen and the reason behind the attacks as of this posting.
In 2006, during the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration’s State of National Emergency, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police raided Abante’s office but withdrew upon seeing the presence of television crews. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/abante-1.jpg716960Jola Mamangunhttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngJola Mamangun2019-09-09 16:22:582019-09-09 16:30:17Gunmen set fire to newspaper plant; 2 hurt
Two journalists in Mindanao were again
red-tagged, one threatened with death with a P1 million bounty on his head.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
(NUJP) said Leonardo Vicente “Cong” Corrales, associate editor of the Mindanao
Gold Star Daily, was again named in a new anonymous red-tagging material, along
with respected veteran journalist Froilan Gallardo of Mindanews and several other
Cagayan de Oro personalities and organizations.
“On Wednesday, August 28, we were informed that new
anonymous red tagging material against several personalities in Cagayan de Oro,
similar to the earlier flyers and banners, had been received, this time from a
courier service, by Iglesia Filipina Independiente priest Fr. Rolando Abejo and
a city hall employee who had also been red tagged earlier,” the NUJP said in a
statement.
Part of the red-tagging material targeting Corrales.
Corrales
had repeatedly been included in red-tagging materials distributed around
Cagayan de Oro this year, accusing the former NUJP director of membership or
links to the communist armed movement.
The red-tagging also previously included his wife
and son.
A flyer from a “Black Mamba,” purportedly of the
“MAT-NMR Press Club Chapter,” claims there is a P1 million bounty for the death
of Cong.
The alleged bounty on Corrales may be the first on a
journalist, NUJP sources said.
The courier packet that contained the flyer
targeting Corrales identified the sender as Danilo Tirso Mantangan of Sitio
Camansi, Lagonglong, Misamis Oriental with mobile phone number 09091020123.
The packet received by a Cagayan de Oro City Hall employee Evelyn Naguio, who was earlier red-tagged herself, on August 28.
The
flyer intended for Fr. Abejo also included a list of organizations and
personalities supposedly linked to the rebels. Gallardo was included in this
list.
The
materials received by Fr. Abejo also named human rights lawyer Beverly Musni
and her daughter and colleague Czarina.
Asked
by the NUJP what he could have done to earn so much hatred as to seek his
death, Cong said the only reason he knows is a column he wrote on the treatment
Higaonon evacuees from Sitio Camansi, Barangay Banglay in Lagonglong town,
Misamis Oriental had received when they descended on Cagayan de Oro to seek
help from the provincial government.
Gallardo
for his part said he might have been targeted because he had recently interviewed
the New People’s Army on a raid in which they seized a number of weapons from
security guards of Minergy Power Corporation.
“But
whatever they may have done, there is nothing that justifies such harassment
and vilification and, in the case of Cong, an actual death threat,” the NUJP
said.
“It
is not as if our colleagues have not alerted and sought the help of local
officials and the local security community,” the group added.
In
July, representatives of the Cagayan de Oro Chapter of the NUJP, the Cagayan de
Oro Press Club and church organizations held a dialogue with local government
officials to stop the red-tagging of personalities and organizations in the
city.
No concrete action has yet materialized as a result
of the dialogue.
“We hold that the reason the red tagging,
particularly of Cong, has worsened to actually turn potentially deadly is
because of the apparent lack of interest of local government and security units
to protect those so threatened and to go after and prosecute those responsible
for this clearly dangerous vilification,” the NUJP statement said.
The
NUJP demanded that authorities and security forces in Cagayan de Oro and
Northern Mindanao ensure the safety of other journalists who find themselves in
danger because of red tagging.
“We
urge our colleagues in Cagayan de Oro and Northern Mindanao to close ranks and
join us demand from your local government and security officials the protection
you are entitled to,” the NUJP said. # (Raymund
B. Villanueva)
National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)—Bacolod Chapter chairperson Marchel Espina reported being tailed by a “suspicious motorcycle rider” while on assignment in Negros Oriental Sunday afternoon, August 4.
While returning from Canlaon City, Espina’s driver told her that they were being followed by a motorcycle rider, “who was of medium build and wore a bonnet concealing his face, a black jacket and pants and with a backpack.”
Espina was pursuing stories about the killings of civilians in Negros Island believed to be the result of the government’s intensified counter-insurgency drive.
Espina reports for Rappler.
Espina said the rider had tailed them for almost 18 kilometers, from Biak Na Bato to Taburda in La Castellana town.
She quoted her driver as saying he blocked an attempt by the rider to overtake their rental car and drove as fast as he could until they eventually lost the tail.
Motorcycle-riding gunmen have been reported as the perpetrators of many killings in the entire island in the past weeks.
At least 21 civilians were killed in Negros Oriental in the past two weeks, many by motorcycle riders. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/1-4.jpg7201280Jola Mamangunhttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngJola Mamangun2019-08-05 16:04:312019-08-05 16:04:34NUJP-Bacolod chairperson tailed by ‘suspicious rider’
A broadcaster was shot dead late Wednesday night, July 10, as he
was driving home after his regular radio program in Kidapawan City in Mindanao.
Eduardo Dizon of Brigada News FM was waylaid by two men reportedly riding in tandem on a motorcycle.
The victim managed to drive on for some distance but died immediately after, reports said.
He suffered five gunshot wounds on his torso.
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP)
condemned Dizon’s murder and said he may be the 13th journalist
killed under the Rodrigo Duterte government and 186th since 1986.
The NUJP said Dizon’s murder was
likely related to his work as a broadcaster.
“We have confirmed that a few days before his death, he had filed a report with the Kidapawan police after he received a challenge to a ‘duel’ and his station’s hotline received a text message from mobile number 09353435064 that said: ‘Bantay mo Brigada mamatay unya mo bantay2 mo kay naa mupusil ninyo,’ the NUJP said in its statement today. (Watch out Brigada because you will die, just wait someone will shoot you.)
Kodao sources said that Dizon had been critical of the alleged Kapa Worldwide Ministry Ponzi scheme that Duterte ordered stopped.
The NUJP said Dizon’s murder again underscores how
the overwhelming failure of government to ensure justice for violent crime can
only invite even more bloodshed by perpetrators emboldened by the certainty
that they can literally get away with murder.
“We demand that authorities solve Dizon’s murder and
ensure the perpetrators are caught and successfully prosecuted,” the NUJP said.
The group said it demands that government do its
duty and end the culture of impunity that continues to embolden those for whom
violence is the preferred means to resolve disputes. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines
(NUJP) called on those behind the relentless red-tagging of human rights, media,
church and lawyers’ organizations in Cagayan de Oro City to stop their
activities as it “endangers lives.”
For the eighth time since February, the NUJP and other
organizations and personalities were again listed in posters, this time plastered
on the walls of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) church in Cagayan de
Oro’s Barangay Agusan Sunday.
A poster red-tagging the NUJP and the NUPL found plastered on the wall of a church in Cagayan de Oro last Sunday. (NUJP photo)
Along with the NUJP, the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers
in Mindanao-National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, the IFI, the Rural Missionaries
of the Philippines and others were listed as so-called fronts of the Communist
Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic
Front of the Philippines.
The posters were signed by a shadowy group calling
itself the Movement Against Terrorism-Northern Mindanao Region.
“The NUJP Cagayan de Oro City Chapter condemns this
act, an act clearly meant to intimidate and silence a critical press,” the group’s
statement, signed by its chapter president Pamela Jay Orias and NUJP Western
Mindanao media safety officer JB Deveza, said Monday.
While denying it is a front for any organization,
the NUJP said it will also not stand idly by while the truth is under
persistent attack.
“[The NUJP] will not cower while the freedom of the
press and the people’s right to truthful, accurate, and relevant information is
under assault,” it said.
‘Scary’
Former NUJP director and Mindanao Gold Star Daily
associate editor Cong Corrales said inclusion in the list is “scary, to say the
least.”
Corrales is among the personalities listed by the
posters and streamers that, at one time, had been displayed in his own village.
“[Mayroong] tarp din sinabit sa bridge facing Consolacion
with the words may mga terrorist supporters dito sa [Barangay] Consolacion,”
Corrales said.
A streamer red-tagging some residents of Barangay Consolacion in Cagayan de Oro. (Photo from Cong Corrales)
“Our Punong Barangay has already reported it to the police. Pero wala pa
ring action,” he said.
Corrales said local officials should be asked to
look into repeated red-tagging incidents in the city.
Corrales’ wife and son were, at one time, included
in the list.
The veteran journalist has denied being a member of
the underground groups.
“I feel they will not stop until one of us in the
list is killed,” Corrales told Kodao.
The embattled journalist said he is taking safety
precautions but believes the perpetrators know where he lives.
‘Not enemies of the state’
The NUJP said the people behind the red-tagging campaign must be reminded that a free press is guaranteed under the Philippine Constitution.
“Perhaps the people behind this despicable act need
reminding that journalists are not enemies of the state. Perhaps the people behind
these lies forget that journalists are just truth-tellers whose job serves the
public interest,” the group added.
The group called on the perpetrators to stop the
vilification campaign against the NUJP and against other rights organizations.
“Your lies endanger journalists; your lies put people’s
lives at risk,” it said. # (Raymund B.
Villanueva)
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2.jpg720960Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-07-08 10:25:412019-07-08 10:36:43Relentless red-tagging in Cagayan de Oro ‘scary and dangerous’
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines hails our colleagues in Cagayan de Oro for their show of unity against unrelenting efforts to suppress freedom of the press and of expression.
When unidentified persons draped a black streamer naming so-called communist rebel “front organizations” – including the NUJP – on the fence of Cagayan de Oro’s Press Freedom Monument at Vicente de Lara Park, it was clear that we were not the sole media group targeted by this red-tagging operation, something we have been subjected to since late last year.
That the incident happened on the first day of Cagayan de Oro’s celebration of Press Freedom Week, an annual event dear to the hearts of our colleagues in the City of Golden Friendship, indicates it was intended as a warning to all journalists to go easy on critical reportage and commentary.
The response of our colleagues from the different media organization in Cagayan de Oro was as swift as it was appropriate: they tore the streamer down and set it alight, while vowing to remain united and not be cowed by those seeking to suppress the full exercise of democratic rights.
At a time when the threats to the profession and our basic rights and liberties continue to worsen, unfortunately abetted by a contemptible few who have chosen to betray the profession of truth, the example set by the media of Cagayan de Oro is proof of what we have maintained all along, that the united community of independent Filipino journalists is capable of holding back the darkness that seeks to engulf us once again.
The NUJP National Directorate
https://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/cdo2.jpg540720Kodao Productionshttps://kodao.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/kodao.pngKodao Productions2019-05-29 08:12:102019-05-29 08:12:12NUJP salutes CDO colleagues’ unity in defense of press freedom
