Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) and the
Confederation of Asean Journalists (CAJ) expressed their grave concern
over the state of media-person killings in the Philippines, which now
ranks second next to Iraq.
NPC President Joel Sy Egco, CAJ President Benny Antiporda, and CAJ
permanent secretary Akhmad Kusaeni of Indonesia raised their concern on
the high number of murdered journalists in a joint statement.
"This fact paints an ugly picture of the governments lack of
political will in finding a permanent solution to the problem of
media-person killings, which is aggravated by the insincere efforts by
law enforcement agencies, particularly the Philippine National Police
under the Director General Alan Purisima, to run after the perpetrators
of the crime and the masterminds behind these attacks," as stated in the
confederations press release received here on Friday.
Being on the first level of investigation, the Philippine National
Police has the task of tracking down suspects and diligently building up
the cases against them.
However, the Philippine National Police has failed miserably in
these two areas, as there are even instances where suspects were
released from detention due to mere technical reasons.
Worse, this lack of urgency or seriousness in the investigation of these cases has so far resulted in ZERO conviction.
The NPC and the CAJ also welcome with utmost gratitude the concern
raised by the US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg on the
growing number of media-person killings in the country.
The US envoy eloquently voiced his position on the issue through a
statement released on Wednesday, in which he expressed being "troubled
by the continued acts of violence against journalists. (WDY)
Association Concerns Over Journalist Killing in The Philipines
Senin, 12 Mei 2014 7:54 WIB