The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines is calling on Philippine National Police Director-General Arturo Lomibao to order a separate team of investigators to probe the April 29 shooting of DZXE commentator Nestor Seguismundo in Vigan City.

“While there are yet no clear suspects in the shooting, it must be pointed out that Seguismundo had been highly critical of Ilocos Sur provincial police director, Sr. supt. Mario Subagan,” the NUJP said in a statement. “For transparency and for the sake of justice, Director-General Lomibao should create an independent team for the Seguismundo case, as well as all recent threat and harassment reports implicating senior police officials.”

Seguismundo, who suffered a stomach wound after one of two motorcycle-riding men opened fire outside the broadcaster’s residence in Barangay Bugig, Bantag torn, was the third journalist to survive an assassination attempt in the year’s first four months. The other two were Max Quimbo of Tagum and Pablo Hernandez of the Metro Manila tabloid, Bulgar.

Three other journalists have been killed since the start of the year: Edgar Amoro of Pagadian City, Arnulfo Villanueva of Cavite and Marlene Esperat of Tacurong City.

Seguismundo was a critic of police officials, calling for their relief for alleged failure to stem rising criminality, including assassinations and the sale of illegal drugs. His shooting came soon after the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) urged Lomibao to launch a swift, impartial investigation into a new rash of death threats and acts of intimidation against media practitioners.

The NUJP said the following journalists reported receiving threats: John Paul B. Tia, station manager of MBC-Aksyon Radyo in Iloilo City; Negros Defense Press Corps president and Visayan Daily Star reporter Gilbert Bayoran and broadcaster Annie Calderon; and Louie Logarta of the Daily Tribune broadsheet. Logarta is also a former president of the NPC.

The NUJP described the reports as "very serious" and noted that these implied that "enemies of press freedom are ignoring warnings from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Malacañang itself."

More alarming, the NUJP noted, was that "all three reports implicate active and retired senior police officers."

Earlier this month, President Arroyo ordered the PNP and other lawmen to get the killers of journalists, saying the country needed “a strong, free and independent media to safeguard our democracies and keep their political leaders on the straight and narrow."

"Here in the Philippines and in other nations, journalists have been slain in pursuit of the truth," the President said in a speech Sunday night to delegates of the Interparliamentary Union in Manila. "I salute these defenders of democracy and declare to those who perpetrate such crimes: Your days are numbered."

Last year, 13 journalists were slain in the Philippines, making the country the world’s second most dangerous place for journalists after war-torn Iraq. Sixty-six journalists have been killed in the country since democracy was restored in 1986, with only one conviction. International media watchdogs have blamed the continued killings on “a culture of fear” that also targets other social activists and a “culture of impunity” that has encouraged a thriving gun-for-hire industry patronized by powerful groups and individuals.

Inday Espina-Varona
Chair, NUJP

Jose Torres Jr.
Chair, NUJP committee to protect journalists