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Statement
May 28, 2008
Do not let justice for Marlene Esperat slip away
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines is dismayed over recent developments in the case of the brutal murder of journalist Marlene Grace Esperat.
On May 14, 2008, the Court of Appeals granted the petition for preliminary injunction filed by Osmeña Montañer and Estrella Sabay, local agriculture officials who were accused of ordering Esperat's murder.
The CA order prevented Cebu City RTC Branch 7 Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr from hearing the case against the accused. It also stopped the service of warrants of arrest against Montañer and Sabay, who were asked to pay only P50,000 each as injunction bond.
The CA said the two were not included in the Supreme Court decision transferring the venue of the original case - from Tacurong City to Cebu City - during which the gunmen and other accomplices in Esperat's murder, were convicted.
With the case literally "frozen," we are concerned that prosecuting and putting behind bars the brains behind the murder of Esperat, who was gunned down in front of her family, is becoming more difficult and that, as in most of the cases of our slain colleagues, justice may again be slipping away.
While we respect the CA's order, our apprehension is that this may be a window of opportunity for the alleged masterminds to devise devious maneuvers to further delay the resolution of the case and or, worse, allow them to go scot-free.
We are afraid that the Esperat murder may end up like the handful of cases in which convictions have been handed down, with those who pulled the triggers punished but those who gave the orders -- invariably powerful wrongdoers who seek to prevent the light of scrutiny and truth from uncovering their dark deeds -- remaining unpunished.
We were hoping that the case of Marlene Esperat would prove the exception to the rule. Now, we are not so sure.
Nevertheless, we urge the courts to dispense justice fairly and, yes,
swiftly, not only for Marlene Esperat but for all the 93 journalists
killed in the country since 1986.#
References:
Jose Torres Jr., Chairperson
Rowena Paraan, Secretary-General