MANILA, 4 May 2005 — Philippine journalists yesterday vowed to defend their profession as an international media watchdog declared that the country has become the “most murderous” for reporters in Southeast Asia.

In the past three years, 23 journalists have been killed and 66 have been murdered since the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in 1986, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, or NUJP, said in a statement on the occasion World Press Freedom day.

“We will not be cowed. We will not be silenced. You will not steal democracy from the Filipino people,” the statement said ahead of a commemoration ceremony. “Those who want the attacks to bring on a chilling effect on Philippine media will find journalists more determined to unearth the truth.”

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, said murder is the leading cause of job-related deaths among journalists worldwide, “and the Philippines is the most murderous country of all,” followed by Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh and Russia.

CPJ said that in the Philippines, 18 journalists have been slain for their work since 2000. All had reported on government and police corruption, drug dealing, and the activities of crime syndicates.

It said the same “murder with impunity” had also been true in Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh and Russia.

“By failing to investigate and punish the killers, the governments in these five countries embolden all those who seek to silence the press through violence,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. “The violence becomes self-perpetuating and the free flow of information is cut off.”

In a separate statement, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders held Philippine authorities responsible for abetting a “culture of impunity” that allows killers and masterminds to attack journalists without fear of arrest.

RSF urged the United Nations yesterday to send a team to the Philippines to investigate the series of killings of journalists.

“Not everything can be explained by the existence of violence in this country,” it said in its own report on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. “A culture of impunity reigns, for which the highest government authorities are responsible, that has allowed killers and those who send them to murder so many journalists in every corner of the country,” the group said.

RSF noted that 52 journalists have been killed in the country since 1986, when democracy was restored after former dictator Ferdinand Marcos was ousted by a “people power” revolt. The RSF report called on the UN to “summon the Philippine ambassador to the Commission for Human Rights and remind him of his country’s undertakings as regards to the protection of human rights.”

“In the Philippines, where press freedom flourishes more than almost anywhere on the continent, hired killers targeted radio and local newspaper journalists on the orders of corrupt local politicians,” it said.

The NUJP acknowledged weaknesses, corruption and “conflict-of-interest situations” that also characterize the Philippine press.

Some Philippine journalists get involved in turbulent local politics as political candidates or their supporters, a factor that complicates murder investigations.

“But time and again, the Philippine media remains the last recourse of citizens who find the road to justice and good governance blocked by rapacious or abusive government officials and their patrons in the private sector,” the NUJP said.

“This is why journalists are being killed in this country, together with activists, human rights workers, environmentalists, anti-corruption advocates, lawyers and judges.”

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has promised to bring killers to justice, but efforts so far haven’t made any headway.

Police Officer Sacked

Meanwhile, the police commander in the northern Philippine province of Ilocos Sur was sacked from his post yesterday following the attempted murder of a crusading radio journalist who lambasted him on air.

Philippine National Police spokesman Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said the relief of Senior Superintendent Mario Subagan was to “pave the way for an impartial investigation into the shooting” of Nestro Seguismundo last week.

Seguismundo works for the DZXE radio station in Ilocos and is known for criticizing public officials on the air. Unknown gunmen attacked him on Friday, but he escaped with a bullet wound to the stomach.

Police said the motive for the attack could be related to his work.

Seguismundo had openly called for the resignation of Subagan as Ilocos police chief, citing his alleged inability to stop rampant criminality, including high-profile killings and drug abuse, police said.

He had also recently finished reporting about the sale of an overpriced piece of property as well as the continued proliferation of an illegal numbers game in the province, called jueteng.

Bataoil did not say if Subagan was a suspect. (With input from agencies)