Columnist Assassinated as Violence Continues Against Journalists
Danny Chan
A journalist was shot in her home in Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat province in the latest act of violence perpetrated against reporters in the Philippines. The shooting death of Marlene Garcia-Esperat, a columnist with the Midland Review, on March 24 marks the second journalist murdered in the country this year after at least eight were killed in 2004.
Ms Esperat, 45, was shot once in the head while having dinner with her family after two men entered her home in Barangay New Isabela. At approximately 7:30 p.m., the gunman allegedly greeted his victim with the words “good evening, ma’am” before shooting her in front of her 10-year-old son; the assailants then calmly left the premises and fled on a motorcycle. Ms Esperat, an anti-graft columnist, had received death threats for her work, particularly an article linking a police officer to illegal logging. She had earlier allowed her two police escorts to leave early for the Easter holidays.
In separate raids on Mindanao island, police arrested four men in connection with the murder: Jerry Cabayag, the alleged gunman; Randi Grecia, the alleged lookout; Estanislao Vismanos, the alleged planner; and Rowie Barua, an army intelligence agent who allegedly paid Mr Cabayag P120,000 to assassinate Ms Esperat.
“We are not yet in a position to determine the mastermind,” Arturo Lomibao, the Philippine National Police’s chief director general, said as the suspects were presented to the media at Camp Crame. Angelo Reyes, the Philippines’ interior secretary, said the evidence suggested the killing was work-related.
“This is an attack not only on the individual but on press freedom,” he said. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines called on the police to redouble efforts to prosecute the killers.
“More and more of our colleagues are being murdered and it is the responsibility of the police to stop the violence by ensuring that the killers are brought to justice,” Carlos Conde, the NUJP secretary-general, said. “This culture of impunity must stop.”
Reporters Without Borders meanwhile announced it would send a fact-finding mission to examine the killings of reporters in the Philippines. In a letter to Secretary Reyes, the organization stated the April 7-13 visit would endeavor “to restore a climate that allows the press to work properly after repeated attacks that have gone completely unpunished.
“We call on you to take the necessary measures to protect journalists and to ensure that a serious investigation establishes the precise motives for Esperat’s murder,” the letter stated. “No hypothesis should be ruled out, but it is already clear that she was probably killed because of her work as a journalist.”
In a tribute to Ms Esperat, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism wrote: “Marlene was gunned down because she lived in a violent place where all it takes is a bullet to silence those who seek justice and to end even the most tireless crusade.”
Ms Esperat, a chemist by training, began exposing corruption in the early 1990s while working as an ombudsman with the Department of Agriculture. During her tenure, she sought legal action against several officials whom she accused of graft. Over the past decade, she uncovered evidence of such schemes including government spending on a nonexistent irrigation project in Cotabato as well as a bureau under the district attorney’s purview that rigged the purchase of overpriced speedboats. She was also involved in such cases as the overpricing of farm goods and the graft of funds earmarked for farmers
Often compared to Erin Brockovich for her relentless crusader-style work, Ms Esperat entered journalism last year to channel her work. Her husband George Esperat said in a radio interview that his wife “made many enemies because of her exposés” and sometimes received death threats via text message.
The assassination underscores a “culture of impunity” which some say has insinuated itself into the country’s fabric. A report from the International Federation of Journalists published in January similarly found a “widespread culture of violence that is tolerated and condoned by the government and officials”.
The killers of Arnulfo Villanueva, a columnist for the Asian Star Express in Naic, Cavite who was murdered on Feb. 28, remain at large. Furthermore, nobody has been convicted of killing any of the journalists brought down in 2004. According to the International Federation of Journalists’ report, the Philippines is listed as the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists after Iraq. Jessica Soto, the executive director of Amnesty International Pilipinas, describes the archipelago’s record on human rights as appalling.
“You can’t expect much in a country where you have a climate of impunity coupled with a weak legal system and a government that appears unwilling to do anything,” Ms Soto said.
