by Alex Austria

A campaign to call attention to pending extrajudicial killing cases was launched last Thursday in the College of Mass Communication (CMC) at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

The campaign, “Roadshow to End Impunity”, was spearheaded by the Freedom Fund for Filipino Journalists (FFFJ).

NUJP Secretary General Rowena Paraan urges the Philippine government to take action against extrajudicial killings. /KIM PAUIG

Rowena Paraan, secretary-general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), said that the point of the campaign was “to put pressure on the government and raise public awareness.”

Part of the launch was a preview of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism’s (PCIJ) documentary based on the updated accounts of the relatives of the journalists slain in the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre.

Ed Lingao, multimedia director for the PCIJ, said that he hopes that the documentary will make people “sit up and take note of the problem.”

Public service announcements made by students from colleges such as St. Scholastica’s College Manila to commemorate the second anniversary of the massacre were also shown.

Luis Teodoro, Deputy Director of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, cited a study in 2003 by Lee Newman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, saying that among other reasons, extrajudicial killings happened in our country because our justice system was weak, and that the perpetrators were part of the military and police.

Paraan also brought up lessons learned from the Maguindanao Massacre, such as the strict implementation of safety protocols in newsrooms. She also pointed out the ethical question raised by the massacre: Were media men paid to accompany Mangudadatu?

“Ayaw naming ipamana sa inyo ang ganitong sitwasyon at ganitong kalagayan (We don’t want you to inherit this type of situation and condition),” she added.

FFFJ Counsel Atty. Prima Jesus Quinsayas speaks at "Roadshow" forum to raise awareness on the status of impunity in the Philippines. /KIM PAUIG

Atty. Prima Jesusa Quinsayas, counsel for FFFJ, shared the latest developments in the Maguindanao Massacre case: out of the 196 accused, 102 were at large, and out of the 94 being prosecuted, only 64 have been arraigned. 30 of the accused were in detention but were not arraigned, including former ARMM governor Zaldy Ampatuan.

She added that relative to other cases on media killings, the case’s developments were speedy, citing the Supreme Court’s (SC) move to make the hearings of the case three times a week and the inhibition of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 from the raffle of cases.

However, she also stressed that the efforts made by the SC to hasten it were not enough, citing the lack of prosecutors for the case as an example of the technicalities that bogged it down in court.

When asked about the live coverage conditions set by the SC on the Maguindanao Massacre trial, Quinsayas said that her initial reaction to it was one of resistance. But she agreed to the terms set by the SC, saying that it was to prevent those involved in the case to be quoted out of context, and for the trial to be devoid of incorrect annotation by the media.