ENOUGH! End All Journalist Killings

COLLEGE EDITORS GUILD OF THE PHILIPPINES- Cebu Chapter

ENOUGH!

End All Journalist Killings

November is a dark month for Philippine Media. This month alone, four journalist have been killed.

The brutal death of Allan Dizon, a photojournalist from Banat News and The Freeman in Cebu City, the 12'th this year, and the 61'st since the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, has stirred skepticism in the government's effort to end this social malady of indiscriminate killing of journalist. The question of whether the freedom of the press that was restored in 1986, still exist or has long enough been banished reinforces the cloud of social unrest.

The alarming rate of deaths, speaks of how inutile the government has become in the face of this horrendous trend. Not a single a single conviction has been served by any of the deaths since 1986, creating a 'climate of impunity'. the PNP's directive to allow journalist to carry firearms for self-defense is an acknowledgement of its ineffectiveness to protect the journalists against threats on their lives. it is not a wonder why the people become doubtful of the PNP's ability to protect ordinary citizens when they cannot even solve the heinous crimes committed against prominent media personalities.

The international media is appalled at this brutality, rampant from a supposedly democratic country, and has clamored for justice and vigilance to protect the media, the bastion of the freedom of speech in a democratic society.

The intesified attacks on the media is a reflection of how respect for civil liberties and human rights of have continuously degraded all throughout the years, as cases of human rights violations multiply annually. The broad mass of the Filipino people, in the middle of the worsening crisis, bears the blunt of the suffering.

The alternative media, the campus press, is not exempted from the continuous attack on the media.

Dubbed during the Marcos regime as the "mosquito press", the campus press has experienced its share of assaults. the silent curtailment of democratic rights inside school campuses has been raging on even after the downfall of Marcos.

In April 2002, agents of the military under false charges summarily executed Benjaline "Beg" Hernandez from the Atenews of Ateneo de Davao, then the Vice President for Mindanao of the organization. With no convictions, the case remains unresolved.

At present, the ratification of the Campus Journalism Act of 1991 is used by school administrators to silence and shut down campus publications all over the country. The padlocking of the University of San Carlos' Official Student Publicatoin Today's Carolinian and the Voice of Talamban is an unfortunate fate suffered by numerous student publication in the country.

The College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), an alliance of student publication nationwide, is one with the people and the Philippine media in condemning the physical brutalities and human rights violations committed against journalists, and calls for immediate and concrete action from the authorities to put an end to all the killings.

JUSTICE FOR ALLAN DIZON!!!

JUSICE FOR SLAIN JOURNALISTS!!!

JUSTICE FOR THE PEOPLE!!!

FOR REFERENCE:

Kristine Marie Musni

Vice President for Visayas-CEGP

09194520709