Media groups condemn Rodrigo Duterte comments on corrupt journalists
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Version 0 of 1. Media groups have expressed outrage at the Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s endorsement of killing corrupt journalists, warning that his comments could incite more murders in a nation that is already one of the most dangerous for reporters. Duterte, who won last month’s elections in a landslide after pledging to kill tens of thousands of criminals, said on Tuesday that there was justification for killing journalists who took bribes or engaged in other corrupt activities. “Just because you’re a journalist you are not exempted from assassination if you’re a son of a bitch,” Duterte said, when asked how he would address the problem of media killings in the Philippines after a reporter was shot dead in Manila last week. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines described the comments as “appalling”. It conceded there were corruption problems in the industry but said these did not justify murdering reporters. “He has also, in effect, declared open season to silence the media, both individual journalists and the institution, on the mere perception of corruption,” the NUJP said. Since a chaotic and corruption-plagued democracy replaced the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos three decades ago, 176 journalists have been murdered in the Philippines. Speaking at a press conference in his home town of Davao to introduce his cabinet on Tuesday night, Duterte suggested the majority of those victims were themselves partly to blame. “Most of those killed, to be frank, have done something. You won’t be killed if you don’t do anything wrong,” said Duterte, who will be sworn into office on 30 June. He raised the case of Jun Pala, a journalist, politician and vocal critic of Duterte, who was murdered in Davao in 2003. His murder has never been solved. “If you are an upright journalist, nothing will happen to you,” said Duterte, who has ruled Davao as mayor for most of the past two decades and has been accused of links to vigilante death squads. “The example here is Pala. I do not want to diminish his memory but he was a rotten son of a bitch. He deserved it.” Luis Teodoro, the deputy director of the Manila-based Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility, said Duterte’s comments sent a signal to would-be killers that it was OK to murder in certain circumstances. “When you say corrupt journalists can be killed, that is a very clear message,” Teodoro said. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists also condemned Duterte’s remarks. “What he has done with these irresponsible comments is give security officials the right to kill for acts that they consider defamation,” its south-east Asia representative, Shawn Crispin, said from Bangkok. “This is one of the most outrageous statements we have ever heard from a president in the Philippines.” In 2009, 32 journalists were among 58 people killed by a warlord clan intent on stopping a rival’s election challenge. More than 100 people are on trial for the massacre, including many members of the Ampatuan family accused of orchestrating it. Duterte has named Salvador Panelo, the former defence lawyer for the Ampatuans who argued they were innocent, as his presidential spokesman, a nomination criticised by the victims’ families and journalists’ organisations. Duterte promised during the election campaign that he could wipe out crime across the country within the first six months of presidency, a seemingly impossible task that he said he could achieve by killing tens of thousands of criminals. While Duterte has since said he will now only be able to “suppress” crime, he has continued to warn that security forces will be given shoot-to-kill orders and forecast mass bloodshed. On Tuesday night Duterte said he would give security forces rewards worth tens of thousands of dollars for killing drug traffickers. |