NOT MUCH HAS CHANGED for Filipino journalists since the horrific massacre in Maguindanao in 2009. In the two-year period since president Noynoy Aquino took office in June 2010, 13 journalists have been killed.

“The 32 journalists killed 23 Nov, 2009, is the single deadliest attack on journalists in history. It was an assault at our fabric of democracy even more than an attack on press freedom,” says national director for the National Union of Journalists in the  Philippines (NUJP), Noynoy Espina (pictured above). Espino was a keynote speaker at a one day conference co-sponsored by NUJP and The Media Project in Manila on 31 August 2012.

“Not a single president has ever said stop the killings! Solve the cases! There is an institutional threat against the media in the Philippines as the government tolerates abuses of local media for political gain,” says Espina.

QUESTIONS ABOUT PRESS FREEDOM IN THE PHILIPPINES

Little has been done to address the culture of impunity that has prevailed in the Philippines for decades. Since 1986, a total of 153 journalists have been killed. During the nine years of Gloria Arroyo’s presidency, 104 journalists were killed. Only three of these cases have been solved, with a total of 10 convictions of the shooters only. No mastermind or principal source ever charged.

Most of the killings of journalists happen in the provinces. But the journalists also suffer from substandard wages and do not enjoy any job security, and often endure unfair labor practices as well.  Job-based trauma is also a real consequence for many journalists, says Espina, who included himself among the many journalists affected.

The massacre on 23 November, 2009, in Ampatuan in Maguindanao province where a total of 58 people were killed, among them 32 journalists, is still slowly progressing in the Philippine courts. As late as 28 August, a grandson of Ampatuan patriarch Andal Sr. became the 102nd suspect arrested, of a total of 196 people sought.  The number of suspects at large has now decreased to 94. Of the 102 accused arrested, 76 have been arraigned, but only two of the Ampatuans, Andal Jr. and Andal Sr., thought to have masterminded the crime, have been formally charged.

“If we ever get a conviction in the Maguindanao,” says Espina, “it will at the earliest be in ten years time . . . But witnesses are getting killed.  Three witnesses are lost already. And the families of both attackers and victims get attacked. The latest bribery offer for one family is 25 millions Peso (ca USD $600,00)."

"So far they have refused," Espina remarked. "But if they ever accept – who can blame them with kids need for schooling and higher education?”