DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 24 May) – The National Union of Journalist of the Philippines (NUJP) and progressive Partylist Bayan Muna condemned the killing of radio broadcaster Samuel Oliverio in Digos City last Friday.
Oliverio, 57, was shot by two unidentified men riding in tandem at 7:30 a.m. on his way home from the public market.
The NUJP Mindanao Media Safety Office said as an anchor, Oliverio used to comment on the increase of illegal gambling and illegal drugs in Digos.
A former journalist in Davao City, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate said today in a press statement that under the Aquino administration, the state of impunity “is worsening as more and more journalists, activists and critics of the government are being killed.
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In President Aquino’s first 40 months in office, 23 journalists had been killed based on the report of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism in November 2013.
The Human Rights Watch earlier said 12 Filipino journalists were murdered in 2013, the highest number since Aquino’s election to office in 2010.
The Philippines is ranked third among the world’s most dangerous countries for journalists, after Iraq and Somalia, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2014 impunity index.
This index identifies countries “where journalists are slain and the killers go free”.
Marking the 54th month of the Ampatuan massacre, the groups urged the Aquino administration to do everything to stop the killings.
“The buck stops with President Aquino; he can no longer pass the blame on some other people or agency,” Zarate said.
