METROVANINDEPENDENT.COM
November 2015
5
OPINION
Alternative Medicine – it
makes too much sense
By Steve Marshall
Editorial from Manila Bulletin
(We are reprinting this editorial in memory of some 170 journalist
killed in the Philippines).
A Manila radio repor ter and
broadcaster, Jose Bernardo, was shot
and killed in Quezon City last Saturday.
He was the 170th journalist to be killed in
the Philippines since 1986, the year press
freedom was restored with the EDSA
People Power Revolution that ended
martial law and the dictatorship.
The killing took place just two days
before the observance on November 2
of International Day to End Impunity for
Crimes against Journalists, a day set
aside by the United Nations in 2013 to call
on member states to implement definite
measures to end the culture of impunity in
these crimes.
The Philippines is one of four countries
which the International Federation of
Journalists (IFJ) based in Brussels,
Belgium, said have the worst records
of impunity in the killing of journalists.
The other three are Mexico, Yemen, and
Ukraine.
Fifty journalists have been killed in line
of duty in Mexico since 2010, 89 percent
of which cases remain unsolved. In Yemen,
there have been 15 killings since 2011.
In Ukraine, eight have been killed since
2014. The Philippines holds the record:
170 journalist killings – including Bernardo
– since 1986. Of the total, 32 were killed in
the Maguindanao massacre of 2009.
This observance of International Day to
End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
will continue this year up to November 23,
the sixth anniversary of the massacre,
with the third week especially devoted
to the Philippines as it holds the record
in journalist killings. The Maguindanao
massacre is also the single deadliest attack
on journalists in the world in history.
The National Union of Journalists of
the Philippines (NUJP) has been keeping
count on the number of journalists killed in
this country. W