Forum criticises impunity for wrongdoers
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The issue of impunity must be addressed and eradicated in Southeast Asia, a forum was told here on Sunday.
Commemorating the fifth anniversary of the November 23, 2009 slaughter of journalists in Maguindanao of the Philippines, the forum on media and impunity was aimed at raising awareness among people and also journalists of cases in which wrongdoers received protection and escaped punishment.
Melinda Quintos de Jesus, executive director of the Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility, said that since August, the media have been prevented from covering the massacre trial with no justification or clarification.
She called on the court to officially announce that journalists are allowed to cover the trial.
The Ampatuan Massacre left 58 people dead including 32 journalists on their way to cover an event related to a local election in Ampatuan town. Nobody has been convicted although Datu Andal Ampatuan, Jr, son of the then governor and mayor of Datu Unsay town in Maguindanao, faced multiple murder charges for allegedly masterminding and taking part in the killings.
“How big a case are we talking about?...There were 58 victims, 197 accused, from which number we deduct two who have acted as state witnesses and the information against one has been dismissed,” said Maria Sereno, chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
Of them, 111 have been arraigned, 70 have filed for bail, 42 of those have already been resolved and 166 witnesses have testified.
Besides offences by local police, some of the lawyers have already withdrawn their representation, forcing the case to take longer to finish.
Sereno, however, said the Philippines Supreme Court even issued guidelines to speed up the case. The media would also play a crucial role in eradicating impunity.
Quintos de Jesus said that, just like other cases of murders of journalists, the case received less media coverage than it should have.
Killing journalists was not only about journalists but also meant curbing the people’s right to information and freedom of expression, said Maria Labiste from the Journalism Department of the University of the Philippines.
Wisnu Hanggoro, the journalism development programme manager of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance, said it is important that ordinary people understand the word and concept of impunity.
Rowena Paraan, chairwoman of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, suggested an advocacy campaign at the grassroots level with a focus on the role of the media in the community.
Over 100 journalists from Asia, including those attending simultaneously held journalism conferences here, on Sunday evening joined in a candle-lighting event to commemorate the Ampatuan Massacre victims.
Sharing his perspective on impunity in the region, Virak Ou, chairman of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said 13 Cambodian journalists have been slayed without investigation and trial.
Eko Maryadi from the Alliance of Independent Journalists in Indonesia said the AJI has recorded eight murders of journalists in Indonesia, but none of the cases had reached the court.
Police cultivated impunity by their failure to conduct proper investigations of cases, he said.
