NUJP asks Duterte to shed light on Pala’s murder

By CONG B. CORRALES,
Associate Editor

 THE LARGEST union of journalists in the country is asking President Rodrigo Duterte to divulge to the public the real circumstances surrounding the 2003 murder of Davao City broadcaster Juan “Jun” Pala.

In an emailed statement, Dabet Panelo, secretary general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) said Duterte owe it to the public to shed light on Pala’s murder which until now has not been solved — more than a decade hence.

The demand comes at the heels of the testimony given by alleged Davao Death Squad member Edgar Matobato at the Senate hearing on Thursday.

In the Senate, Matobato claimed that Duterte, who was then Davao City mayor, ordered Pala killed because the latter kept on criticizing him over the radio.

It can be recalled then president-elect Duterte hinted that he knew who the likely assailant of Pala and went on to say that Pala had the attack coming because he was hurting so many people through his “unethical and biased” radio commentaries.

“Closure of the Pala murder case, or any other case of journalist killing, will send a strong signal of the seriousness of the Duterte government to address this black mark in the Philippines’ image as a democratic society,” the NUJP statement reads.

The NUJP asks for Duterte to “set the record straight about what he knew of the Pala murder, for the sake of justice.”