Iligan, Oro groups boo Digong over stand on slays

By NORA SORINO,
GSD-Iligan bureau chief
and NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent

ORGANIZED students and journalists seeking an end to impunity here and in Iligan City yesterday joined groups in expressing their outrage over the pronouncements of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte on why journalists are being assassinated during a press conference in Davao on Tuesday evening.

“We stand firm and condemn any form of suppression… (of) whatever kind… There’s no room for press freedom violation,” said Anjon Fredrick Mamunta, vice chairman of the College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) here said.

For her part, Rochamae Bihag, vice president of CEGP for northern Mindanao, said Duterte’s pronouncements on Tuesday show that he did not have a full grasp of the reality of media killings.

“It is blatant. As journalists, we expose the ills of society. In return, we have been constantly under attack and harassed in different forms: red-tagging, physical injuries, death threats and ultimately, assassinations,”  said Bihag.

In Iligan City, journalist Richel Umel, chairman of the Iligan and Lanao del Norte chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), said that while there are corrupt media practitioners, it is certainly not an excuse for murder.

“Why not sue them in court?” Umel asked rhetorically.

He said he was aware that there are a number of media personalities called “block-timers” who are not really employed.

Umel said his group was also aware that these broadcast workers rely on politicians for their “block-time” programs, and it was for this reason that they actually fight a “proxy war” on air.

“These persons do not deserve such fate of which they are just likened to dogs or other animals that are immediately shot at,” Umel pointed out.

Umel however called on media workers in Iligan “not to be careless,” and to be balanced in their reportage. He urged them not to take sides, and be fair.