Duterte admin acted on media killings with dispatch —Abella

A Malacañang official on Saturday dismissed claims that the Rodrigo Duterte administration has been doing little against media killings in the country and took a dig at the tendency to "disregard positive accomplishments." 

"As the Department of Justice has attested, there is no media killing that we have not attended to with dispatch," Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella told GMA News Online in a text message.

"The Human Rights Watch apparently disregards any indication of positive accomplishments on the part of the President," he added. 

He was referring to a statement of Human Rights Watch-Asia division researcher Carlos Conde that there is "little evidence" that the presidential task force has actively acted on attacks against the media.

Conde cited the recent killings of Rudy Alicaway, radio DXPD host; Leodoro Diaz, reporter for Radio Mindanao Network; and the attack against Crisenciano Ibon, columnist for the tabloid Police Files Tonight.

In October 2016, Duterte signed an administrative order creating a task force that will investigate violations of the right to life, liberty and security of the members of the press.

The presidential task force is expected to have an inventory of all cases of violence against the press perpetrated by state and non-state forces. 

But Conde insisted that the present administration has yet to deliver on its promises to protect media workers and prosecute their attackers.

"The murders last week of two radio journalists and the attack on a newspaper columnist last Thursday, highlight the need for the Duterte administration to deliver on [its] promises to apprehend those responsible for the killings of journalists." —LBG, GMA News