Media watchdog: 3 journalists killed on the job in PHL last year

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility said three journalists were killed while performing their duties last year.

The Philippine media watchdog released a statement on Wednesday in response to the  Committee to Protect Journalist' (CPJ) 2015 report, which said that no journalist was killed for a work-related reason in the country.

"Out of nine journalists killed last year, at least three were killed in the line of duty in the Philippines.  CMFR establishes the motive for the killing of journalists by looking into the work the journalist was doing, his or her reputation among his or her colleagues, whether he or she had received death threats in connection with his or her work, and interviews with the local police," said the CMFR.

These include broadcaster Cosme Maestrado, who received death threats due to his work as a radio commentator in Ozamis City, Misamis Occidental and survived a previous attempt on his life in 2011.

Print journalist Gregorio Ybañez, the president of the Davao del Norte Press and Radio-TV Club, was also allegedly killed for writing about an ongoing conflict between owners of the Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

Broadcaster Teodoro Escanilla was shot by two gunmen in Barcelona, Sorsogon on August 19.

The chairman of a left-wing worker's organization and a spokesperson of the human rights group "Karapatan", Escanilla was supposedly killed for his involvement in the labor and rights group and his commentaries.

"In any event, the number of journalists killed in 2015—nine—, whatever the motive, is indicative of both the state of law and order in the Philippines and of continuing impunity. That number should by itself be disturbing," CMFR stated.

The CPJ reported on December 29 that it did not record a single work-related journalist death in 2015 "for the first time since 2007".

"However, at least seven journalists were killed in unclear circumstances, and CPJ continues to investigate these cases for a work-related motive," they wrote. —Rie Takumi/JST, GMA News