Media groups set to march for victims of Ampatuan massacre

Local and international media groups will hold a rally and march in Manila on Wednesday in a Global Day of Solidarity to demand justice for at least 30 journalists killed in the November 23 Ampatuan massacre in Maguindanao. Aside from the Manila march-rally, other protests are also planned in other cities of the Philippines, including a nationwide "moment of silence" to be conducted by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas at 7 a.m. Wednesday. The International Federation of Journalists called to journalists across the world to join the protest activities. [See: IFJ calls for global show of solidarity in demanding justice for Philippine massacre victims] “Filipino journalists need to hear our voices expressing solidarity with the victims and anger at the Philippine government that allowed this to happen," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. White said 106 Filipino journalists have now met a violent death since President Arroyo came to power in 2001, adding that Arroyo's government had allowed the type of warlordism that was behind last month’s bloodbath. “Her government has created the circumstances for this massacre by allowing a culture of impunity to flourish," he added. IFJ, which represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries, is leading an international mission to bring support to the victims and investigate the circumstances of the mission, hosted by its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP). The mission has just returned from meeting the families of the victims based in the city of General Santos and is now focusing on talks with the authorities. After joining Wednesday's protest rally, the mission plans to issue a preliminary report at a press conference. For his part, NUJP chairman Nestor Burgos said Filipino journalists are grateful for the flood of support that has already been expressed from around the world. “It has helped enormously. But we want all journalists to join us, to band together, to end this culture of impunity over journalist killings. Filipino journalists are now trying to function in a violent atmosphere in the lead-up to crucial elections on May 10, 2010," he said. Mike Dobbie, a delegate of the IFJ mission, said they hope this horrific start to the electoral process is “countered by a determination from the President and her administration to ensure that justice and journalism will be allowed to flourish without impediment." “Until those things are done, then the perpetrators of this mass murder will be considered to have achieved some of their aims. That is, to intimidate by multiple acts of violence the people of their community," he said. The mission also includes representatives from the Indonesia’s Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Australia’s Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance, the Thai Journalists’ Association (TJA) Southeast Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA), the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), International News Safety Institute (INSI), International Media Support (IMS), the Institute for Studies on the Free Flow of Information (ISAI) and Union Network International (UNI). Meanwhile, the NUJP reiterated its appeal for solidarity and support for the victims of the Ampatuan massacre. “No one knows if another Filipino journalist will be killed or if continued government inaction will mean justice is denied to those who have been murdered already. If we are to overcome this decades-old problem, we need help from our journalist colleagues around the world. We need to stand together to stop these atrocities from spreading to other countries. We need to demand that governments take action to ensure journalist safety, and justice for our slain colleagues," Burgos said. The NUJP fears the Philippine government will continue to take insufficient action to end a culture of impunity in relation to the killing of journalists. - JV/GMANews.TV