Nov. 23 carnage pulls RP up in CPJ impunity index
Unpunished violence against the press â particularly the infamous November 23 Maguindanao massacre â worsened in the Philippines as the country climbed three notches up an international media groupâs global index on impunity. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said the Philippines ranked third in its 2010 Global Impunity Index, up from sixth place in 2009. The CPJ index is a list of countries where journalists are killed regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes. "Deadly, unpunished violence against the press has soared in the Philippines and Somalia... Impunity in journalist murders also rose significantly in Russia and Mexico, two countries with long records of entrenched, anti-press violence," the CPJ said on its Website. "[In the Philippines,] the November 2009 massacre of 30 journalists and two media support workers in Maguindanao province more than doubled the countryâs impunity rating from the previous year. Authorities have indicted nearly 200 people in the massacre, including local political leaders said to have masterminded the attack," it added. But the group also hinted that with Justice Secretary Alberto Agraâs decision to clear two Ampatuan clan members in the case, the Philippines may find itself moving further up. "Given the Philippinesâ abysmal record of impunity in the killings of journalists, President Arroyoâs government has given little reassurance that history will be reversed with this surprise move," CPJ Asia program coordinator Bob Dietz said in an article posted on the CPJ Website. "The government must not ride roughshod over the decisions of a court with a simple pronouncement," he added. The CPJ voiced dismay over Agraâs decision to drop the murder charges against detained Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan and his cousin Akmad Ampatuan Sr., former mayor of Mamasapano town. Iraq still on top Iraq still topped the index, with 88 journalist murders over the last 10 years still unsolved. Iraqâs impunity index rating was 2.794 unsolved journalist murders out of one million inhabitants. Iraq ranked first last year with a rating of 2.983. Somalia was second, as journalists continued to be targeted, mainly by hard-line Al-Shabaab insurgents, as well as by government troops. Its impunity index rating was 1 unsolved journalist murder out of one million inhabitants. It ranked third last year with a rating of 0.69. The CPJ said it recorded 55 unsolved murders in the Philippines in the past decade. "Aside from the Maguindanao ambush, the countryâs abysmal impunity record showed some signs of a turnaround with convictions in the 2006 killing of Armando Pace and the 2005 murder of Edgar Amoro," the CPJ said. "But there is reason to believe that authorities still do not grasp the seriousness of their problem: A Supreme Court spokesman recently dismissed death threats against a reporter as âridiculous,â" it added, referring to death threats against veteran journalist Marites Vitug. The Philippinesâ impunity index rating was 0.609 unsolved journalist murder out of one million inhabitants. Last year, it ranked sixth with a rating of 0.273. Other countries on the 12-country list included Sri Lanka, with an impunity index rating of 0.496 unsolved journalist murder out of one million inhabitants, followed by Colombia, which scored 0.292. Also making it to the list were Afghanistan, Nepal, Russia, Mexico, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.