A year after Ampatuan massacre, local journalists struggle to stay safe

He escaped death last year, but to this day, death continues to haunt local journalist Aquiles Zonio. Zonio, a broadsheet correspondent from General Santos City, was not among the 57 people, including 32 of his colleagues, who were systematically shot and killed in an orgy of violence now known as the Maguindanao massacre. But these days, Zonio is always on guard. To feel safe, he wears a rosary around his neck and keeps a medallion of a guardian angel inside his pocket all the time.

Zonio believes that the medallion helped spare him from joining the ill-fated convoy of journalists, relatives and supporters of political clan leader Esmael “Toto" Mangudadatu traveling to Shariff Aguak, the capital of Maguindanao, on Nov. 23, 2009, to file candidacy papers for Mangudadatu’s gubernatorial bid. The convoy never reached its destination. It was halted by armed men allegedly led by Andal Ampatuan Jr., mayor of the town that bears his family’s name, in Barangay Salman, Ampatuan. All 57 people in the convoy were mercilessly killed, and their bodies dumped into an open pit. “I am not a religious person, but I believe God has a plan for every human being— I am just exercising security precautions. I avoid routine and I do not pass the same route whenever I go back home," he said. For almost a year now, since the day of the massacre, the Mindanao-based journalist has been receiving threats. Motorcycle-riding men would often be seen around his home, watching his every move. Just three weeks ago, he saw a man alight from a motorcycle and take a picture of him while he was doing his laundry at home in General Santos City. He reported the incident to the police two days later, but so far, there are no leads regarding the identities of those who are shadowing him. Zonio believes that thugs loyal to the Ampatuan clan are not the only people who are out to kill him. He has also written reports on logging and mining anomalies in Cotabato, which he believes, might have offended powerful people responsible for these misdeeds. Despite everything, Zonio is not afraid to die. What worries him more, he says, is the safety of his wife and three children. Since last year, he has had to stay apart from the four people he loves most. He hid his family in a safe house, the location of which he did not disclose for security reasons, to spare them from the possible reprisal of the powerful people he may have offended with his reportage. “I am an advocate of nonviolence, but I carry a gun with me. May anak ako na maliit. Kapag namatay ako, sino ang bubuhay sa kanya? (I have a young child. If I die, who will support him?)" he said. For Zonio and other Filipino journalists, life after the Maguindanao massacre will never be the same again. The incident, described as “the single deadliest event for journalists in history," has shattered the faith in the influence and power of the media in the Philippines. “Before the incident, we believed that the media is (a) deterrent (to excesses of those in power) and powerful, and that there is security in numbers. Now, a year after (Maguindanao), we realize that the media is not that powerful and (that) the presence of journalists is not a deterrent (to) crime," Zonio said. Wake-up call For Prof. Luis Teodoro, former Dean of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communications and head of the media watchdog Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), the Maguindanao massacre served as a “wake-up call" for journalists on the perils of their job. “Some parts of the media are now more aware of the reality of the threat against media. What happened last year shocked them into awareness that the threat is real, and that it is continuing," he said. After the massacre, this awareness is most felt among members of the community press, who are also the most vulnerable to these kinds of attacks, Teodoro added. According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, an international media watchdog, of the 101 journalists and media workers killed in the Philippines since 1992, only three were working in an agency based in the National Capital Region, and almost 80 percent were working in Mindanao. JB Deveza of the Philippine Daily Inquirer Mindanao Bureau attests to this. As coordinator of the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP)’s media safety office in Mindanao — which was established after the massacre — he saw how his colleagues in the community press became more interested in safety issues related to being a journalist. “Local journalists really talked more about safety issues. There was heightened interest in documenting and addressing cases of killings, harassments and threats to media (persons) in Mindanao a year after the massacre," he said. At the media safety center in Cagayan de Oro City, Deveza receives reports from other journalists about threats to their lives and safety. Often, he said, he observed that simply letting other people know about these threats is enough for his colleagues to feel more secure. “Meron naman talagang risks that come with our job. But if we are more aware of these risks, the incidence of killings among our ranks will be lessened," he said. What Deveza finds most fascinating, however, is the fact that even in the face of threats and danger, highlighted by last year’s brutal killings, his colleagues’ drive and passion to report the truth remains undiminished. “Ganoon pa rin sa dati— Hindi naman talaga mawawala ‘yung ganitong panganib sa trabaho natin, lalo na sa aming (mga) local journalists. Nabigyan lang talaga ng needed attention ang security (issues)," he said. (Just as much as before [referring to the level of drive]—These dangers in our line of work can’t really be eliminated, especially for us local journalists. Security issues have just been given the needed attention.) Safety trainings Apart from establishing a media safety office in Mindanao, the NUJP has also conducted safety trainings over the past months across places in the southern Philippines to equip local journalists working there with “practical knowledge" on how to handle critical situations. “We teach journalists who cover these areas basic medical response, how to deal with special and hostile situations, and other practical skills to ensure their safety," said Rowena Paraan, executive director of the NUJP’s Safety Program. The NUJP has also created “peer-support networks" to help journalists who experience trauma during crises, she added. After the Maguindanao massacre, media organizations have also taken steps to ensure the safety of the reportorial teams that they send to the field. In GMA News and Public Affairs, for instance, it has become a protocol to arm teams with safety equipment before they are deployed to unpredictable areas. “Ang impact talaga nito, na-intensify ang safety equipment ng reportorial teams. Inaassess kaagad if teams will need bulletproof vests and life jackets during assignments," said GMA 7 desk editor Alwyn Alburo. (The real impact of [the Maguindanao massacre] is that safety equipment for reportorial teams has been beefed up. [At the desk] we assess immediately if teams will need bulletproof vests and life jackets during assignments.) Briefings and seminars are being held by the network to inform reporters and camerapersons on safety protocols during coverage, Alburo added. Even in journalism schools, safety trainings have become part of both classroom lessons and out-of-classroom discussions after the Maguindanao massacre. At the UP College of Mass Communication, some journalism professors now include safety and security issues in their instruction. “Since the massacre happened, I was faced with a dilemma. As a professor, my duty is to tell students to do good in their chosen field, but in doing so they might get killed in the process," UP journalism professor Danilo Arao said. Arao admitted that some of his students had became “very worried" after the media killings in Maguindanao, but he has since advised them to “struggle for press freedom and against the evils of impunity." “We have to properly contextualize the Ampatuan massacre. It’s normal for students to be afraid and to be worried, but this should not discourage them from doing the ethical thing — which is to report responsibly," he said. Hopeful Members of the Philippine media have been taking steps to protect themselves as they work in the country dubbed by the CPJ as “the most dangerous place in Asia to work as a journalist." But for Zonio and other local journalists, the wounds left by the Maguindanao massacre will never fully heal unless justice is served to the victims. “A culture of impunity persists. We will never have peace of mind unless justice is served," he said. It is now up to the administration of President Benigno Aquino III to take steps to protect the country’s fourth estate, he added. “Will the Philippines ever be safe for us?" he asked. “I don’t know, but I am not losing hope. It will take the political will of our leaders to make us feel at ease again with our line of work," he said.—DM, GMANews.TV MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL: