Int'l media group: 4 PHL journalists receiving threats

An international media group has sounded the alarm over supposed threats received by four journalists — three from Tarlac City and one from Misamis Oriental — for writing about controversial issues involving alleged corruption by public officials. In a statement released Monday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said People’s Journal and People’s Tonight correspondent George Hubierna received on Jan. 8 the first of a slew of threats, the same day his report on alleged anomalies in the construction of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway was published. Quoting a report made by its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), the IFJ said the threat read: “If you’re George Hubierna, be careful – you don’t know who you’re up against." Another threat, the IFJ said, came on Jan. 10 in a message from a former official of Gerona town, whom the IFJ did not identify, sent to Tarlac Headline News columnist Nelson Bolos. Bolos, who the IFJ said worked as a researcher on Hubierna’s reports, was identified in the threat as a member of the group behind the publication of the reports on the expressway. On Jan. 24, another threat reached Headline News publisher and editor-in-chief Paul Gonzales through a text message, which read: “Let’s see how brave you and Bolos are." The mobile number used for sending the threat was the same as the one used to send a second threat to Hubierna dated Jan. 22. Bolos also allegedly received information that two people “of shady character" were going around and asking questions about him and Hubierna, showing pictures of them to verify their identities. The IFJ likewise reported that a Gingoog City correspondent of a community newspaper based in Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao has received death threats from an officer of the Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Gingoog City. The IFJ said that Goldstar Daily correspondent Edwin Iyo was contacted by the CENRO officer, who was likewise not identified, through his mobile phone and threatened to shoot him dead. According to Iyo, the officer said he was offended by a text message that Iyo sent, detailing allegations of an extortion operation by some personnel from the CENRO who were manning a checkpoint in Barangay Anakan, Gingoog City. IFJ Asia-Pacific director Jacqueline Park is thus calling on Philippine authorities to take the necessary steps to ensure protection for journalists, and undertake thorough investigation of the threats so that the perpetrators are identified and punished. "Threats against journalists are a serious matter in the Philippines, where violent attempts to intimidate the work of these brave reporters are all too common," Park said in the statement. On Jan. 8, prominent civic leader and radio broadcaster Dr. Gerardo “Gerry" Ortega was shot dead in Puerto Princesa City, supposedly due to his hard-hitting commentary against mining activities in the province. According to the NUJP, Ortega was the 142nd journalist killed in the country since 1986 when democracy was restored following the ouster of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Ortega was the second journalist killed under the eight-month-old Aquino administration. The first one was Miguel Belen, a radio reporter from Iriga in Camarines Sur. Under the administration of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal- Arroyo, 103 journalists were killed, according to the NUJP. Only 1 percent of the suspects in these cases were convicted, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, and the suspects were mere fall guys. - KBK, GMA News