The 96th victim of media violence in the country was buried Sunday as delegates to the 6th Congress of the National Union of Journalist of the Philippines (NUJP) renewed calls to an end to media killings.

The appeal came in the light of protests by local and international media and families of victims who deplore the lack of government support and sincerity in solving media-related violence.

“Its time for journalists to stand together ‘unbowed’ from attempts by powerful forces to cow us into silence and physical attacks,” said NUJP chairman Jose Torres Jr.

“We would have wanted to work in silence behind the news but instead, many of our colleagues became the news,” he added, referring to the unabated media killings that swelled in numbers from 60 in 2001 to 96 this year.

The most recent victims were local radio broadcasters of Radio Mindanao Network, Dennis Cuesta of General Santos City, and Martin Roxas of Roxas City in Capiz. Both were gunned down in broad daylight by unknown gunmen.

Torres in his report to the delegates lamented that the country’s democracy is being threatened by lies, institutionalized corruption, and violence.

He avowed that despite the challenges facing journalists in the Philippines, “NUJP will overcome and will continue to establish milestones for the advancement of press freedom.”

NUJP Secretary General Rowena Paraan, for her part, also assailed the continuing media violence in the country.

“In the Philippines, journalists have become an endangered species. They should not be blamed for the message they bring but instead be valued for the information they impart to the people,” she said.

Arnell Ozaeta, a representative of DZMM Batangas, said media violence in the country “has become prevalent but we will not retreat to our comfort zones just yet, we will become more vigilant in our struggle for press freedom.”

Ferdinand Cabrera, a GMA7 news correspondent from Cotabato City, echoed the sentiments of other NUJP members, saying, “Press freedom is a struggle that will be carried on by future generations of our profession, I don’t know why this culture of impunity in our country persists when people in power know very well that we will continue to resist their terror tactics.”

NUJP is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) based in Norway.

The recent congress, which was held during the weekend at the retreat house of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in Tagaytay, was attended by over 80 delegates from 43 chapters nationwide.

At the conference, lawyer Red Batario of the International News Safety Institute (INSI) lectured on best practices in media safety during coverage, while the law on decriminalization of libel was expounded by lawyer Neri Colmenares of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL).

A few months back, NUJP’s safety office led a petition signing campaign to decriminalize libel. The move was also aimed to force First Gentleman Mike Arroyo to withdraw his libel suits against journalists.

In Nueva Vizcaya, a libel case was dismissed only last July against a local media practitioner by government lawyers after 8 years of legal battle. “I was forced to skip from one job to another because my former bosses won’t allow me to attend hearings in our province so to avoid contempt, I always had to resign.” He said

Meanwhile, laywer Nep Malaluan of Access to Information Network (ATIN) deliberated on the people’s right to information, focusing on specific laws covering a journalist’s right to acquire public documents in the pursuit of truth.

One of the topics that caught the attention of the delegates was that of lawyer Rommel Bagares of CENTERLAW who discussed the economic rights of journalists.

“Journalists are also humans, they need to survive too like all of us and yet everyday they are exposed to the dangers of their profession, for that, they should demand a just and fair compensation and benefits to the owners of their media outfits, these should be based on international standards and national laws,” he said.

Before the congress concluded, lawyer Louie Guia of Lawyers League for Liberty (Libertas) lectured on the importance of provisions of the Philippine Omnibus Election Code covering the areas of Campaign Finance, Monitoring and Prosecution while Engineer Roberto Versola of HALAL, an organization that monitors election counting procedures talked about the inaccuracies and flaws of the present election automation projects worldwide. - GMANews.TV